Pablo Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. His father was a painter and art teacher who gave his son the first lesson in drawing. He won a prize — “Science and Charity” for his first important painting when he was only fifteen. He studied in several cities in Spain. But there was no one to teach him all that he wanted to know. When he was nineteen, he visited Paris.

Paris was then the center of the world for artists. Everything that was new and exciting in the world of paintings seemed to happen there. When he was twenty-three, Picasso moved there to live and lived in France for the rest of his life.

    When he was over ninety, this great painter still lived his life like a young man. He was still looking for new ideas and new ways to use his artistic materials.

    When he died in 1973, he was ninety-one years old.

A Mystery (神秘的) Artist

    The first time I saw Suzy Khan, I knew I had to help her. All I knew was that she was an orphan, who had no parents, from Africa. She had just been adopted (收养) by a family, and they thought that the best way for her to learn American ways of life is to be with American kids.

    Suzy was really small for her age of 12. The boys in my class often laughed at her. She would open a book, pretending to read, with tears dropping on the open page. I looked down at this small girl and promised myself that I must help her.

    But how could I help her fit in with us? There had to be a way.

    One day, when I went into the classroom, I saw that Suzy had opened her geography book to a picture of a train, and in her notebook, she had made a perfect copy.

    I was surprised and thought that she could do something in the coming talent show. So, I took her to see the art teacher, Miss Parker, and showed her what Suzy had drawn. “Why, it's wonderful,” said Miss Parker, and then showed us a poster she had painted for the talent show. “I need more of these, but I just don't have enough time. Could you help me, Suzy?”

    On the day of the talent show, Suzy's posters were everywhere — all over the hall and all over the school, each one different.

    “And finally,” said Mr. Brown, the schoolmaster, at the end of the show, “We have a special award. I'm sure you've all noticed the wonderful posters.” Everyone nodded. “One of our own students painted them.”

    I could hear everyone whispering. “Who in our school could draw that well?”

    Mr. Brown waited for a while before saying, “Since this student worked so hard on the posters, she deserves a prize, too. Our mystery artist is our new student — Suzy Khan!”

    Mr. Brown thanked her for all the wonderful posters and gave her a professional artist's set. “Thank you,” she cried.

    I realized, at that time when I was looking at her excited face, she had probably never owned anything in her whole life.

    Everyone started to clap their hands. Suzy Khan gave them a shy smile. I knew then Suzy was going to be all right.

C

    My grandfather Jack is 96 years old，and he has had an interesting life. He has travelled a lot in his life in the Far East. He visited the Taj Mahal in India and the Pyramids in Egypt. He hunted（狩猎） lions in Africa, and rode a camel in the Sahara Desert. He says the most beautiful place he has travelled to is Kathmandu in Nepal.

    Jack has married twice. His first wife died when she was 32. He met his second wife Maria while he was cycling round France. They have been married for 50 years, and they have lived happily in a small village since they got married.

    Jack says that he has never been ill in his life. The secret of good health, according to my grandfather, is exercise. He goes swimming every morning. He has done this since he was a boy. He also has a glass of wine every night！Perhaps that is his secret！

    It was a very hot day. A lion and a sheep were both thirsty (口渴的). The sheep found a small pool. Just when the sheep started to drink water from the pool, the lion came up to him and shouted, "I should drink first. I' m the king (大王) of all the animals. Get out of my way!"

    "No," said the sheep. "I should drink first. I found the water."

    "You will drink it all up," said the lion. "There won't be any left, and I' m almost dead (死的) with thirst.'

    "And I haven't drunk water all day," said the sheep.

    So they started to quarrel. They shouted louder and louder, and the lion even ran after the sheep to the top of a small hill.

    Suddenly the lion stopped. He looked up into the sky. The sheep looked up, too. A vulture (秃鹫) was there. All the animals knew and were afraid of him. He is Bird of Death, who likes to jump on the bodies of dead animals and eat them. The lion and the sheep knew it

    If we go on quarreling, said the lion, "we will both die of thirst, and the vulture will eat us. Go to the water and drink, but don't drink it all."

    The sheep did as the lion said, and the two animals weren't thirsty anymore.

    Bill is a good boy. He is seven years old, and he likes going to school. But he cannot get up early.

    He always wakes up until (直到) nine or ten o'clock in the morning.

    His mother doesn't want him to be late for school, so she buys an alarm clock for him. She says to Bill, "You must get up when you hear the clock ring." "Yes, Mum," Bill answers. From then on, when he hears the clock ring at six o'clock in the morning, he gets up quickly.

    One day his mother forgets to wind up (上发条) the clock. And the next morning, Bill doesn't get up on time. It's time for breakfast, so his mother goes to wake Bill up, Bill is in bed and his eyes are open. "Why don't you get up?" his mother asks, "You tell me that I must get up when I hear the clock ring, so I am waiting for the clock to ring," Bill said.

    Is handwriting (书写) important? Yes, the 10-year-old girl Alyssa thinks so. She is a fifth-grade student from Mason County, the USA. She's the champion (冠军) for her grade level in the National Handwriting Contest in 2012.

    After she got the news, Alyssa was surprised that she could be the first. "I'm really happy," she said. "I'm really surprised, too. I didn't know I was that good."

    To enter (参加) the contest, each student had to write the sentence (句子) "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". It is a common English sentence, but it uses every letter of the English alphabet. Teachers were invited to be judges. They could decide who wins the contest.

    Alyssa enjoys handwriting, and wants to write adventure (冒险) stories when she gets older. "From the third grade we started learning handwriting," Alyssa said. "All the letters look pretty. It makes me think of art."