Look at these things. This is Mr. Wang's ID card. And this is Jim's watch, that's Mary's key. Gina's notebook is over there. Look! What's that on the floor? Oh, it's a gold ring. It's Jenny's ring. It's very nice.

    Different people have different skin（皮肤）. Some have black skin. Some have yellow skin, and some have white skin. There was a woman in Alaska. Her skin was orange. It was almost the color of orange juice.

    How did her skin become orange? She ate lots of tomatoes, carrots, and squashes (南瓜). She ate too many orange things. That's why her skin turned orange.

    The woman didn't want her skin to be orange, so she went to see the doctor. The doctor said. “Stop eating orange things. Eat some green things.” The woman did so, and her skin wasn't orange any more.

    Today I went to Sam's school in the UK. It was really different from my school in China.

    Girls wore grey skirts and white shirts, boys wore grey trousers, and everyone wore the school tie.

    Some of Sam's lessons were a bit strange for me. We were reading Shakespeare in the English lesson, and there were quite some old words like "thou" and "thee" to mean "you". In history we studied 20th Century China. It was strange hearing a foreign side of history — and hearing English people trying to say all our Chinese names!

    Classes were also a lot more relaxing than in China. Teachers were called "sir" or "miss", everyone shouted answers and raised their hands in classes. It was more like a debate than a class. A bell rang at the end of each lesson and everyone jumped up to go to the next class.

    At break we bought potato chips and cookies in the dining room. Lunch was later than in China at 1 o'clock. We had big plates of pie with carrots. For dessert there was hot sweet rice called rice pudding.

    It was good that I'd had an excellent lunch, because at Sam's school Monday afternoons are taken up with sports.

    I played my first game of netball — a bit like basketball, but with some differences. Luckily I'd had a quick look in the rule book before I tried to join in the game.

In 50 years of traveling, Colin McCorpuodale has visited every country in the world except three. And everywhere he goes, he sends himself a postcard. He always chooses a postcard with beautiful scenery (风景). Usually he writes just a short message to himself. However, he wrote an interesting story on his latest one, from the Malians Island.

Mr. McCorpuodale lives in London. On one of the walls in his room, you can see a large map of the world. There are hundreds of little red pins (大头针) stuck in it. “These pins mean a lot to me.” says Mr. McCorpuodale, “I follow the rule. I'm allowed to stick one in only if I've been in a place for more than 24 hours.”

Naturally, Mr. McCorpuodale has his favorite places. New Zealand, he describes as “a wonderful country”. About China, he says, “This is the country in the world which is completely different. There is no European influence. ”

Wherever he goes, Mr. McCorpuodale takes with him a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt with a secret pocket and a pen.

So why does he do it? For the postcards or the travels? Mr. McCorpuodale laughs, “Neither. Only for the meaningful life.”

阅读理解

    On April 2, 1805, Hans Christian Andersen was born in a one-bedroom house in Odense, Denmark. His father was a shoemaker and his mother was a laundrywoman (洗衣女工). When he was 11, his father died. He had to leave school and began to work in a factory. When he was 17, he met a director. With the director's help, Andersen went back to school. He studied with children who were six years younger than him. He began writing at that time.

    Andersen's first book of fairy tales came out in 1835. The Princess on the Pea and The Tinderbox were included in it. His first book was a big success. From then on, he wrote almost a book every year. In his lifetime, he wrote about 168 fairy tales and his stories have been translated into about 150 languages. No matter how old we are, we are probably familiar with The Emperor's New Clothes, The little Match Girl and many other fairy tales of Andersen.

    Andersen always wanted to tell people not to judge (判断) people by their appearances. In 77ie Ugly Duckling, the character everyone makes fun of has inner (内在的) beauty.

    Andersen was also a gifted artist. He made thousands of paper cuttings of swans (天鹅), clowns and angels. These can be seen in the book The Amazing Paper Cuttings of Hans Christian Andersen.

    Because of his wonderful fairy tales, Andersen became known as the greatest writer in Denmark and one of the most beloved children's writers in the world. On April 2, people celebrate International Children's Book Day. That's because April 2 was Andersen's birthday.

Stand Straight and Stand Tall!

    High school was wonderful, but I had always felt uncomfortable as one of the taller members of my class, standing a head above the other girls and bowing at the back of the line to avoid sticking out.

    I especially hated being around large groups of people, like during the social hour after the church services.

    My grandfather watched me grow increasingly uncomfortable, but he didn't laugh at me or try to comfort me. Instead, he would warn me. "Stand straight and stand tall, " he would say, as I tried to shrink（退缩）.

    And each time, I would obey him. Even at age 15, I understood that his advice was about more than just feet and inches. My grandfather grew up in war-torn（饱受战争摧残的） Europe. When German soldiers took his hometown, the beautiful and exciting city of Tarnow, Poland, he joined the Soviet army for his country's freedom. "Stand straight, stand tall" meant something else since then. I trusted my grandfather more than anyone else in my childhood. And whenever I was afraid of something, he would tell me stories of his life.

    After the war, he took a boat for America on January 27, 1947. All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future. Soon he met other European immigrants（移民）, each of whom tried to find his or her own way.

    If they could do it, why couldn't he? "Stand straight, stand tall," he would tell himself. At first my grandfather refused to enter an American church. He was angry with God for the loss of his whole family in Europe. But soon he felt his self-confidence returning. When he walked into the church the first time, he walked in proudly.