My family took a trip to Qingdao last summer vacation. We had great fun there.

    We went to Qingdao by fast train. It was about 11:00 am when we got to the train station. First, we took a taxi to the hotel. After a short rest, we had lunch in the restaurant near the hotel. We ate some fish dumplings there. They were really delicious and they weren't expensive. We enjoyed the meal very much. In the afternoon, it was sunny and hot. So we went to the beach(沙滩). There were quite a lot of people there. My father and I swam in the sea. It was really cool. My mother lay(躺) on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. She said it was relaxing. Well, the best thing was that I made two new friends on the beach. They were from Canada. That made me feel happy. They said they would write e-mails to me later.

    Qingdao is really a good place to relax. I want to visit it again next year.

    Uncle Lee is coming to have dinner with us. Mom and I go shopping. We don't have any meat. We need to buy some. It's ten yuan a kilo before. But now two kilos are sixty yuan. I say, "Mom, let's buy some fish." Mom answers, "OK." Fish is Uncle Lee's favorite food. We buy one kilo and a half. We also buy some vegetables and some chicken, but we don't buy any hamburgers. Uncle Lee doesn't like them at all. Mom also wants to buy some apples for me. You know, I like bananas, oranges and peaches, but I like apples best. But we can't find any. We go home at a quarter to five in the afternoon.

    Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy movie made by DreamWorks. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. It tells the story about a big fat panda named Po who is a kung fu fan. The movie came out in 2008 and stars Jack Black as Po. It received critical acclaim and became a box office success. A successful sequel(续集), Kung Fu Panda 2 was released (发行) in 2011.

    A big, fat panda named Po the panda dreams of becoming a kung fu master, but he doesn't know kung fu. One day, kung fu teacher Master Shifu holds a competition to see who will become the Dragon Warrior(龙斗士), the most powerful kung fu master in the land. Everyone thinks one of Shifu's students, the Furious Five(盖世五侠) will become the Dragon Warrior, but Po is chosen instead and begins learning kung fu. Shifu and the Furious Five don't like Po the panda and try to make him quit, but he becomes friends with them. When Master Shifu learns that the evil Tai Lung the snow leopard(雪豹) is coming to the land, he quickly teaches Po kung fu so he can be given the Dragon Scroll that will help him beat Tai Lung. Nothing is written on the scroll, but Po finds out that he doesn't need the scroll to be the Dragon Warrior and beats Tai Lung without it. Po becomes a kung fu master and Dragon Warrior loved by everyone and peace returns to the land.

    Whenyou enter my home for the first time, you will always be impressed with a smalland white envelope（信封）. No name, no address. Ithas hung on our Christmas tree for about 10 years.

    Itall began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. He didn't hate the truemeaning of Christmas, but the commercial（商业的） way ofit, spending too much on the usual Christmas gifts, such as rushing into astore to buy a tie for Uncle Harry.

    Knowinghe felt this way, I decided not to buy the usual gifts, such as shirts andsweaters. I reached for something special for Mike. The idea came in an unusualway.

    Ourson Kevin, 12, was wrestling（摔跤） at the school. BeforeChristmas there was a match against a team helped by a city church, mostly poorkids. As the match began, I was surprised to see the other team wrestling onlywearing the old clothes because they couldn't afford the wrestling uniforms, whileour boys in their blue and gold uniforms. Of course, we ended up with beatingthem.

    Mike,seated beside me, shook his head sadly," I wish just one of them couldhave won. In fact, they could if they had worn the uniforms. They have talentfor wrestling, but losing like thiscould take the heart right out of them."

    Mikeloved kids-all kids and he knew them, having trained kids football andbaseball. At that time, I thought of the idea for the gift.

    Thatafternoon, I went to a store and bought some wrestling uniforms and sent themto the city church for the kids without leaving my name.

    OnChristmas Eve, I put the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mikewhat I had done and telling him that this was his gift from me. His smile was thegreatest thing about Christmas that year and the next years.

    Yousee, we lost Mike now. But every Christmas Eve I would put an envelope on thetree, and in the morning, three more joined it. Each of our children hadsecretly put an envelope on the tree for their dad.

    Mike'sspirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

    The car was invented just a century ago. You may know all kinds of cars' names, but many people don't know who was the inventor of the first car.

    The first car was invented not by an Englishman, but by an American. His name was Henry Ford.

    Henry was born in a poor family. He was the eldest of the six children. When he was a boy, he became interested in watches and machines. When he was twelve years old, his mother died. Soon he had to work in a machine shop for two dollars and fifty cents a week.

    In the evening, he repaired watches for another dollar a week. The hard life made him strong and able.

    At that time, there was another interest in the life of the young Ford. He wished of making a machine.

    It could run without horses, so named horseless carriage. He overcame a lot of difficulties and in April 1893, the "horseless carriage "was invented at last. It was the first car.

    Later Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company. He was really the first inventor of the car in the world.