It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle.

As Christmas drew nearer, her dream for a bicycle seemed to fade(逐渐消失), for she didn’t mention it again. We bought some beautiful story books for her and thought she would be happy to see them. However, on December 24, she said that she wanted a bike more than anything else.

It was just too late. We were busy with Christmas dinner and packing presents till midnight. So there was no time to buy a bicycle for our little girl. Thinking she would feel unhappy with the gift we gave her, we felt sad. We didn’t know what to do.

Suddenly my husband had a good idea. “What if I make a little bicycle out of clay(泥) and write a note to tell her that she could trade the clay model in for a real bike ? ” my husband asked. I agreed. So he spent the next four hours patiently working with clay to make a tiny bike.

On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the little box with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. Finally, she opened it and read the note aloud.

Then she asked, “Does this mean that I can trade in this bike that Daddy made me for a real one ? ” Smiling, I said, “Yes.”

Almie had tears in her eyes when she replied, “I will never trade in this beautiful bicycle that Daddy made for me. I’d rather keep this than get a real bike.” Hearing this, I gave her a big hug(拥抱).

A Dutch artist and environmentalist has brought a project that shows how tiny smog particles (雾霾颗粒) can be made into jewellry like rings to China.

    Dann Roosegaarde is attempting to raise public awareness of cleaning the air. He has made a Smog Free Tower, which began to operate in September, 2015, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and he brought it to China in September, 2016. The pollutants are collected from the 7-meter-high tower before being processed and condensed into cubes（压缩成立方体）measuring4 mmto5 mm. The cubes, which can be used to make rings, are not for sale but have been presented as gifts to supporters at Kickstarter, a large crowdfunding site where Roosegaarde collected more than 110,000 euros for his tower project.

“I bring the project to China because Beijing is where I got the inspiration,” he said. He said he visited the city years ago and saw the huge difference in environmental conditions on good days and smoggy days, which gave him the inspiration for the project.

    “But it is more than just cleaning the air. I hope the project develops public awareness of environmental protection.” He said his tower project would travel around the world, visiting cities such as Paris, Los Angeles and Mexico City.

   Roosegaarde said his tower would suck in（吸入）polluted air like a huge vacuum cleaner, before removing the pollutant particles and returning clean air. “It has performed well in reducing air pollutants by 75 to 80 percent in a surrounding area.” Roosegaarde said.

   Liu Guozheng, secretary-general of the China Forum of Environmental journalists, said, “The Smog Free Tower is designed to be abandoned eventually, because the ultimate goal is to improve air quality to the extent that the tower will be useless.”

    “The tower works as a warning and reminder for people to take part in smog control efforts.” Liu said.

Normally, I loved birthdays. When my son and three daughters were little, my husband, Charles, and I always made sure to have dinner, followed by a big cake and presents.

Later, when the kids grew up and lived in different states, they always called to wish me a happy birthday. But this year I could have skipped the whole day, knowing there was one call I wouldn’t be receiving, the one from my daughter Patty. She’d passed away unexpectedly just a month before. One thing which made me feel a little calm was a voice message that she’d left on my cell phone the night before she died, telling me she loved me. 

Over the following days I played her message of wishes over and over again, listening to the last words she said. “I love you very, very much, Mom.” Then, a couple of weeks before my birthday, while I was doing laundry, I accidentally dropped my phone in the washing machine. Quickly I pulled it out and dried it off, but when I checked my voicemail, Patty’s message was gone. I cried, heartbroken. Day after day I kept checking my voicemail, hoping Patty’s message would reappear. It never did.

On the morning of my birthday, I received my son’s wishes. However, all I wanted for my birthday was to hear Patty’s voice again. “Happy birthday.” Charles said, “let’s go out for dinner and a movie. It might help take your mind off things.” Charles was right. I turned off my phone, settled into my seat in the movie theater and let the film take me away. But the minute it ended I started thinking about Patty again. As we were walking out of the theater, I turned on my phone. It rang, signaling I’d gotten a voice message. Probably just my youngest daughter, Leslie, calling to wish me a happy birthday, I thought.

