From North Wales comes the story of a young woman who returned to her car in the local multi—storey car park and found an elderly lady sitting in the back seat. As it was a1make of car, she first2the number plate. And she went around it to make sure it was indeed her car. She asked the lady what she was doing there. The old lady explained she had been shopping with her daughter and grandchildren but had felt 3and wanted to return to the car for a rest. She said her daughter's car was the same make, 4and color as the young woman's and she must have got into the wrong one — a 5explanation. The old lady then began to breathe heavily and, holding her 6, asked to be taken to the local hospital, which the driver 7to do. But just as the young woman was about to start up the car, she noticed in the rearview mirror that the old lady's shawl (披肩) had 8a little, showing a muscular arm, thick with hair. "What should I do?" she asked herself. She was very 9that she would soon be in trouble. At the moment the young woman had an idea. She asked the old lady to 10her out of the parking space by standing to one side of the bay, and felt 11when she agreed to do this. Once out of the parking place, the young woman 12the doors and sped off the nearest police station to report the 13. Police officers then 14the car, finding a rope and an axe under the passenger seat. The young woman had 15to drive away fortunately, although the whole thing would not have happened in the first place if she had remembered to lock her car up before she went shopping.
In China, children like to make promises by hooking pinkies (勾手指) with each other and saying: "A pinkie promise must be kept for 100years." Then, they may press their thumbs together to complete the promise. Sometimes, couples will hook pinkies and promise to be together forever.
There are many theories (推测) on the beginning of the pinkie promise. Some say it comes from a nursery rhyme. Others say it was introduced from the West — born out of a love story where a man and a woman hooked fingers.
One theory is may have something to do with the role of fingers in Chinese culture. The Chinese character for "finger" also means "aim (旨)" (referring to people's thoughts). So hooking fingers can be seen as the exchanging of thoughts.
Therefore, the fingers play an important role in making an oath (盟约)： they can not only be used to complete a promise, but also be cut for making a blood oath. When someone swears (发誓) to heaven, they use their fingers to point to the sky.
Generally, hooking fingers means making a serious promise. In some gangster (黑帮) movies, a person who breaks a promise may have his little finger cut off!
Of course, this kind of thing is not very likely to happen in real life. But we can still see how important "pinkie promises" can be.
I read a lot of newspapers for my job, but the one I liked best is called The Family News. Its editor is Heather Cook of Lisle, Illinois. She is only 12years old. Heather thinks all her relatives should keep up with what everyone else in the family is doing. So every few months, she prepares The Family News and after her mother has made 50copies, Heather mails them out. They are received by 73 people in 9states, who range in age from 4 to 94. Because of the paper, Heather's family is joined together in a way that most families are not.
The reason I like The Family News so much is its happy stories. Most other papers depressed me with stories about cruelty of mankind. But The Family News never fails to bring a smile to my face. Here are a few of its items:
"Keven is in first place in his conference in golf. He is glad!"
"Math got his second tooth. He crawls around the floor to get where he wants to go."
"Grandma, Heather and Keven cleaned up the yard and burned the leaves in the back yard. It smoked so much that there was smoke all the way up the street."
"Steve got a new car. It is dark blue."
"Heather started putting out The Family News when she was seven." said her mother, Jeanne. "I didn't expect it to last. But obviously it means a lot to her, and to everyone in our family. It is a kind of collection. My brother—in—law Tom gave money to buy stamps to send it out. And my uncle Frank, who never wrote to everyone, sent Heather a letter asking her to keep the paper going because it was the most important news he got."
Heather doesn't look on her job as a hard work. "It's fun," she says. "Whenever I can, I call people up to see what's new. Then I put it in the next issue. The best thing is hearing how much it means to my family. I plan on doing this until I get really old — at least 18!"
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take out everyday achieve changes sweet bring out |
Britain's oldest man made his first visit to London yesterday at the age of 110. Mr. John Evans had never found the time or the m to make the trip from his home near Swansea. But, when British Rail offered him an all—expense—paid birthday trip to the c , he just could not r . Until yesterday he had never been away from home, except for the trip to Aberdeen. Mr. Evans, who spent 60 years working as a miner in South Wales, almost made the journey to London once before, at the tof the century. "There was a trip to the White City but it was one pound return from Swansea —too much I thought. All my money went to sthe family then," he said.
During the next two days Mr. Evans will be taken on a whistle—stop tour of London to see the beautiful s. Top of his lis a visit to the Houses of Parliament.
The only arrangement he does not care for is the wheelchair provided to move him about if he gets too t. "I don't like the chair business-people will think I am getting old."
His secret for a long and hlife has been well publicize — no wine, no cigarette and no anger. Before soff from Swansea with his 76-year-old son, Amwel, he quipped, "I'm glad to see they've given me a return ticket."
1）一名中学生篮球迷，知晓有关规则；
2）身体健康，学习优秀，英语口语好；
3）擅长与人交流，愿意帮助他人；
4）志愿者工作很受欢迎，渴望当志愿者；
5）补充一至两点个人看法.
注意：
1）文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称；
2）词数：60—80；
3）内容连贯，不要逐条翻译；
4）邮件开头已给出，不计入总词数.
参考词汇：popular adj. 受欢迎的 fan n. 粉丝 eager adj. 渴望的
Dear sir / madam，
I'd like to volunteer in the coming basketball game.
Li Ming
