Ma Yun became one of 1 men in China when his company Alibaba went on the stock market last year with a value of around 140 billion — the largest public offering in history. Here are some stories about him 2 to success.

Ma made his 3 trip to the US in 1995 and used the Internet for the first time. After 4 "beer", he saw that no results came up about China. Then he searched for "China" and still saw no results. He decided 5. A Chinese website — the seed for Alibaba was sown (播种)。

    Ma said he 6 many times in his life. He failed the College Entrance Examination in China three times and 7 companies offered him jobs, including one at KFC. And he was refused by the famous Harvard University 10 times.

    8 was difficult to learn English when Ma was a teenager 9 limited resources. 10, he found that he could learn English well by giving tourists free guides around his hometown Hangzhou. And he kept it 11 nine years. Ma said 12 new world for him because everything they said and did was so different for what he had been taught at school and by his parents.

    Ma's hero is Forest Gump 13 never gives up. When he made a speech about his 14. At Davos (达沃斯论坛) in 2015, Ma said, "Life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you 15."

    When it comes to November 11, the young generations will consider it as the Singles' Day as well as the online shopping carnival (狂欢节).

    Online shopping has been much more 1 especially after Jack Ma, the CEO of Tmall and Taobao, had the idea of "Double Eleven". The 2 of online shopping include cheaper pieces, fast searching, comparing between products, and saving time. Before the shoppers make their decisions, they can check 3 and recommendations about the products from other buyers. It is truly global so people can buy the best products from all over the world. Distance is no longer a 4 because most sellers provide an express service (快递服务) and goods will be sent straight to the door 5. You don't even need to 6 out of your house or go to the shops. You can stay at home with a nice cup of tea and just click your mouse to choose the article you like.

    Online shopping is very 7, but there is always a trap. Shoppers who buy products online are 8 that the products may be different from what they have expected. Online shopping has proved to be 9 enough. Online shoppers have to fill in their personal information and credit card information, which can be stolen and used by skillful hackers. It will increase the risk of losing money.

    So we should be 10 enough to avoid these problems when we enjoy online shopping.

    "Mom, I'm bored," said Jason. "There is nothing to do." "You can clean your room," said Mom. "That's not fun." It was only the second week of summer vacation. It was still too chilly to go to the pool, and Jason was tired of watching TV. His friends went on a trip, and even his dog, Riley, was being lazy.

    Mom was getting ready to go downtown to the food kitchen to help out. She volunteered three times a week serving lunch to people that weren't as lucky as Jason. "Why don't you come with me to the food kitchen and help out?" Mom asked. "I don't know anything about working at a food kitchen," said Jason. "You just watch me, and then you will see how to serve the food," said Mom.

    It was time to go, and Jason was excited to try working in the food kitchen. He watched his mom put some chicken on a plate and some mashed potatoes. She then passed the plate to the next lady, and she put some green beans and bread on the plate. "I can do that," thought Jason. One of the volunteers left early, so Jason took his place in the serving line. He was in charge of putting salad on the plates. He served twenty-five people that day. After the kitchen closed, Jason and his mom stayed to clean up. "That was great!" said Jason.

    Jason was so excited and really enjoyed his day at the food kitchen. He couldn't wait to get home and tell his dad about how much fun he had. "Not only did it give me something to do, but I felt so good doing it," Jason told his dad. "Jason, that was nice thing you did today," said Dad. "You helped many people who aren't as lucky as you to have a hot meal," Mom said. "I am so proud of you, Jason! You worked very hard.

    Jason went to bed that night thinking about the food kitchen. "I am going to help out again," he thought. Jason made some new friends, and he didn't even know they lived so close to him in town! The best part was how good Jason felt inside.

    It is said that more than four million people die each year from smoking. That number is increasing. Seven in ten of those deaths are in developing countries. These numbers are frightening.

    Yet people around the world continue to smoke. The Great American Smokeout has been founded for twenty-five years to show the dangers of smoking and provide support for people who decide to stop smoking. The American Cancer Society says all cigarettes damage the body. It warns that smoking even a small number of cigarettes is dangerous. It is not easy to give up smoking forever. However, doctors say they probably will live longer if they do stop smoking. They will feel better and look better. They also will protect the health of family members who breathe their smoke.

    The American Cancer Society says there is not just one right way to stop smoking. Any useful way to stop smoking is worth trying. They may take long walks or spend time in places where smoking is not allowed. Also, they could eat a small piece of fruit instead of having a cigarette.

    The American Cancer Society says the sooner smokers stop smoking, the more they can reduce their chances of getting cancer and other diseases. It says blood pressure returns to normal twenty minutes after smoking the last cigarette. Carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) gas levels in the blood return to normal after eight hours. After one day, the chance of heart attack decreases. After one year, the risk of heart disease for a non-smoker is half that of a smoker.

Stop smoking before smoking stops you!

    My name is Jack. When my family moved to America in 2014 from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs as well as culture. One of the rules is that young people always respect elders. This rule, unfortunately, led to my very first embarrassment in America.

    I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive Americans are and how they dislike the description "old". I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.

    In my village, however, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.

    However, in the United States, people think "growing old" is a problem since "old" shows that a person is going to retire or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn't want to hear.

    After that, I changed the way I had been with senior citizens. It is not that I don't respect them anymore; I still respect them, but now I don't show my feelings through words.

    Suppose you work in a big company and find English very important for your job. Now you are looking for a place where you can improve your English, especially your spoken English.

    Here are some advertisements about English language training from newspapers. You may find the information you need.

    Have you ever taken photos by using mobile phones with selfie sticks (自拍杆)?       

    However, a pair of US artists from New Mexico, Arie Snee and Justin Crowe believe they have invented a better one and they call it "selfie arm".        It makes those people in the pictures seem to be holding hands with a love one.

The pair say it offers a far better experience than using a straight stick. The selfie arm makes people feel they are not alone when they take photos.        They think their invention solves the main problem that the selfie stick has – people look alone while they are taking pictures of themselves with great interests. The product, at present, just an art project and a model, conveniently provides you a welcoming arm.        The pair say they are fascinated by these new ideas.

    The "selfie are" is made of fiberglass.       

    The project that they work on shows the growing selfie stick phenomenon (现象) directly and increasing need for narcissism (自恋) and Internet agreement.

Parents always        their children               computer games.

It        students at least an hour               exercise every day.

                     city Hangzhou is! Many visitors come here from all over the world.

A computer                      him by his father as a birthday present on his birthday.

Teacher asked him        he        no time going over his lesson.

Our couch                      the result of the match in the end.

My room                             hers.

注意：词数80词左右；注意申请信开头及结尾要自然流畅；注意时态和人称。

Dear Mr Lin,

Yours sincerely,

Liming