While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, nor a world record broken, but a show of someone's strong determination to win.

The event was a swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them made mistake when they started, so they were kicked out. That would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is what's important.

I watch the man jump into the water and knew right away that something was wrong. Now I'm not an expert swimmer but I do know a good jump from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he was swimming, the crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

      I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man that was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. He tried his best, but clearly he was exhausted.

       But when they saw the man keeping on trying , they stopped laughing and beginning to cheer. Some even to stand and say: “Come , you can do it!” and “ Go for it！”

       A few minutes later ,this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

       Just a short year ago, he had never swam, let alone raced. His country had been asked to Sydney as manners.

       In a competition where players remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch this game.

       A man that gave his all-knowing that he had no chance, but competed because of the spirit of the games.

While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, nor a world record broken, but a show of someone's strong determination to win.

The event was a swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them made mistake when they started, so they were kicked out. That would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is what's important.

I watch the man jump into the water and knew right away that something was wrong. Now I'm not an expert swimmer but I do know a good jump from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he was swimming, the crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

      I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man that was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. He tried his best, but clearly he was exhausted.

       But when they saw the man keeping on trying , they stopped laughing and beginning to cheer. Some even to stand and say: “Come , you can do it!” and “ Go for it！”

       A few minutes later ,this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

       Just a short year ago, he had never swam, let alone raced. His country had been asked to Sydney as manners.

       In a competition where players remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch this game.

       A man that gave his all-knowing that he had no chance, but competed because of the spirit of the games.

    The Republic of Ireland is full of history and culture. Here are some great tourist attractions waiting for you to visit. Come and have fun!

      CHICAGO- Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap, heating up your legs? If so, you might want to rethink that habit from now on. Doing it a lot can lead to “toasted skin syndrome (症状)”, an unusual-looking spotted skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure (暴露), according to medical reports.

       In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy from California developed a skin discoloration on his left lap after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months. “He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however, he did not change its position,” Swiss researches reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

      Another similar case is a Virginia law student who needed treatment for the spotted darkening on her leg. Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer placed on her lap. As Dr. Salkey later learnt, the temperature under the laptop could reach 51 degrees. That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.

The condition can also be caused by overuse of heating pads (垫子) and other heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's generally harmless but can also cause such permanent (永久的) skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not mention any skin cancer cases linked to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case under the laptop if you have to hold it on your lap.

      Dr. Kimberley Salkey said that under the microscope, the affected skin is similar to skin damaged by long-term sun exposure.

      Major producers including Apple and Dell warn against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for long periods of time because of the risks for burns. In the past, “toasted skin syndrome” has happened to workers whose jobs require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass blowers, and in people who gathered near hot stoves to stay warm.

Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said that it's unlikely that computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid close skin contact (接触) with laptops.

      Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One early morning, I   1 a call for a taxi. When I arrived at the building, it was 2:30 a.m. and I found the building was dark except for the only light in a first floor window.

Many drivers would just shout once or twice and then drove away, but I thought this 2 might need my help. So I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a 3 , elderly voice. After a long time, the door opened. A small old man showed up before me, 4 a small bag. He kept thanking me for my 5 . “It's nothing,” I told him.

“Oh, you're such a good man.” He said. When we got into the taxi, he gave me a (an) 6, and then asked, “Could you drive through the city center?”

“But it wasn't the 7 way.” I answered quickly. “Oh, I'm in no hurry.” He said. “I'm on my way to a hospital. I don't have any family left. The 8 says I don't have much time left.”

      I   9   started the taxi and shut off the meter(计程器). For the next two hours, we drove  10   the city center. He showed me the building where he once worked. We drove past the church where he got married. He would never forget that happy moment. Sometimes he'd ask me to slow down in front of a building and would sit   11  the darkness for a long time, saying nothing. When the sun began to rise, we drove in silence to the address he had given me. When we arrived,   12 without thinking, I gave him a big hug. “You gave an old man a little moment of  13  . Thank you!” He said with tears in his eyes.

      I was completely lost in thought for the rest of the day. What would happen if I had refused to do   14  I did? We always think that there are no   15  moments in our lives, but great moments are just in what others may think small and unimportant ones.

    My father       ( work) in an office. There        two large windows in it. One day, a woman in a       (pass) car looks up and sees my father. My father waves his hands,        the woman waves back. This gives my father an idea.

  Later, he changes his way of        ( greet) people. He writes signs, like “Hello”        “Be happy”. Every afternoon when people go home from work, my father will greet them with the signs. Then they will give my father big smiles.

The day when I come into the world, my father puts a sign        the window, “I'm a new father!” To his        (surprise), some of people hold a sign saying, “Congratulations!”

  My father learns the        ( true) in the saying, “You smile, and the whole world smiles with you.” And he becomes        first one who greets strangers with signs every day.

周末学生会将组织一些志愿活动。请你发一封E-mail给学生会介绍自己个人特长，选择参加其中两项活动，谈谈你选择它们的原因以及你准备具体做些什么。字数80左右。

Dear Student Union,

……

Best regards,

      Mark