A. Because I can make a snowman.

B. That's OK.

C. Canada.

D. Spring.

E. Class Eight, Grade Seven.

⑴Where is he from?       {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

⑵Which season do you like best?        {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

⑶What class are you in?    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

⑷Why do you like winter?            {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

⑸Thank you.               {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Skyscrapers are very tall buildings in a city. Looking up at them might make you dizzy (眩晕的). Looking down from them might make you dizzy too. A skyscraper is a wonder (奇观), whether you are looking up or down.

    How can the buildings be so tall? Something that happened during the 1880s made it possible. There were two important things at that time First, a man named William Jenney got the idea of using a steel frame to hold up the walls and floors (钢架支撑墙壁和地面) of a building. Jenney's idea made it possible to build taller buildings, so he is called the "Father of the American skyscraper". Second, the lifts improved They got much faster and safer. That helped people go up and down the tall buildings more easily.

    Back in the 1880s, Jenney's first tall building was 10 stories (楼层) high. But today, some buildings have 100 stories or more. In 2004, Taipei 101, at 101 stories high, became the tallest building in the world. But soon the Burj Khalifa in Dubai overtook (超过) it in 2010. The 828-metre building has 163 stories.

    现在全世界有许多非常高的建筑物。For example，Shanghai Tower in China，One World Trade Centre in the US，Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia etc All of them are really wonderful，aren't they?

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind. Please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(认出) his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    How important is music? When they are asked this question, students and parents usually answer that music is nice, but not very important. It is often considered only as entertainment, but not the first choice for education. This opinion is shortsighted. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Music tells us who we are. Music reflects the creators' thinking and values, as well as the social environment it came from. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions.

    Music provides a kind of ability to know the world in a different way. Science explains how the sun rises and sets. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}We need every possible was to discover and response to our world.

    Music is a form of thought, as powerful as science. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Through the language we express our feelings, our discoveries, our ideas, our imagination and our hopes so that they can be shared with others. When we do not let our children receive good music education, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Music does.

    So music education is much more necessary than people generally realize.

    Hello, everyone! I'm Mike and I'm 12 years old. I live in Beijing with my parents. I'm looking forward to the weekend. All the students in our class are going to Tian'anmen Square to watch the flag- raising ceremony（升旗仪式） on Saturday morning .We're going to meet at five o'clock at the school gate. We're going there by underground(地铁). After watching the ceremony，we are going to visit the Railway museum（铁路博物馆）. I hope the weather is fine. In the afternoon we are going to watch a basketball match in the sports hall. In the evening we're going to watch a movie. On Sunday morning, I'm going to Beihai Park with my friends. We're going to take a walk in the park and collect litter there.

    What an interesting weekend!

Information Card

    Sally was a student. It was going to be her mother's birthday. She wanted to buy her a present that would be nice and useful but not expensive.

    A week before her mother's birthday, she went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. When she had been looking for half an hour, she found a shop that was selling cheap umbrellas, and decided to take a black one, since her mother had lost hers the month before.

    She thought, "You could carry that when you are wearing clothes of any color." So she decided to buy a lovely black umbrella and took it back to the school with her until her classes were over.

    On her way back home in the train that evening she felt hungry because she had such a small lunch that she went along to the dining car for another sandwich and a cup of coffee. She had left the black umbrella above her seat in the compartment(车厢), but when she got back, it had gone! When she had left the compartment, there had been no other passengers (乘客) in it, but now there were three.

    Sally began to cry when she saw that the umbrella was no longer there. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what the matter was. She told them that the black umbrella she had bought for her mother was gone, and that she had to get out at the next station. After the three other passengers heard it, they asked her for her mother's address so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone had taken it by mistake, and brought it back after Sally had got out of the train.

    The next week, Sally heard from her mother. It said, "Thank you very much for your lovely presents, but why did you send me three black umbrellas?"