{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It has around 3 billion fans—nearly half the world's population! And about 300 million people play this game. That's 4 percent of the world's population!

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Many people in old days played the early form of this modern game. Cuju(蹴鞠), a ball-kicking game in China, was reported as early as 2, 500 B. C.  Around the same time in Greece, people were also playing a similar ball game without using their hands.

But modern soccer didn't become official(官方的)until 1863. An Englishman called Cobb Morley introduced the idea of a soccer association(联盟). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} From then on, other associations in the countries were set up. They came together—to make up the FIFA, which organizes the World Cup.

It's not easy to tell what makes soccer so popular. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Soccer needs only two feet and a ball. This makes it a sport that developing countries can play easily. Some of the sport's best players come from these poor nations. 

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The sport's no-hands rule makes beautiful dance—like movements on the field. What's more, this sport excites the heart. Teams might score only a few times each match, so matches can turn around suddenly.

     No one knows who will win at the next World Cup. But one thing is certain: The world will be watching.

    We had a terrible school trip last week．Some students were late．Then we waited half an hour for the school bus，but it didn't arrive. In the end，the teacher took us by subway．It took over an hour．When we arrived at the zoo，we were all tired and hungry．We wanted to see elephants．but there weren't any．There were some really smart seals(海豹)，but we didn't see the show．We arrived too late．We forgot our cameras，so we didn't take any photos．Then it started to rain，and nobody had an umbrella．So we went for lunch and ate some pizza．My friends had some ice-cream，too．I didn't have any because I don't like it．We didn't see many animals because it rained．Finally we went back to school．We were wet and tired．I didn't enjoy my school trip at all!

    Let's have a look at American students' school life. On school days, American students usually get up at 7:00 a.m. Most students walk or take a yellow school bus to school. Some students ride bikes. After they arrive at school at about 8:30 a.m., they meet their friends and talk about their activities. They put their backpack in a small cupboard(衣柜）and take out only one book, some writing paper and a pencil for each class. In the middle school, they take only five or six subjects each term. They usually go to the same class every day, and they have homework for every class.

    At noon, the students eat lunch at school. They often have meat, vegetables, fruit and some drinks. But some students like pizza, hot dogs or hamburgers better. At 13:00 in the afternoon, they begin to have classes. Their classes are always over at 15:00. Then they join the school clubs or play sports. They go back home at about 5:30 p.m.

Information Card

    It's Monday today. When Alice gets up in the morning, she finds everything is white. It's snowing. It looks very cold. So she puts on a warm sweater. After having some milk and bread for breakfast, she wants to ride her bike to school. But her mom tells her not to do that because there's too much snow on the road. Then she walks to school. There's a P. E. class on Monday. Alice is very happy because she can play with snow with her friends.

Last summer,Cathy's whole family went to New York City for their summer vacation. They stayed there for two weeks.

New York City has more than seven and a half million people.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It is also the home of the United Nations.

First they visited the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is one of New York's most well-known places.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} On the second day they went to the Empire State Building. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}From the top of the building, they saw most parts of New York. On the third day they visited the Metropolitan Museum.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} During the rest time of the week, Cathy went to Bronx Zoo with her younger brother and sister. There they were glad to see a lot of their favourite animals-tigers, lions, monkeys, and elephants.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} On the island, they spent most of their time swimming sunbathing and playing on the beach. They all had a good time.