Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern day life.

Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

      By watching the way birds fly, Leonardo tried to find out the secret of flying. Among his sketches(素描)we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.

      Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He didn't eat any meat, which was very unusual in those times. He never published (发表) his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

      We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe, however, that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

    Many people still remember the beautiful dance “Thousand-hand Guanyin” in the CCTV Spring Festival Party. The lead dancer of the dance is Tai Lihua.

    When Tai Lihua was two years old, she lost her hearing because of a fever, then she became mute (哑的), too. From then on, her world was silent. But she didn't know this at first. At the age of five, when her schoolmates in kindergarten (幼儿园) played a game about sound, she discovered that she was different from others. She was very sad about it. Her father went to many places to look for the best treatments for her illness. But nothing worked. When she was seven years old, she went to a school for deaf and mute children. In that school, she did well in her studies. Her teacher said she was good at expressing her feelings through dance.

    She also began to love dance and dance became her favorite. She thought she could use dance to express what she thought about life. She worked hard at it and her hard work made her successful. She has been to many other countries to perform and many foreigners like her style.

    “My dear lady，”says Holmes．“You're shivering．Are you cold? Do you want a cup of hot tea?”

    “I'm not cold，”the woman replies，“I fear for my life!”

    “We are here to help you．Don't worry about anything．I don't know you．But I know many things about you．For example，I know how you traveled．You came to London by train．You also rode to the train station on a horse—drawn wagon．''

    “Why，yes．You‘re right.But how do you know these things?”

    “I see a return ticket in your glove．I see fresh mud on the left arm of your dress. Now tell us your problem．''

    “My name is Helen Stoner，”she states，“My mother and father are dead．I am living with my stepfather．Dr．Grimsby Roylott．He comes from a rich family．But they are no longer rich．They have nothing except a small piece of land and a huge old house．We are living in the house. Dr．Roylott is using my mother's mone37 for expenses．Part of it was for my sister and me. It was for our marriages．”

    Holmes is sitting in his chair．His eyes are closed．He is listening carefully to Helen's story．He hears every detail.

    Helen continues. “My stepfather has no friends．He fights with everyone．He is strong and gets angry quickly. Everyone is afraid of him．”

    “He has no friends at all?”asks Holmes．

    “No．He talks to no one except the gypsies(吉普赛人)．They are poor people who travel from place to place．A band of gypsies is staying on our land right now．''

    “Are you and your sister afraid of the gypsies?”

    “My dear Mr．Holmes．You are making me so sad．My sister is dead．That is why I am standing here in this room．”    ，  .

    Hello, everyone! I am your new friend. My name is Mike. There are 1 people in my family—my wife, my 2 and I. I was born 3 1976. My birthday is on 4 —New Year's Day. I like soccer but I 5 volleyball, I think it is 6 . My wife has a clothes store, 7 clothes are at very good prices. Many people come to her store to 8 clothes. My son is a student. He goes to 9 five days a week. His school has a(n) 10 , It is on March 11th. He likes music(音乐) very much, so he is at the festival(节,节庆) every year.

Nowadays too many people have to work at weekends. Some people don't {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Others think it's terrible. 

One woman thinks that working at the weekends can be dangerous. She is Kelly Smith. Mrs. Smith works in an office in Brighton, England. One Saturday, May 24, she went to the office to do some work. After she got into the lift, it stopped between the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Mrs. Smith couldn't get out of the lift. She began to shout, but no one heard him. Then Mrs. Smith {#blank#}3{#/blank#} that it was holiday in England. No one was going to work until Tuesday. With nothing to eat or drink, Mrs. Smith was very hungry and had to sleep most of the time. Early on Tuesday morning, her workmates came to work and found the lift {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. When the lift was opened, Mrs. Smith came out cold, weak and tried. She had been in the lift for more than 60 hours.

Now Mrs. Smith says, "I only use lifts if they have telephones in them!"

 Dawn Loggins was born in North Carolina, America. She had a hard childhood because of her {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (父母) problems. There was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (从不) enough money for food and living, so the family often lived in buildings without power or running water. Dawn really wanted to learn, but {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (学习) at home was difficult with no lights.

 As she got older, Dawn {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (明白) that education was the only way to change her life. When her parents {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (突然) moved away to Tennessee, she was left behind and moved in with a woman. The woman was a hotel {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (经理). Dawn was finally in a normal home. To make money, she took a job as a school cleaner and worked every day before classes {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (开始). With great efforts, she always got A {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (在······期间) her teenage years and worked even harder. She hoped to get into Harvard {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (大学) one day.

 As the saying goes, "No pains, no gains." Her dream came {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (真的) and she studied biology there. This was a fantastic achievement for a teenager whose life had been far from easy.