One day, a woman from The Express News called. She said she wanted to work on a(n)  (1)  on me. When she had finished    (2)   me for the article, she asked, “What are you planning to do next?”

Well, at the   (3)   , there was actually nothing I was planning on doing next, and what   (4)   out for us was, “I’m thinking about    (5)    the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest-Talking Female.”

The newspaper article came out the next day, and the writer had    (6)   my final remarks(评论)about trying to break the World’s Fastest-Talking Female record. At about 5:00 that afternoon, I got a    (7)     from Larry King , asking me to go on the    (8)  . They would   (9)    me up at 8:00 — because they wanted me to do it that night!

I    (10)    the phone for a while, and then I called Guinness to find out   (11)    to break a fast-talking record. They told me I would have to recite something. I began   (12)  . I was both    (13)   and excited at the same time.

At 8:00, the car came. I practised the whole way there, and by the time I reached the     (14)    . I was tongue-tied. I asked the woman in charge, “What   (15)    I don’t break the record?”

“Larry doesn’t    (16)    if you break it or not,” she said. ” “He just cares that you try it on his show.” So I asked myself, “What’s the   (17)    that can happen? I’ll look like a fool on television!” A   (18)    thing, I told myself,   (19)    I could live through that. And what if I break the record?

So I decided just to give it my best shot, and I did. I broke the record, becoming the World’s Fastest-Talking Female   (20)    speaking 585 words in one minute!

There are times when people are so tired that they fall asleep almost anywhere. We can see there is a lot of sleeping on the bus or train on the __41__ home from work in the evenings. A man will be __42__ the newspaper, and seconds later it __43__ as if he is trying to __44__ it. Or he will fall asleep on the shoulder of the stranger __45__ next to him. __46__ place where unplanned short sleep __47__ is in the lecture hall where a student will start snoring（打鼾）so __48__ that the professor has to ask another student to __49__ the sleeper awake. A more embarrassing（尴尬）situation occurs when a student starts falling into sleep and the __50__ of  the head pushes the arm off the __51__, and the movement carries the __52__ of the body along. The student wakes up on the floor with no_53__ of getting there. The worst time to fall asleep is when __54__. Police reports are full of __55__ that occur when people fall into sleep and go __56__ the road. If the drivers are __57__, they are not seriously hurt. One woman's car, __58__, went into the river. She woke up in four feet of __59__ and thought it was raining. When people are really __60__，nothing will stop them from falling asleep-----no matter where they are.

Maybe you don’t think animals have certain mental powers which human beings do not have. But the truth is that some of them have instincts, and besides this, I am sure they can feel certain things we humans cannot. A personal experience showed me this.

Some years ago, I had a dog named Howard. From the time when he was a puppy, he was timid, so we named him Howard, sounding like “coward”! He was especially afraid of thunderstorms. At the first flash of lightning or crash of thunder, he would run whining into his house and hide under a table.

I often went for a walk with Howard. Once, as we were walking along a road, it began to rain. I quickly ran to a bus stop for shelter. The bus stop had a roof supported by metal poles. Soon after I had got there, Howard caught my trousers in his teeth and tried to pull me away. At first I was puzzled and a little angry at his behavior. But I decided to humor him and walked away from the shelter into the rain and started to go home.
    When I was about two hundred metres from the shelter, there came a flash of lightning and soon after, there was thunder which nearly deafened me. Howard stopped walking and began whining. Thinking he was afraid, I bent to pick him up. As I straightened up, I glanced at the bus shelter we had just left. I was shocked to see that two of the poles were bent and the roof was lying on the ground, broken. The shelter had been struck by the bolt of lightning!

I wish there would be a way to describe China in simple terms but that’s impossible. For the most part Chinese people are friendly, easy-going and optimistic. They are curious and unusually patient and they are also the hardest-working people I have ever met.

In China, family is everything. In my English classes when the students were asked what they would do if they only had a few hours to live, most students told me how they would spend their last few hours with their families and parents. Many times the subjects in the classes center on families and friends. I teach many students a year, talking to them freely.

