It was a bright spring afternoon when Freda told me she wouldn’t need me any more. I had just finished my four-hour work － 36  up and down the stairs of her three-storey home, cleaning the floor and washing the dished. She was  37 jeans and a sweater. Sitting at the table I had just   38 a pile of papers spread around her. Her husband’s 39   was going to be reduced by thirty percent. And they were trying to live as if it had 40  happened. I felt sorry for her, but I also felt a sense of   41 .
I had been cleaning Freda’s house for five years and had   42  an unexpected relationship with the family. It was not just   43  I had become an expert at scraping（刮掉）dirt stuck to their wooden floor.   44  that I had learned exactly how to place toys on the girls’ beds. It was   45  than that, for I felt I had become a part of their    46 .
Freda stayed at home with the kids,   47 I would often see her in the morning 48
them to school. And I’d be there when they   49  home at lunch for sandwiches and piano practice. I had   50  them grow up. Now I was fired, but the   51 thing was that I still wanted to keep scraping away the dirt and dust for the family.   
I left Freda’s  52  relationship with my clients（主顧）. Who am I  53 them? As a matter of fact. I’m   54  an employee － the lowest kind of employee. But I’m also a trusted  55  of the family. I can’t help worrying about what happens around me.

A man who knows how to write a personal letter has a very powerful tool. A letter can be enjoyed, read and   36 . It can set up a warm conversation between two people far apart (遠(yuǎn)離的);it can keep a   37  with very little effort.
I will give   38 .A few years ago my older brother and l were not getting   39 .We had been close as    40   but had grown apart. Our meetings were not   41 ; our conversation was filled with arguments and quarrels: and every effort to clear the air seemed to only   42  our misunderstanding. Then he   43  a small island in the Caribbean and we   44  touch. One day he wrote me a letter. He described his island and its people, told me what he was doing, said how he felt, and encouraged me to   45 . Rereading the letter, I was   46  by its humor（幽默）and clever expressions. These were all qualities for which I had   47  respected my older brother but   48  he no longer had them. I had never known he could write so  49  . And with that one letter we became friends   50 .
It might never have occurred to   51  to write me if he had not been in a place where there were no   52 . For him, writing was a necessity. It also turned out to be the best way for us to get back in touch. Because we live in an age of  53  communication（通訊）, people often   54  that they don’t always have to phone or email. They have a  55  . And that is to write.

When we think of green buildings, we tend to think of new ones-the kind of modern, solar-paneled masterpieces that make the covers of architecture magazines．But the US has more than 100 million existing homes, and it would be incredibly         to tear them all down and         them with greener versions．
An enormous amount of energy and resources went into the construction of those houses．And it would take an average of 65 years for the         carbon emissions (排放) from a(an) __    _ energy-efficient (節(jié)能) home to make up for the         lost by destroying an old one．
So in the broadest sense, the greenest home is the one that has already been built．But at the same time,          half of US carbon emissions come from heating, cooling and powering our          , offices and other buildings．"You can't deal with climate         without dealing with existing buildings," says Richard Moe, the president of the National Trust．
With some exceptions, the oldest homes tend to be the         energy-efficient．Houses built before 1939 use about 50% more energy per square foot than those built after 2000, mainly due to the tiny cracks and gaps that         over time and let in more outside        .
     ,there are a vast number of relatively simple changes that can green older homes, from       ones like Lincoln's Cottage to your own postwar home．And efficiency upgrades (升級) can save more than just the earth; they can help         property owners from rising power        .

As a teenager, I felt I was always letting people down. I was rebellious(叛逆)on the outside,      on the inside I wanted people to     .
Once I left home to hitchhike(搭便車)to California with my friend Penelope. The trip wasn’t     , and there were many times I didn’t feel safe. One situation in particular       me grateful to still be alive. When I returned home, I was different—not so outwardly sure of myself.
I was happy to be home. But then I noticed that Penelope, who was       with us, was wearing my clothes. And my       seemed to like her better than me. I wondered if I would be       if I weren’t there. I told my mom, and she explained that       Penelope was a lovely girl, no one could       me. I pointed out, “She is more patient and is neater than I have ever been.” My mom said these were wonderful      , but I was the only person who could fill my      . She made me realize that even with my      , —and they were many—I was a loved member of the family who couldn’t be replaced.
I became a searcher,       who I was and what made me unique. My       of myself was changing. I wanted a solid base to start from. I started to resist pressure to       in ways that I didn’t like any more, and I       who I really was. I came to feel much more       that no one can ever take my place.
Each of us       a unique place in the world. You are special, no matter what others say or what you may think. So       about being replaced. You       be.

