On a rainy day, about 150 volunteers worked for eight hours to clean up Carson Creek that is near a river. About nine tons of trash was taken out from there.

    “We did a good job,” said Alan Specter, the organizer of the event. “We're planning to come back here one more time, three years from now. Of course, we hope that there won't be so much trash next time.”

    The trash came in all shapes, sizes, and colors: cans, bottles, bicycles, batteries, furniture, clothing, plastic bags, dolls, and even a golf bag with a full set of golf clubs (球棒).

    The dirty and tiring work was done by two volunteering groups — Save the Bay and Watch the Whales. Most of the volunteers came from a local police station and a fire station. And some of them were old people who had already retired (退休).

    That day, it rained a little. All of them wore boots, gloves and raincoats. They did the work along a two-mile river with over 500 big yellow trash bags everywhere.

    No one found anything that cost much. A five-year-old boy found an earring which he thought might be worth a million dollars. He said he'd sell it. Then he'd donate half of the money to Watch the Whales, and use the other half to buy his favorite ice cream every day.

    Many people laughed at the boy's story. However, it was easily found that the environment there did become better.

    Mr. King was the owner of a large company. One day, he went into his office early in themorning to get ready to go to the airport and set out for a city.

    He was leaving his office when Bill, a night watchman, came in Bill just came off work(下班).

    After saying “Good morning” to Mr. King, Bill told the owner about his bad dream. Last night he dreamed Mr. King's plane crashed after it took off. Mr. King was surprised to hear this. He decided to go by land.

    Bill's dream came true. That morning the plane really crashed just after it had taken off. Later Mr. King returned to his office and heard the accident. To express his thanks, Mr. King gave Bill 5,000 dollars with a letter. Mr. King told Bill that a man like him should be sent away. Bill was surprised and asked, ”Why?” Mr. King said,” Go home and read the letter, and you will know why.”

    Bill went home and opened the letter in a hurry. After he read it, he became sad. In the letter there is only one sentence. But it was enough to tell the reason.

根据短文回答问题

    One day a poor farmer was taking a bag of rice to the town. Suddenly the bag fell down from his horse on the road. He didn't know what to do about it because it was too heavy for him to lift (举起) it by himself. He only hoped that somebody would soon pass (经过) by and help him.

    Just at this moment a man riding a horse came up to him. But the farmer was very disappointed(失望的)when he saw who he was. It was the great man living nearby. The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him for help.

    But to his surprise, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came near. He said to the farmer, "I see you need help, my friend. How good it is that I'm here just at the right time！" Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took the other. They together lifted it and put it on the horse.

    "Sir, " asked the farmer, "how can I pay you？"

    "It's quite easy, " the great man answered with a smile, "Wherever (无论在哪里) you see anyone in trouble, do the same for him. "

    On Miriam's 9th birthday two years ago, her aunt, who lives in Kenya（肯尼亚）, gave money to a group that cares for elephants to celebrate Miriam's birthday. Then Miriam and her mother visited Africa to learn how the group was helping elephants. Later, Miriam fell in love with the animals and wanted to help save them.

    A few months after visiting Africa, Miriam watched How I Became an Elephant, a film about the mistreatment of elephants in Thailand, and a young girl's effort to save them. Miriam decided she wanted to raise money to save elephants.

    Last year, Miriam created a program called They Deserve（应得） to Be Free after seeing how young elephants are abused in Thailand. She learned how people take a baby elephant, don't give it food or water for days and beat it hard. "It made me really sad. I need to do something useful." Miriam said.

    Miriam is working to make money for Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. She asked her friends to give money to the park rather than giving her birthday gifts.

    She recently joined about 12 other students in an art center. They made elephants from clay and decorated（装饰） them. Then she created a plan to sell clay elephants.

    Kate, Miriam's art teacher, opened her art studio（工作室） to Miriam and her friends on weekends so they could make clay elephants. She even gave them the clay." It's great to see a young student wanting to spend her time on something meaningful. This is what we should all work towards," Kate said.

    Miriam says she has sold 180 clay elephants worth 2, 000 dollars, and all of that money has been sent to Elephant Nature Park in Thailand.

    Look at the boy in the picture. His name is Han Haolin. His English name is Finn. He is from Ningbo, China. There are four people in his family. They are his father, his mother, his sister and him. His sister's name is Ruirui. He likes his family very much.

    His birthday is on September 28^th. He is only ten years old.But he is a star now. He can act very well. He plays Dongdong in the film My people, my country this year. Everyone likes his performance (表演) very much.

    He loves music too. He is good at singing and dancing. In his free (空余的) time, he sings and dances on TV. He also plays the guitar when he is free. Now he can play it very well. His favourite colour is green.

    What a lovely and talented (有才艺的) boy!