All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help people to keep   (1)  , happy and to live long.

People play   (2)   games in winter and summer.   (3)   is good for swimming. And in winter people often go skating.

Some sports are very   (4)   and people everywhere like them. For example, football is very popular. In China, most people, men,   (5)  , boys and girls, like to watch football games. They often talk about it.

Running and jumping began long, long ago. But basketball and volleyball are very   (6)   People began to play   (7)   not long ago. And people are   (8)   new sports or games all the time. Water skiing is one of the newest.

People   (9)   different countries may not understand each other,   (10)   after a game they often become friends.

Every day I pass by a homeless old man on the street. He usually sat near where I go to school. Whenever I pass by, he says “hello” in a cheerful manner, and I always say it back. I give him any extra change I have.

The old man always wears an old watch. It is not an expensive watch by any means, but it serves its purpose. One day I noticed he wasn’t wearing it any more. I asked him why and he looked down and told me that the battery (电池) had died so he threw it away. I knew he couldn’t buy a new battery and he didn’t have enough money to buy a new watch.

He stayed on my mind all day, and I knew what I had to do. I went out to a shop and bought him a watch. It was not an expensive one, but that was very similar to the one he had.

When I saw him the next day, he was smiling and cheerful as ever. When I bent down to put some change in his cup, I also dropped the watch in. I didn’t say anything about it. I just smiled at him and kept on walking. He didn’t even notice it until I left. I looked back and watched as he pulled the watch from the cup. He looked at me and I just smiled and nodded. He put the watch on with a big smile on his face and I walked happily on my way.

One day，a little boy came to a shop and said to the shop assistant, "I want to buy twelve exercise-books of 10 cents and nine pencils of 15 cents, four pieces of rubbers of 20 cents. How much shall I pay?"

The shop assistant wrote all numbers down on a piece of paper and calculated(计算).

Then she said, "You should pay 3.35 dollars all together."

"If I give you 5 dollars, how much shall I get back?"

"You'll get back 1.65 dollars. Shall I pack these things for you?"

"No, I don't buy anything" the boy looked at the piece of paper and said politely. "This is my maths homework. Can I take the answer away?"

  Kim went to a beautiful beach on Monday with his friends. It was sunny and hot. So they had great fun playing in the water. In the afternoon, they went shopping. But the shops were crowded（拥挤）, they didn’t really enjoy it.

    The next day, it was rainy, so they went to a museum. It was boring. Kim found a small boy crying in the corner. The boy was lost. He helped the boy find his father. Kim was very happy. But he had no money for a taxi. So he had to walk back to the hotel. That made him very tired.

On Wednesday, the weather was very cool. So they played tennis. They played all the morning. It was really fun.

    It was Sunday yesterday. Steve   (1)   a relaxing weekend.   (2)   Sunday morning, he played computer games with his friends at home. It   (3)   pretty good. In the afternoon, he   (4)   with his mother. They bought many kinds of food and vegetables. It was really relaxing and exciting. In the evening, he   (5)   a talk show with his parents and listened to some songs by a   (6)   singer.   (7)   Ann had a busy weekend. She   (8)   stopped working. On Sunday morning, she cleaned her bedroom and did her homework. In the afternoon, she went to visit her uncle and   (9)   him do some farm work. In the evening, she cooked dinner for her parents. After dinner, she washed the dishes. Then she went out   (10)   a walk with her dog.

    What about your weekend?

Long long ago there lived many __  (1)  __ in an old house. They were free to do everything. They ate up a lot of food. So the owner of the house wanted to stop the mice _  (2)  __ food. He got a cat. _  (3)  _, some of the mice were killed. One day one of the oldest mice said, "All the mice __  (4)  __ come to my hole tonight, and weˈll decide _  (5)  __ next about the cat. "

Each of the mice arrived. They thought __  (6)  __ and did what they could to find a way to save their __  (7)  __ . They spoke, sitting face to face, but none of them had an idea. Finally a young mouse stood up and said, "Why __  (8)  __ tie a bell round the cat’s neck? Then, when the cat comes close, we will hear the bell and run away. Then the can wonˈt __  (9)  __ catch any more of us. "

"It sounds good! Who can do that?" the oldest mouse asked. At this very moment the hole was quiet and no one answered. At last he said, "Itˈs __  (10)  __ to say than to do. "

Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother was very ____  (1)  ____. He had a little sister about two years old. He wanted to ____  (2)  ____ his mother because she could not always earn (赚的) enough money to buy food ____  (3)  ____ his little family.

    One day a man gave him a dollar for ____  (4)  ____ the pocketbook which he had lost. Henry could have kept the pocket - book ____  (5)  ____ no one saw him when he found it. But his mother had taught him to be ____  (6)  ____. So he gave the pocketbook back to the man.

    With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes and some shoe polish (擦亮剂). He then went to the ____  (7)  ____ of the street, and said to everyone whose boots (靴子) didn't look nice. "Polish your boots, please?"

    He was so ____  (8)  ____ that gentlemen (绅士) soon began to notice him, and to ____  (9)  ____ him polish their boots.

    Henry worked after ____  (10)  ____ every day. He earned almost enough to support his mother and his little sister.

Once there was a piano player in a bar(酒吧). People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.

 ＂I don’t sing,＂ said the man.

 But the lady told the waiter, ＂I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!＂

 The waiter shouted across the room, ＂Hey, friend! If you want to get paid, sing a song!＂

 So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!

 He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.

You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.