Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they don't all have the same coffee culture. In Europe for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk while they drink coffee. On the other hand, places like this were not as common in North America in the past. Instead, people in North America liked to drink coffee in their homes with friends. The coffee culture in the USA changed when Starbucks coffee shops spread across the country.

    The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three Starbucks stores in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981.That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment（设备）. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, which caused his great interest. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired （雇佣）Schultz as the company's head of marketing(市场营销).

    In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The special environment of the espresso（浓 咖啡） bars there caught his eyes. Back in the USA, Schultz created an environment for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Starbucks began opening more stores across the USA. Then the company opened coffee shops in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 16,000 Starbucks coffee shops all over the world.

    However, that does not mean Starbucks has not had problems. In fact, many Starbucks stores have closed over the past few years. On the one hand, this is because there were too many coffee shops competing for business in one small area. On the other hand, stores in some countries closed because the coffee culture there did not match with the “feel the same everywhere” environment offered by Starbucks.

B

    A man bought a donkey (驴子) at the market one day and took him home. Now the man has owned several donkeys already and he knew them very well. One of the donkeys was very strong and brave, another was moody(喜怒无常的). One donkey was very lazy, he hated going to work in the morning and he did as little as he could all day long. When the other animals were being loaded(装载) up, he always tried to be the last so that he would get the lightest load.

    The man took the new donkey into the yard. For a moment he stood there, looking at his new friends. Then, without thinking, he walked up to the lazy donkey and began eating comfortably at his side.

    Though it was late in the day, the man immediately took the new donkey out of the yard, straight back to the market. "You cannot do like this," said the merchant (商人), "It is only ten minutes since you bought him."

    "I don't need him any more," replied the man, "I know just what he is like from the friend he chose for himself. Take him away and give my money back. I don't need donkeys like him."

    A girl was walking in the woods when she found two weak birds. She took them home and put them in a small cage (鸟笼). She took good care of them. The birds grew strong. Every morning, they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted them to sing for her forever.

    One day, the girl left their cage door open. The bigger of the two birds flew out. The girl watched as he rose high into the sky. She was afraid that he would fly away and she would never see him again. As he flew close, she caught him in her hand and held him tightly. She was happy. Suddenly, she felt the bird go limp (无力 ). She opened her hand. The bird was dead! Her love had stolen life from the beautiful songbird.

    The other bird was pushing against the bars (条) of the cage. She could see how much he wanted to be free. She took him out of the cage and gently tossed him into the air. Would the bird fly away? She could hardly bear to watch. But the bird just wanted to stretch its wings. He flew around the girl twice and then came to rest on her shoulder.

    The girl watched the bird with joy in her heart. She wasn't worried anymore. She wanted the bird to be happy. The bird sat by the girl's ear and sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

    The best way to keep love is to give it wings.

    Do you want to watch a film called The Bear? Please learn more about it and experience some sincere feelings.

    It tells us a story between two bears. A young bear loses his mother in a terrible accident, and he has to live by himself. He meets a lot of problems and lives a hard life.

    Another strong bear is run after by the hunters. They can't catch him but finally hurt him, so he can't move easily. When the young bear meets him, he wants to become his friend. At first, the strong bear doesn't like him but finally he is touched by the young bear's kindness. So he helps the young bear solve many problems like fighting with a cougar(美洲狮).

    There aren't any talking animals, but the film is funny for most kids. However, we wouldn't call it a children's film. From the exciting film about the two bears, a cougar and the hunters, we can know that the true meaning about life is that "The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live."

My English name is Wendy. I am an actress (演员), but I am also a middle school student in Beijing. We have a school show on October 10th every year. There are some clubs in our school, like the music club, the art club and the sports club. The students from the clubs usually show their talents (才艺) at the show. 

Today, it's October 8th, the first school day after a long vacation (假期). Some students from Class Three are talking about the school show this year. Jim says, "I can play the drums. Jiang Meng, you can play the piano. And Sam, you can play the guitar. I want to sing with you two." 

 "OK," says Jiang Meng. "And Lin Han can do kungfu. We can ask him to show with us. "All of them say, "Great!"

 "And I can sing, too, says Sam. "So I want to sing when playing the guitar. I also want to ask my English teacher Ms. Green to dance when I sing. What about you, Liu Yang?" 

 "Music isn't my favorite," says Liu Yang. "But I like drawing. I want to draw to your music, OK?" 

 "Sure," says Sam. 

They all think the school show will be very interesting.