Alia Baker is a librarian in Iraq. Her library used to be a meeting place for all who loved books and liked to share knowledge. They 1 various matters all over the world. When the war was near, Alia was2that the fires of war would destroy the books, which are more 3 to her than mountain of gold. The books are in every language — new books, ancient books, 4 a book on the history of Iraq that is seven hundred years old.
She had asked the government for5to move the books to a safe place, but they refused. So Alia took matters into her own hands. Secretly, she brought books home every night, 6her car late after work. Her friends came to 7her when the war broke out. Anis who owned a restaurant 8 to hide some books. All through the night, Alia, Anis, his brothers and neighbours took the books from the library, 9them over the seven-foot wall and 10them in the restaurant. The books stayed hidden as the war11. Then nine days later, a fire burned the12to the ground.
One day, the bombing stopped and the soldiers left. But the war was not over yet. Alia knew that if the books were to be safe, they must be 13 again while the city was 14. 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 15 peace and a new library.
