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1. The Time of LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He is remembered for many things, including his log-cabin home, his absurd looking clothing accessory, a top-hat, but Lincoln‟s absolute most important contribution to America‟s history was to abolish slavery, a very hard task to accomplish at that time. In the middle of the 19th century, America was split by an abstract border. The country was cut into two parts: the North and the South. There were an abundance of differences which caused this abnormal separation. For instance, the North held all of the Universities and Military Academies whereas in the South, access to such institutions was limited. Also, Northerners spoke standard American English while Southerners spoke with a Southern accent. But the largest difference that abound between the North and the South at that time was slavery and all of the aspects that accompanied it.The North thought that the South should abandon slavery because mint most cases, slaves faced daily abuse from their owners. Most Northerners tried to abide by the rule that “All men are created equal.” These reasons largely account for the American Civil War. The Civil War was a long, brutal war with a very high casualty rate. Many young men from both the North and the South were killed on the battlefield; the death toll was also accelerated by the fact that small Army hospitals could not accommodate so many wounded soldiers.The Civil War was filled with heroes on both sides of the battlefield. Names like U.S.Grant, General Sherman, and the acclaimed Southern General Robert E. Lee. All of these men fought bravely and made harrowing decisions on their own accord. But Lincoln is probably most often associated with his leadership of the country during this difficult period. He was a firm believer that slavery was wrong and he fought hard to stop it. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which legally granted freedom to all slaves living in America. But in 1865, Lincoln‟s life came to an abrupt ended while he was watching a play at Ford‟s Theater in Washington D.C. His death was not an accident; he was assassinated by a man named John Wilkes Booth.Not long after Lincoln‟s death, the North defeated the South and the Civil War was ended. The South was no longer thought of as another country, but part of America. And all of the slaves living and working in the South were freed and absorbed into society.2. Mike — a Story of Personal ChangeMike could hardly be described as your typical adolescent. He would casually acknowledge to his few friends that he liked to watch DVDs, although perhaps a more accurate description was that he was a DVD addict. Over the last six months, Mike had accumulated thousands of DVDs. When he was not at school, he had become accustomed to spending his time wandering the streets of the city, acquiring more and more films. Indeed, it became a joke that if asked for his address, he would give the address of the DVD shop adjacent to our school since he spent so much time there.Mike hated attending school. In his eyes, its only advantage was its location. During lessons, he adopted a rather cool demeanor towards most of his classmates and was often accused of being aloof. All he seemed concerned about was adding to his DVD collection. In truth, Mike had not adapted to life at the school very well. Perhaps he felt that he still needed adequate time to adjust to a new environment although no one could work out why he harbored such an acute feeling of self-pity.As someone who also adores watching films, I had slowly become acquainted with Mike. I had often seen him in the DVD shop which adjoined our school, yet it took a long time before he responded to my advances of friendship. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say we were actually friends, although he would at least acknowledge my presence with a cursory nod of the head when he saw me.One day, I was asked to administrate our school‟s new film club. I was a little wary about asking Mike to help me select su itable films in case he said no. however, I needn‟t have worried. Mike‟s face lit up as he scrutinized a poster I had just adhered to the wall. The poster advertised the grand opening of the Film Club the following week. ...Hey David,‟ he muttered excitedly, (I)want to be involved with that.‟The change in Mike‟s behavior over the next month was dramatic. I have no doubt that it was the Film Club which activated the turnaround. Once a boy who spent most of his time sulking, Mike was now a model student. Before each film was shown, he would give a very informative speech about the director and main actors. Everyone was impressed by his knowledge and passion for films and he suddenly became extremely popular at school.3. SaltNow that Billy‟s parents were a little more affluent, the family had agreed that they could a cottage on the out skirts of town. Although the cottage was somewhat old-fashioned, the agent who rented the place to them was keen to advocate that they should not install air-conditioning as they could air-condition the place by opening the skylights. The day that they moved, the air was heavy with the advent of spring, a sense of renewal accompanied them along the way; Billy and the old dog Rufus watched the amazing aerial gymnastics of the swallows out of the car window, browsing through the family album every now and then. When they arrived, a group of men were unloading the van. Billy thought looking around the new surroundings should be placed high on their agenda, so he whistled to Rufus and they set off on an adventure. They found a small footpath, Rufus showing his excitement and his affection for Billy by panting and wagging his tail. Billy was at an age when he could still feel a sense of aesthetic excitement at the beauty of nature. The adverse effects of those years in the city seemed to vanish as he walked, and with Rufus as his affiliate he felt invincible. However, he had reckoned without Rufus. They rounded a bend in the path and suddenly, in the next field, they saw sheep. Rufus knew a good game when he saw one, he ran straight into the field, baking aggressively. Just then, a man in green boots stepped out and in an equally aggressive manner started to shout at Rufus to get out of the field. With a sense of alarm, Billy realized that the man was carrying a shotgun and he saw him level it and take aim at Rufus.