When I was 8, a gentleman came to my orphanage(孤兒院) every week to lead us in woodworking projects. I remember the night that I finished my first project. It was a small table and I looked upon it as though I had created a life. I could        wait to give it to Mother Winters, our orphanage’s leader, as a       .
Since the tables’ coating was still       , the man asked us to wait a while before taking our tables to our dormitories. But I couldn’t wait. I dashed out the door in a       , carrying my table, smiling from ear to ear.
“It is very pretty,” Mother Winter smiled at me. When she touched the coating she noticed that it was still wet. Then she asked me why I had brought. I stood with       down. “Were you supposed to bring this home?” she asked. “No, ma’am, ” I said.
Mother Winters kicked the table over and all of the legs were        off. She made me throw the table outside. After Mother Winters left, I went out to get my little table. There was dirt all over it.        silently, I hid the ruined table in my closet. A year later I gave it to Mother Henderson, my houseparent, to       .
Thirty years later I learned Mother Henderson was living in Asheville, North Carolina, so I drove up to see her. She gently asked me to come down to her basement and help her get something       . “Do you remember that?” she asked,        into a dark corner. I did. I could not speak for fear of crying. “Roger, I want you to        it.” Mother Henderson gave me back the little        that I had given up for lost so long ago. She had kept it, never       if she would see me again.
Today, I look at the table with bittersweet memories. I think of when Mother Winters forced me to throw it away. But I am also      and joyful at the kindness of Mother Henderson, who kept it as a remembrance of a young orphan who tried very hard to       .

Our Future Homes
　What kinds of homes will we live         the future? Nobody can be sure,         architects, and scientists are         new ideas now.
　　Some architects are thinking about          whole cities under huge glass domes. Of course, complicated heating and        systems will be necessary to control the climate in the domes.        , there will never be any rain      snow, and the temperature will be always        .
　　Perhaps everyone will live in vertical（立體的）       . High rises are so large that they can contain all the necessities of life. Since vertical cities will use        land than horizontal cities, and provide homes for more people, they will be       for small countries that have     populations.
Another idea that will be helpful to        countries (and island countries) is
the      city. Monaco has already built homes, stores, and offices         the water of the Mediterranean Sea. And a Japanese       has made a plan for constructing buildings on bridges over Tokyo Bay.
　　There are some people who think we will go back to living in       . But the caves of the future will be quite      the caves of the Stone Age. Computers will control light and climate. Farms and parks will be on the land      the cave city. When people want to go to the country or to a park, a short ride in       will take them there.

Are supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more? When you enter a supermarket, the manager knows         than you do how you will behave — which        you will walk, where you will        , what will make you      one product rather than another. When customers go into a shop, they      look to their left       move  towards the right. So supermarket entrances are usually on the left of the building, and the arrangement is to take shoppers       the store ,aisle after aisle, from left to right. Then shoppers will pay attention to all the      .
Fresh fruit and        are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the        that only healthy food is sold in the shop.       foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea are put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods        they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are      to buy products that they do not really       .
People walk quickly through      aisles, but they move more slowly in wide aisles and give more attention to the products. One best-selling       for products is at the end of aisles, because shoppers        to turn into the next aisles.
Sweets are often placed at children’s        level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children        the sweets and put them in the trolley.
Customers buy more when shelves are      than when they are half empty because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.

People often fall ill because of me.   , they can hardly blame me; it is largely their own   . A tired person may get   , especially when he goes to crowded places with polluted air. A sudden change in   is another factor. In hot summer, people turn on the air-conditioner upon returning home. They will catch a cold easily.
My latest victim is an energetic student. After school, he played football hard for two hours. Though   , he still went to the cinema .Then he got back home and took a cold shower immediately.
I seized this golden chance to   him .He reacted, trying to   me , but I was already   deep in his throat. He kept sneezing（打噴嚏） and his nose was running.   he put on some warm clothes, it didn’t work, for there were too many of us. Besides, his sore throat kept   him, and he developed a cough to force me and my family out, but     .
The next day he couldn’t go to   . He had lost his appetite and was not as   as before. His mother made him orange juice every few hours for more vitamin C, which would help his   
For two days he was     by his mother. As he rested more, his defense strengthened and I began to feel the     . I knew I had to     him before long. But I am not the one who gives up easily, and I made every effort to fight back.   , it was my turn to feel    now, for his defense system was starting an all-out attack against me. I became    and finally my time was over.
Do you know what I am?

Tears slid down Ken's cheeks. Their newbom baby        was removed from life supprt, taken back to her and her  , Charlie. who held their baby. Austin was bom at 12:17 p.m. three months  than he should have been. The length of a school ruler. he weighed one pound. nine ounces. Doctors tried   that technology and medicine could offer at the     baby, but Austin did not respond well. Austin's lung tissue (組織) had probably   　 developing four weeks before. even still    . his mother, because of an accident Zero chance of    . It was time to let him go, and let him leave in his mother's arms － at peace and in no pain.
In the next few hours, Charlie's parents, and Ken's mother came to meet and say    Austin. Charlie and Keri       their eyes on the baby as he snuggled(依偎) into Keri's chest. The end, they believed. was coming 　 . Nurse Melissa walked in every so often to check Austin's        . If it was time for him t0      . his heart rate would begin to slow. After four hours,    , Austin was still breathing. His heart thumped(跳動) at a healthy 120 beats per       . He moved his head and wrapped his fingers and toes around the fingers of his         . Four hours became five, then six. Austin and his parents remained still     . Word about this baby had spread out. Everyone was talking about him. As the minutes and hours ticked away, Austin was going strong The tests showed a(n)      level of carbon dioxide in his blood. which meant he was       enough oxygen into his body. The clock passed midnight. Austin had       the next day. Miracle. a life miracle!