Hans Christian Andersen(安徒生)

    Hans Christian Andersen is a great writer. He wrote many popular stories for children all over the world. April 2 is his birthday and it is also Children's Book Day.

    Andersen was born(出生) in 1805. When he was a little boy, his father read him a story every day. He felt very happy at that time. But his father died when he was 11 years old. Then he had to leave school. Andersen started working as an actor and singer. He loved reading books so much that he went back to school at 17. His first book came out in 1835. From then on, he wrote about one book a year for 37 years.

    There will be a park about Andersen's sales(传说) and life in Shanghai. If you like Andersen, you can go there to learn about his life and tales, and you can play games, too.

    There is a new park near Andy's home. It's fine today. Andy and his family are in the park now. On their left, there is a café. On their right, there is a big lake. There are many flowers and trees around the lake. There's a small hill behind the lake. Near the lake, there are two signs. One says, “Don't swim in the lake!” The other says, “No fishing!” But you can go boating on the lake. There is a beautiful garden in the middle of the park. There are green grass and beautiful flowers in it. There are some small shops between the lake and the garden. The park is so beautiful. Andy and his family like it very much.

Dear Tom,

    How are you? I'm at a new school this term. And I'm writing to tell you about my school. My new school is big and nice. There are one thousand and four hundred students and one hundred and forty teachers at my school. I like the teachers. They are very kind to me. My classmates are very friendly too. They teach me Chinese and I teach them English. There are trees, flowers and green grass at my school. They are very beautiful. Behind my school there is a small river. The water in it is quite clean. We can swim in it. We have no classes at weekends. Sometimes I play football or basketball with my classmates. Sometimes I stay at home and watch TV. Sometimes I go shopping with my father and mother. We all like China.

    Please write to me soon!

Yours,

Jack

    Michael Perham (born on 16^th March, 2000 in Hertfordshire, England) is a boy who, at the age of 17, became the youngest person to sail around the world in the 50 feet racing boat, completing his journey on 7^th August, 2017. He started the world trip on the 15^th of November 2016 from Portsmouth, England.

    Just six days after Michael Perham set sail from Portsmouth, he started having serious problems with the boat, which he was unable to fix himself on the sea. He had to stop in Portugal. Just one day later, he set sail once again, with the hope of breaking David Dick's world record for the youngest person to sail around the world.

    Michael met many challenges along the way, including rough seas and knock-downs in the Southern Ocean, terrible loneliness and fighting storms, but the largest difficulty Michael faced was the boat itself. It caused one problem after another. He celebrated his birthday in March last year among the dolphins in Indian Ocean.

    Michael Perham has entered the record books after becoming the youngest person to sail around the world. The teenager already holds the record for being the youngest people to sail across the Atlantic, aged just 14.

    Michael Perham plans to create the Sail Michael Fund to encourage young people to take to the water. He is also aiming to take part in the 2020 Olympics.

    One day, Jack received a call. It was his mother: "Mr Depp died last night," his mother said. Memories flashed through Jack's mind like an old film. He sat quietly remembering his childhood days. It had been so long since Jack thought of the old man who used to live next door. In fact, he had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his family.

    "Well, he didn't forget you," his mother continued. "Every time I saw him, he'd recall the days you spent with him."

    "He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important," Jack said. "Mum, I'll be there for the funeral."

    Though Jack was very busy, he kept his word. He flew to his hometown. After the funeral, Jack and his mother looked at the old house next door one more time. Standing in the doorway, Jack stopped suddenly.

    "What's wrong, Jack?" his mother asked.

    "The box is gone," he said. "There used to be a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was 'the thing I value most'."

    About two weeks later, Jack received a parcel (包裹). On it, the name Harold Depp caught his attention. He couldn't wait to open it and a small gold box appeared in front of him. In it, there was a beautiful gold pocket watch with a note. Jack's hands shook as he read these words: Jack, thanks for your time! Harold Depp.

    "The thing he valued most…was…my time." Jack held the watch for a few minutes, and then called to cancel his appointments (预约) for the next two days.

    "Why?" Janet, his assistant, asked.

    "I need some time to spend with my mother, wife and son," he said. "Oh, by the way, Janet…thanks for your time!"

阅读下列短文, 从下面每个小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

One day, Ben was playing basketball in the living room, breaking a vase. To cover his terrible action, the frightened boy glued the pieces together and put the vase back to its place.

That evening her mother noticed the cracks (裂纹). But to her surprise, the repair work was actually very good. At dinner time, she asked her boy if he broke the vase. Fearing punishment, the boy said that a neighbor's cat jumped in from the window and knocked the vase off. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying. However, she said nothing.

Before going to bed, the boy was asked to go to the study. In the study, his mother didn't look angry. On seeing her son carefully come in, she gave him one chocolate, saying "This chocolate is a reward (奖励) for your imagination: a window-opening cat!" At that moment, the boy felt the chocolate was a hot potato. “Did mom find holes in my excuse?” he thought. “You know, all the windows were closed.” Mother continued calmly and took out two chocolates into his hand, “An award for the perfect repair.”

Now with the chocolates in hand, the boy wished the ground to open up and bury him! He told the truth. “So I have to punish you for your lie.” The mother said with a serious voice and took back his chocolates. The boy bent down his head in shame. “But your honesty should have the award—a box of chocolates.” The mother suddenly bent to kiss his cheek, speaking gently to the crying boy, “My son, honesty values more than anything.”