“Please don‟t shoot”, yelled Billy, but this seemed to aggravate the man still more. The gun went off and Rufus howled in agony. He ran helter-skelter back to Billy with his tail between his legs. The man strode over to Billy.“Those sheep are pregnant”, the man said, angrily. “If you agitate them they can lose their lambs. I will affirm my right to kill any dog that chases them.”“I agree”, said Billy. “And I‟m sorry, please; help me get Rufus to a vet!”“I don‟t think your dog will need a vet this time”, said them man, “the gun was only loaded with salt. But next time, keep him on a lead, okay?”4. Freshman YearI was born in a small town, up in the mountains. Because of the high altitude, few people lived there. I was always amid my neighbors and friends, people I had known for all of my life. When I was in my hometown, I felt like those days would last forever. But the days went by quickly, and soon I found myself packing my bags for college. I was full of ambition, and had applied to go to university in a big city.When I first got to my university, I was on the alert for everything. I felt very much alone without my family and friends. I was like an alien arriving on a new planet. I felt like an ambassador from another world. Once classes started, things were better. I was busier, because I had to allocate most of my time to studying. I wanted to work hard, and did not allow my self to go to a large amount of parties.I wanted to find an alternate social life that would let me have fun, without always drinking alcohol, like some university students do. Many people allege that this is why some students get bad grades their first year at university.Because I felt very ambiguous about what I wanted to study, I took many different classes. I tried many different things, but still hadn‟t found the perfect match for me. This made me feel even more lost at school, and I knew I had to find a way to amend things. In order to make new friends, and alleviate my loneliness, I joined the drama club at my school. It was there I met my first ally. The president of the drama club was an older student, named Betty. She was quite amiable, and helped give me advice about school. She helped me to alter my schedule so that I had the best classes.Soon our drama club put on its first show. It was a comedy, full of jokes to amuse the audience. My parents and friends even drove out to watch me. We were only amateur actors, but I think we did a good job. After the show, my father said, “Sarah, you amaze me, I didn‟t know you were so good at acting!” such ample praise made me very proud. That was when I realized what I wanted to be, an actress.5. Story of the VikingsJerry had been interested in ancient history since he was a little child. Every night before going to bed, his grandfather would tell him stories of great civilizations like the Romans, the Vikings, the Incas and many others. These short anecdotes and stories always involved great kings and leaders, great wars and battles, and great heroes and foes. However, a story that had anything to do with the fierce Vikings was always J erry‟s favorite. He was most interested in these stories because his grandfather had analyzed their family tree a nd discovered that the family‟s ancestors were actually Vikings.Every day at school, Jerry would wonder what story his grandfather would tell him that night.. He was always anxious to come home so that he could see his grandfather and hear the next story. Apart from the action of each story, J erry‟s grandfather also tried to teach Jerry a life-lesson that he could apply in his life. Jerry‟s grandfather often accomplished this by using analogies to compare Jerr y‟s life with some thing from that day‟s story. The story that Jerry enjoyed the most was about an annual fishing trip that the Vikings made each year on a certain anniversary. in this story, the captain of a large Viking ship decided to set sail without bringing their large, heavy anchor because they did not anticipate the trip taking a long time and they wanted more room for all of the fish too because the Vikings had a strong appetite for fish.Some of the Vikings on the ship were appalled at the decision of not bringing an anchor because of the apparent danger of not bringing one. They thought the ship was anything but safe. These men appealed to the captain of the ship and one man even wrote an anonymous letter to the king of theVikings asking that an anchor be put on the ship. But the captain of the ship announced that they were leaving the next day. This answer annoyed several of the Viking crew, but they listed to their captain and set sail.Not long after setting sail, the Viking ship encountered a large storm. The ship was being badly damaged and the captain felt anguish because they needed the large anchor at this moment. Soon after the storm ended, the captain apologized to his crew for not listening to them and promised to buy all of them a bottle of beer when they returned home. Although the crew of the ship was still wet and tired from the storm, they applauded when they heard the captain apologize.6. The Young Police ChiefJim had been appointed as the police chief of his local division—an appointment that he took very seriously as he se cretly aspired to ascend to become the leader of the entire city‟s police department. His promotion had not met with the approval of everyone within the department, because although he was an apt leader who did not ask too much of his men, many did not appreciate his somewhat arrogant methods when dealing with the senior members of the police force. As one of the youngest police chiefs ever, his promotion was considered by many of the older policemen an assault on the way thing had always been done, and they were very apprehensive at an array of new programs that Jim had installed within the department. They considered him to be an outsider