On May 12, a big earthquake in China hit Wenchuan, Sichuan. Buildings fell down and the city was destroyed. A lot of people lost their lives.

    Premier Wen Jiabao got on a plane to Chengdu 尽快地. He was leading rescue (救援) work there.

    During the earthquake, many school buildings fell down. Students were buried. But they didn't give up hope. Many got out with help. Here are some stories about the brave students.

    Jiang Dejia and Liao Li are both students from Shifang Yinghua Middle School in Deyang. They were buried in the school rubble(碎砖) for two days. Jiang and Liao didn't know each other before the earthquake. But they kept each other going during the two scary days. They were both rescued later.

    A Junior 1 girl called Deng Qingqing from Shifang Yinghua Middle School was buried under the rubble. She was cold and hungry. But the brave girl had a flashlight (手电筒). She used it to help her read books.

    Li Anning, 16, is from Beichuan Middle School. She and her classmates sang songs under the rubble to comfort each other. The PLA soldiers and policemen were trying to find people alive in the rubble.Helicopters (直升机) airdropped food, water and medicine. Medical teams went to the quake­ hit areas. People outside Sichuan were also offering money, blood and other things to help.

    Jim is an American. He is now living(居住) in China. He gets up at about half past six and has breakfast at seven o'clock. After breakfast, he says goodbye to his parents and leaves home at half past seven. He usually walks to school. He gets there at five minutes to eight. He has his first class at eight.

    Morning classes are over at ten past twelve and he has lunch five minutes later，at about a quarter past twelve. After lunch he plays with his friends.

    Afternoon classes begin at half past one. Usually there are two lessons in the afternoon. They finish at half past three. Usually he plays games or other things at school，and he gets home at about a quarter past five. He has supper at six and then does his homework and then watches TV. He goes to bed at about half past ten.

    Mr Black is a football fan. Every morning he goes to work by train. As he has a long trip, he always buys a newspaper. It helps to make the time pass more quickly. One Wednesday morning, Mr Black turned the important football matches. He knew the Football World Cup would be held in his city soon. He decided to go to watch the football game.

    While Mr Black was excited to be at the Football World Cup, he was disappointed（失望的）at the location of his seat. Peering（仔细看）across the stadium through his telescope（望远镜）he saw an empty seat far away and made his way there. Mr Black asked the man in the next seat, “May I sit here?” “Sure,” the man replied. “This was my wife's seat. She was a super football fan, and we used to come to the games together all the time until she passed away.”

    “I am sorry for your loss,” Mr Black said. “But I am curious（好奇的）. Why didn't you give the extra（多余的） ticket to a friend or a relative?” The man replied, “They are all at the funeral（葬礼）.”

    The Hunger Games is a book by an American author Suzanne Collins. It came out in 2008 and has sold millions of copies. You can buy it in 26 different languages.

    The story happens in the future, after the destruction（毁灭）of North America. There are twelve poor districts governed（统治）by the rich Capitol.

    The Capitol organizes the Hunger Games every year. One boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 in each of the twelve districts are chosen to fight. Only one person will live. The whole country must watch the games on television.

    The story is about Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year-old girl. Her younger sister, Prim, is chosen, but Katniss volunteers to go instead. She has to fight with a boy named Peeta.

    Where did the idea for The Hunger Games come from? One night in 2003, Suzanne Collins was watching TV. At that time, there was a war between the US and lraq. The only programs she could find on TV were "reality" programs and news about the war. Suzanne says that the two things started to mix together in her head and she had the idea for The Hunger Games.

    Some parents in the US have complained about the violence（暴力）in the book. But Suzanne says she is very worried about how much violence we see on TV nowadays. Suzanne is also worried about the amount of reality TV we watch." We put too much of our lives on TV, "she says." And we care less for people because of this." She says that writing about death and violence in the story was the hardest thing for her to do and she hopes it will make people think about what they watch in the future.

    My name is Philippe and my wife's name is Sophie. We're from1. Recently we were faced with a 2situation while traveling by car in the mountains with our hired driver. Just as we began to doze(打盹), the car made a strange, loud noise and then3working.

    We tried communicating with the driver but with little4because he couldn't speak French. He tried to tell us with body language that he was going to get help and then he left.

    We were in a poor area, with 5houses in sight. We started to bear the cries of wild animals Sophie was very afraid. We didn't have much food and it was getting 6and darker I began to lose7. Should we leave the car? Would our driver ever8? Was he a trustworthy man? We were very worried.

A couple of hours passed. 9, the headlights from another car appeared in the dark. A man got out of the car. Finding us cold and hungry, he kindly asked us to10his car.

11we left, he put a note on the windshield of the car with his phone number on it. Then he drove us to a nearby village, and we met his family. His cousin spoke French and he 12us tea and local foods. 13asked us questions and they were excited to have unexpected guests.

    Later that evening, the phone rang. It was our14. He had kept his word and fixed the car.

    I will15forget the warmth we received on that day because we depended on a complete stranger for help.