A hobby can be almost anything that a person likes to do in his free time. Hobbyists raise pets, watch birds, paint pictures, play the piano and grow flowers. They also go to concerts, climb mountains, go fishing, skate and swim. They collect everything from books to butterflies and from boxes to stamps.

    People follow hobbies because these activities offer enjoyment, friendship，knowledge and relaxation. Sometimes they even make money by following a hobby. Hobbies help people relax after hard work, and provide a balance between work and play. Hobbies also offer interesting activities for persons who are retired. Anyone, rich or poor, old or young, can follow an interesting hobby.

Hobbies can also help a patient to keep healthy. Doctors have found that hobbies are useful in helping patients (病人) recover from illness. Hobbies give patients who can't move around something to do, and provide interests that keep them from thinking about themselves. Many hospitals treat (治疗) patients by having them take up interesting hobbies. Anyone, old or young, sick or well, rich or poor, can follow a good hobby, in spite of his age, health or money.

    In early times, most people were too busy making a living to have many hobbies. But some persons who had spare time did enjoy hobbies. People today have more time than ever before for hobbies. Machines have now reduced much time that people must spend on their jobs. More people retire at an earlier age than before. Those who have developed hobbies never need to worry about what to do with their newly-found free time hours.

    Sir William Osler, a famous Canadian doctor expressed the value of hobbies by saying, “No man is really happy or safe without a hobby. ”

    There are many kinds of 1. transportation now. Which one do you like best, by train, by bus or by plane? Now let's look at these three kinds of transportation. 2.The fastest way to travel is by plane. If you want to save time, 3.乘火车是最好的选择. A plane ticket can also be easier to book, and there are 4.(hundred) of planes leaving half an hour to everywhere. But it is much 5.(expensive) than traveling by train or by car. Many people prefer to traveling together by train. Because the train is cheaper than the plane and you can see the beautiful scenery out of the windows. But sometimes people are very noisy on the train. And it's very small and crowded inside the train. Taking a car is great. You can feel freer in your own car and you can move quickly from place to place at any time you like. 6.But sometimes you may be late because of the heavy traffic  .You have to pay for a car park and petrol . Cars are less comfortable than trains. You can't sleep or relax when you drive. Cars pollute the air more than trains, too.

    Many wild animals, such as pandas, are in d{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Often there is not e{#blank#}2{#/blank#} land or forests, so the animals do not have a safe place to live.

    There are only about 1,600 pandas in the wild today. Pandas do not have many babies, and baby pandas often d{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. The situation is getting more and more difficult. We need to p{#blank#}4{#/blank#} them.

    The government is s{#blank#}5{#/blank#} up nature parks and the pandas live in peace there.

    I am an apple. I'm a kind of sweet1You can find me grow in many places of the world, but I can't grow well in very hot places2 very cold places.

    I am not like my cousins 3and bananas. I am rounder than a pear and bananas are4than me. I am delicious,5people all over the world like to eat me. They can usually eat me6washing me. They can also cook me to 7all kinds of food, sometimes they put me in cans（罐头）to send me to other places of the world. Almost everyone can have 8 to buy me because I'm so cheap.

    I can also help people get9 There is a saying10English: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Don't you think that I'm very great? I have many vitamins（维生素）inside, they are 11for you. I really wish to make you happy and healthy. so don't forget to 12me as often as possible（尽可能经常地）.

    But I also need your13, if you want to make me taste better, you must14 me well. Thank you for your love. I'll try to grow well and15sweeter. Then you will like to eat me a lot more.

    All living things on the earth need other living things to live. Nothing lives alone. Most animals must live in a group, and even a plant grows close together with others of the same kind. Sometimes one living thing kills another, one eats and the other is eaten. Each kind of life eats another kind of life in order to live, and together they form a food chain (食物链). Some food chains are simple, while others are not. But all food chains begin with the sun, and all food chains become broken up if one of the links (联系) disappears.

    All life needs sunlight to live on. But only plants can use sunlight directly (直接). Plants are “factories”. They make food from sunlight, water and things in the soil (土壤) and air.

    Plants feed all other living things. Animals can only use the sun's energy (能量) after it has been changed into food by plants. Some animals feed directly on plants, others eat smaller animals. Meat-eating animals are only eating plants indirectly.

    What about human beings? We are members of many food chains. We eat wheat (小麦), rice, vegetables, fruits and so on. We also eat meat and drink milk. But humans often break up the food chains. They kill wild animals. They also make rivers, lakes and seas dirty. When these rivers, lakes and seas are polluted, the fish in them cannot be eaten. If men eat the fish, they will get strange diseases (疾病).

    Each form of life is linked to all others. Breaking the links puts all life in danger.

    Are you a big fan of E. T. (Extraterrestrial) or aliens? Then you should read Extraterrestrial Civilizations (《地球以外的文明世界》) by American writer Isaac Asimov (1920~1992). In his 1979 book, Asimov looked at whether there is life beyond the Earth. He also talked about how we might be able to communicate with aliens someday. Asimov even told us that there are possibly about 500, 000 civilizations (文明) in the galaxy(银河系). The book may be a little out of fashion since it came out in the 1970s. But you'll still enjoy the good reasoning (推理 ) and imagination of it. Asimov was a science fiction(科幻故事) master. His most famous works talk about the relationship between robots and humankind.