Big Bear was Skinny Rabbit's friend and neighbor. Big Bear's birthday came and Skinny Rabbit sent him a hammock(吊床). Two trees grew in the space between the friends' houses. Skinny Rabbit and Big Bear tied the hammock between them. Big Bear climbed into the hammock.

    “How does it feel?" Skinny Rabbit asked.

    “Just wonderful!" Big Bear said. "But do you see how the sun shines through the branches (树枝), Skinny Rabbit?"

      "I do. It shines straight onto the hammock," Skinny Rabbit said. "I have an idea."    He put his beach umbrella beside the hammock. "How's that?" he asked.

    "It's almost perfect, Skinny Rabbit," said Big Bear. "Soft music would be nice for someone sleeping in a hammock."

    Skinny Rabbit went back into the house and came out with a radio. He tuned it to a station. The station was playing music.

    "Enjoy your sleep, Big Bear," said Skinny Rabbit. "I'll go and clean up the lunch dishes."    "Wait a minute! I thought of something else."    "What is it now?" asked Skinny Rabbit wearily

    "This hammock needs a friend to share with, Will you join me, Skinny Rabbit? Afterward we can do the dishes together."  

Skinny Rabbit said happily, "What a fine idea, Big Bear."

    On December 14，2017，we were sorry to hear that Yu Guangzhong, a famous poet died of illness in Taiwan. He was born in Nanjing in 1928. His mother's hometown is in Wujin，Changzhou. So he called himself a southern person.

    Later, he went to Taiwan. In 1952 he graduated from Taiwan University. Then he graduated from University of LOWA in 1959. He taught at Soochow University, Normal University, Taiwan University , and Chengchi University. He got a lot of prizes in literature(文学)，such as.Wu San lien Literature Prize, China Times Award, Golden Tripod，National Arts Award and all the major(主要的)Awards in Taiwan. He is famous both in Taiwan and in Mainland.

    He was in Taiwan, but he always missed his hometown in Mainland. In one of his poems Nostalgia(乡愁) ，he showed his feeling of homesickness. Let's enjoy his famous poem Nostalgia.

Nostalgia

When I was young，                   But later on,

Nostalgia was a tiny, tiny stamp.          Nostalgia was a low，low  grave.

Me on this side，                      Me on this side，

Mother on the other side.                And my mother ;inside.

When I grew up，                     And at present，

Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket.        Nostalgia becomes a shallow strait.

Me on this side，                      Me on this side，

Bride on the other side.                  Mainland on the other side.

    Lester was walking in the street with two huge and heavy suitcases. A stranger walked up to him and asked, "Have you got the time?"

    Lester stopped, put down the suitcases and looked at his watch. "It's five fifteen,'" he said. "Hey, what a nice watch!" said the stranger. Lester smiled a little and said, "Yes, it's not bad. Look at this." Then he showed the stranger a time display for the 86 largest cities in the world. He hit a few buttons and a voice told the time in Chinese.  Lester continued, "Its voice can be set for different languages." The stranger seemed very interested in the watch. "That's not all," said Lester. He then pushed a few more buttons and a small map appeared on the watch. "The map can show where we are," explained Lester. "I want to buy this watch!" said the stranger. "Oh, no, I'm not selling it. I have spent nearly two years making it," said Lester. "I'll give you $1,000 for it!" "Oh, no, I've already spent more than that." "I'll give you $ 5,000 for it!"

    Lester stopped to think. The stranger quickly gave him a check(支票) and said, "$ 5,000. Here it is." Lester finally agreed to sell the watch. When the stranger was going to leave with the watch, Lester pointed to the two huge suitcases and said, "Hey, wait a minute. Don't forget your batteries."

    Alan comes from New York, and now he is having a great time visiting his aunt in China. Today is Sunday. It's his eleventh birthday. He gets up early and wants to make a cake for his birthday party in the afternoon.

    When he comes out of his bedroom, he sees a big bowl of noodles on the table. It's a bowl of tomato and egg noodles. Alan usually has bread and milk for breakfast in America. Alan likes the tomato and egg noodles, but he still wants to know why his aunt cooks noodles this morning

    "It's your birthday today," his aunt says, *in China, many people eat very long noodles on their birthdays. It's a symbol of long life. We never cut up the noodles, and we call the long noodles changshou noodles.”

    "Thanks. I think it's my first special gift I get for my birthday," says Alan.

    In this August, I had a trip called "Cultural Trip: Germany, Italy & France" to go to Europe with a group of American students.

    This was not my first time to other countries, but it was unusual one. Why do I think the trip Unusual? Travel agencies (旅行社)usually have travel buses for tourists, What about us ? For five days, we traveled along Germany by bike. We were tired but happy! For some times on the trip, something went wrong with someone's bicycle. But at the end of the trip, everyone was safe and happy.

    In Italy, we went to a kitchen to learn to cook Italian dishes, we made a great dinner and ended by making the chocolate cake. I gave full marks to that night!

    France was the last stop, we went to the capital of France, Paris. We went to the Eiffel tower and we even got onto it. The tower is 324 meters tall, It has three levels(层) for visitors. There are restaurants on the first and second levels. The top level is 276 meters above the ground. If you climb from ground level to the first level, you need to climb over 300 steps. There are another 300 steps from the first level to the second level. That's why people usually get onto the top level by lift.

What kind of homework do your teachers usually give you {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the summer holiday? When Sheng Zeqi was a 7th- grade r at Hangzhou No 1 Middle School, her teacher asked her to tell the story of Journey to the West by {#blank#}2{#/blank#} pictures.

Sheng didn't just draw random pictures. She of a game she played with her parents when she was young. She decided to turn Journey to the West into a roadmap. Her map has 81 different locations. They tell the story of the classic novel. She {#blank#}3{#/blank#} some interesting conversations for the novel's characters. She even" borrowed" the character Mei Chaofeng from The Legend of the Condor Heroes {#blank#}4{#/blank#} her tell the story.

Sheng really did a good job in turning the novel into pictures." My parents are both {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and I' ve also enjoyed painting since I was little," Sheng told Xinhua.