"The first of June, and the King family is going on holiday tomorrow! " said Meg. "I'm free for three months!"

    "And Aunt March went away for her holiday today." said Jo. "Isn't life wonderful!"

    "What will you do all your holiday?" asked Amy.

    "I'll stay in bed late, and do nothing." said Meg.

    "I have lots of books to read." said Jo.

    "Let's not do any studying, Beth...." said Amy. "Let's play all the time and rest, as Jo and Meg are going to do."

    "I will if Mother doesn't mind." said Beth.

    Mrs. March agreed to the plan and said they could try it for a week.

   "But," she added, "I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play."

    Next day, Meg appeared at ten o'clock and ate breakfast alone. It was a lonely meal and the room was untidy, because Beth had not cleaned it.

    Jo went to the river with Laurie, then sat in the apple tree and read a book. Beth began to tidy things in her cupboard, but she got tired and left it half-done. She went to her piano, glad that she did not have to wash the cups and plates. Amy sat in the garden to draw, hoping someone would see her and say something nice about her picture. But no one appeared, so she went for a walk, got caught in the rain and came home very wet.

    At tea, everyone said that it had been a happy but unusually long day. Meg, who had been shopping in the afternoon, now decided that she did not like the dress she had bought. Jo had a headache from reading too long. Beth couldn't find anything in her cupboard, and the rain had made Amy's dress so wet that she couldn't wear it to Katy Brown's party the next day.

    Mrs. March listened, smiled and said nothing.

    The week seemed to get longer and longer with nothing much to do, and by Friday the girls were glad that it was nearly over. Then Mrs. March gave Hannah a holiday, and when the girls got up on Saturday, there was no breakfast ready, no fire in the kitchen, and no mother waiting for them.

    "What has happened?" said Jo.

    Meg ran upstairs, then came down to say that Mother was staying in her room to have a rest.

    "She says we must look after ourselves today." Meg said.

    "Good, I want something to do." said Jo.

    Secretly, they were all pleased to have something useful to do again. Beth and Amy put cups and plates on the table while Jo and Meg got the breakfast, then Meg took some tea and an egg up to Mrs. March. The tea was too strong and the egg was burned. Mrs. March did not complain, but she laughed to herself afterwards.

Grandma Lee is 70 years old. She lives alone, She spends lots of time on shopping. She thinks it is really interesting. Every morning, she gets up early and then goes to the market to buy some vegetables and fruit. To save money, she always compares the prices of the same vegetable and fruit. She never feels tired of it. And in the afternoon, she goes to the supermarket, because there is usually a sale on at that time. 

Grandma Lee doesn't carry any cash any more. She only takes her mobile phone. Now she can even shop online. She can choose all kinds of things on the Internet and she can get them at home. It's so convenient! 

A village soccer tournament(联赛) in Rongjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province has drawn people's attention. The tournament is called Cun Chao, or Village Super League.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} May to July this year, 20 teams from Rongjiang County took part in Cun Chao. The players came from different jobs and minority ethnic groups(少数民族). 

The cheerleaders(拉拉队队员) wore {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(tradition) ethnic clothes and also performed in the soccer tournament. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(visitor) could also enjoy singing and dancing performances.

Cun Chao has {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(recent) put Rongjiang on the soccer map. In fact, the area has already had a {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(long) history of the sport than other areas. 

Soccer was introduced to Rongjiang in the 1940s and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(become) an important part of people's lives since then. In 2021, Rongjiang was listed as one of the "model counties" for soccer development. In the past, it was hard 

{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(find) good soccer fields. 

But those conditions never stopped the locals from doing that. Whether on farms, river banks, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} rocky lands, people always found a way to enjoy 

{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(they)．

Xu Bo, the head of Rongjiang County's government, said, "We will use Cun Chao as a way to help develop {#blank#}10{#/blank#} countryside. We hope people love soccer and have a chance to realize their soccer dreams."

Jingwai Mingde Primary School is in Xuanwei, Yunnan. It was made up of five country primary schools in 2008. It has mor than 1, 000 teachers and students now. The country primary school is famous for its special labour lessons. It has a 150-mu farm. The students can help their school get food self-sufficiency(自给自足) by working on the farm. ↵

Each class(from Grade Three to Grade Six) can get a piece of land on the farm. The students can take two labour lessons on the farm with the help of their labour teachers. They love their land very much and spend most of their free time on it. They plant all kinds of vegetables, such as beans, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots. Some even plant apple trees, orange trees and other fruit trees. Their school looks much nicer with green trees and beautiful flowers all year round. 

There is also a zoo in the school. The students can keep chickens, ducks and other farm animals in it. They have learnt a lot by keeping the farm animals. 

"The children have learnt how to do farm work by working on the farm, " said a teacher. "It also helps them learn how to get on well with others and make their school life more colourful. "

On weekends, the school is often quiet. But at Furong School in Sangzhi of Hunan Province, students take part in fun activities, such as playing soccer, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} and singing under the care of their teachers.

Most students at the school are left- behind children. Their parents work far from home and they have{#blank#}2{#/blank#} to do on weekends. The school sets up some clubs so that the students can learn and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} during weekends.

Huang Ying is in the Table Tennis Club."I often watch table tennis {#blank#}4{#/blank#} on TV. I think playing table tennis is one of the best ways of staying {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. I play table tennis after school every day and I am really good at it now." Huang says.

When I was in fourth grade, I worked part-time as a paperboy. Mrs.Stanley was one of my customers. She'd watch me coming down her street, and by the time I'd biked up to her doorstep, there'd be a cold drink waiting.

I'd sit and drink while she talked. Mrs. Stanley talked mostly about her dead husband,"Mr.Stanley and I went shopping this morning." she'd say. The first time she said that, cola went up my nose.

I told my father how Mrs. Stanley talked as if Mr.Stanley were still alive. Dad said she was probably lonely(孤独的)， and that I should sit and listen and nod my head and smile, and maybe she'd go out from her sadness. So that's what I did, and it turned out Dad was right. After a while, she seemed to be better then.

I finally stopped delivering newspapers and didn't see Mrs.Stanley for several years. One day, we saw her at a church. She was spooning potatoes and looking happy. Four years before, she had to offer her paperboy a drink to have someone to talk with. Now she had friends. Her husband was gone, but life went on.

I live in the city now, and my newsboy is a lady named Edna with three kids. She asks me how I'm doing. When I don't say "Fine," she sits down and listens to my problems. She's lived in the city most of her life. She knows about the neighborhood. The neighborhood is a state of mind. You find it whenever people ask how you're doing because they care, and not because they're getting paid to do so. Sometimes it's good to Just smile, nod your head and listen.