The Kings are my neighbors. They live in a big  (1)  .

Mrs. King is a beautiful woman. She has blue eyes and brown  (2)  . She is a healthy and smart 35-year-old  (3)  . She loves flower gardening (种花). Every morning she picks (摘) a flower and  (4)  it in her hair. Every morning, when I walk past her garden, she will get me a flower. Mr. King is a very nice man. He is  (5)  medium height and he is a little thin. His hair is short and black. I think he is nice  (6)  he always helps the neighbors. Mr. King is often busy with his work. He is a(n)  (7)  and he acts in TV shows and movies. In his  (8)  time, he likes playing tennis. It’s relaxing for him to play  (9)  . Mr. and Mrs. King have a daughter called Tina. She is about five years old. She has brown hair and blue eyes, too. Look! She is wearing a pink dress. Her mother makes it for her. The little girl likes going to the kindergarten (幼儿园). She always dances and sings on her  (10)  to the kindergarten. What a happy family!

It is around midnight when Louise wakes up. At first she doesn’t know what wakes her up, but suddenly she hears a noise. It is coming from downstairs(楼下). She is afraid and doesn’t want to get out of her bed because it is dark and she can’t see anything. She decides to go and find whatthe sounds are. She gets out of her bed and goes downstairs. It is very dark, so she has to walk slowly and carefully. She doesn’t want anybody to hear her.

The noise is coming out of the kitchen, so that is where she wants to go first. She puts her head around the door and sees a big shadow(影子). It looks like a tiger. Louise walks slowly into the kitchen, turns on the light and sees…

She sees her cat licking(舔) the milk off the floor. It knocks its bowl over and is now licking everything clean again. That is the noise.

She gets herself a glass of water and goes straight back to bed.

What time does Louise wake up?

Where is the noise coming from?

Why doesn’t she want to get out of bed?

What does she see when she puts her head around the door?

What does Louise see when she turns on the light?

One day, a friend of mine asked me a question, “Do you agree with the idea that life is fair?” His question was a good one. We   (1)   think that life should be fair, but we sometimes feel sorry for   (2)  . In fact, life is not fair and will not be fair.

When we say life isn’t fair, we   (3)   everyone is different. We look different and have different experiences. We can’t expect life to be perfect. Life is   (4)   we make it.

Patrick is an American-born Chinese. He broke his neck in an accident  (5)  the age of 13 and he has been in a wheelchair ever since. But he never   (6)  and went on studying. He overcame(克服) a lot of    (7)   and became the best student in his school. Finally he   (8)   his PhD(博士) program.

Life isn’t fair for Patrick, but he has become   (9)  . Burroughs--an American scientist--was right in saying, “A man can   (10)   many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame(指责) somebody else.”

You’ve probably heard of working dogs that help police officers, or horses that help farmers． Did you know that carrier pigeons（信鸽）can be trained to help people too? Here are some examples．

Mailman

Carrier pigeons can be trained to carry messages to people． The note is placed into a small can． The can is tied to the pigeon’s leg． Then the pigeon flies off with the note．

Lifeguard

From high up in the sky, specially trained pigeons can find orange life jackets in the ocean． Sometimes it is difficult for humans to find people lost at sea, especially when the weather is bad． However, pigeons can fly quickly over a large area of water to look for people．

Spy

Many years ago, carrier pigeons were used to help our country during wars (战争)．“Spy pigeons” had small cameras that were tied to their feet． As a pigeon flew over enemy (敌人)land, the camera took photos of the land below． This would allow our soldiers to see where the enemies were and what they were doing．

So next time you see a pigeon, stop and watch it closely． What might look like an ordinary bird to most people, might actually be helpful．

Kris Wu is 25 years old. He is a handsome Chinese-Canadian singer and actor. But did you know he is also a basketball super fan? “It’s been my dream to play in NBA since I was young.” he said.

On Feb.13, his dream came true. He played in the NBA all-star Celebrity game(NBA全民星赛)in Toronto, Canada.in the game ,he made 6 points and 7rebounds(篮球板). He was the first Chinese star to play in this game.

Wu is good at making friends. At the game, he got along very well with the NBA basketball players. Tracy McGrady called his “bro” and they worked well together. He even met Yao Ming and talked with his happily. Other players like Lebron James and Chris Paul were close to him ,too.

 “I am very happy. I hope that I can come again next year, and I will be even better,” he said.

Mr. Green was going on business to Paris for a week. He would go there by train. Before he left, he said to his son,“If anyone asks for me, tell them that your father is out, and will be back in a week.”

“OK, Dad,”said his son. But Mr. Green was afraid that his son couldn’t remember this, so he wrote the words on a piece of paper. His son put the paper into his pocket.

Four days passed, but no one came to see Mr. Green. The boy thought no one would come, so he burnt the piece of paper that evening. The next afternoon, a man knocked at the door.

“Where is your father?”He asked. The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He couldn’t find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted,“ No more!”

