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.

    Today is Saturday, but Julie gets up very early. She wants to go to the library. The library is far from her home. Julie has a good breakfast. She has some bread, two eggs and a cup of milk. Then she leaves home and gets to the bus stop.

    Julie gets on the bus at eight. After one and a half hours, she gets to the library. The library is big and clean. There are lots of interesting books in it. Julie reads a storybook there. It's very funny. When it's time for lunch, Julie leaves the library and goes back home. She borrows three books from the library: one English book, one science book and one history book. She wants to read them at home.

Today is my birthday. I'm 16 years old. I'm not a little boy running in the hallways(走廊) at school. I wanted to know who would 1 my birthday. I really wanted to have a birthday cake because I wanted to 2 .But I got up and found my 3 didn't do anything. My father was 4 a newspaper on the sofa. My mother went out to buy some things for lunch. I5 my computer and went online. There were just some people online. No one said 6 about my birthday. After thirty7 , my mum came back. She went into the8 and cooked. It seemed that the world forgot me and I wasn't9 at all. I said to myself, "You are 16 now. You're not a child. Forget your birthday."

But when I was doing my maths homework, my 10 came to me and asked, "What kind of cake do you want?"11 a surprise(惊喜)! At that time, I didn't know12 to say. I chose a chocolate cake in the end. I knew that the whole world may forget me,13 my mum wouldn't.

Also, when I went online in the evening, I talked to my friends. Many of them said happy birthday to14 . And my phone was full of text messages(短信)saying"Happy birthday".

It was a(n) 15 day after all!

My dad lost his job a few years ago. At the time, I thought it didn't matter much, but I was wrong. That event 1 my life.

We were sitting at dinner when my older brother Jack and I heard the 2 . Dad said that his company wasn't making enough money. They had to let a lot of people go. He said, "We are going to make some changes." Jack and I looked at each other. At first, we didn't know what they meant. Mom 3 that I would have to stop taking dance lessons for a while. Jack couldn't go to the summer camp, 4 . Mom and Dad said that we would have to save some money by cutting out things that weren't 5 .

The next few months we all helped out. Mom went back to work full-time. We had to cut out going to the movies and restaurants. Jack got a part-time 6 to make money in his free time. I took on the responsibility of doing 7 when my mother was busy doing her work. Though things were kind of hard, no one 8 and we encouraged each other.

After a few months, Dad found a job in the city. Dad thanked us for helping out. He said, "We all came together as a family."

Later on, I thought about what Dad said and 9 he was right. We were all upset about giving things up, but we did what we could to help each other. Even though it was 10 that my dad lost his job, it showed me what a family is all about.

Mary is studying in a middle school in Shanghai. She likes Chinese {#blank#}1{#/blank#} very much because it is delicious. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Mary is watching the dragon boat race with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} classmates Alan and Henry. 

At noon, they all feel {#blank#}3{#/blank#} so they take a bus to a Chinese restaurant. They want to order (点餐) some Chinese food for {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. "I don't want to eat hamburgers. They are not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} for my health," Alan says. "I'd like some rice and chicken. What about you, Mary?" "Many Chinese say if you eat a dumpling with a coin (硬币), you can get good luck," says Mary. "We will have{#blank#}6{#/blank#}important test next Monday, so I'd like to have some Chinese {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to have good luck." 

"Haha! Mary," Alan says. "You can only eat them {#blank#}8{#/blank#} Chinese New Year." "Oh, I know, but now I want to{#blank#}9{#/blank#}some dumplings," Mary says. "And what would you like to eat, Henry?" 

"I'd like noodles," says Henry. "And I'd like some fish, too. It shows you will have lots of money {#blank#}10{#/blank#}fish sounds ‘yu' in Chinese."