—Er, I shall count up to ten and then we can begin.

—That's a deal.

—Remember           it three or four times at least.

—So he can't ________ to live in a big flat.

    Last week, all the teachers and students of our school watched a special performance.

    The second programme inspired me. The performer was very young, but his1had both been burnt in a big fire. I did not2to look at his wrists very3. What I did was listen to his song quietly. It was called "Late4" and he sang with a low gentle voice. Though it was warm spring, I felt a bit chilly and a little sad as if it had been late autumn.

    "How much love and pain is hidden in the heart? I want to hold your hand again." When I heard this, I tried to hold back my5. Holding his hand was just a dream. I hoped that he could find a lovely girl who would accompany him one day, though he couldn't hold her hand.

    There was another young man who6his feet as his "hands" because his arms had been cut off. His7greatly impressed us. Two big characters— "Flying High" expressed his wish.

    All the performers were young except their special teacher who was over forty years old. Despite their8, the young performers gave off a9glow. To be young means to have all kinds of possibilities. We should challenge our10and go beyond ourselves.

    As long as we work hard, miracles will happen sooner or later. Just as the saying goes, "Where there is a will, there is a way."

    Bill and Simone are a couple from Miami, who spent sixty-six days in a life raft (救生艇) in the seas of Central America after their boat sank.

    Twenty-one days after they left Panama in their boat, Simony, they met some whales. "They started to hit the side of the boat, "said Bill, "and then suddenly we heard water." Two minutes later, the boat was sinking. They jumped into the life raft and watched the boat go under the water.

    For twenty days they had tins of food, biscuits, and bottles of water. They also had a fishing line and a machine to make salt water into drinking water—two things which saved their lives. They caught eight to ten fish a day and ate them raw. Then the fishing line broke. "So we had no more fish until something very strange happened. Some sharks came to feed, and the fish under the raft were afraid and came to the surface. I caught them with my hands."

    About twenty ships passed them, but no one saw them. Their life raft began to break up. Luckily, a fishing boat saw them and picked them up. They couldn't stand up, so the captain carried them onto his boat and took them to Costa Rica. Their two months at sea was over.

    In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married an emperor(皇帝).Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favourite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

    One day, a priest(牧师)passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life？

    The priest made a puppet(木偶)out of bits of clay(黏土).He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

    The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife had been spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

       Doctor Seuss was born in 1904. By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the best-loved and most successful children's book writers in the world. His books are very popular with young readers. They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.

In l954, Life Magazine published(刊登) a report about school children who could not read. The report said many children's books were not interesting. Doctor Seuss strongly hoped to help children and decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read. He used words with the same ending sound, like fish and wish. He did not receive training in art. Yet, he drew the pictures for most of his books.

    In l957, Doctor Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat. He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a six-year-old should be able to read it. It was a fun stow and easy to read. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today it is still one of his stories they like best. In l 960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words. The book is called Green Eggs and Ham.

    In l984, Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize(普利策奖). He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents.

    He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains. Millions of his books have been sold worldwide. People say his books helped change the way American children learned to read. Yet, his books are loved by people of all ages.

    Teenagers who listen to the same music often have a common look. One hot style in music and fashion is hip-hop. Hip-hop is a type of urban music with a heavy beat. Typical (典型的) hip-hop fashions are loose-fitting street clothes. The style includes baggy (宽松的) pants, sweatshirts, hiking boots, baseball caps (usually worn backward), jackets with sports logos, and expensive athletic shoes. In the hip-hop style, boys and girls often dress the same way.

    African-American kids in Detroit and Chicago first made hip-hop fashions trendy (时髦的) more than 20 years ago. They wore baggy street clothes to dance clubs. Then North American and European bands also began wearing like this. Thanks to the popularity of music videos and movies, hip-hop soon became an international fashion.

   Teens around the world, from Britain to South Africa to Japan, now wear hip-hop clothing. Seventeen- year- old Melanie Borrow, of Manchester, England, said, "My pride and joy in life are my Levi's jeans." In the United States, teens spend a lot of money on hip-hop fashions. David Bowen, 17, of Evanston, Illinois, has five pairs of hiking boots, each costing around $ 100. David said, "They are popular because a lot of hip-hop performers wear them."

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a country in Northern Europe. Sweden borders (与......接壤) Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel. At 450,295 square kilometers, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.6 million. Sweden has a low population density (密度) of 21 persons per square kilometer with the population mostly living in the southern half of the country. Southern Sweden is mainly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested.

      Sweden was discovered as an independent country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country became bigger to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in Sweden was in 1814. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, remaining a largely neutral (中立的) nation. The country played a good role during World Wars I and II, taking in refugees (难民) from German occupied Europe. With the ending of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union.

Dear Editor,

Yours,

Li Ping