What are people doing on the hill?

How does John communicate with his friends?

Where will the boy go after school?

What does Peter's uncle do?

—You won't say that if you notice the       . I can't afford it.

—Everyone will feel disappointed if you are     .

—Thanks a lot. You're so kind.

—Spring is the best time to fly kites.

—It's great. They        us with boiled water and air conditioner.

—Nothing. It's dark inside.

—Sorry. It       .

—No. Bill won't go, either.        of us is interested in animals.

—That's a disaster for humans.

—I agree with you. She is always the first to get to school.

—I'm sorry I have no idea.

    My cousin is a sixth grader. We used to be very close and often do our homework together.

    But he started playing computer games not very long ago.

    Every day after he came home, he would drop his schoolbag and1 in front of the computer. At dinnertime, he would eat as quickly as he could2 he could get back to his games. And when it was time to go to bed, he would always stay up for3 hour in front of the computer.

It was no4 that my cousin's grades fell sharply. And his teacher said that he was5   dozing off (打瞌睡) all the time in class.

    The Internet has6 our lives more convenient. But it has disadvantages as well. For example, as students spend more time on the Internet, they have less time and7 to spend on study and rest. Some, like my cousin, find8 always thinking about things like video games, even when they should be studying.

I talked to my cousin about the harm9 spending so much time on video games. He   agreed and decided to make an effort to10 his addiction (瘾). Gradually,  he got his old life back— and, of course, his old self back as well.

    A video by the name of Dancing on Water: The Chinese Art of Bamboo Drifting (漂流) became an Internet hit months ago. It shows people balancing (保持平衡) on thin bamboo poles ( 杆 ), moving along the Chishui River in Guizhou Province. Not only do these people balance on these poles, but they also dance, perform, and play sports.

Bamboo drifting may be strange to the outside world, but to many in Southwestern China's Guizhou Province, it is an important sport and has a long history. During the Qin Dynasty, the ancient capital of Xianyang in Shanxi Province needed lots of nanmu. They were from the Bozhou district in Guizhou Province.     But how could people move them along the Chishui River, the first part of the journey from the nanmu forest in Bozhou?

    Guizhou locals solved the problem. They each brought one log (原木) down the Chishui River, stood on their log as it drifted down the river, and guided it toward its next stop, the Yangtze River. From there people moved the logs onto boats and sailed north to the capital.

    Later, the Guizhou locals began to challenge each other to jump from log to log, and so, wood drifting was born. During the Qing Dynasty, wood drifting became bamboo drifting, for bamboo is much cheaper.

    Today, bamboo drifting is getting increasingly popular in Guizhou, especially among young people. Also, it is a much—loved activity among visitors.

    When we look at animals, we know that they are not humans. But how do our closest friends dogs see us? Do they know that we are humans? Or do they actually think that we are just strange— looking dogs?

    You may be surprised to know that many kinds of animals do not notice such differences very much at all. For example, the cuckoo (布谷鸟) lays its eggs in the nest of another bird. These birds will feed the baby cuckoos, even though they look nothing like their real babies. This is because the birds feed in an instinctive (本能的) ways.

Other animals, it seems, will simply separate the world into animals they eat, and animals that eat them. When it comes to dogs, though, there is no simple answer to this question.

    Sheepdogs leave their mothers when they are born. They grow up with sheep, and come to see them as their family. For this reason, they never attack the sheep, and help protect them, they probably think the sheep are dogs too, but we can't be certain.

    Similarly, if you keep a dog from birth, the way it sees the world will be different to a dog that grows up with other dogs. It will probably think it is the same kind of animal as you. This can even be true of humans. A Russian boy called Ivan Mishukov, born in 1998, was raised by dogs for two years and came to believe that he was a dog himself.

    A young boy went to see Christchurch Mansion, a museum in Ipswich, Suffolk, with some relatives last summer and accidentally knocked over a historic jug (罐). The child, whose name is unknown and is thought to have been about 4 or 5 years old at the time, was upset.

