Mrs. Hunt comes back from work. She tells Mr. Hunt about a nice dress. “I see it in the shop every day,” she says “and…”

    “And you want to buy it?” says Mr. Hunt. “How much is it?”

    “Two hundred and sixty dollars.”

    “Wow, two hundred and sixty dollars for a dress? That's too much!”

    But every evening when he comes back, Mrs. Hunt only speaks about the dress, so at last he says, “Oh, buy the dress! Here is the money!” She is very happy.

    But the next evening, when Mr. Hunt wants to have a look at the nice dress, Mrs. Hunt says “I don't want to buy it.”

    “Why not?” he asks.

    “Well, it's still in the window of the shop after a week. So I think no one wants this dress. And I don't want it, either.”

    Boom! A clap of thunder (一声霹雳) made the old house shake. Ramon stayed under his bed. A flash of lightning (一道闪电) lit up the room."I hate this house,"Ramon thought. It was his first night in his new home.

    The house had belonged to his grandma. It was very, very old. It looked really scary at night. The trees outside his windows looked like monsters (怪物) in the dark. Their branches (树枝) looked like long arms. They waved when the wind blew. The storm made everything even scarier. Ramon hated storms, and it seemed worse in the old house.

    Later the thunder became quieter. Ramon climbed into bed and fell asleep. When he woke up, the sun was shining through his windows. Ramon climbed out of bed.

    The trees outside didn't look like monsters anymore. The branches had nice green leaves growing on them. Ramon could see a bird sitting on one of the branches. It was singing a happy song. The yard looked pretty nice in the daylight. A stream (溪) ran across the yard. A swing hung from one of the trees. Many flowers grew next to the  tree.  Butterflies  flew  around  the flowers.

    "Maybe living here won't be so bad after all," Ramon thought.

Su Shi, known as Su Dongpo, was a famous Chinese writer, poet and painter.

When he was young, he read a lot of books and wrote many good articles. People thought {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (high) of him. Because of this, he became very proud and wrote a couplet (对联) for {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (him).

Knowing all the words in the world;

Reading all the books on the earth.

A wise old man saw this couplet and thought, "It is necessary for Su Shi {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (learn) how to be modest." So, one day, he came to Su Shi's house with a book.

The old man showed Su Shi the book and explained, "So far, I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (read) the book several times, but there are still some difficult words that I can't understand. I have asked many people, but none of them could understand their {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (meaning). I have heard that you are a person of rich knowledge, so I come to ask you."

Full of confidence, Su Shi took the book from the old {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (man) hand, but when he opened it, he became very {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (surprise) because there were many words he didn't know. At that moment, Su Shi realized that there were many more things that he had to learn.

Actually, the old man knew every word in this book. He just wanted to make Su Shi know the importance of {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) modest. Su Shi was embarrassed (尴尬的) and said, "Now I know why you came. I shouldn't have been so arrogant (自大的)."

The old man smiled and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (leave). Then Su Shi quickly took his brush and ink, and added some words to the couplet:

Working hard to know all the words in the world;

Being determined to read all the books on the earth.

 From then on, he worked even {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (hard) than before. Finally, Su Shi made great achievements in many fields, especially in literature.

"It is time to present a modern China and ordinary Chinese people to the world instead of always focusing on the country's 5,000-year history," Zhang Yimou, the chief1 of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, said in Beijing on Friday.

The children singing the Olympic anthem (会歌) and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics theme2 were primary school students, many with no stage experience.

Training, which began in October, mainly took place on weekends in schools or workplaces. When the rehearsals (排练) were3 in Beijing's National Stadium, where the opening ceremony would be held, the organizers had to4 desks for the children to do homework during breaks, 5 most of them were at school. Sometimes, teachers would hold classes on site while students were waiting to rehearse.

The children came from Fuping, a small county (县) in Hebei. Many live in villages and their parents are6 .

It was the first time the 44 little singers had left home to7 in Beijing, a moment even more memorable for8 during Chinese Lunar New Year, usually a time for families to get together.

"Most don't have any singing experience. It will be a(n)9 experience for them in their whole lives," said their headmaster, Liu Kai.

"They were not performing. They were playing, all very happy and relaxed," Zhang Yimou said. "We wanted to present a modern China and the lives of10 Chinese people. There were no great performers, but everyone was true, which touched the audiences' hearts."