Almost every child likes sweet things, such as candies, chocolate, ice cream and desserts. But do you know there is a holiday called Sweetest Day in the USA? Does it mean people can eat lots of sweet on that day?

    Sweetest Day is a popular holiday for Americans. People celebrate it on the third Saturday in October. On that day, people show their love to the elderly, children, their good friends or anyone else they want to help. Orphans(孤儿) and patients can also enjoy people's greetings. In fact, anyone may get a gift on that day. It's just a day that offers people a chance to show their love and care to others.

    How did the holiday originate? Here is a story. In 1922, a very kind man in Cleverland, a city in Ohio of America, thought that many poor people in the city needed care from others. He wanted them to be happy and he hoped they would find people always remembered them and cared about them. So he gave them boxes of sweets or small gifts to show his love. He also asked his friends and neighbors to help him do these things. Many people thought it was a great idea. After that, more and more people in Cleverland began to do things like him every year. Gradually(逐渐地) it became a popular holiday for lots of Americans.

    Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man.

    The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed. Paper provides an important way to communicate with knowledge.

    Paper was first made in China about 2,000 years ago. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. Paper was not made in southern Europe until about the year 1100. After that, the forestry countries like Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United States became the most important in paper-making. Today Finland makes the best paper in the world. And it has the biggest paper industry in the world.

    When we think of paper, we think of newspapers, books, letters, envelopes, and writing paper. So paper plays an important role in our lives.

    Paper is very good for keeping you warm. Houses are often insulated(隔热) with paper. You have perhaps seen homeless men sleep on a large number of newspapers. They are insulating themselves from the cold. In Finland, in winter itis sometimes 4:0 degrees below zero. The farmer swear paper boots in the snow: Nothing could be warmer.

Now more than one billion people in China speak putonghua, or Mandarin, as their first language. At the same time, dongbeihua, or northeast dialect (方言), has become more popular. The dialect makes even the most serious daily conversations sound fun.

Ms Ann, a Chinese language teacher, opened a class to teach middle school students dongbeihua in Heilongjiang Province. "I just hope to help the students learn more about the culture of their home town," said Ms Ann.

"It is important to inherit (继承) the northeast dialect in a new form,"she said. "For most students, they are speaking Mandarin or even English to adapt(适应) to society. They don't pay more attention to the dialect or the culture behind it. That's a pity. They need to pass it on."

Now there are over thirty students in her class. At first, some students believed it would not be difficult for the northeasterners to speak dongbeihua well. However, with the deepening of the class, the students could only speak some easy words and knew little about the meaning behind them. To increase students' interest, Ms Ann has been trying different ways. For example, she chose video clips from interesting cartoons for her students to dub (配音) them into dongbeihua.

Both Mandarin and dialect are the carriers (载体) of Chinese language and culture. Learning the dialect is learning our local culture and history.

Christopher's mother now is sitting proudly and watching TV as Christopher is given the "Child of Courage" prize by his favorite TV star. This makes her remember the accident happened to them. 

Christopher was sitting in the car with his mother, father, sister Rosie, 10, and brother Mac, 7, when his father drove onto a metal barrier(障碍物). Unluckily, the car fell down from a hill into a deep river. Christopher, then 12, swam through a broken window and got out for the fresh air. Then he realized his brother and sister were still in the car. 

Christopher took a deep breath and swam back into the car. He saved Mac first, then he swam back to look for Rosie, who was under the cold, dark water, in the car. Christopher had to feel for her seatbelt because he couldn't see anything in the water. He took the seatbelt off her, and went up for air. Finally he went back to pull her out of the car. 

Christopher's mother and father were thrown out before the car rolled down the hill. When his mother came back to her life, she looked for her children hurriedly. She could see Mac on the bank, but she couldn't find the other ones. She was so worried. Then she saw Christopher come up out of the water like a dolphin with Rosie on his shoulder. She shouted excitedly to Christopher down to the river, "I'm so proud of you. "

The family called for an ambulance (救护车). It took Christopher's father who was badly hurt to a nearby hospital immediately. 

Once upon a time, there was an old man who usually went to the seaside to do his writing. He had a habit of walking {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the beach before he began his writing.

One day, he saw a figure(身影) moving like {#blank#}2{#/blank#} dance r while walking along the seaside. He smiled to {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( he) and thought maybe he could see a dance here. And so, he walked faster.

As he got {#blank#}4{#/blank#}( close), he noticed that it was a young woman. She was not dancing at all. Instead, she bent down(弯腰) to pick up something and then she {#blank#}5{#/blank#}( throw) it into the sea.

So the old man called out," Good morning! May I ask {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you are doing?"

The young woman paused, looked up, and answered," I am throwing starfish into the sea."

"{#blank#}7{#/blank#} really surprised me a lot. Why are you throwing starfish into the sea?" asked the old man.

To this, the young woman {#blank#}8{#/blank#}( reply)," The sun is up and the tide is going out. IfI don't throw them in, they' ll die."

Upon hearing this, the old man said," But there are {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( mile) of beach and there are starfish all along every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the woman picked up another {#blank#}10{#/blank#}( one) and put it into the sea. As it met the water, she said," It made a difference to that one."