Once there lived a rich man 【小题1】wanted to do something for the people of his town.【小题2】 first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed【小题3】very large stone. Then he 【小题4】(hide ) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

“Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way.【小题5】man came along and did the same thing; then another came,and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove 【小题6】. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,【小题7】(say) to himself: “The night【小题8】(be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his  【小题9】(strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!【小题10】 the stone, he found a bag of money.

   Caroline Solomon was on her high school's swim team. But at times she could not go into the creek（小溪）near her home. It was simply too polluted. "I decided I wanted to do something about it，"she recalls. So she studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University in Cambridge. Later，she went to graduate school. Some of her classes could be challenging，though，since she couldn't hear her teachers. "I've been deaf since I was 15 months old，"Solomon notes.

Today she teaches biology at Gallaudet University in Washington，DC. She has no trouble communicating with her students. They，too，are primarily deaf or hard of hearing. That's why all classes at Gallaudet are taught in American Sign Language. Solomon also has an active life outside the classroom. She especially enjoys hiking，biking and other activities with her family.

Her research takes her to the Anacostia River. "It is very close to Gallaudet，and I easily bring my students there，"she says. Water running through local forests and marshes drains into this river，so does water running off urban streets，golf courses and industrial sites." The river's watershed（流域）kind of concentrates all the things that happen when humans mess with the natural landscape，"she explains. Not surprisingly，this river has developed a reputation for being quite polluted.

Solomon has been focusing on how pollutants affect tiny organisms that form the base of the river's food web. "I am now looking at the bacteria population，" she says，"to see what types there are."

Solomon wants to see more students who are deaf or have other disabilities make a difference in environmental science and other fields. As she often says, "If I can do it, you can do it."

Grandpa’s Investment Pays Off

When I was a student, my family went through a few rough financial years. We _______, but with much effort and many worries.

I had a pick-up truck that was _______ breaking down and the thought of the 600 km drive to school in it was a（n）_______ one. As I drove away from home one day, my uncle walked up. I stopped and he _______something onto my dashboard（仪表板）.

He leaned against the window, speaking softly. “Years ago,” he said, “when I was a _______ student myself your grandfather once did this to me. I _______ one day I would return the _______. And now I have.”

Then he _______ without looking back, and I _______ he did so in order to hide his emotions.

A few miles later I opened the __________. It contained a few bank notes. It was a gift __________ more than two decades later to a second generation; it is almost like a full circle, __________ I’m the only one who bears my grandfather’s name. The amount（金额）was not large. Twenty years ago it had been __________ to buy a full trolley of groceries，or a few tanks of fuel. At this moment it was just a（n）__________, something to express his good intentions. But my uncle was jobless at the time and I almost had no money. Therefore for both of us, it was a（n）__________ amount.

I paid it forward some years later to another poor boy with an old car, __________ the amount for inflation（通货膨胀）. As far as I can __________ that boy has been the only one I’ve told this __________ to-until now. I can only __________ that one day he will pay it forward too.

I couldn’t help but feel that Grandpa made a good __________ all those years ago.

What to Do when You’re Falling Behind

When I was a kid, it took me longer to learn how to ride a bike. I kept using a bike with training wheels and I didn’t _______ much, so of course I didn’t learn how to balance.

One day I _______ that my sister, 2.5 years younger than me, was getting close to _______ how to ride a bike. She wasn’t quite there yet, but she was _______ much closer to balancing than I was. I couldn’t let her _______ me to it!

So I took my bike, _______ it out to the street, and decided that I was going to learn how to ride it right now. I _______ the training wheels, jumped on, and swerved (突然转向) all over the place like an out-of- control madman. I tried to stay near the grass when I could get some degree of _______, so when I fell, I’d _______ fall to the lawn instead of the street or sidewalk.

After many attempts, I finally learned how to ________ Then I rode my bike a lot that summer and have had the ________ ever since.

Up until that point, I’d been making a big deal out of the whole process. It seemed ________ and discouraging. I was afraid of falling. But once I began to face the fear and ________ the courage to risk getting hurt, I quickly showed my ________ ability on the other side with a whole new skill. From the moment of making the decision to the time I ________ to get the basic skill it probably took me less than an hour.

What finally ________ me to face the fear and take action? It was the ________ that I was falling behind. My sister was leaving me in the dust. She could ride ________ I couldn’t. I really didn’t want that to happen.

I had no idea that I could learn to ride a bike so quickly. The feeling of falling behind served as a powerful motivator (动力). ________ trying to hide the disappointment, I allowed myself to feel the weight of that pressure. I used the ________ feeling to motivate myself to take action.