I became a magician by accident. When I was nine years old, I learned1to make a coin disappear. I'd read The Lord of the Rings and went into the 2 to look for a book about spells(魔法). Nine was a strange age when you were3enough to think that you might find a book of real, actual magic in the library. But in fact, the book I 4taught me something about magic, and l spent the next months practicing.

At first, the magic wasn't any 5. It wasn't even magic; it was only a trick—a bad trick. I6hours each day in the bathroom running through the secret moves in front of the mirror. l dropped the coin thousands of7 in a day, and after two weeks of this, my mom got a carpet and placed it under the mirror to lower the sound of the coin8again and again.

I heard my dad play pieces of new music on the piano, 9 I knew how to practice—slowly, going for precision (精确) rather than speed. One day I tried the magic in the mirror and the 10disappeared. It did not look like a magic trick. It11 like a miracle.

One of the lessons I learn very early as a magician is that the most 12part of a trick has nothing to do with the secret. The secret is simple: a hidden piece of tape, a small mirror, a special playing card. In this case, the13was a series of tricks to hide the coin behind my hand in the act of opening it, a dance of the fingers that I learned so14 that I didn't even have to think. I would close my hand, then 15it, and the coin would disappear not by skill but by real magic.

Life is full of the unexpected. This is even true for a small pet dog. A dog called Romeo has been pulled from the rubble (瓦砾) in an earthquake, more than nine days after he was given up for dead.

On August 24, 2016, a terrible earthquake happened in Italy. The earthquake made millions of people lose their houses, killing at least 250 people and hurting more than 360 people.

Romeo's owners were sleeping on the second floor of their house when the earthquake happened. They managed to get out. But Romeo, who was sleeping on the first floor, was trapped inside. They tried their best to search for Romeo, but failed. After a few hours, they had to leave the village for their own safety.

All hope of finding Romeo alive seemed to disappear until Friday evening. That night the couple returned to their home with a group of firemen. Almost as soon as they came into the village, Romeo heard their voices and began barking(吠叫).

The couple couldn't believe their ears. The firemen began digging at once where the barking was coming from and got to the dog. It was lucky that the dog was in pretty good condition. He looked like he had just woken from a short sleep.

Appearing completely relaxed, the dog drank his first drops of water in more than 230 hours from a bottle held by one of the firemen.

As it became clear that he didn't get hurt, the fireman put him down. When Romeo's owners saw him, they couldn't help crying. "We thought we had lost him forever!" said one of Romeo's owners. Then Romeo left happily with his owners who had given up hope of finding him alive.

The discovery of Romeo also cheered those firemen. "We believe there must be many more that are still alive. We'll try our best to save them. "