Last Sunday afternoon, I was having dinner in a restaurant when my friend Poor came in. Poor is working in a bank and is quite rich, but he is always borrowing money from his friends and never pays it back. Poor saw me and came to sit at my table. He had never borrowed any money from me. When he was eating, I asked him to lend me two dollars. To my surprise, he gave me the money at once.“I have never borrowed any money from you,”Poor said,“So you can pay for my dinner.”

    I'm Sharon. One of my favorite countries to go on vacation is China. After falling in love with the country on business（生意）trip two years ago, I took my children to China last summer.

    We visited three cities, but Xi'an was the most interesting one. This old city is amazing and our children loved to ride bicycles on the famous City Wall. The wall is about 14 kilometers long and it has a very long history. Visitors can rent bicycles there and it is very cheap. And on each corner（街角）you can take a rest and enjoy a bottle of cold water, because it was very hot when we visited it in July. Trust（相信）me, your children will love the trip!

    Comments（评论）

    Tina Reply

    Aug 31, 2018

    Hi, Sharon! I also think China is a great country to visit. We just came back from Beijing and we had great fun. Next time, we'll go to Xi'an on vacation. Can you tell me some other interesting activities in Xi'an?

    Sharon Reply

    Sep 1, 2018

    Hi, Tina! I'm glad that you love China, too. I think you can try some Chinese food in Xi'an. There're also a lot of places of interest in Xi'an. I'm sure you'll love them!

    I'll never forget the little boy called Dick. At that time, I worked in a hospital. There was a little girl. She was badly ill. The only chance to make her healthy again was a blood transfusion (输血) from her five-year-old brother Dick.

    The doctor told the boy about that and asked whether (是否) he would like to give his blood to his elder sister. Thinking of his sister, he thought for a moment, and took a deep breath. He said, "Yes, I will do this, if it saves her life."

    The moment came. His sister was lying on the bed next to him. The boy looked at her and smiled, but gradually his face became pale and his smile disappeared. He asked the doctor in a low voice, "Doctor, will I start to die right now?"

    The doctor smiled and said, "Of course not. You'll be stronger than before soon."

    The little boy thought that if he saved his sister, he would die, but he still chose to save her. What a brave boy!

It was raining heavily as I was walking up the hill towards the station at six o'clock on a Saturday morning. At this early hour there wasn't much traffic and there weren't many people. Just as I was crossing the road near the top of the hill, a car came around the corner. It was traveling very fast. Suddenly it hit a lamp post and turned over.

    I ran to the car to help the driver at once. He was badly hurt and there was a lot of blood on his face. A young woman hurried into the station and phoned for an ambulance, while I took care of the driver. Many people came to see what happened. A policeman arrived a few minutes later and asked me a lot of questions about the accident. After a while the ambulance arrived and the driver was sent to the hospital.

    On Monday morning I went to the hospital to see the man. The doctor told me that he was much better, and he would leave the hospital after a few day's rest.

Many people like to collect things. Some people collect stamps, some collect dolls and some collect rocks. 1 , Christa Behmenburg, from Germany, collects something unusual—mouse-related items.

Christa's husband is a geologist (地质学家). He likes collecting postcards about mineral (矿物质) resources. Christa always goes with him to fairs 2 new cards for his collection. Actually, Christa is not fond of mineral resources, 3 she feels bored with these fairs. One day, she asked her husband 4 she could also build up a collection of something she likes. He agreed and advised Christa to collect something about 5 favorite animal. Unluckily, that piece of advice would become the biggest regret he's never had.

Christa's favorite animal is the mouse. Since she 6 a teenager, she has had mice as pets. The animal 7 lovely and clever. Two or three years after 8 the hobby, she went all in. She had hundreds and then thousands of mouse-related items only 9 weeks later.

At first, she and her husband had 10 small flat. However, space was getting much 11 because of Christa's collection. The two had to rent (租) 12 two houses. To everyone's surprise, the number of Christa's mouse-related items was up to 47,398 in early 2022 and she broke the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of mouse-related items 13 the end of this year.

Christa's collection continues to grow. Now, every room in her house, from the kitchen to the bathroom, 14 mouse-related items. Sometimes, Christa's husband complains about the large collection 15 brings them joy and trouble. Christa, however, will remind him that it was all his idea!

These delicious dim sum are made by Wu Yang,a pastry chef(糕点师)from Liaoning province. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(traditional),Chinese puff pastries are made in simple forms;Wu,however,turns these pastries{#blank#}2{#/blank#}three-dimensional sculptures(三 维雕塑) .

"It took several tries to finally create the lion's head.At first,the two layers of eyelashes(睫毛)were {#blank#}3{#/blank#}same size,but I later made the second layer smaller and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (thin)to make it stand out."

Wu's passion for dough sculptures started more than a decade ago.At  first,he found it {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(difficulty)to make dough sculptures because of no basic training in art.To solve this,Wu observed people carefully and also looked for many art books. By improving {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(he)own art education,the pastry Wu made slowly became more lifelike.

Pastry lovers nationwide have learned to make such pieces from Wu,who {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(teach)more than h000 students.He likes to share his techniques and {#blank#}8{#/blank#}n ought)about puff pastries,and he is happy to see students introducing his creations at competitions.

"I used to focus on the techniques, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} now I think more about ways to combine traditional Chinese culture with  puff pastries,"Wu told China Daily,adding that it is good to see more young people becoming {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(interest)in Chinese pastries.