Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern daily life.

Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

    By watching the way birds fly, Leonardo tried to find out the secret of flying. Among his sketch (素描) we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.

    Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He didn't eat any meat, which was very unusual in those times. He never published(发表) his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

    We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe, however, that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

What will you do when you have something difficult to do? I used to ask my mother for help. But she always said, "Do it yourself, dear." or "God helps those who help themselves , girl." I was not glad at all. I thought she was the laziest mother in the world.

For example, one day, I decided to invite some friends to my home. My bedroom was not in order. Books were everywhere. And I didn't make the bed. I asked my mother to help me to clean it, but she still said, "Do it yourself, girl."

Because of my "lazy mother", I have to wash my clothes and clean my room. I have to help my parents do some housework. I even have to go to the dentist by myself. It is really hard for me to do everything well, but I have learned a lot.

    As time goes by, I come to understand my mother. She makes me clever and active! What a great mother!

    Last year I was very lucky to have a week's holiday. So I wanted to spend 1 in the best hotel I could find. That was 2 I chose The Haven in a country park. I thought I would be able to escape problems and pressures of daily life. But, just 24 hours after arriving there, my wife and I 3 problems with the restaurant and security.

    We were ready to return to our room when we saw two policemen 4  closely at the building outside. One of them showed us how 5 in through the windows into our room. It seems that the hotel has no locks on the windows. 6 we were a little worried, our concerns were forgotten 7 when we saw a good-sized bed, a flat-screen TV, a spa bath which more suggested a comfortable stay.

    Things started to go from bad to worse the following morning when I found the restaurant only served low-fat meals: six days of rabbit food and only 8 meat and fruit. What had I let myself in for? Nobody had told us what the food 9 like before we booked. I ordered my breakfast 10 my will anyway, but I had waited forty-five minutes for it to arrive. This was not the service 11 I had expected.

    That afternoon, when we returned from a tour around 12 university nearby, we found that nearly £200 13 from our room. The Haven refused to pay back the money. They claimed that they 14 not be responsible for any loss if our window was not locked.

    My holiday was then a total failure. I thought a "haven" was sure to be a quiet and peaceful place. But in fact, I have experienced 15 stress and worry in that one day than I usually do working in the office for a week.

This winter holiday, I have a wonderful trip in Jilin. We even managed to make a micro film （微电影）there. The experience was so happy that I cannot wait to1 it with you. 

We arrived in Changchun （长春）in the evening. With snow and ice everywhere, we suddenly realized that we had come to a kingdom of snow! It made us all2 . 

However, we came to Jilin not only for sightseeing. We had an important mission—to take a short film! Every one of us needed to be the host or hostess of one part of the film. 

When we visited the Rime Island, It was my turn to be the hostess. At last, I was very nervous when facing the camera. I took a deep breath and looked around. The trees covered with magic rime, white snow and crystal ice, and the happy crowd immediately made me relax. I3 finish my hosting task. 

Have this picture in your mind: you lie down on the soft snow, with the white coated trees around you. Your4 is filled with snow. It is pure and quiet. All your worries and sorrows will be gone. 

Nowadays, the pace of life in modern cities is getting faster and faster. But why not5 down and enjoy the magic of nature?

This trip brought something new to me. I learned how a film is made; I learned how important teamwork is; I6 understood how to enjoy life. 

Travelling is a good thing that can broaden our horizons and improve our abilities. When enjoying the pleasure of travelling, you are also learning something beneficial for your future life. 

Almost every Saturday morning, Molly pulls a table into her front yard. On the table she lays out some 1 in season, such as carrots and tomatoes. They are all from her garden and free for her neighbors to 2 . "It's just lovely, like you walk by and get a beautiful gift around the corner," said a neighbor.

Molly started doing this in the summer of 2020. Earlier that year, a fire broke out in her house. Molly's 3 had a hard time. "People in the community came to 4 . They brought us food and often called to make sure we were doing fine. I was deeply 5 ," Molly said.

Then the pandemic(疫情) came. Molly and her family had much time to 6 in their garden. They decided to 7 what they grew in their garden.

 No one knew about it at first. But 8 , people got into the habit of coming around. They would stop by and leave with some vegetables. Molly's yard became a 9 place.

One thing Molly has learned from this experience is that people have to work together when days are 10 . She is glad that love has spread in this community.