I dialed up voicemail and the message began. It was Patty’s voice, clear as a bell, saying again, “I love you very, very much, Mom.”

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

When people want to know about the weather, they usually go to theirradios, TVs, newspapers, or to the Internet. However, you can also find many weather signs among wildlife, because of their highly developed senses. Drops in air pressure produce an effect on small animals in many ways. Mice and deer are good weather indicators. People who spend a lot of time outdoors have observed that, before a storm, field mice come out of their holes and run around.Deer leavehigh groundandcome down from the mountains.

Birds are especially good weather indicators because they also show the effect of a pressure drop in many ways. For example, some birds become irritable(急躁的)and quarrelsome and will fight over a piece of bread. Other birds chirp(叽叽喳喳)and sing just before a storm. It seems they know they won’t get another chance for an hour ortwo. Birds also seek safe places before a storm, You will sometimes see birds settling in trees or gathering together on a wire close to a building. Pre-storm low pressure makes the air so thin that birds have difficulty flying.

It is unusual to see many birds flying overhead in the summertime, rather than during the periods in the spring or autumn. Watch for other weather signs if you see this. If they fly in the wrong direction, they may be flying ahead of a storm.

By paying closer attention to some important signs in nature, we can become better prepared for any kind of weather.

    ___________________________________________________________.

    _______________________________________________________.

    _______________________________________________________.

  _______________________________________________________.

    _______________________________________________________

Green is an important colour in nature. It is the colour of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the colour of most growing plants.

Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example, a “greenhorn” is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the 15th century, a “greenhorn” was a young cow whose horns had not yet developed. A century later, a “greenhorn” was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the 18th century, a “greenhorn” had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.

Green is also used to describe the emotion of jealousy(嫉妒). The “green-eyed monster” is an expression used about 400 years ago by William Shakespeare in his play “Othello”. It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the “green-eyed monster” if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that “green-eyed monster” may affect your friend if you get a pay rise while he does not.

In most places in the world, a “green light” is a signal to move ahead. In everyday speech, a “green light” means “agree to continue with a project”. We want you to know we have a “green light” to continue this project next week.

I’m not an athlete, but I am a lover of the Olympics. My biggest sports moment ever didn’t require me to be the fastest, the highest, or the strongest. It just required me to be in the right place at the right time, and catch the opportunity when it came to me. It was to carry our national flag for the Olympic Torch Relay.

As a part of the celebration, flag bearers (旗手)were needed. I served in the army at that time and the Olympic organizers asked for volunteers to help carry some of the flags. Although it demanded that I give up part of my weekends and get up early, I thought that it was the chance of a lifetime.

There were several different groups that took part in the event as flag bearers. We soldiers were going to be out in front leading them. On the day of the event, we arrived early at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.Many people arrived to see the flame arrive from Greece, and the beginning of the Olympic Torch Relay. It was exciting to wait for our turn to enter the coliseum.

As a flag bearer, I was supposed to run out in front. Though the flag was fairly heavy, I picked it up and ran with it. I ran past rows of people. I ran through television cameras. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, being able to carry our national flag in an international event like the Olympics. I was very proud of it．

I had never been able to attend the Olympics, and I might never be important enough to carry an Olympic torch or anything like that, but I did get to carry our national flag in the torch relay, although I will no longer have the opportunity to carry the flag in the Olympics, and that would be one sports experience that would be difficult to forget.

  _______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Europe is not very big . It is only about 2,085,000square mile in area. It is divided into more than twenty countries. The biggest country in Europe is France except Russia, which is only partly in Europe.

