Alia Baker is a librarian in Iraq. Her library used to be a 1place for all who loved books and liked to share knowledge. They 2 various matters all over the world. When the war was near, Alia was3that the fires of war would destroy the books, which are more4 to her than mountain of gold. The books are in every language — new books, ancient books, 5 a book on the history of Iraq that is seven hundred years old.
She had asked the government for6to move the books to a 7place, but they refused. So Alia took matters into her own hands. 8, she brought books home every night,9her car late after work. Her friends came to 10her when the war broke out. Anis who owned a restaurant 11 to hide some books. All through the12 , Alia, Anis, his brothers and neighbours took the books from the library, 13them over the seven-foot wall and14them in the restaurant. The books stayed hidden as the war15. Then nine days laters, a fire burned the16to the ground.
One day, the bombing stopped and the17 left. But the war was not over yet. Alia knew that if the books were to be safe, they must be 18 again while the city was 19. So she hired a truck to bring all the books to the houses of friends in the suburbs(郊区). Now Alia waited for the war to end and 20 peace and a new library.
