Lang Lang is only 27 years old, but has already been called "the most popular pianist on the planet" by American television network CNN.Like every successful person, Lang went through years of hard and lonely practice before making his name.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} With great talent (天赋), he won his first competition at the age of five{#blank#}2{#/blank#} When he was nine, Lang went to learn music in Beijing{#blank#}3{#/blank#}But Lang got fired (开除) by the piano teacher six months later{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Hearing about his son's failure, Lang's father was so angry that he told Lang to jump off a building!

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}His big break came at age 17, when he gained worldwide fame at "Gala of the Century", a well-known concert in Chicago, the US. Lang said it was his true love of music and piano that made him keep working.

A.however, Lang didn't jump, and pressure(压力)soon changed to power.

B. Lang's father pushed little Lang very hard to succeed.

C. It totally destroyed (毁灭) his piano dream.

D. He began to take piano lessons at the age of 3.

E. His father even gave up his job and moved to Beijing with his son.

    Like many countries, Britain has serious environmental problems. In 1952, more than 4, 000 people died in London because of the smog(雾霾). The government made new laws to stop smog from coal(煤) fires and factories and things became better.

    Today, London is much cleaner but there is a new problem：smog from cars. In December 1991, there was very little wind in London and pollution was much worse. As a result, about 160 people died from pollution in just four days.

    Part of the problem is the new "out of town" shopping centers. In the past, people often walked to shops near their home or went by bus. Now, many people drive to the new shopping centers. As a result, the small shops have been closed and more people have to travel to do their shopping.

    Many people think that Britain needs better and cheaper public transport(交通). Transport in Britain is very expensive. An early morning train trip from Glasgow to London(about 600km)can cost about 100 pounds, for example. A short 15-minute bus trip can cost over 100 pound.

    Many people are trying to cut the use of cars in Britain. Some cities now have special bicycle paths and many people cycle to work. Some people also travel to work together in one car to make less the pollution and the cost.

    As teenagers, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize, or they can be small, you may just want to become the best student in your class. Once you find a dream, what do you do with it? Do you ever try to make your dream real?

    Andrew Matthews, an Australian writer tells us that making our dreams real is life's biggest challenge. You may think you're not very good at some school subjects or it is impossible for you to become a writer. These kinds of thoughts stop you from getting your dream. In fact, everyone can make his dream come true. ①首要的事情是记住你的梦想是什么。 Don't let it leave your heart. Keep telling yourself what you want. Do this step by step and your ________ will come true faster because a big dream is made up of many small dreams.

    You must also never give up y our dream. There will be difficulties on the road to your dreams. But the biggest difficulty comes from yourself. ②You need to decide what is the most important.

    Without dreams, you won't make up your mind to learn more skills and new interests.

    I am a student of a middle school. My class teacher is Mrs. Green. She is more than 30 years old. She is our English and History teacher. She is strict(严格) and at the same time she is very kind.

    In our school, there is a playground. We do morning exercises, play basketball and volleyball there. Our PE teacher, Mr. Jackson teaches us to do ball games. He was once a successful sportsman. He is our hero. Our school also has a swimming pool. We take swimming lessons there.

    Our school building is very large and the school hall is on the ground floor. Every year, we have a prize—giving ceremony(颁奖典礼)in the hall.

    On Nov. 18, 1908, three men went up in a balloon. They started early in London. The headman was Augusta Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way.

    Soon they heard the sea. They carried a usual rope, and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied(系) a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to change its weight. It was for use over the sea. They also carried some bags of sand.

    After the Sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 metres, and the air was very cold. The water in the box became ice. Snow fell past the men's basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop(投下) some whole bags of sand.

    One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice.

At last they pulled the box into the basket. They rose to 5, 100 metres! Everything became icy. They were so cold that they decided to land. They came down in Poland safely. They had travelled 1,797 kilometres from London!

    The ENIAC (电子数学积分计算机) was the first modern computer. It was built in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania (宾夕法尼亚洲). The machine was very big. It was the size of a large room. It was also very heavy. The ENIAC weighed more than 27,000 kilograms. It was very expensive. Plus, it was not easy to use. But it did a good job.

    Over the years, computers got smaller and smaller. They also got cheaper and cheaper. First, big businesses got computers. Then, small businesses bought them. Now, people have computers at school, work, and home. Our small computers are much faster than the ENIAC.

    Nobody uses the ENIAC now. But we still remember it. It is important in the history of computers.