A Chinese and a German made up their mind cross the sea in a balloon in 1754. The balloon in what they discovered a hole was high over the water. A hole became bigger and bigger. The hot air keeping the balloon up was escaping quick and the balloon was coming down. The two men threw all their equipments in order to make the balloon lighter. It started to rise higher again，so it was still too close to the water. At last，the men throw away most of their clothes to save himself. The crowd waiting for to welcome them was very surprising to see this when the balloon landed in front of them.

Smith lived above the McKays. Being a keen gardener and a fish collector，Smith sent water over his 【小题1】 every day. He used too much water，which 【小题2】 on the McKay's.

One Saturday evening，when the McKays were celebrating James McKay's birthday on the balcony，Smith 【小题3】 his tank over his balcony and both the McKays and the cake were wet through. James Mckay，who was a retired 【小题4】，was so angry that he went up 【小题5】 After hitting Smith over the head，he 【小题6】 Luckily，Smith promised to change his ways. And 【小题7】，James enjoyed the most exciting birthday 【小题8】 by a crowd of supporters as he left the police station.

   I was one of the young US soldiers in Saudi Arabia. At one time before the Internet，our only lifeline to friends and family was the mail we sent and received.

One evening the mail soldier called my name and，instead of a letter，handed me a large box from my grandmother in Oklahoma. One of the great hardships of the war for me was the absence of my grandmother's cooking—her fried chicken and onion，corn bread，and，most of all，her desserts. But on that evening I was about to take a gastronomic（美食的） journey home: I opened the box and found two dozen pies made by my grandmother.

A man from New York approached and asked me what I had received. I couldn't answer；my mouth was full of pie. So I just offered him one. “So nice！”he said. “What are they？”He had to wait a few moments for an answer，but eventually I explained. As insurance，I offered him another pie to keep him quiet.

Once a day for the next three weeks，I imagined returning home to my grandmother's kitchen，if only I had had a few sweet bites at a time.

Some of my earliest memories are associated with my grandmother's pies. She had been baking pies since before the Great Depression. She would have astonished the judges on today's TV cooking challenges. I remember coming across a persimmon（柿子）tree once while out hiking. It was autumn，and the fruit was soft and sweet. I picked a few dozen and brought them to Grandma. Guess what！The next day I walked into her kitchen to find a persimmon pie waiting for me.

   On a cold winter afternoon, the first-graders were trained in football. It was the day of our first _____.

These children were asked to sit on a long bench on the grass. When I was training a _____ team, I spent a few minutes _____ them to know one another, each kid saying his name and the names of all the kids siting to the left.

A few minutes later, I _____ to put the kids to a test. Alex was chosen to _____ at the far left end of the bench, _____ to each kid, say that kid's name and then shake his right hand.

Alex did well and he went down the row—Dylan, Micah, David, and Beau—_____ he reached Ben. He said Ben's name and _____ out his right hand, but Ben just sat there, his right hand _____ in his jacket.

"Ben, why don't you let Alex shake your right hand？"I asked. Ben stood up, and said, "But I don't have the ______. "He pulled his jacket ______ from his right shoulder.

Ben's arm ran from his right shoulder but his arm ______ at the elbow（肘）. No forearm（前臂）, no hand and no fingers！

I got ______ and couldn't think of anything to say, but the little kids were unwilling to hide their ______.

"Look at that, "said Alex. " Hey, what ______ to your arm?" another kid asked. "Does it hurt?" Ben took off his jacket to ______ the kids what they all wanted to see. He explained to them that he had always been that ______ and that there was nothing ______. What he meant was that he wanted to be treated like ______ else.

From that day on, he was ______ Ben, one of the players on the team.