Once upon a time, there were two seeds(种子). They were good friends. They often talked with each other when they were free. One day, they had nothing to do. They lay on the ground. They looked up at the sky and had a chat with each other.

      The first seed said, “I want to grow! Then I can enjoy the sun and the rain!” Later, it grew. It had a chance to enjoy the sun and the rain.

The second seed said, “I am afraid of growing up. If I grow, I have to live in the soil. Little animals may come up to me and eat me. How terrible! If I become a beautiful flower, a child will come and pick me. It is much better for me to wait. It's a dangerous way to be alive.” It did nothing and refused to grow.

       Spring came soon. A duck came up to the seeds. It eat the second seed and went away. See? We shouldn't act like the second seed. We should face our life bravely.

    Mr. Hunt came from a poor family. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father worked hard but wasn't paid much. And his mother did all the housework at home. They were both able but they couldn't get enough money for their family.

    Mr. Hunt was in school for only three years and he had to stop to help his parents though he was good at his lessons. When he was sixteen, he came to the city and began to work in a small factory. He learned from an old worker and became a skilled worker. The old worker liked him and married his daughter to him. The young man did not have his own house and had to live with his parents-in-law(岳父母). His mother-in-law always thought he was poor and often chattered(唠叨). So the young man tried to save everything and hoped to have his own house.

    It was one fine Sunday. The old woman wanted to have a picnic on the top of the hill. She told Mr. Hunt to drive her car. But sometimes she told him to turn left and sometimes to turn right. The young man had to listen to her. At a crossing the lights were red but she made him turn left. The policeman stopped them and told the young man to give his license to him.

    “If I did wrong, sir,” said Mr. Hunt, “It was my mother-in-law's fault(过错). She was driving the car though she sat behind me!”

Can you imagine going to university at age 14? This year, Jia Zijun, from Henan, did that. He became the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (young) freshman at Beihang University. 

"I didn't know that until I got here, and it feels q{#blank#}2{#/blank#} cool! "Jia told The Paper. Jia took the college entrance exam in June and got a total score of 642. People often think students like him must be smart. But Jia believes his s{#blank#}3{#/blank#} is from curiosity and good study methods. 

"When I was in Grade 1, I was curious about what we were going to learn next. So I borrowed Grade 2 textbooks and {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(learn) the lessons during my summer holiday. I was hungry {#blank#}5{#/blank#} new information," he said. Because of this, Jia skipped Grade 2. 

As he went to high school, he found things were getting harder to learn. So he started to make p{#blank#}6{#/blank#} every day to get prepared ahead. Jia would also review what he learned each day before going to bed. If there was s{#blank#}7{#/blank#} he couldn't remember well, he'd take a look at it the next morning

"I was not good at English in high school, so I printed the vocabulary list and stuck it onto my bed Every morning when I w{#blank#}8{#/blank#} up, I looked through the list, and it's a good way. 

When Jia felt stressed, he had a special way to r{#blank#}9{#/blank#} working on math problems. "I'd find difficult problems to challenge myself, and when I worked it out, I felt really happy. "As he told The Paper, he hopes he can keep his curiosity and study habits in university, which makes a big {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(different) to his life

Once or twice, there was crying and sighing (叹息) from a little leaf, as leaves often do when the wind is blowing. The tree said, "What's the matter, little leaf ?"

"The wind, " said the leaf, "just told me that one day it would pull me off and throw me on the ground. "

" Don't be afraid, " the tree said. "Hold on , and you shall not go off until you are ready. "

So the leaf stopped sighing and went on singing. It grew all summer long until October. When the bright days of autumn came, the leaf saw all the leaves around growing very beautiful. Some were yellow, some were brown, and many were colorful. Then the leaf asked the tree what this meant (意味着).

The tree said, " All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these colors because of their joy (快乐). "

The little leaf started to want to go and grew colorful thinking of it. Then it saw that the branches (树枝) of the tree had no bright colors on them and asked why.

"We must keep on our working clothes because we don't finish our work, " said the tree, "but your clothes are for holidays because your work is now over. "

Just then, the wind came, and the leaf let go (放手) without thinking. The wind took it up and turned it over and over. Then it fell slowly down on the ground, among hundreds of leaves.

Miss Wang is having a class meeting. The students are talking about life in the future. Everyone has his or her own opinions.

Zhang Li says, "In 2050, our life will be much 1 than it is now. The sky is bluer and water is clearer. We can breathe (呼吸) the 2 air every day. We will live a happier life. We humans will share the world 3 animals and plants peacefully."

Sally thinks that it is not a dream to travel to the moon for a 4 . We can eat healthy food every day. At that time, everyone will enjoy a 5 life.

Lisa believes that people will have more free time to enjoy 6 because robots (机器人) will be very popular and will do many things for people. And we will build new homes and schools on 7 planets (星球). Maybe we can chat with each other in our new homes.

Michael thinks that no animals will 8 because of the technology of cloning (克隆技术). There will 9 no pollution (污染). The whole world will be one big family. As time goes by, we will live a much easier and happier life.

Miss Wang tells them to work hard for their dreams and future. "Nothing is impossible. And if everyone 10 his best, the world will become better and better." says Miss Wang.

Henry was a pen name of an American 1 of short stories. His 2 name was William Sydney Porter. He was 3 in North Carolina in 1862. 4 a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he tried to teach 5 everything he needed to know. 

When he was about 20 years old, Henry went to Texas. There he tried different 6 . He first worked for a newspaper, and then he had a job in a 7 . When some money went missing from the bank, people believed he stole it. Because of that, the police 8 him into prison. 9 the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing. 

Henry wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because they were 10 to understand and they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.