  The people of France are similar to the people of Italy, Spain and Portugal, and their languages are almost alike. This is because long ago all these people spoke Latin, so the language they speak today mainly come from Latin .Other people that are related to each other are the people from Britain, Germany, Austria, Holland and Norway. They speak languages called Germanic(日耳曼语). The third big language in Europe is Russian.

  The British Isles are made up of England, Scotland, Ireland and various small surrounding islands. From the British Isles, not far across the English Channel is the next European country, France. Its capital is Paris, which is a beautiful city on the River Seine. Traveling further from France, We will visit Venice in Italy, a beautiful city of water. Holland is different from the other countries of Europe, because a good deal of the land used to be under the sea. If traveling to the most northern part of Europe, we will get to Norway, which lies right beyond the Arctic Circle(北极圈）.

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________  

It is well-known that many animals do not stay in one place. Birds, fish and other animals move from one place to another at certain times. They move for different reasons: most of them move to find food more easily, but others move to get away from places that are too crowded.

   When cold weather comes, many birds move to warmer places to find food. Some fishes give birth in warm water and move to cold water to feed. The most famous migration is probably the migration of the fish, which is called “salmon”. This kind of fish is born in fresh water but it travels far to salt water. There it spends its life. When it is old, it returns to its birthplace in fresh water.

In northernEurope, there is a kind of mouse. They leave their mountain homes when their homes become crowded. They move down to the low land. Sometimes they move all the way to the seaside, and many of them are killed when they fall into the sea.

   Recently, scientists have studied the migration of a kind of lobster (龙虾). Every year, when the season of bad weather arrives, the lobsters get into a long line and start to walk across the floor of the ocean. Nobody knows why they do this and where they go.

So, sometimes we know why humans and animals move from one place to another, but at other times we don’t. Maybe living things just like traveling.

     _________________________________________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________________________

      ________________________________                                                    ___________________________________________

      __________________________                                         _____________________________________________

     ___________________________________________________________________________      __

Afternoon tea, that most essential of English customs，is a relatively new tradition, although the custom of drinking tea dates back to 3 BC in China. It was not until the mid 19th century that the concept of “afternoon tea” first appeared.

Afternoon tea was introduced to England by Anna, the Duchess(公爵夫人), in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry and depressed and complain of "having that sinkingfeeling" around four o'clock in the afternoon. At the time it was usual for people to take only two main meals a day: breakfast and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The evening meal in her household was also served fashionably late at eight o'clock, thus leaving a long period of time between the two meals. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. Later friends were invited to join her in her country house and this practice proved so popular that the Duchess sent cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking". This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880's upper-class and society women would change into long dresses, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea, which was usually served in the living room between four and five o'clock.

Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of delicious sandwiches served with frozen cream. Cakes and cookies are also served. Tea grown in India is poured from silver tea pots into delicate bone china cups. Nowadays however, in the average suburban home, afternoon tea is likely to be just a biscuit or small cake and a cup of tea, usually produced using a teabag.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

  (No more than 10 words)

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

It is well-known that many animals do not stay in one place. Birds, fish and other animals move from one place to another at certain times. They move for different reasons: most of them move to find food more easily, but others move to get away from places that are too crowded.

    When cold weather comes, many birds move to warmer places to find food. Some fishes give birth in warm water and move to cold water to feed. The most famous migration is probably the migration of the fish, which is called “salmon”. This kind of fish is born in fresh water but it travels far to salt water. There it spends its life. When it is old, it returns to its birthplace in fresh water.

In northern Europe, there is a kind of mouse. They leave their mountain homes when their homes become crowded. They move down to the low land. Sometimes they move all the way to the seaside, and many of them are killed when they fall into the sea.

    Recently, scientists have studied the migration of a kind of lobster (龙虾). Every year, when the season of bad weather arrives, the lobsters get into a long line and start to walk across the floor of the ocean. Nobody knows why they do this and where they go.

    So, sometimes we know why humans and animals move from one place to another, but at other times we don’t. Maybe living things just like traveling.