D

    "My dear lady," says Holmes. "You're shivering. Are you cold? Do you want a cup of hot tea?"

    "I'm not cold," the woman replies, "I fear for my life!"

    "We are here to help you. Don't worry about anything. I don't know you. But I know many things about you. For example, I know how you travel. You came to London by train. You also ride to the train station on a horse-drawn wagon(马车)."

    "Why, yes. You're right. But how do you know these things?"

    "I see a return ticket in your glove. I see fresh mud on the left arm of your dress. Now tell us your problem."

    "My name is Helen Stoner," she states, "My mother and father are dead. I am living with my stepfather, Dr Grimesby Roylott. He comes from a rich family. But they are no longer rich. They have nothing except a small piece of land and a huge old house. We are living in the house. Dr Roylott is using my mother's money for expenses(开支). Part of it was for my sister and me. It was for our marriages."

    Holmes is sitting in his chair. His eyes are closed. He is listening carefully to Helen's story. He hears every detail(细节).

    Helen continues. "My stepfather has no friends. He fights with everyone. He is strong and gets angry quickly. Everyone is afraid of him."

    "He has no friends at all?" asks Holmes.

    "No. He talks to no one except the gypsies. They are poor people who travel from place to place. A band of gypsies is staying on our land right now."

    "Are you and your sister afraid of the gypsies?"

    "My dear Mr Holmes. You are making me so sad. My sister is dead. That is why I am standing here in this room."

B

    Recently，there was a report about a special app called "notOK"．A 13-year-old girl Hannah Lucas and her brother Charlie put their heads together to create this app last year．

    Hannah has been suffering from an illness that causes her to pass out since she was little．This is very dangerous if there is no one around．She was also being bullied(欺凌)by some students at school．So she searched for an app that would allow her to press a button so that a friend or a family member would know immediately that she needed help．After realizing there was no such thing，Hannah and her brother decided to do something about it．After some research，Hannah made some early drawings of what the app might look like．Then，after taking a programming class，Charlie began to think about the best way for the app to work．

    They wanted something that would send a text message to up to five contacts that reads："Hey，I'm not OK．Please call me，text me，or come and find me"，along with a link to the user's current GPS location．

    They started looking for someone to help them make the app．And when Hannah shared her dream with people in a summer business class which she attended two years ago，they were really excited about the app．They thought of many different marketing ideas．By mid—December last year, "notOK" app was finished as a birthday present for Hannah from Charlie．"It was exactly what we wanted，"Charlie said．

    In today's age，most people will agree that apps like these are great．Whether you're suffering from illness，or anything emergent(紧急的)，writing a text message or making a phone call to get the help you need can be difficult．

    Hannah is happy to know that her app will help more people．"It's like I went through my dark times so I could help people through theirs，"she said．

    Do you know something about the holidaycamps in Hong Kong? In the past, the students in Hong Kong usually join anEnglish holiday camp in their holidays. And their parents didn't go with them,though they were very young.

    Now they still enjoy joining many kinds ofholiday camps without their parents. Many parents let their children join somekinds of holiday camps in order to learn some useful knowledge in the life andalso learn some knowledge about living skills, science, reading, writing and soon. The most important thing for the children to join the holiday camps is tolearn to look after themselves.

    Holiday camps in Hong Kong are not soexpensive. Most families can afford to sent their children there for study orfor making their bodies strong.

    It is said that students in Hong Kong havemuch knowledge about many things. Perhaps it has something to do with all kindsof holiday camps.

The other day, my husband called me to the balcony(阳台). "Come, dear, look at that car!" 

"What's up?" I asked, looking down at the square in front of our apartment building. A driver was trying to park between two cars. 

"That must be a woman," my husband said.

"How do you know?"

"I've watched the car move back and forth twenty times. Men can't be so bad at driving!"

"What if the driver is a man?" I asked.

"I bet you 50 yuan that the driver is a woman!"

We stood on the balcony and watched the car. It felt a little silly. Five minutes later, the car was finally parked perfectly, and a man slowly got out.

"Fifty yuan please," I said to my husband as he silently walked away.

My husband is not alone in looking down on female drivers. On weekends, my friend Lily likes traveling around the city by bus. But she always hesitates to get on a bus if the driver is a woman. "I can't trust a female driver," she told me one day. "Women are not born to drive, you know."

"Sorry, but I don't know," I said. I go to work by bus every day, and I never think female drivers are any worse. In fact, they are often more careful than men. Research also shows that female drivers are 8.8 times less likely to cause accidents than male drivers.

There are not many female bus drivers, though. And in the history of Formula One(一级方程式赛车), only 0.26 percent of drivers have been women. Without role models, many girls may think they are not meant to be good drivers. But the ability to drive has nothing to do with gender. Women can drive well, too. It's time to stop making jokes about female drivers.

Grade 7 students from Guangming Middle School had a class outside the classroom. They had a 1 farming class in the fields(田地). Everybody loved it!

Farmers introduced wheat ( 小 麦 ) to the students and answered 2 questions. The farmers also 3 them around the fields. They le arnt that 4 usually harvest(收获) wheat in September.

"I 5 some notes in my notebook." said Daming. He learnt that eating wheat can be good for people.

Other students also learnt something new."I know about wheat only from 6 . This time, I see real one and learn how it 7 ." said Dongdong.

 Before this, Lingling thought that farming was something old.8 this trip changed(改变) her ideas."I see really cool farming machines(机器), and they show me how farming changes and gets 9 ." said Lingling." Farming changes10 . I'm so excited to see it in this lesson!"

Ronny looked like every other kid in the classroom where I volunteered at the Reading Mom in New York. 1 , he couldn't read like others in his grade because he had a speech problem. I worked with all students in his class one by one to improve their 2 skills.

On the days when it was Ronny's turn, I'd give him a warm 3 . That's why he sat close to me and opened the book as if he was opening a treasure that 4 had even seen.

I watched his 5 move slowly under each letter as he tried hard to read out. Every time he tried to read, his pronunciation sounded really 6 . In spite of that, the biggest smile would show on his face and his eyes would shine with 7 , which broke my heart.

A few weeks before the school year ended, I 8 Ronny with a book written by myself. A few days later,I returned to the school to pay a visit. I 9 Ronny on a chair near the playground, the book open in his legs.

His head teacher said, "He hasn't 10 that book since you gave it to him. Do you know that's his first book he's ever actually owned?"

Deeply moved, I 11 to Ronny, placed my hand on his shoulder and asked, "Will you read me your book?"For the next few minutes, he read to me more 12 than I'd thought. The pages were already dog-eared, as the book had been read 13 times already. When he finished reading, Ronny closed his book and said with great 14 , "What good book!"

At that moment, as a writer, I knew 15 a writer should always do — care enough to write a story that changes a child's life, care enough to make a difference.