    However, the jug has been put back together thanks to Carrie Willis, a duty officer, and the museum staff (职员) is now searching for the child to let him know that everything is fine.

“We want to reassure the little boy that all is well,” the spokesperson for the museum said. “We would like to invite him and his family back to have a special tour and see the magically repaired jug.”

    The jug, which is about 221 years old, had broken into 65 pieces as a result of the accident. Willis, under the direction of the museum's conservation (保护) officer, Bob Entwistle, put together the 18th—century Delft puzzle jug. The duty officer spent about an hour per piece putting the jug back together. The jug is now on show at the Ipswich Art School Gallery as part of the new "Colors" exhibition.

    Not much is known about the boy, but the museum's staff is hoping one of his relatives will come across the news, calling on them to get in touch with the museum once again. “We don't know if the boy is local or if he was a visitor to the area,” the spokesperson said. “If one of his relatives is reading this we would like him or her to contact us at 01473432035.”

    Arches National Park, located near the town of Moab in eastern Utah, is well known in the world. Experts say this park has the greatest number of arches of any similar geographic area in the world. Arches are formations that look like half a circle above an opening or hole in a rock. Arches can also appear as curved bridges between two large rocks.

    Scientists say the area began forming almost two thousand million years ago. As time passed, the area filled with material left by rivers. Other rocks buried the area. Then great pressure deep in the Earth created huge mountains.

    A soft rock called sandstone began moving under this pressure. The sandstone moved upwards when it met other, harder rocks. These sandstone structures continued to grow for about one hundred fifty million years.

    Arches developed from thin rock walls. They resulted when pieces of sandstone fell away from the formations. Scientists say water is the most important element in creating arches. Water destroys the chemicals that keep rock particles together. The rock breaks as the water freezes and expands. Then the wind blows away the loose rock particles.

    Scientists say that most arches seen today developed within the past million years. But they say the land formation continues to change slowly over time. New arches form. Older ones fall away.

    The rock formations in Arches National Park are mostly a deep red color. Rocks get their color from minerals. The red color is the result of iron oxide or rust (铁锈).Scientists say the presence of iron in the rock shows that the weather was hot and dry when the rock was first formed.

It was nearly dinnertime when my 5-year-old daughter rushed into the house. Tears rolled down as she held out two hurt arms. I told her that children of her age usually rode with training wheels. She refused my advice and as soon as the bandages (绷带) were stuck on her arms, she headed back out the door.

    I wanted to run out there and make her stop, but I couldn't. I would have to let go.

    After all, she had agreed to wear her brother's helmet and knee pads (护膝).

    Finally, I couldn't stand and went outside to see if I could help. She shouted back  at me, "Mommy, I got it. Let go!" I remembered when I first learned to ride a two—wheeler at her age. I remembered how I knew I could do it if I just kept trying. Suddenly I understood why she would never give up.

    I rushed outside and saw that she was riding down the  driveway with both her   hands held high in the air. "Look, Mom, no hands!" she said, laughing as she rode by.

    Although it won't be easy, I'll always remember how she taught me that sometimes "no hands" is best.

today?

advice?

I'm sorrywith you.

your invitation.

.

    Do you know "APEC blue"? It is a popular word nowadays. People use to describe the blue sky during the APEC meetings.  To make the sky [ˈkliːnə(r)], people did a lot. These years, air pollution is so heavy in Beijing that people(hard) ever see blue skies in such a smog season. After the event, people are wondering how to keep the APEC bluethe future. Experts (专家) give some(suggestion).

    First, they believe the environment will be certainly in great     [ˈdeɪndʒə(r)] unless everyone plays part in saving the earth. I don't think it has nothing to do with you. And what[els] should we do? Try to walk more and use cars(little)!

    Finally, make sure factories stop(pollute) the air. If we can do these things, the sky will become APEC blue. And we can see APEC blue every day!