Garfield first appeared in a comic strip on June 19, 1978. Garfield is well known all over the world. Lots of Garfield books have been translated into 26 languages. Garfield products are sold in 69 countries.

    Jim Davis is Garfield's creator. Jim was born on July 28, 1945 in Indiana. He grew up on a farm where his dad raised cows. Jim and his brother Dave helped with the farm work. They had 25 cats. Their mom always made sure there was plenty of food for the cats.

    As a boy, Jim was in poor health. When he had to spend time resting, he drew pictures. He added words to his pictures to make them funny.

    After college Jim worked a few years at an advertising company. In 1969, he got a job to help a cartoonist. Jim noticed that there were many comic strips about dogs but few about cats. He thought that was strange since the world is full of cat lovers.

    He remembered the 25 farm cats he grew up with. They gave him ideas for a cat comic strip. In the comic strip, Garfield became the central character in daily difficult experiences with Jon, his owner, and other characters. He is lazy, funny and hungry.

    Jim Davis has received many awards for his work. Twice he was given the Best Humour Strip Cartoonist of the Year Award. He has won four Emmys(艾美奖)and other honours.

    12-year -old American boy Maxwell Daley just grew a pumpkin(南瓜) that weighs 582. 5 pounds (1 pound is about 0.45 kg). He won first place in the seventh annual Largest Pumpkin Contest at the Kentucky State Fair. And he received the $500 (about 3, 334 yuan) top prize.

    Maxwell is a seventh grader at Grayson County Middle School. At the age of 8, he became interested in growing huge pumpkins after seeing them at the state fair.

    Maxwell is a boy of few words. But he shared his secret of growing a big pumpkin" We put lots of special fertilizers(肥料) on it. We put it in the shade(阴凉处) and put a canopy(遮篷) over it. Lots of weeds(杂草) need to be pulled," he told local media Franklin Favorite.

    His father Joe Daley also added that it started by picking the right seed this year, Daley paid $ 40 for his pumpkin seed and worked hard every day to grow it. He also needed to keep the pests(害虫) out. "It turned into a pretty big job. He did all the work," Joe said.

    This winning giant pumpkin was the only one he grew this year. According to the rule, Maxwell has to take part in the Largest Pumpkin Contest for years to come.

    One day, a Chinese student 1 Sun Huangqiang went to study English in England. His 2  name was the same as the English word “sun”

    England is a country with 3 weather. It is often cloudy or misty(雾), and it rains very often, so the people there don't get much 4 in the whole year.

    When the Chinese student 5 London, a tall English policeman 6 a long face opened his passport (护照)to check it. The policeman was7 in the Chinese name “sun” in the passport. He thought it was pronounced(发音)just like the English word “sun”, so he said to the Chinese student,'' I see your name is Sun. You are wanted here,” The Chinese student was quite 8. But the policeman began to smile 9 a moment,” Mr Sun, you're bringing sunshine to England, so we don't want you 10 away. ”

    We are often educated to have the courage, but we also need to understand "fear" correctly. "Fear" also has the meaning of "awe (敬畏)". If a person has no respect (尊敬) or awe, it will surely bring trouble to the family, to the society and the country. So, how should we do?

    Fear life. Life is the only one. The fear of life will make us value life more. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If we don't respect nature, nature will punish us in turn. All kinds of natural disasters (灾害) will come one after another, making us helpless in front of nature. We should learn scientific knowledge and skills to avoid some dangers.

    Fear your parents. Know how to respect parents and thanks for their efforts. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Fear the law. No rules, no standards. Follow the order, rules of the society, schools and public places. Know the law and understand the law. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Whoever breaks the law can't run away from punishment.

    Fear knowledge. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} We will keep on progressing, have the awe of teachers, and accept their teaching and education with pleasure.

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.

 When shopping for clothes, my mother and I have always disagreed on what fits me well. To me, if it zips, it fits. My mom, however, usually tells me I need a bigger size.

 When I was a teenager, I wanted to dress like my friends, but my body size made it impossible. When mo m told me something didn't suit me, or I needed a bigger size, all I heard was that my body was wrong.

 To avoid arguments, we stopped going shopping together. This continued until  I got engaged(订婚) last year and needed to buy some clothes. When I tried on a blouse. my mother looked at me, and I knew what was coming." You need a bigger size," she said.

 There was no bigger size. I tried to hold back my tears. Maybe I could buy it alone, of course, but my mom is my favorite person to hang out with The idea of looking for a wedding dress without her seemed just as scary as taking her with me.

 And so the day came. As I tried on a simple white dress. I saw tears in my mom's eyes. " You look beautiful! " she told me. Nothing could have shocked me more.

 This one didn't zip up at the back and I did actually need a bigger size, but my mother didn't say that. She just told me how beautiful I looked. In that moment, all the argument s in the past ended. We didn't buy a dress that day.

 We decided to see more, which I would never have predicted.

A few weeks later, we found the perfect dress. We both loved it as soon as I put it on. And during those few weeks, mom and I also found the perfect fit for our shopping relationship.