Hollywood is a shiny, bright place. It is the movie capital of the world. And it is also one of the tourist destinations (目的地) in America. In 1911 the small, peaceful village of Hollywood in California was voted to become part of Los Angeles (洛杉矶). Today, over 100 years later, this village has grown into the home of one of the most well-known industries in the world — the American film industry.

    With this growth came many well-known symbols. There is the famous Hollywood sign which stands above the hills of the town. The first sign was built in 1923. Then there is the Hollywood Hall of Fame (名人堂), where great actresses, actors and directors leave their footprints or handprints. Norma Talmadge was the first actress to do this in 1927. But the most famous of all is the Oscar Academy Awards. Every spring, a large number of actresses, actors and directors wait excitedly and nervously to find out if they have won an "Oscar". This year was the 85th Oscar Academy Awards. It was held on February 25 in Los Angeles. Ang Lee, a Chinese director, won the Award for Best Director again. It was the second time he had won the Award.

    Nowadays it is the home of films, and thousands of hopeful young actresses, actors, writers and directors still come to "the Dream Factory" every year. But not all Hollywood dreams have been happy ones — as one actress, who later died tragically (悲惨地), said, "Hollywood is a place where they will pay you 500 dollars for a kiss, and 50 cents for your soul (灵魂)."

Hollywood

    Ted Robinson has been worried all the week. Last Tuesday he received a letter from the local police. In the letter he was asked to call at the station. Ted wanted to know why he was wanted by the police, but he went to the station yesterday and he is not worried any more.

    At the station, he was told by a smiling policeman that his bicycle had been found. Five days ago, the policeman told him, the bicycle was picked up in a small village four hundred miles away. It is now being sent to his home by train.

    Ted was the most surprised when he heard the news. He was amused(感到有趣) , too，because he never expected (指望) the bicycle to be found. It was stolen(被偷)  twenty years ago when Ted was a boy of fifteen.

Being Well-Organized And Getting Things Done

    Being well-organized and getting things done and what we have done is tried to make them as easy to follow as possible to allow you to implement them immediately. There is no doubt that being organized does make a difference.

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    It is something that you should do every single day and the best way to approach this is to place things in order of importance. Watching that movie may sound like a good idea, but put that at the bottom of the list and focus on things that influence your work, health, or anything else that is key to your survival (生存).

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    Next, you should consider trying to plan ahead, so if you know that there is an appointment at a certain location for a certain time, then plan your day around that appointment.

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    Knowing where everything is really will allow you to get more things done as you will waste less time hunting for that object that you require to complete your task. Too much time is wasted hunting for keys or that piece of paper and it also just stresses you out and can upset your pace.

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    Giving tasks to others will always lead to you getting more done, but it is not just a case of picking anybody to do a task. Instead, you need to make sure that they are capable of doing it without running into any problems and that they do have the correct tools to complete the job.

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    Having a schedule will help to force you into completing tasks on time and actually getting more done in the process. The only problem here is that you need to be sensible when working out how long something takes or you will put undue pressure on yourself and this is where mistakes can occur and you will actually then start to get less done.

    How do you feel when you are fooled by others? No doubt, feel bad. There is nothing worse than falling for a joke and being a fool except one day. Yes, that's April Fool's Day. Nobody will be angry to be an " April Fool".{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    The headmaster at my school decided to play an April Fools' joke on the students when I was in high school. On March 31, she announced that our school would hold a "Dress to Impress" day.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Girls were told to wear formal dresses and smart jackets, while a suit jacket and tie for each boy would be best. The teachers, we were told, would do the same.

    On April Fool's Day, many of us students came to school dressed in our best clothes. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}In the morning, all of us got together on the playground, waiting for the headmaster. She would speak to the students. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Instead, she wore jeans, running shoes and a T-shirt. The teachers also got dressed casually like her.

    "April Fools!" she said, with a big smile on her face. "We just wanted to remind you that teachers have a sense of humor, too!"

    Surely, all the teachers weren't April Fools.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    The play takes place in a typical, old Beijing teahouse. The main characters are teahouse's owner (Wang Lifa)and his customers, who all live in the same neighbourhood. They come in and out of the teahouse and talk to each other.

    The play reflects(反映) changes in the lives of almost 70 characters. It includes three parts. The first act takes place in 1898 at the time of the Qing Dynasty. The second act jumps forward 20 years and the final act takes place in 1948.

    In Teahouse, the writer Lao She says goodbye to the old Chinese society and hello to the new one. It's about the changes that have taken place in Chinese society in almost 50 years. All types of people come to the teahouse in Beijing. Some come to do business. Others come just to sit and pass the time. There are some good, kind people and there are also some bad, nasty(讨厌的) characters. They meet, they talk, they argue, they gossip(闲聊)and then they get on with their lives.

    Teahouse was first put on in 1958. It is still one of the most popular plays in China. It is a favourite work by Lao She, one of China's most popular writers. Anyone who is interested in Chinese life and history should see the play. It helps one to understand Chinese culture better.

    I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra(额外的)help. Still, I suffered(遭受)the rest of my school days in public schools.

    My life improved greatly when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually became good at making things with clay. Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language, I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence(自信)came along.

    I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. I soon noticed it wasn't an easy thing: it needed lots of practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.

    Later I decided to learn how to read and write. I practiced reading and writing, which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two years, I was literate(有文化的).

    Through the long process with art, climbing, and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life: I am smart enough to dive into(潜入)an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.