The cost of living here is very low compared with that of the US. The city of Xiang Fan I live in isn’t large and I live better. Non-imported(非出口的) foods are very cheap, so are clothing and articles of everyday use. The cost of public transportation is very low, too. Chinese value education. However, it is reported that many children can’t afford the expenses of schooling and are forced to leave school in some poor areas in China. But they organized Project Hope many years ago. It creates conditions for the poor children to go back to school. In my opinion, Project Hope is of great importance to the development of the rural education.

When we read news of China in the west, rarely, if ever, will we see anything mentioned of the positive changes China has gone through. While it is true that economic miracles have not reached many areas of China, but we also have the same problems.

When I am asked which country I consider better, China or the US, my answer has always been the same, “We are not worse or better than each other, we are only different.

When you’re returning to Australia, be careful that you don’t bring in pests and diseases. Some items you might bring back from overseas can be pests and diseases that Australia doesn’t have. When you return, declare(申报)all food, meat, fruits, plants, seeds, wooden souvenirs, animal or plant materials.

    Australia has strict quarantine(检疫)laws and tough on-the-spot fines. Every piece of luggage is now screened or X-rayed. If you fail to declare any quarantine items, or if you make a false declaration, you will get caught. In addition to on-the-spot fines, you could be accused and fined more than $60, 000 and you may risk 10 years in prison. All international mail is also screened.

    Some products may require treatment to make them safe. Items that are restricted because of the risk of pests and diseases will be seized and destroyed by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service(AQIS).

    In many cases, the goods you declare will be returned to you after inspection. However, any item that presents a quarantine risk will be withheld(扣留). You will be given a range of options for each item depending on the quarantine risk: ·

  ·Treating the item to make it safe*;

  ·Holding the item until an import permit is presented*; ·

  ·Re-exporting the item*；·

  ·Destroying the item.

Those treatments with the sign “*” are subject to fees.

 Further information:

    For more detailed information about bringing in food, animals, plants, animal or plant materials, call the AQIS at 1800-020-504.

Mark Twain was a famous American writer. He wrote many funny stories. Those stories are still read by many people all over the world today. Besides writing, he also liked hunting and fishing very much, so one year he went to Maine for a holiday and spent three very pleasant weeks in the woods there.

When Mark Twain had to go back home, he drove to the station with his baggage and there he asked a worker to put it into the train. Then he got into the smoking car and sat down in one of the comfortable seats there. There was nobody else when he got in, but a few minutes later, another man got in and sat down on the seat opposite his. After a while, they began to talk with each other.

The stranger said, “We have some beautiful woods in Maine. I think you’ve been in our woods, haven’t you?” “Yes, I have,” answered Mark Twain, “I’ve just spent three weeks there and I have a very good time, too. Although fishing isn’t allowed in Maine at this season, I’ve got 200 pounds of fish with my baggage in this train. I like to eat fish, so I put in ice to take it home with me. May I ask who you are, sir?”

The stranger looked at Mark Twain for several seconds and then answered, “I’m a police officer. My job is to catch people who hunt and fish during the wrong seasons. And who are you?”

Mark Twain was surprised and frightened. He thought quickly and then answered, “Well, I’ll tell you, sir. I’m the man who tells the biggest lies in America.”

I used to believe in the American Dream, which meant a job, a mortgage (按揭), credit cards, success, I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us   46   chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell   47  . I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56. I   48   the countryside for some place I could rent for the   49   possible amount. I came upon a shabby house four miles up a winding mountain road   50   the Potomac River in West Virginia. It was  51  , full of broken glass and rubbish. I found the owner, rented it, and   52   a corner to camp in.

The locals knew nothing about me,   53   slowly, they started teaching me the   44   of  being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, and tools, and began   55   around to chat. They started to teach me a belief in a   56   American Dream — not the one of individual achievement but of   57  .

What I had believe in, all those things I thought were   58   for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place.   59   on the mountain, my most valuable passions were my   60   with my neighbors.

Four years later, I moved back into   61  . I saw many people were having a really hard time,   62   their jobs and homes. I managed to rent a big enough house to   63   a handful of people. There are four of us now in the house, but over time I’ve had nine people come in and move on to other places. We’d all be in   64    if we hadn’t handed together.

The American Dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about   65   we can all get by together.