who had come ashore without spending an appropriate amount of time on the police force before being promoted.Sal, one of the oldest members of the force, took Jim aside to ascertain whether Jim was aware that there might be problems ahead. “It‟s not that we don‟t approve of the job that you are doing”, Sal said, “but your promotion at such a young age has aroused the cur iosity of what if is that makes you deserving of such a position. We need time to appraise your performance.” Jim was a very articulate young man, and there was nothing artificial about him. He decided to speak to all of the men as a group before any more problems could arise. “I understand yo ur concerns, but I assure you that the commissioner‟s decision to appoint me as your leader was not an arbitrary one”, Jim said confidently to the group. “I am not ashamed of my young age, and I hope that you will give me time to prove to you that I am worthy of being your police chief.” at that very moment, the sound of gunfire was heard outside as an assault began on the bank across the street—the criminal had very foolishly chosen to approach a bank very close to a police station. Jim was the first policeman to run outside and approach the gunman. His apt ability in dealing with such a dangerous situation was apparent to everyone. Within approximately two minutes, he had arrested the bank robber. Jim had not only prevented a crime, but he had also earned the respect and appreciation for his fellow officers, who now felt ashamed that had ever questioned his leadership abilities.7. Accident on Elm StreetThe junction between Elm Street and Beech Street was an accident black spot. It was easy to assume that no one would be coming the other way, and if a driver was not attentive enough he could easily come to grief. People attributed this to the fact that children would often assemble at the junction, making it hard for drivers to assess the traffic situation. Local residents would often assert that the only way to make the junction safe would be to augment the poorly lit stop signs with a set of lights, or at the very least, to assign a lollipop person to the junction at the times when children were going to and from school.The local police were sympathetic to these requests, but to no avail. They claimed they lacked theauthority to install a set of lights. Things had been tight since the previous year‟s local governme nt audit, and funds were unlikely to be forthcoming. However, they would, when asked, frequently assure the questioner that they hoped the government would soon augment their budget and allow them increased autonomy in making financial decisions, in which case dealing with the Elm Street junction would be a top priority. Many people pointed out that simply to wait for the government to act was pointless, that maybe a set of traffic lights could be purchased cheaply in an auction, or that a lollipop person, besides making the junction safer for the children, would cheer the place up and be an authentic asset to the community. But it seemed that for ordinary people to suggest improvements to their own community merely served to astonish the police.The matter was settled in a rather unlikely fashion. At the beginning of March a collision occurred between the Chief of Police and the auxiliary fire service chief who was speeding to attend a fire. The Chief of Police saw the accident coming and sounded his horn to give aural warning of his approach, but the auxiliary fir service chief was already attempting to avoid a small boy and was unable to assimilate the warning signals in time. The auxiliary fire service chief and his associate, who was in the back seat, were unhurt. The chief of police, however, was slightly concussed. he got out of his vehicle and staggered around with a slightly bemused expression on his face, as though he was about to attain nirvana, after which he spent twenty minutes trying to attach a parking ticket to the hole where the fireman‟s windscreen had been.81. The Missing CatChristina and Patrick baker stood outside their empty house. They watched the moving company work, packing the last cardboard boxes in the large truck. They were ready to go, but their cat Nutty was nowhere to be found. Nutty had decided to withdraw and had hidden himself in the woods behind his owner‟s house. Now it was time to go, and his owner were beginning to wonder where he was. The removal company wasn‟t will ing to wait any more, so Christina and Patrick got into the truck. Making a decision that would wrench their hearts, they left their cat behind.Their new house, across the town from their old house, was a lot beautiful. But Christina and Patrick were not happy. Nutty was worth a lot to them, they missed him greatly. Christina had given the cat as a present to Patrick on their first Christmas together. That day they laughed and laughed watching the small bundle of fur wrap himself up in a bit of wire that he had got from their Christmas wreath. He had wound himself up while wrestling with the wire, and was now unable to move, and were beginning to worship Nutty, and the joy he brought to them.Unable to withstand a life without their favorite friend, the couple made a plan. They sat down to write a flyer. They wrote about their missing cat, and taped a photo of Nutty to the flyer. Then they went to xerox copies of the flyer. They drove back to their old neighborhood, and stuck the flyers up on telephone poles and in the local store.Sadly, the flyer did not yield the results they had been looking for. Not one single witness stepped forward to offer a word of information about their cat. However, a few days later they were outside of their new house when they heard a strange sound. They turned around and saw Nutty running towards them meowing! Somehow Nutty had followed their zigzag path, acrossevery major zone of the city, and made it to their home. Christina and Patrick embraced their cat with zeal. Of course the cat was a wreck due to the journey. Someone or something had wounded him. He looked wretched, but they loved every wrinkle. They praised the cat for his bravery and wit. They hadn‟t found him, but he had found them!。