Ever since I was little, my favorite season was winter. I loved to play in the snow and enjoy the hot chocolate.   1  , winter never gave me the special gift of snow on my birthday. I would ask my grandmother  2  it didn’t snow on my birthday. She would laugh and tell me I asked too many questions.   3  one day, she promised that she would make it snow on my next birthday.
That year,   4  my birthday, my grandmother died. I was sad but angry because she had promised to make it snow. The day of my sixth birthday, I woke up and ran to the window,   5  to see just one snowflake. But there was no snow. I felt mad at my grandmother. She had broken a promise.
By my sixteenth birthday, I   6  all hope of getting my snow, even though I still wished for 7 . During my party, I stayed with my friends and family and was truly happy. I   8  the best time ever! Then I saw the white snow   9  down all around. I was so excited that I ran around screaming and laughing. My friends all laughed   10  me, but I didn’t care.
When I   11  home, my grandpa said he had a gift for me. I was   12  because he had given me a gift. It was a small white box, which looked old. I opened it. There was a crystal snowflake(水晶雪花) with a card that   13  , “Happy Birthday.”
How could this be? My grandpa said it was my grandmother’s final   14  on my “sweet sixteenth”. I cried.
I was   15  that my smiling grandmother angel was and had been watching over me.

Ever since 1 was little, my favorite season was winter. I loved to play in the snow and enjoyed the hot chocolate. 
  1 , winter never gave me the special gift of snow on my birthday. I would ask my grandmother  2 it didn’t snow on my birthday. She would laugh and tell me I asked too many questions.   3 one day, she promised that she would make it snow on my next birthday.
That year,   4 my birthday, my grandmother died. I was sad but angry because she had promised to make it snow. The day of my sixth birthday, I woke up and ran to the window, hoping to see just one snowflake(雪花). But there was no   5  . I felt mad at my grandmother. She had broken a promise.
By my sixteenth birthday, I   6 all hope of getting my snow, even though I still wished for it.
During my party, I stayed with my friends and family and was truly    7 . I  8 the best time ever! Then I saw the white snow   9 down all around. I was so excited that I ran around screaming and laughing. My friends all laughed   10 me, but I didn’t care.
When I   11 home, my grandpa said he had a gift for me. I was   12 because he had given me a gift. It was a small white box, which looked old. I opened it. There was a crystal snowflake(冰晶雪花)with a card that    13 , “Happy Birthday.”
How could this be? My grandpa said it was my grandmother’s final   14 on my “sweet sixteenth”. I cried.
I was   15 that my smiling grandmother angel was and had been watching over me.

Ever thought of moving to a new country? How about starting a new country? Patri Friedman is planning to do just that. He left Google years ago to set up the Seasteading Institute. And his dream is to build seasteads-----floating micro-nations in the middle of the ocean.
So, what will life on a seastead be like? Probably a bit like life on a cruise liner (游轮), but much larger, with shops, gyms, swimming pools, schools and other areas. In fact, the early seasteads may actually be specially-rebuilt cruise liners. But as science advances, Friedman believes they’ll become more like floating cities, with several hundred people.
Seasteading raises a lot of questions. First of all, how will the new countries make money? The Seasteading Institute has suggested several money-making ideas, including ocean-based theme parks, casinos (赌场) and fish farming. There’s also the questions of safety. With storms, typhoons and pirates (海盗) , the high seas are a dangerous place. However, the Institute says that it can stand bad weather and prevent crimes with its well-designed systems.
So, is this just a day dream? Well, maybe not. One of the people behind the project is Peter Thiel. He founded PayPal and was one of the first investors (投资者) in Facebook. So far, he’s donated $ 500,000 to the project.
And Friedman isn’t wasting any time. He recently announced the creation of the Poseidon Award. This will be given to the first seastead with fifty people. Friedman is hoping to hand out the award in 2015.
【小题1】Where did Friedman use to work?

—________.
— Ever since last week.