Do you know the book The Rough Patch? It is a new book by US writer Brian Lies. Kids love it because of the wonderful story and beautiful pictures in it.

    Evan, a fox, lives with his dog. They do everything together. They play, read and eat. Their favorite thing is working in Evan's garden. In the garden, plants grow big and beautiful. But friends don't always stay together forever. One day, Evan's dog dies. Evan is very sad because he loses his best friend. Every time he goes to the garden, he thinks of his dead dog. He can't stop his tears running. Feeling lost and angry, Evan destroys (摧毁) his garden.

    A good place will not stay empty for long. New plants quietly start to grow. One day, Evan finds a small pumpkin vine (南瓜藤) in his garden. He becomes happy again. He starts to look after it and taking care of the new plant gets him out of the sadness. Autumn comes and there is a very big pumpkin on the vine. It is fair (集市) week. Evan takes his big pumpkin to the fair. He meets his old friends there. He enjoys many delicious foods. Best of all, his big pumpkin wins him a prize: 10 dollars or a baby dog. What does Evan choose? You might know the answer.

    Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife(妻子), Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home.

    He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted out, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes," said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

     "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes."

Last night，John went to a welcome party for foreign students. In the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}something funny happened. He met a Japanese boy {#blank#}2{#/blank#}was called Sato. He didn't know {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the Japanese are supposed to greet each other. As soon as he held out his hand, the boy {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. He just stood there, embarrassed, with his hand out. But finally he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the bow.

Last weekend, Katie met her French friend Marie for the first time. She did the {#blank#}6{#/blank#}as John did, holding out her hand. To her great surprise, Marie kissed her on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} sides of her face. She also felt embarrassed. Later she came to know that {#blank#}8{#/blank#}people are supposed to kiss when they meet each other.

Li Hua went to the Capital International Airport to meet Tony Garcia from Colombia and Julia Smith {#blank#}9{#/blank#} Britain. After Li met them and introduced {#blank#}10{#/blank#}to each other，Tony went {#blank#}11{#/blank#}to Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. She stepped{#blank#}12{#/blank#} appearing surprised and put up her hands, as if in defense(防卫)!

These actions are not good {#blank#}13{#/blank#}bad, but they are simply ways that cultures have developed. Studying international customs can certainly help avoid difficulties in today's world of cultural crossroads!

Mary is studying in a middle school in Shanghai. She likes Chinese {#blank#}1{#/blank#} very much because it is delicious. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Mary is watching the dragon boat race with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} classmates Alan and Henry. 

At noon, they all feel {#blank#}3{#/blank#} so they take a bus to a Chinese restaurant. They want to order (点餐) some Chinese food for {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. "I don't want to eat hamburgers. They are not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} for my health," Alan says. "I'd like some rice and chicken. What about you, Mary?" "Many Chinese say if you eat a dumpling with a coin (硬币), you can get good luck," says Mary. "We will have{#blank#}6{#/blank#}important test next Monday, so I'd like to have some Chinese {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to have good luck." 

"Haha! Mary," Alan says. "You can only eat them {#blank#}8{#/blank#} Chinese New Year." "Oh, I know, but now I want to{#blank#}9{#/blank#}some dumplings," Mary says. "And what would you like to eat, Henry?" 

"I'd like noodles," says Henry. "And I'd like some fish, too. It shows you will have lots of money {#blank#}10{#/blank#}fish sounds ‘yu' in Chinese." 

We had an interesting English class yesterday afternoon. When Mrs Jackson came into our classroom, the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(钟；铃) was ringing. She told us that our English teacher was {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(缺席的) and she would replace him. And then she said, "We will learn something about advertisements (广告). " Then she showed us some short videos. In the first video, a young businessman wearing a white shirt appears. After he puts on a nice {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(领带), he looks more handsome. In the second video, some students are having an exam. A student in the fourth {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(一排) uses a nice pen to write something. And then he not only {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(通过) the exam but also gets full marks. It's very interesting. 

In the last video, some people are swimming in a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(游泳池). Suddenly, a watch falls into the water. When someone {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(捡起) it up, it still works. It's amazing!

Then Mrs Jackson told us something about advertisements. Her voice was beautiful and all of us listened to her very {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(仔细地). Then she played a game with us. We really enjoyed the class. 

After class, most students {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(赞同) that Mrs Jackson was a friendly English teacher. And she was among the best teachers of {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(我们的). We all hope to take her classes again. 

"Today is Mom' s birthday, Mosh," Nick said, "Let' s {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(make) her favorite banana bread." Nick took out {#blank#}2{#/blank#} cookbook(菜谱). "I read it, and you need to follow the steps. Get out a bowl and a spoon while I turn {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the oven." Nick read from the cookbook. "{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(one), mash(捣碎) the bananas in the bowl."

 The robot put the bananas into the bowl and was going to mash them with its hands. "Stop!" Nick said. "Let' s try this again. Peel the bananas, put them in the bowl, and mash them with the spoon." Nick watched when Mosh {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(peel) the bananas and put the peel(外皮) into the bowl. Again, Nick told Mosh to stop{#blank#}6{#/blank#} told it what to do with the bananas.

 Then Nick read, "Add the eggs. No, wait," he said right away. Nick cracked (打碎) the eggs into the bananas.

"Last, add flour(面粉), milk and sugar," Nick said. "Mix everything together. Then pour the batter(面糊) into the bread pan." Mosh followed Nick' s {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(order) while Nick read the cookbook.

"I' ll put this in the oven," Nick said.

 Just then Kelly came into the room. "{#blank#}8{#/blank#} happened here?"

 Nick answered, "Robot and I are making banana bread for Mom's birthday. I think she will be {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(surprise)."

"If you want it to be a good surprise for Mom," Kelly laughed, "you need {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(give) it one more order. Clean up!"