1 . A shy 15-year-old boy was heartbroken to hear that his favorite teacher was retiring (退休). Kim-or “Miss K” as he called her-was stepping down from her position as an educator so she could devote her time to Beat Nb: a charity that raises money for medical research.

To help Miss K, Waylon decided to take the pig he’d raised and auction (拍卖) it off at the county fair and donate (捐赠) all the money — but after several people heard about his unselfishness, the auction took a very unexpected turn.

The boy had emailed his situation to several companies who would be buying — hoping they would bid (出价) higher than the usual price of $3-to-4 per pound. His plan worked. When the bidding kicked off, the price jumped to $11 but then one of the bidders, Dan, had an idea and struck a deal with his competition. He won the bidding on the pig then he donated it back to be auctioned again. The second winner bought it for $10 a pound, but then he gave it back, too.

Finally, a third competitor, Dave Moll, was free to buy — then, he, too, unexpectedly donated the pig back — for a third time. Dave Moll, who is Waylon’s father’s employer, said, “I hadn’t planned to spend that much money or give the pig back. But that’s what the people ahead of me did, and I felt like it was the right thing to do, so I did.”

The pig was finally bought and sold a fourth time for $5.50 per pound, meaning that Waylon managed to raise $10.070 for his teacher’s charity. “I did not see that happening,” Waylon said. “Usually they just sell it once! My dream got bigger and bigger every time they said, ‘Give it back.’”

“I’m so proud of him,” Miss K said. “He doesn’t know the influence that he is having. Someday he will.”

It’s one of the longest train journeys in the world -2,910 miles across China. And when photographer Matthieu Paley was looking for ways     1    (get)his wife and two sons from Hong Kong to the northwest China it looked like the perfect choice.

“I thought it’d be     2    (amaze),” he says. “We will get to see China!” Even better the train’s 52-hour journey from Guangdong, near Hong Kong, to Xinjiang was much simpler and far less expensive     3     flying.

Paley and his family saw China change with every mile. The train’s last stop is a city     4    (call)Urumqi. The comfort of the train and the beauty of the landscapes attracted the Paleys. Paley remembers, “We were all looking at each other the last day     5    (wish)it would last another 24 hours!”

After a few    6    (day)in Urumgithe Paleys set out for Pakistan. They     7    (take)a bus southwest to the city of Hotan and then boarded another train going northwest to the city of Kashgar. Most of the passengers on this train were Uygur, a Chinese minority who live mostly in the west. Uygurs speak a language     8     is similar to Turkish. And since Paley is fluent in Turkish, he could talk with these passengers and get a sense of their lives.

“It was     9     short trip, just six hours, Paley says. “The journey let     10    (I)see the vastness and beauty of China.

3 . The first drawings on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago. Later the Ancient Romans and Greeks wrote their names and other things on buildings. Modern graffiti (涂鸦) seems to have appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, and by the late sixties it had reached New York. The new art form really took off in the 1970s, when people began writing their names on buildings all over the city. In the mid seventies it was sometimes hard to see out of a subway car window, because the trains were completely covered in paintings known as masterpieces.

Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early seventies. But at the same time, John Lindsay, the then mayor (市长) of New York, declared (宣布) the first war on graffiti. By 1980s it became much harder to write on subway trains without being caught, and instead many of the graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings or cloth.

The debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism (故意破坏公共财物罪) is still going on. Peter Vallone, New York city councilor (市议员), thinks that graffiti done with permission can be art, but if it is on someone else’s buildings it becomes a crime. On the other hand, Felix, a member of the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City, says that artists are getting cities for the public back from advertisers, and that graffiti stands for freedom and makes cities livelier.

For years graffiti has help a few people gain international fame. Jean-Michel Basquiat began writing graffiti on the street in the 1970s before becoming a famous artist in the 1980s. Works by the British artist Banksy have been sold for over £100,000. Graffiti is now sometimes big business.

This a public service     1    . Audiences are     2     to turn off the phones or put them on silence. When the ball is in play or if a player is     3     please do not cheer or talk loudly. Wait for the point or game to     4     before standing up or leaving your seat. When taking photos during the match, please turn off your     5    . Please do not throw anything onto the court.

My favourite player was LeBron James. Paul’s favourite player was Tyrone Bogues, a guy who played for the Charlotte Hornets, although we actually agree that they are both champions. Bogues was only 1.6 metres tall, which made him the shortest player ever in the NBA. Guess what? Paul was only 1.6 metres tall, too! Paul knew that being shorter than other players meant that he had to practise more. During all those hours of doing jump shots on his own, he used Bogues as his inspiration. Paul once said, “If Bogues could make it, why not me?”

Our coach was not so sure. Paul had to try out many times just for making the team. He was still usually on the bench, being just a replacement, which was really tough on him. Everyone knew Paul had real skills, and was someone who worked really hard and had a strong desire to play for the team. However, Paul didn’t get a chance.