We students are interested in holidays , all kinds of holidays .Here is some information about holidays .

May day

May day falls on Tuesday . Normally , people have three days off ,from May 1 to 3 In our school , students in Grade 7 and Grade 8 will go back to school on May 8 But students in Grade 9 will have to return to school on May 4

Children’s Day

How are we going to celebrate Children’s Day?Well ,it will be on Friday this year ,and we usually have exams on Fridays .Maybe the best way to do it is to stay in the classroom , do our homework and prepare for the exams . Well ,we are no longer children , after all .

Mid-Autumn Festival﹠National Day

This year ,the Mid-Autumn Festival comes right before October 1So we will have a longer holiday .It will last for 8 days. from September 30 to October 7 My parents are especially happy about the holiday because they seldom have such a long one .

My Holidays

I will celebrate my birthday on September 10th . That’s a good day，isn’t it? And , of course , I will have quite a long summer holiday after the big exams this June .

    More and more people around the world are joining in dangerous sports. Some people climbed the highest mountains; some traveled into unknown parts of the world; some sailed small boats across the largest sea. Now some people begin to look for new excitement.

Bungee jumping (蹦极) and motorcycle racing (摩托车赛) are quite dangerous sports. Bungee jumping only lasts for a few minutes or even seconds. You jump from a high place, about 200 meters above the ground, and there is a rubber band (橡胶带子) tied to your legs. When you jump down, the rubber band pulls you up. About 2,000,000 people around the world have tried bungee jumping.

Why do people join in these dangerous sports? Some scientists say that it is because modern life has become safe and it is not interesting. In the past, people lived in danger. They had to go out and look for food, and life was like a fight but was interesting.

Many people think that there is little excitement in life. They live and work in safe places, buy food in shops, and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill.

The Red Cross Society of China（RCSC）（中国红十字会）has so far received 150 million yuan (18 million U.S. dollars) as donation (捐款) for tsunami-hit (遭受海啸袭击的) countries, reports from the RCSC said on January 14, 2005.

million U.S. dollars of the money were sent to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives soon after they were hit by the killer disaster（灾难）late last month. The rest of the money will be sent for rebuilding villages, schools and orphanages (homes for children who lost their parents) in the disaster areas, the reports said.

According to the reports, two RCSC’s rescue (营救) teams have arrived in Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Friday. A third team will go to Thailand early next week.

The RCSC will report how much money has been collected and the uses of the money on its website on time, the reports said.

“Climbing Mount Qomolangma is a kind of discover, said a reporter of CCTV. ”He was sent to join the climbing team for broadcasting this TV programme. The climbers climbed Mount Qomolangma from May 18 to 24. CCTV also sent a team to join this most dangerous and exciting sport. They called it“ Standing at the Worldˈs Third Pole (极) in 2003”.

　It is just 50 years since the first climbers got to the top of Mount Qomolangma. In 2003, nearly 600 people from all over the world will try to reach the highest mountain in the world.

　As we know, Mount Qomolangma is famous for its height--8,848 metres --in the world, so it has attracted thousands of people to climb. On May 25th, 1953, Edmund Hillary from New Zealand, and Tenzing Noegay from Nepal finally reached the top of Mount Qomolangma. The most dangerous sport in the world brings the greatest challenge and the most exciting and happiest moment to human beings because the climbers have to face the terrible cold and avalanches(雪崩), and some other difficulties such as mist, strong wind and falling ice they will meet. The higher they climb, the more difficulties they will meet. On the way to the top they may lose their lives at any time. It is reported that 175 climbers had to live there for ever. During the past 50 years, more than 10,000 men and women tried to get to the top, but only 1,200 have made their dreams come true. We Chinese climbers first showed our national flag to the world on the top of the mountain in 1960.

　Once someone asked why the pioneers never stopped trying to reach the top. “I donˈt think climbing the highest mountain only means danger or death. It is really a chance to challenge. You can really understand the love of nature and the true meaning of life,” a reporter of CCTV answered.

   Do you know anything about elephants? Elephants are good pets. Elephants call play soccer. They can also draw very well. An elephant never forgets. They call walk for a long time and never get lost. They can also remember places with food and water.