The man was very surprised,“No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?”

“Burnt yesterday evening,”the boy answered.

     Bob and Jackie joined a company together just after finishing high school. They both worked very hard. After several years, the boss made Jackie sales manager but Bob a salesman. One day Bob could not take it anymore. He handed in his resignation letter (辞职信) to the boss and complained that the boss did not value hard-working workers.

   The boss knew that Bob didn’t work hard for the company all these years, but in order to help Bob to realize the difference between him and Jackie, the boss asked Bob to do the following. “Go and find out if there is anyone selling watermelons in the market.” Bob went, returned and only said, “Yes.” The boss asked, “How much per kilogram?” Bob went back to the market to ask and returned to answer, “$12 per kilogram.”

The boss told Bob to ask Jackie the same question. Jackie went, returned and said, “Boss, only one person selling watermelons. $12 per kilogram, $100 for 10 kilograms. He has 340 melons in all. On the table are 58 melons, and every melon weighs about 15 kilograms, bought from the South two days ago. They are fresh and red.”

    Bob realized the difference between himself and Jackie. He decided not to leave but to learn from Jackie.

    My dear friends, you know, a more successful person is more careful, thinks more and understands in depth. For the same matter, he sees several years ahead, while you see only tomorrow. The difference between a year and a day is 365 times, so how could you win?

Think: how far have you seen ahead in your life?                    

I had hidden the long black bag in the garage for the past two days．Tonight, in the dark, I would finally take it away． If everything went OK, it would be done by morning． But I had to be sure no one, not even my wife, saw me．

It was more difficult to get away from the party than I expected． I said that the children were tired and needed to get to bed． It was partly true． But the main reason for leaving was that I wanted to complete my plan．

First I had to get the kids to sleep． That was never easy at any time and tonight it was even more difficult． The eldest one wanted to know why we left the party early． I told him 10:30 pm was not early． As usual, I read them a bed time story, but I had to stop myself reading too quickly or they would learn my secret．

Silence finally came, and feeling like a thief in the night, I went out of the house and into the garage． Taking one end, I dragged(拖拽) the bag out from its hiding place and took it into the garden． I was worried that my neighbours might see me and call the police．

It was already eleven oˈclock． By the light of the moon I started working, trying to make as little noise as possible． And that was not easy with a saw (锯子) and a hammer．

After much effort, my work was finally completed． I looked down at my watch． It was exactly 4:00 am． Then I went inside to have a shower and get a few hours of sleep． It wouldnˈt be long now before the kids would rush into my room and wake me up to tell me about the new tree-house Father Christmas had brought them this year．

a．Read the kids a story．         b． Had a shower．

c． Worked in the moonlight．     d． Dragged the bag from the garage．

e． Went to a party．

When it comes to Thanksgiving, a turkey (火鸡) may be the first thing that comes to mind.

Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year, it’s a time to express your thanks to important people and for all the good things in your life.

Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with many traditions. Here we introduce several ones Americans usually follow that day.

Time for prayers (祈祷) and paying back

Before the Thanksgiving meal, some families get together and say prayers to thank God for his kindness and for the gifts they have got from their friends and family members. Some people also do voluntary work that day — as a way of paying back.

Family reunions (团聚)

Like China’s Spring Festival, preparing a big meal and bringing the family together at home is a long-standing tradition of Thanksgiving.

Parades bring nation together

Parades make the day a good time for the whole nation. Various parades are held in many cities.

Football games as the highlight (最吸引人的东西) of the day

The American National Football League has played a special game on Thanksgiving every year since its creation in 1920.

Big day of discounts (打折)

Like Chinese people’s shopping online on November 11, Americans also enjoy doing this just after Thanksgiving. It is quite normal to see lots of people standing in front of shops in a long line the next morning of Thanksgiving.

The most difficult thing for the university student Shaun Rogers is to open the classroom door by himself. Shaun can't do this without ___  (1)  ____ because he is only six years old. He's the __  (2)  ___ person ever to study at Rochester University in New York. Shaun began. ___  (3)  ____ at two and by the age of five he had read many books and was able to finish writing his first book. "I love learning," says Shaun. " My hero is the scientist Albert Einstein. He never combed(梳)his hair or ____  (4)  ___ socks."

    Shaun's mother first __  (5)  ___ that her son was different when he kept crying at playschool because he was __  (6)  ___ with the children's games. She started teaching him at home after finding that local schools were not prepared for children who ___  (7)  ____ at Shaun's speed. Now Shaun is studying geography at the ____  (8)  ___ and using the Internet to finish his high school studies. However, some scientists warn that too much study can stop a child from developing normally. "I don't care how clever the kid is. Six-year-olds have to ___  (9)  ____ with their friends," says Dr. Brian Wood. Mrs. Rogers disagreed that all her son's time was taken up by school-work." He loves playing the violin and has many outdoor interests, such as camping, fishing and swimming, just like ____  (10)  ____ boys of his age."