A Little Horse Crossing the River

    There is an old horse and a little horse on a farm. One day the old horse asks the little horse to send the wheat to the mill(磨坊）。The little horse is very happy. He carries the wheat and runs toward the mill. But there is a river in front of the little horse. He stops and doesn't know {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to do next. Just then Aunt Cow is passing by.

    The little horse {#blank#}2{#/blank#},”Aunt Cow, please tell me. Can I cross the river?”

Aunt Cow answers.” It's not deep, you can cross it.”

    When the little horse begins to cross the river, a little squirrel(松鼠）shouts to him,” Little horse, don't cross it, you will be drowned. Yesterday {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of my friends was drowned in this river.”

    The little horse is very {#blank#}4{#/blank#} .Finally he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to go home and asks his mother.

    The old horse asks,”{#blank#}6{#/blank#} do you take the wheat back? What's wrong with you, my child?”

    The little horse answers sadly,” There is a river in front of me. Aunt Cow said it was not deep, but the little squirrel said it was deep. What shall I do?”

    The old horse says,” My child, you should try to cross the river by   7    . If you don't try, how do you know the river is deep or not.

    The little horse carries the wheat and    8      to the riverside. At last,he succeeds in   9    the river. Now, he knows    10    deep the river is.

    The film Forever Enthralled was directed by the director Chen Kaige, and famous stars acted in it, such as Li Ming and Zhang Ziyi and Chen Hong. This film shows Mei Lanfang's life as a master of Beijing opera.

Mei grew up in a family of Beijing opera performers. He began to perform on the stage in 1904 when he was 10 years old. He learnt his acting skills and played female roles. Singing, dancing, and acting are the three main parts of the traditional Chinese opera. Mei Lanfang became highly good at all of them. He turned himself into a performer of almost all types of the “Dan” female roles. After many years of effort he enabled(使得) the Dan to have an important place in Beijing opera, with a clear-cut form for new comers to follow and develop. In his 50-year stage life, he used new acting skills and made lots of good operas.

    In July 1937, the Japanese army occupied(占领) Beijing. The officer of the army told Mei to perform for them and promised to give him a reward. Mei refused at the risk(风险) of his life and from then on he did not appear on stage during the war. His decision to give up made him poor until the war ended in 1945.

    Mei Lanfang was the first artist to introduce Beijing opera to foreign countries. He had his opera tours abroad, and people in other countries started to understand this kind of play. After 1949, he became the symbol of Beijing opera through making a great contribution to the development of Beijing opera.

    In 1933 an unknown American called Clarence Nash went to see the filmmaker Walt Disney. He had a(n) 1 voice and he wanted to work in Disney s cartoon film for children. When Walt Disney heard Nash's voice, he said, "Stop! That's our 2!"

    The duck was the famous Donald Duck, who first appeared in 1934 in the film The Wise Little Hen. Donald lived in an old houseboat and 3 his sailor jacket and hat. Later that year he became a star after an eight-minute Mickey Mouse film. The cinema audience liked him because he was 4 and greedy (贪婪的) and he lost his temper (发脾气) very quickly. And they loved his 5 when he became angry with Mickey's eight nephews. Soon Donald was more 6 than Mickey himself, probably because he wasn't a goody-goody like Mickey.

    In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s Donald and his friends Mickey, Goofy and Pluto 7 hundreds of Disney cartoons. He also made educational films about the place of the USA, and 8 in the home. Then in 1966 Donald Duck and his voice 9 —there were no more new cartoons.

    Clarence Nash died in February, 1985. But today's children can still see the old cartoons on 10 and hear that famous voice.

    My mum is in her seventies. She has 1 a lot. She has faced challenges and seen both successes and failures.

    Recently I asked her to give me three pieces of 2. After several minutes, she said that she needed some time to think about it. This 3 me because she'd always been ready with advice.

    The next day, she gave me a piece of paper with three pieces of advice. She said that these were the 4 that she could come up with. She didn't tell me to save 5 for a better life or work hard. What she told me gave me another 6. Here's the advice my mother 7 wrote for me.

◆Make each day meaningful by 8 someone, or just making that person smile.

◆Don't 9 about life's troubles but remember the good times.

◆Don't worry about things you can't do anything about.

    Everyone 10 someone to give a hand to. My mum is that person in my life. The advice she gave me has made me the person who I'm today.

    Kevin and his friend Mike loved to play soccer and they often met at the old bench after school. They couldn't1a real soccer ball, but Mike had made a ball out of old socks and plastic tape. It was not beautiful, but it worked well. Mike was not a good player, yet the two friends kicked and ran until the sun turned the sky pale 2.

    One afternoon, the home­made ball was spinning across the grass when it was 3 stopped by someone. It was Steven, a strong soccer player.

    "Look at you two with your 4 ball and old trainers," Steven laughed and said.

    The next day was Kevin's birthday, and his uncle bought him a new pair of trainers and a new soccer ball.

    That afternoon, Steven 5 Kevin to play soccer. Kevin did not want Mike to go with them. Mike's trainers were old and he had little 6 for soccer. When the game was over, Kevin walked past the old bench where Mike was sitting. He walked on and did not look 7.

    One afternoon as Kevin walked past the old bench, he saw something 8 under it. He looked closer and found that it was the home­made ball. Kevin felt sad. As his sadness turned to 9, he kicked his new soccer ball into the air. Up it flew, higher and higher, until it was a small dot(点) in the sky. Kevin walked to the bench and picked up the home­made ball.

    Holding it in his hands, he sat down on the old bench and 10.

How do you usually go to school? Most of you may go to school  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} foot or by bike, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Wu Yahan rides a horse to school every day.

Wu Yahan is a student from Inner Mongolia(内蒙古) in China. She is 13 years old. It is about ten {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (kilometer) from her home to school. In her class, some parents drive {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (they) children to school every day. But Yahan's father doesn't do it like them. He {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (ask) his daughter to ride a horse to school because he thinks it is good exercise and that is good for her {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (healthy). Yahan is not good at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (ride) the horse at first. But with her father's help, she can ride it very well now. The horse runs {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (quick) and it only takes Yahan half {#blank#}9{#/blank#} hour to get to school. Now her classmates think it is cool on the horse and they want {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (go) to school on a horse, too.