    But elephants are in great danger now. People cut down many trees so elephants are losing their home. People also kill elephants for their ivory.

    How to save elephants? We must save the trees and not buy things made of ivory. Remember March 13th is Thai Elephant Day.

B

Sometimes the easiest way to get somewhere is on the back of a bike.

More and more people are using cars in many places in Africa today. However, things are different in Malawi (马拉维). Bikes are the most popular in this African country.

       Bike riding is a way of life in Malawi. People use them to carry heavy things. They also use bikes to carry people, especially tourists. These years, taking a “bicycle taxi” to travel around Malawi has become quite popular among tourists from all over the world.

If you go to Malawi, you will find a lot of bike taxis waiting on the sides of the roads. The riders make the bikes comfortable for passengers to sit on. You can jump on a bike taxi and get around at a very low cost.

Alice is a 21-year-old student from Canada. She enjoys the special bike riding a lot. “I really like the bike taxi,” she says. “It’s easy and cheap.” Alice usually pays just $1 for going shopping in town.

28-year-old Panjira Khombe began to ride a bike taxi two years ago. The young man enjoys this job. “I used to make boats for a living, but that’s a hard job. Being a bike taxi rider is easy for me and I don’t mind carrying heavy people,” he says.

(D)

Recently there are about 55,000 children who don’t go to school each day in England. According to the law（法律）,all children between five and sixteen must go to school on weekdays, and their parents must make sure ofthis.

The number of children missing school is increasing. The government is worried, because, according to a research,children who often don't go to school are more likely（可能的）to smoke, drink under age or do some other bad things. Also, it’s difficult for them to do well in exams. What’s more, it’s harder for them to get a job after they leave school. Since 2002,the police have kept checking town centers where truants（逃学者）often go. These happen twice a year. During each check, a student will be stopped and asked why they are not in school. This will happen even if they are with an adult. The police will stop and question（盘问）children who they think do not have a reason for being out of school. The police are not allowed to catch truants, but they can take them back to school. The police said there were nearly twice more boys playing truant（逃学）than girls．

B

     Have you seen the movie The Jungle Book? It tells the story of the boy called Mowgli. He grows up with a group of wolves and has to go on a journey of self-discovery . But is it possible for animals to raise a human in real life?
     There are many stories that suggest it is possible. Not just wolves and dogs, but also sheep, bears and even monkeys are able to look after human children.
     Police found Ivan , a 6-year-old in Moscow, living with dogs in the city streets in 1998. There, Ivan found food to feed the dogs. And in return, the dogs kept him warm while he slept and protected him. When he was saved, he couldn’t speak . Luckily, with many people’s help, he later joined the army and lived like a normal person.
     But not all children raised by animals can adapt to human society. In 1848, a British soldier found a little boy living with many wolves in India. He took him to a village, taking care of him and trying to teach him to speak. But nothing worked. The boy still behaved like a wolf, eating raw（生的）meat and wouldn’t wear clothes, no matter how cold the weather was. About two years later, he got seriously ill and died.
    So we can believe that some animals can raise humans. However, people need to know that some children raised by animals may have a lot of difficulties living a normal person’s life when they enter human society.

The Kelpie Maggie, the world's oldest dog, died while asleep in her basket on Sunday night. Maggie belonged to an Australian dairy farmer Brian Mclaren and she was 30 at the time of her death. According to Mclaren, Maggie had been happy and healthy up until two days before her death.

    "She was still going along nicely last week," Mclaren told local newspaper The Weekly Times. "She was walking from the dairy to the office and growling（咆哮）at the cats and all that sort of thing."

    Though Mclaren doesn't have any birth certificates（证书）for Magie, he argues that he bought her four years. The oldest dog in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, died in 1939 at the age of 29. Bluey worked as a farm dog, looking after sheep and cattle. Because Maggie doesn't have any paperwork, Guinness was unable to verify（核实）her age.

    The average dog lives about 15 years. Maggie was deaf and going blind at the time of her passing." I'm sad, but I'm pleased the way she left," Mclaren told The Weekly Times.