The word“day” has two meanings. When we talk about the number of days in a year,  we are using “day” to mean 24 hours. But when we talk about day and night,  we are using“day” to mean the time between sunrise and sunset. Since the earth looks like a ball,  the sun can shine on only half of it at a time. Always one half of the earth is having day and the other half night. A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by the spinning（旋转）of the earth. At the equator（赤道）day and night are sometimes the same length（长度）. They are each twelve hours long. The sun rises at 6 o'clock in the morning and sets at 6 o'clock in the evening. For six months the North Pole is tilted（倾斜）toward the sun. In those months the Northern Hemisphere（半球）gets more hours of sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere. Days are longer than nights. South of the equator nights are longer than days. For the other six months the North Pole is tilted away from the sun. Then the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight. Days are longer than nights. North of the equator nights are longer than days. Winter is the season of long nights. Summer is the season of long days.

    The next time you look up at the sky and see a cloud that looks like Mickey Mouse or your favorite fruit, look again. It may not be a cloud, but a Flogo -- a logo that flies. It's a new form of advertising in the sky that's never been used before. It's a different way to market your products, logos, and events.

These funny logos are made with soap bubbles（肥皂泡） mixed with a little helium gas（氦气） ,which makes them lighter than air and float in the sky. Special machines are used to make these new funny Flogos. The machine, which can be rented for $ 2,500 a day, can make a Flogo every 15-25 seconds.

    Flogos can fly much higher or lower if needed. They can last from a few minutes to an hour anywhere in the sky, depending on the weather conditions. Though they can fly up to 20, 000 feet, they usually float around at 300- 500 feet. Flogos are only white now, but people hope to have more colorful Flogos in the near future.

    Flogos are Green, 100% environmentally safe, because the soap used to make the Flogo comes from plants and leaves. So this fun way of advertising is healthy and good for the environment.

    People usually hate mice, but one mouse has won the hearts of the people all over the world—the famous Mickey Mouse.

    Fifty years ago most movies were silent. A man called Walt Disney made a cartoon mouse that could talk his movies. He named his mouse Mickey Mouse. People, both young and old, were very excited at the talking mouse. Children loved to see their friend, because he brought joy and laughter to them.

    Mickey was a clean mouse right from the beginning. Perhaps this is one reason why people hate real mice and love Mickey Mouse. In his early life Mickey made some mistakes. People were angry. They wrote to Disney and said that they did not want Mickey to do silly things. So Disney made a new animal named Donald Duck. He also made a dog called Pluto. This dog does stupid things and makes mistakes wherever he goes. Now our Mickey Mouse is not only clean but also important. He appears as a beautiful and clever star. He has his friends in almost every country.

    It was raining heavily. I had to wait inside the supermarket like a lot of other people did. A little girl and her mother were waiting, too. The girl looked like 5 or 6 years old. She made me think of my daughter Alice. They are about the same age.

    After a few minutes, the girl got bored and she said to her mom, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "No, dear. We'll wait until it slows down a little." said Mom.

    This young child waited about one more minute and said again, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "We'll get wet if we do," her mom said.

    "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said.

    "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

    "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer (癌症), you said, 'We have got through (已经熬过) this, and then we will get through anything!'

    All of the people stopped talking. It was a time when innocent trust (纯真的信任) could grow into faith (信心). The mom thought for a minute and said "You are right, sweetheart. Let's run through the rain! If we get wet, maybe we just need washing." Then they ran out.

    They got wet. But some people followed them  ▲  .

    And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

    Four years ago, Chinese skater Wu Dajing introduced himself to the skating world by winning a silver medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. At this year's Pyeong Chang Olympics, Wu not only returned, but also made history.

    On Feb 22th, 2018, Wu won the gold medal in the men's short-track 500-meter race. He set a new world record with a time of 39.584 seconds. He also became the first Chinese man to take home an Olympic short-track gold medal. BBC said Wu's win was “flawless”, because he was much faster than all of the other skaters.

    “I didn't give them a chance and I kept my speed from the start,” he told the reporter after the match.

    But China's short-track teams didn't do well in general at the Games. Chinese skaters in the women's 500 meters, 3000-meter relay and men's 1500 meters all failed to take home the gold.  Wu was China's biggest hope, which put a lot of pressure on him. But he proved himself with his great performance.

    Wu is now known as a highly talented skater. But things were not always that way. When Wu joined the national team in 2010, he was seen as almost “nothing” compared to gifted skaters like Zhou Yang and Fan Kexin, as his coaches said at the time. Their words made him quite upset. But Wu didn't want to give up and worked as hard as he could. He practiced skating all year round. He even didn't return to his hometown for the holidays for 10 years. “I believe in myself,” he told the reporter after his match at the Olympics.

    An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him, you may say something like this, "I'm afraid it'll have to be someplace cheap, as I have very little money." The other person may say, "OK, I'll meet you at McDonald's."

    This means that the two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also say, "Oh, no. I want to take you to lunch at Smith's," or "I want you to try the Chinese dumplings there. They're great." This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn't pay for the meal. You may just say, "Thank you. That would be very nice."

    American customs (1) about who pays for dates (2) are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But, today, a university (3) girl or a woman in business world will usually pay her way during the day. If a man asks her for a dance outside the working hours, it means "Come, as my guest (4)." So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.