Pablo Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. His father was a painter and art teacher who gave his son the first lesson in drawing. He won a prize — “Science and Charity” for his first important painting when he was only fifteen. He studied in several cities in Spain. But there was no one to teach him all that he wanted to know. When he was nineteen, he visited Paris.

Paris was then the center of the world for artists. Everything that was new and exciting in the world of paintings seemed to happen there. When he was twenty-three, Picasso moved there to live and lived in France for the rest of his life.

    When he was over ninety, this great painter still lived his life like a young man. He was still looking for new ideas and new ways to use his artistic materials.

    When he died in 1973, he was ninety-one years old.

    This story happened three years ago. Jack was an eight-year-old boy at that time. He was a good pupil. He was good at every subject at school. But he could not get up early. He often slept until nine or ten o'clock in the morning. So he was often late for school.

    Jack's mother didn't want him to be late for school again. So she bought him a clock. She said to him,“ You must get up when you hear the clock ring.”

    “Yes, Mum.” said Jack. After that Jack got up at twenty to seven when he heard the clock ring.

    One day his mother forgot to make the clock ring at the usual time. And the next morning Jack didn't get up. It was six forty-two at that moment. It was time for breakfast. Mother went to see him. Jack was still in bed and his eyes were open.

    “Why didn't you get up?” Mother was angry.

    “You told me to get up when I heard the clock ring. So I am waiting for the bell.”

    “Mum, is the clock still sleeping?” Jack asked.

    My friends and I joined a two-day survival(生存) training course in the mountains. The first day was really1—there was so much to do! Arriving at the campsite, we were divided into groups and given a tent, some food, a2and a compass(指南针). Standing next to a small river, Fanny3 camping in the grassy area nearby. However, our instructor, Mr.Lee, pointed out that it might flood(淹没) if it rained. In the end, we found a4area. Putting up the tent was very hard.5Mr.Lee helped us a lot.

    By the time we had put up the tent,6was really hungry. "We wouldn't have got this hungry if we had brought some snacks." Peter said. We all told him to7complaining(抱怨) and help us start a fire to cook our food8. Realizing we were having trouble making the fire, he finally9.

    The next day started early. Woken by a strange noise. Peter went to see what was 10.

    "Some cows have eaten our breakfast!" he shouted. "That's all because you didn't11the food properly last night." said Mr. Lee.

    Worried that Mr. Lee was angry with us, we tried very hard on our next12— using the map and compass to find a secret location. We made it to the location13the other group did.

    We all felt very proud of14.

    The survival training course was a great15. Now I feel I could survive anywhere!

    I'm a Chinese student studying in Canada. I have been a boarder(寄宿生) with the Carsons for more than a year and a half.

    The Carsons live in their own house, which has four bedrooms including the one in the basement(底层) which I live in. Judy does all the work in the house and Andrew is responsible for the work in the garden. When they go out in the evening, they often ask me to look after their children.

    Judy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris, lived in another city. Judy was their only child and naturally they doted on(溺爱) Judy's children. They often sent the children presents.

    Last April Mr. Morris died. Now that Mrs. Morris was quite alone, I expected that Judy would want her to come and live with them. One day, Margaret told me grandma was coming to live with them and her daddy and mummy would want my room back. The news didn't surprise me and the next day I went to Judy and asked her about it. I said I couldn't think of living in their basement room any longer if it was needed for Mrs. Morris. Judy seemed surprised at first. Then she told me there was no deed for me to move, for they hadn't yet come to any decision about her mother coming to live with them. "Naturally I'm worried about my mother. She has been in poor health." She smiled sadly and added. "To be honest, Andrew and my mother have never got on well. We'll wait a bit and see what happens. Perhaps Moter will be all right living herself, of perhaps they will both change their minds."

    That was six months ago. During this time I've heard that Mrs. Morris has had two illnesses and that her health has got worse. A nursing home was mentioned once but Mrs. Morris refused to go there. So up to now she's still living alone and I'm still living in the basement room.

Harris was a very small hare(野兔) with very big feet. "Why do I have such big feet, Grandpa?" Harris asked. "All hares have big feet, Harris. I will show you 1 ," said Grandpa.

Grandpa hopped(单脚跳) 2 into the air. Harris copied(模仿) it. He kept practicing over and over again until he could hop as high 3 Grandpa. Then Grandpa took Harris up to the 4 of the mountains. He told Harris, "With your big feet, you can hop to the top of your world."

Grandpa taught Harris lots of life 5 . For example, he taught Harris how to 6 a cool resting place in the earth when the days were hot. One summer afternoon, they stopped to 7 the grass. Harris shouted happily, "Look, Grandpa! My feet can 8 me away from the hot sun! I'm so 9 to have such big feet." As time went by, he got to know the10 of his feet.

One day Grandpa noticed a wolf looking closely at them from a distance (从远处). He kept cool and spoke 11 to Harris, "The most important thing about your big feet is they can 12 you to run very fast." Harris began to run and didn't stop 13 he heard the howl (嚎叫) of the wolf. "Grandpa, why aren't you running with me?" Harris ran back and 14 sadly.

"Little Harris, I'm growing old. It's time for you to learn to live in 15 own world."

Harris kept Grandpa's words in mind and he believed his big feet would take him to the end of the world.

Hi! My name is Tony Brown. Tony is my first name. Brown is my last name. I am 12 years old. I am in London, England with my family. Now I am a student of a middle school. At school, my favorite is English because it is interesting (有趣的). Look! This is my telephone, it is a red small one. But (但是) I like black.

I have two pen-friends. They are Luke Smith and Li Xiaoting. Luke is from USA. Blue and white are his favorite colors. Li Xiaoting is a Chinese girl. Xiaoting is her first name. Li is her last name. Her English name is Lily. She is 13 years old. She likes English, too. She listens to BBC in the evening. She is a good girl. She is nice to me. Look, I have a photo of her, she is in red in the picture with her sister Grace.