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Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is one of the greatest French writers. He is famous for his great book À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, which means “remembering the past.”

In this book, Proust writes many stories of rich but unhappy people. These rich people think they should be well liked or loved. When they learn that they are not as popular as they think, they feel sad and try hard to be important in the eyes of others. That is why they always feel troubled and can never really enjoy their lives.

In contrast to the lives of those people in his book, the last fifteen years of Proust’s life shows one can still find joy in hard times. During those years, he was very sick and had to stay in bed most of the time. But in his sickroom he found most joy in writing À la Recherche du Temps Perdu and ended up being a great writer because of the book.

Jerry Stevens has been unhappy these months. He 25 a proud businessman of a successful shaved ice shop. His highest sales numbers were 1,899 plates a week; people called him “Ice King.” But all this changed when the cookie shop across the street started selling ice cream cookies. It took away half of his business.

And 26 when Dan, his dead sister’s only son, came to work for him.

Dan was a nice young man with a simple mind, too simple, maybe. He always let people try some shaved ice for free, but he never learned to see when “some” became “too much.” Many people came, but few bought. When the sales did not grow with the heat, Jerry started to worry. He wanted to send Dan home. But how could he? Dan had no family except him.

Then, one day, 27 . And it was from across the street. The cookie shop 28 a clerk. For Jerry, it was a great chance to get Dan out of his store without sending him home. After taking the shopkeeper to several nice dinners, Jerry got Dan the job.

Now Jerry could finally try and save his store. And maybe Dan would help by sending him a few people who are thirsty from eating too many cookies.

Robert likes to take a walk in the park after work. One day when he was walking in the park, he heard a woman calling his name. He stopped to look around, but didn’t see anything 32 . Shortly after Robert saw it, it was gone.

Though Robert felt a little strange, he did not think about it too much and sat down for a rest on a bench in the park. Then he noticed the snake he had just seen 33. Robert was too afraid to move away from the bench. Right at this moment, a woman behind him shouted, “Come here, Robert. You can’t stay on the bench like that. 34.”

In surprise, Robert turned around and said to the woman, “Excuse me, but that’s not a very nice thing to say, and in fact some people say I’m handsome.”

“I’m not talking to you,” said the woman. “I’m telling Robert, my pet snake, to get down from the bench, not you.”

Froggie was a frog who never remembered where he had been. His biggest dream was to find the best pond to swim freely without worrying about water snakes. One day, Froggie hopped to a kitchen and jumped into a pot full of hot water. Froggie felt the burning heat and hurried out of the water as fast as his legs could carry him. “I almost died there!” Froggie thought.

A few days later, Froggie went back to the same kitchen, totally forgetting he had been there. He again hopped into the same pot. This time, the water inside was cool. He looked around and thought, “There’s no water snake trying to eat me and I can have this place all to myself!” At that moment, Froggie knew it was his dream pond. What he didn’t know was that the water was warming up over a low heat.

After thirty minutes of swimming, Froggie felt the water was warmer but he thought of this as a nice surprise. “This sure is the best place for swimming. I get to have a hot bath, too.” During his comfortable bath, the water kept getting warmer and warmer. Froggie was so comfortable that he fell asleep. And he never woke up.

Playing computer games is fun. It has become very popular. Young people like to do it in their free time. Here are some important things you have to know when you play computer games.

First, you should learn English well. If your English is good enough, you can understand the computer games more clearly. Then you will play the games better than your friends.

Second, you should not buy illegal software. The fake copies are much cheaper, but they will easily hurt your computers.

Third, you should not spend too much time playing the games. That will make your eyes become weaker. Take a 10-minute rest after you play 50 minutes every time.

Follow these things and you can be a happy computer game player.