Father is always busy with his work. He knows nothing about housework. He never eats if everyone doesn’t cook for him.

One day, Mother was ill in bed. Father had to cook himself. First， he had to go shopping. But he didn’t know what to buy. So Mother wrote all these things on a piece of paper：

（1）cake（2） egg （3） tomato （4） fish （5） milk （6） salt （7） chicken

Father went out with the paper in his hand. Half an hour later he returned home, with a smile on his face. He brought out all the things: ONE cake, TWO eggs, THREE tomatoes, FOUR fish, FIVE bottles of milk, SIX bags of salt and SEVEN fat chickens. Mother was very surprised and she couldn’t say a word.

Many men are happier when they do some housework according to a new study.

The result surprised the workers who started the study .“We wanted to find out that men got more problems and that their life became worse when they did more housework after work，” a worker at the University of Cambridge said.The study was made in seven European countries with thousands of people. They were analyzed how much time they spent on chores such as cooking，washing，cleaning，shopping. The workers put the surprising result down and find that more and more men like doing the housework and women are more confident than they were in the past.

“In the past, men might feel sad, because doing some housework might influence their work. Women also had the problem for a long time，” the studyˈs report said. “Now some men live a better life after doing some chores.”

At 9:00 am on October 15,2003,our country launched (发射) its first spaceship, Shenzhou Ⅴ,into space at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. It took Yang Liwei and his spaceship about 21 hours   (1)   the earth 14 times. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut. He  (2)   Liaoning Province and   (3)  an air force pilot (飞行员) since 1983.He was chosen  (4)   14 pilots after many difficult tests.

The life of an astronaut is hard to imagine for many people.   (5)  on a spacesuit takes him 15 minutes with the help of others.Sleeping in space is not easy,   (6)   .He  (7)  sleep in a special sleeping bag on the wall because there is no gravity (重力).Yang can eat chicken and rice.It’s specially made   (8)  in space but tastes just like the real thing.

“I‘m feeling very good in space, and it looks wonderful here,”said Yang.“I have looked at our beautiful earth and recorded  (9)   I have seen there.”

China has became the third country in the world to send a person into space.We are all   (10)  our mother-land.

Justin was excited because his class would visit the fire station. His uncle Frank was one of the firemen and would show the class around during the visit.

    The next day, Justin’s class left for the fire station and waited for Uncle Frank to come and start their visit. They began by looking at the big fire trucks. “Being a fireman is a hard job,” said Uncle Frank. “You need to be in good health and get enough rest.” The kids got to try on some fire hats and climbed on the trucks. After looking at all the trucks, the class went inside, and Uncle Frank showed them where they stay when they are not fighting a fire. Uncle Frank told them that when there is a fire, the alarm rings. Just as he finished showing them the alarm, it rang! All the men ran to get ready to leave for the fire. “I am sorry,” said Uncle Frank to the class. “We need to leave now, but Mr. Martin will stay with you.” The firemen ran quickly to the fire trucks and left the station. Mr. Martin showed the class around inside the station.

    That night Justin told his parents about the great trip to the fire station. “We learned some ways to prevent fires and what to do if our house ever had a fire,” said Justin. “It sounds like you learned a lot of good information,” said Dad. “We sure did,” said Justin. “I think I’m going to be a fireman when I grow up.”

A few years ago, the company I work for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I've always loved running, so I was really   (1)  when I found out the apartment they had rented for us was next to Central Park. This   (2)   that every morning I could go for a run before I went to work.

 Because a lot of people had told me to be   (3)   of thieves(窃贼) in the park, so usually I didn’t take anything with me. What could they   (4)   from me if I didn’t have anything? But one morning, my wife gave me a $10 bill and asked me to buy some   (5)  on the way.  So I took a $10 note out of my wallet.

While I was running through the park, another jogger   (6)  into me. He said sorry to me and  continued running. I thought it was a bit   (7)   so I checked my pocket and found that the money was missing, I started to run after him right away. I   (8)   caught him by his arm. I started shouting and told him to give me the $10. I am not usually a hot-headed person,    (9)   I got really angry this time. This seemed to frighten him, and he  quickly put his hand in his pocket and gave me the money. Then he ran away as fast as he could.      

 I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I began to tell my wife my story. “You won’t believe what happened to me,” I   (10)  . She stopped me, “I know, you  left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”

When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm (蚂蚁窝). First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive.

    After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels (地道).I was amazed that each one knew well what to do. Each had its own job.

    On the fifth day something terrible happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although (虽然) the ants kept alive after their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was frightened as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm.

    My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand (忍受) that their tunnels were gone.

    Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.

    Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired (钦佩) for their hard work.

    But there was an even larger 1esson that I did not realize until recently：Adversity (逆境) is a natural part of life and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.

Giving up is not a good choice.

Today is the first day of the week. In the afternoon, Mr. Read is driving his car to his sister’s school. Now he is very near the school. But he doesn’t know the way to it. At this time, he sees a young woman. Mr. Read comes out of his car and goes to her. “Excuse me! Where’s the school, please?” he asks. The young woman says, “It’s very near here. I want to go with you.”

Now the young woman is sitting in the car. Soon they come to a small house and she says, “Stop, please!” Mr. Read stops the car and says, “But this is not a school.” “No,” says the young woman, “this is my house. I want to get home early before supper time. Thanks for driving me home. The school is behind the factory. So go back to the factory and then turn right, and you can find the school.”

Five years ago, I met her in a shopping center. I was walking through the shop when I saw her. Then she came back to my house with me. After that, we became friends.Once she had to go into hospital to have an operation(手术) on her leg. I was worried about her and looked after her every day. I made breakfast for her. I was not good at cooking, but she never complained. I also helped her take showers. I have no idea why we can be good friends, because she is quite different from me. I like writing, reading and playing computer games. But she loves outdoor activities. She likes playing balls best. She also loves sleeping.She will run all around the house to lick(舔) my face if someone shouts “Kiss for Dad.” That is the only name she knows me by—Dad, though I call her by many names—Pickle, Missile and Little. But her real name is Pixar. This week she turns seven years old.

   Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors (家庭教师), cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic (天主教的) school.

   After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread (铺开) out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was backhitting the booksas hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

   Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity (好奇心). She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns (修女)?”

   Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No.”

“Well then,” she asked again. “What was it?”

Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed (钉) to the plus sign (加号), I knew they weren’t joking.”