William Shakespeare was a writer of plays and poems. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth. He wrote thirty-seven plays in all. They are still popular today.

    He was born in England. At school he liked watching plays. He decided to be an actor when he finished school at the age of fourteen. In 1582,he married a farmer's daughter. She was eight years older than he was. Their first child was a daughter. Later they had twins. In 1585, Shakespeare left his hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon. His wife and children stayed behind. No one knows why he left or what he did between 1585 and 1592.

    At twenty-eight, he moved to London and joined a theatre company which opened the Globe Theatre in 1599.He became an actor, and he also wrote plays. He usually acted in his own plays. He made almost no money from his writing. But he made a lot of money from acting. With the money he bought a large house in his hometown.

    At the age of forty-nine, Shakespeare retired（退休）and went to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died at the age of fifty-two in 1616. He left his money to his family. He left the genius（天才）to the world. You still see his plays in English and in many other languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the world.

    Michael Perham (born on 16^th March, 1992 in Hertfordshire, England) is a boy who, at the age of 17, became the youngest person to sail around the world in the 50 feet racing boat, completing his journey on 7^th August, 2009. He started the world trip on the 15^th of November 2008 from Portsmouth, England.

    Just six days after Michael Perham set sail from Portsmouth, he started having serious problems with the boat, which he was unable to fix himself on the sea. He had to stop in Portugal. Just one day later, he set sail once again, with the hope of breaking David Dick's world record for the youngest person to sail around the world.

    Michael met many challenges（挑战） along the way, including rough seas and knock-downs in the Southern Ocean, terrible loneliness and fighting storms, but the largest difficulty Michael faced was the boat itself. It caused one problem after another. Funnily he celebrated his birthday in March last year among the dolphins in Indian Ocean.

    Michael Perham has entered the record books after becoming the youngest person to sail around the world. The teenager already holds the record for being the youngest people to sail across the Atlantic, aged just 14.

    Michael Perham plans to create the Sail Michael Fund to encourage young people to take to the water. He is also aiming to take part in the 2012 Olympics.

    Li Ming is staying with the Wang's family for the weekend. Today it is warm and fine. The family are having dinner in the garden. They often have dinner in the garden on a warm and fine spring day. Now Mr. and Mrs. Wang are sitting at the table with Li Ming under a tree.

    "It's great to have dinner out here on such a lovely day," Mrs. Wang says. "What's the weather like in your hometown, Li Ming?" Mr. Wang asks. "It's not very warm in spring. But I like the spring there best." "Help yourself to some cakes, Li Ming,"Mrs. Wang says. "Thanks," says Li Ming. "The cakes are very nice. I enjoy the dinner very much."

    Yesterday wasn't a good day. The weather wasn't very nice. It was cold and rainy. The bus wasn't on time. It was late. My boss（老板）wasn't very happy because I was late（迟）for work. He was a-little angry.

    At 1 o'clock I went to a cafe for lunch, but the food wasn't hot and the coffee was cold. I wasn't very happy. Then I went back to work, but my papers（文件）weren't on my desk. They were missing. I looked for them everywhere, but I couldn't find them. Later someone gave them back to me. I went home from work at 5 o'clock and it started to rain again. I got very wet.

    Many people have heard of Peter Dinklage from his role in the popular TV drama Game of Thrones. But few know his story. Peter Dinklage is only 135 cm tall. His life shows that a small man can have a great effect(影响).

    Dinklage was born with dwarfism(侏儒症). As he grew up, his legs and arms stopped growing, but his head kept becoming bigger.

    At first, Dinklage's look brought himself much trouble. Other boys often made fun of him. Dinklage felt sad but he never gave up on himself. When he was in the fifth grade, he played his first role in a school play. The show was successful. That made him want to be an actor. After high school, Dinklage went to Bennington College to study acting. There his teachers and students helped him turn his look into his advantage(优势). From then on, he began to act in films and TV dramas.

    Many people think of Dinklage as a spokesman for people with dwarfism, but Dinklage doesn't think so. He says, "Everyone is different. Just because I'm OK with it, I can't preach(传道)how to be OK with it."

    This is Monica's day. And she thinks it is interesting and helpful. Let's read it together.