2 . Mark Twain was a great writer in America. He was also a funny man. There were many interesting stories about him.

In his city, a man didn’t like Mark Twain. On April Fool’s Day, the man wanted to play a joke on the great writer. A newspaper in New York said that Mark Twain died. All his friends around the country were sad when they read it. Then they decided to visit his home. When the friends got there, they found Mark Twain writing in front of his desk. They got a big surprise and thought the newspaper did a bad thing. But Mark Twain didn’t get angry. He smiled and said, “The report(报道)about my death is right. But the time is too early.”

3 . Xiao Ming gets up very late. He rides his bike to the school quickly. He doesn’t look at the traffic lights, so he hits a car. The driver takes him to the hospital right now. The doctor looks over Xiao Ming very carefully. Xiao Ming wants to go to the school but the doctor and the driver ask him to stay in bed.

“ Now my boy,“ says the doctor.“ Could you tell me your name, please?”

“ What are you going to do?” asks Xiao Ming.

“I’m going to tell your parents and your teacher. ”answers the doctor.

“But my parents know my name and my teacher knows my name, too.“ says Xiao Ming.

6 . What are we celebrating today? I asked the above question at the beginning of every one of my classes, whether I was teaching kids or adults. Sometimes I asked it a little differently, as in, “Who has good news?” or “Who has something good to say?” However I asked it, it always meant the same thing. It was a call for celebrating life, for focusing on what’s right and what’s good.

This was something that started by accident in the 1970 school year and continued until I stopped classroom teaching in 2001—thirty years of celebrating! Believe it or not, it started as the result of two things that are not so popular among kids: daily news and homework.

When I was teaching courses in history and government in high school, I would always ask students to read the latest news every night. After a few weeks, one student came to me and said, “Dr. Urban, did you notice that most of the news was bad news?” And he was right. Then we had a long class discussion about this, and finally we all agreed on one thing: We needed to receive more good news.

So the next day at the beginning of class I asked, “What are we celebrating today? Who has good news? Who has something good to say?” Later, I suggested that we should also include good things in our own lives.

They thought it was a great way to start class, and it developed into something that had a profound and lasting impact on both my students and me. Over the years of doing this, we heard just about every bit of good news possible. Some were small things, some were huge things. But the most important was that my students learned to look for the good in everyday life. They looked for it, they found it, and they celebrated it by sharing it with others.

7 . A year after high school, I didn't know what to do. I was still one of those_______teenagers with no real timetable for the day. Then I _______to find Brief History of Time from a street vendor (小贩；摊贩). When I finished _______, for the first time I had a _______to spend my life on.

Years later, I was doing_______ in the Institute of Theoretical Physics where Stephen Hawking _______as the Research Director. One day at lunchtime, Prof. Hawking_______ and joined in on my table. I had imagined_______ him! Now he was sitting _______before me! I couldn’t help but________— reading his book, getting laughed at by friends, convincing my family that I wanted to “study black holes”... I gathered some________and told him that I joined physics because of his ________ and he was such an inspiration. At first, I wasn’t sure if he understood my thick accent. So I quietly continued my ________. But minutes later________a voice from his computer: “Thank You! I am very glad to see you here.”

It was only then that I________that during the pause he was writing, one letter at a time, while being spoon-fed. It’s how he had been doing unimaginable research almost his entire________. His ability to use his brain in such an incredible way despite a ________body has always inspired me not to be________by difficulties and to concentrate energy on things other than pains of life.

My work keeps me going: it’s my passion, it’s my life and it’s a great pleasure and motivation, which________me to contribute to society. My lifespan (寿命) might be________, but my achievements could be endless. I owe all this to him.

8 . I had an opportunity to teach at a five-star hotel in Nevis, a small island in the Caribbean Sea. After that, my friend Clayton and I flew into Panama City for a surfing outing at a surfing camp in the bay of Chiriqui, whose tourism is booming. To get there, we had to take my tennis bags on and off several buses and boats. After eight hours of travel we finally arrived. The camp was perfect, and the accommodations were not bad. We had an unbelievable week there!

On our return trip, when we got to the bus station, we learned that our bus had been delayed for 2. 5 hours. The sun was beating down on us.

As we walked over to the shaded area, a couple of kids started throwing rocks at me. I opened a can of tennis balls. They stopped and took an interest in the balls. I had a special racket (球拍) with me. I had the strings cut out and replaced them with a net, which is prefect for hotel teaching. I got them to throw the balls into the net. They seemed to enjoy that. Then an older boy got interested, to whom I gave another racket to hit the ball into the net of the catching racket. I showed him how to position and hold the racket. Soon, their bus arrived, and they were on their way.

But families from across the street came over and wanted their 10-minute tennis lesson，too. The other passengers waiting for the bus each got a lesson. Eventually, restaurant workers next door and the bus terminal clerk invited me to give them a lesson, too. They learnt well and were having a great time. And so was I. In what seemed like no time, our bus arrived. Satisfied with what I did, I changed my shirt, and made it back to Panama City.

10 . I am a middle school student. I have a lot of classes and homework every day. I have a bad memory and I often forget(忘记)my family’s birthdays. But I don’t forget my mum’s birthday today. I want to buy her a present.

There is a big store near my school. It sells many things. From the store, you can buy food, clothes, shoes and some other daily things. So, I go to the store and want to choose a present for my mum. I want to buy a beautiful skirt, but I don’t have enough money(钱). At last, I go to a flower shop and buy a rose.

After I get home, I give the rose to my mum and say, “Happy birthday, dear mum. It is 14 October today. I don’t forget your birthday.”

My mum is very happy and she says, “Thank you, my son. But my birthday is tomorrow.”