It's five o'clock in the afternoon. School1and the students from Class 3 are going to Grandma Liang's house. Grandma Liang has no2or daughters. So the children often go to help3do some housework.

    Now the children are at Grandma Liang's4. Grandma Liang is very5to see them. Look! Lily is6with Grandma Liang in the living room. Betty is cleaning the7. Jane is washing clothes outside the room.8is Ann? Oh, she is in the kitchen. She is making9for Grandma Liang, Jim is next to Ann. He is10her.

    My name is Felix Black. I am from America. I am twelve years old. And I am a student at No. 2 Middle School in Suzhou, Mrs Zhao is our Chinese teacher. My friend is also a student here. Her name is Maria Smith. She is from England. She is thirteen years old. Maria and I are new students at No. 2 Middle School. We like our Chinese class.

    Wonderful Events

    Horse Racing All Year Round

    The races start at 3 p.m. every Sunday. And the racetrack is only 20 miles away. There is a lot of parking place here. So you don't need to worry about where to park. We also provide presents for free. However, no children are allowed to go in.

100 Years of Pictures

    There are plenty of photos on show (now and then). You can see the Tajin history from 1900 to 2000. The show starts on February 1st and goes on to April 30th. Our address is City Art Museum 730 High Street. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Monday.

    Weekend Sales

    Everything is at the great sale (20% — 60% off) from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday. Don't you want to save time and money? Come and visit us at Book Grandview Mall to realize your dreams! As soon as you come here, you'll fall in love with prices we offer.

    Dance Party

    You must be tired after working for a long time. You need to take breaks away from heavy work to celebrate a special date. Please come to Live Band, Country Club with your sweet heart on Sunday night. We prepare a dance party, which is from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The price is $ 25 a couple or $ 15 a person. Enjoy your sleepless night!

    Imagine you are taking a walk on the beautiful beach. Just then, your feet step over something and you hear a crack (噼啪声) —an empty plastic bottle. Things like this are happening more often because of sea rubbish.

    Studies show that 80%of all the waste is from the land. The waste is mainly plastics (塑料制品) which are really hard to degrade (降解). So the rubbish will remain there for a long time. Some of the pollution is caused accidentally. For example, about 10,000 product-filled boxes are lost at sea every year from business ships. Sometimes people just throw things into the water from boats or land. Many large rubbish areas are formed in the North Pacific Ocean.

    Thankfully, the situation isn't ignored (忽视). Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) are taking action to help clean the sea. Since 2006, 76 projects have cleared out 3,814 metric tons (公吨) of rubbish from the sea. Methods of rubbish cleaning include using machines to remove (移除) the waste away from the surface of sea water. Besides, special nets are set by the mouths of rivers to stop the rubbish before it reaches the sea. If everyone does his part, sea rubbish seems like a problem that can be solved.

People love walking through a giant puzzle. In a corn maze(玉米迷宫), they can follow miles of paths and run into lots of dead ends before they finally find their way out. The corn maze has been growing for almost 30 years. 

Simple corn mazes began appearing in the 1980s. In 1993, the first big corn maze created for the public to enjoy was made in Annville Pennsylvania, by Don Frantz and Adrian Fischer. Then, in a corntield as big as two and a half football fields, Mr. Frantz created "The Amazing Maize Maze"with the help of his family and friends. When it was done, almost two miles of pathways snaked through the cornfield. Since then, thousands of corn mazes have been created around the world.

For many farmers, a corn maze means a boost(激增) of extra income. During the opening weekend, about 6, 000 visitors came to get lost in Mr. Frantz's maze. Charging only $5 per person, he earned almost $32, 000in two weeks.

Brett Herbst is also a maze designer. In 1999 he set a world record for the world's largest corn maze, an image of the solar system with nine planets in it. He now has a business called The Maize, which has designed more than 4, 000 mazes around the world. "Corn mazes help people connectwith their roots, "he says. "People are so far removed from farm life that they are drawn to something real, something organic. "

Today, a great number of people enjoy seeking fun in a corn maze. Mr. Herbst says, "When we see families on the farm having fun, we know that they are making memories that will last a lifetime. "