Many students have hobbies, such as reading, painting, growing vegetables and looking after animals. Some hobbies are relaxing and others are active．Hobbies can make you grow as a person, develop your interests and help you learn new skills.21·cn·jy·com

 David Smith is a student，and one of his hobbies is writing．During the summer of 2010，he spent four weeks at a summer camp．Besides the usual activities，such as sailing and climbing , there was a writing class．"The teacher was a writer, and she asked us to talk about our lives and tell interesting stories. Then she envouraged us to  write about our experiences at the camp,”says David.

 Back at school, David wrote a story about the life of a sixteen-year-old boy, and it came out as a book in 2012. Mang young people love his book, and as a result, David has become a successful young writer.

 David has been very lucky because his hobby has brought him pleasure and success. But writing is not his only hobby. He is also interested in many other things. "I like playing volleyball，too，"says David．"I spend some of my free time playing volleyball for my school team．Maybe I'll write about my volleyball team in my future books.”

    A well-dressed man goes into a restaurant one day. He sits down at a table near the window. A waiter comes up to him and says, “Can I help you, sir?”

    The man says, “Can I see the menu?” “Certainly.”

    The man wants a good meal and he wants a lot of nice dishes. The waiter gets them for him. The man is having his meals. At this time, a boy comes in and sits beside the man. He asks the man to give him an ice cream. The man does so.

    Now the boy is eating his ice cream. The man says, “I go out for a newspaper.” The man goes out.  After the boy eats his ice cream up, he stands up and goes to the door.

    “Excuse me. Your father doesn't give the money for the meal and your ice cream,” The waiter stops him and says.

    “Father? You are wrong. He isn't my father. I don't know him. I meet him in the street. He says he will give me an ice cream if I come here at 12 o'clock.”

    Thomas Edison lost the first job. For the next five years he went around the country from job to job. At last Edison went to New York. He had little money. He could not buy enough food to eat. He had no place to sleep.

    For many days Edison looked for work. He was hungry. At last he found work fixing machines. He could fix the old machines. He also made new ones. The head man liked Edison's new machines. He was going to give Edison $40， 000 for them. Edison would now have money to do what he wanted.

    Thomas Edison was then 23， He used the money to build a shop in New Jersey. He had many people working for him. But he worked more than 40 new things at one time.

    In 1876 Alexander. Graham Bell made a telephone. But it could carry voices only a little way. Edison wanted to make a better telephone. He soon made one.  It could carry voices a long way.

     My name is Danny. I'm from England. I am eleven. I'm tall with black hair. I have two big eyes. My fax number is 010-74862635.

     (Hello! I am Jane. I'm from the USA. I have a round face and two big eyes. I'm short and thin. I'm twelve. My parents work in Beijing.

    Look at the photo. Who's the girl in it? It's me, an English girl. My name is Amy.

    I'm in Grade Seven. I'm twelve. My home phone number is 022-43765986. I have a round face and long, black hair. I like Chinese very much, and I'm very good at it.

    Who am I? I'm from Japan. My name is Yukio. I'm thirteen. Now I'm in Beijing. I'm short, and I'm very heavy(重的). I have two short legs.

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    There is an elephant and a monkey. They're friends. But one day they want to know who is stronger. One of them says, "Who can get apples over there, who is stronger?"

    There is a river over there. The monkey says, "I can't swim." The elephant says, "I can swim. Please sit on my back." They go across the river. The apple trees are very tall. The elephant can't reach the apples. The monkey climbs up the tree and gets many apples.

    Now they know they should help each other.

    Travelling around the world is a dream for many people, and a young couple from China has made their dream come true. They drove along the ancient Silk Road, from China to the UK.

    Luo Chang and Ding Jie, a young couple from Guizhou Province, spent two months driving from their home in Shanghai all the way to London. The journey covered about 20,000 kilometres, and they crossed 14 countries and regions (地区).

    Ding Jie said, "People were excited to see two travellers driving a foreign license car, appearing on their streets. We were stopped many times to take photos with them. Sometimes, when we couldn't understand each other's language, they would express their ideas with gestures(手势).

    During their driving trip, they also spent many nights in local people's homes. Luo Chang said. "This is an amazing experience. We were driving on a highway or a country road to someone's home. Someone you've never met but was preparing dinner for you. We feel we have friends all over the world."

    During the trip, Luo and Ding took nearly 10,000 photos and kept diaries to record the beautiful scenery(风景), the friendly people and the different customs on the way.