How do you feel about your Chinese? Is it good or bad? If you think youare good at Chinese, you can take part in the competition named the “Chinese Characters Dictation Competition (中国汉字听写大会)”. The competition became popular among teenagers. Let's know something about it.

    More and more computers and smart phones are used by teenagers. They spend too much time onthe Internet in playing or chatting. They are used to sending messages by computers and smart phones. As a result, some teenagers forget how to writethe Chinese Characters by hand. The teachers and parents are very worried about it. What can they do?

    Not long ago, they found an interesting game called the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. The program was similar to the American show “National Spelling Bee”. In this program, middle school students competed among themselves and wrote down the Chinese Characters by dictation. Over two hundred competitors were from forty-six middle schools. The audiences(观众) loved this new kind of competition, too. They tried to write down the Chinese Characters while the competitors were writing them. Butthey found it was also difficult for them to write down all the Chinese Characters.

    Is it an interesting competition? Can you be the winner?

    Dave is my friend. His family is rich. His parents always give him lots of pocket money. But Dave thinks his parents work very hard and it's not easy for them, so he always tries his best to save money. He has some good ways to do it.

    Dave likes reading. He has lots of books. He tells me he often buys books online, because they're cheaper. And when he has free time, he often goes to bookstores or libraries to do some reading.

    Dave has a bike. He usually goes to school by bike instead of taking a bus. Sometimes when it rains or snows, he walks. These two ways help Dave keep healthy and save some money.

    Dave brings a bottle of water to school every day. When other students drink juice, he enjoys his water. He thinks water is the cheapest but the best drink.

    Some students think Dave is mean. But I don't think so. I think he is right. What do you think of him?

    Most elephants are grey. Only a few are white. It's difficult to see a white elephant. When people find a white elephant, they feel excited.

    Long ago, a white elephant was taken to the king. Only the king could have a white elephant. And the white elephant must be a very good one. People wanted to take a look at the animal. On its way to the king, the white elephant attracted(吸引) many people. They ran into the street and shouted, “A white elephant is coming!”

    All the people liked the cute elephant. Some gave it water to drink. Others sang songs to the elephant. A boy put a red hat on the elephant's head.

    Then the elephant came to the king. At last the king saw the white elephant. The king gave it a name himself. The elephant ate from gold dishes and it began a new life.

    I was coming back home late at night in a ”Sharing” minivan. In Hyderabad, India, it is a cheap and quick means of transport. The van drivers ply (揽客) as many as 13 people at times in a vehicle which is designed for the transport of 8 people．Our van was crowded as well. People were getting off and on at many places.

    On the journey, one girl waved her hand to ask the driver to stop. While getting down, she tripped and fell．None of us notice it，as it was dark. The driver was waiting for her to pay. It was then that we saw the girl was on her knees by the side of the road. Another passenger and l got down and held her up．

    Even in pain, the girl held up a note and asked us to pay the driver．The other passenger took the note and paid the driver．My stop was a few hundred meters away. I decided to stay with her till she was fine. I paid the driver for myself and he took off with the other passengers.

    I neither knew her nor did I know what to do, but I was there, saying some comforting words to a stranger in pain. I asked her to stand still for a few minutes. We then looked for a place for her to sit. From out of nowhere, her friend joined us.

    We made her sit in a nearby grassland and her friend rushed to get a taxi. In the meantime, she examined her leg and her ankle had swollen up (肿胀). It looked like a sprain (扭伤). Once her friend came back, they took the taxi and rushed to a hospital. Before they left, the girl thanked me and said they could manage as it was only a small sprain.

    I do not know if I did enough. But I feel I gave some comfort to her in a small way.

    Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England on 8th January, 1942. He went to school in St Allbans, a small city near London. ⑴尽管他做得很好，但是拿不到第一名。

    After leaving school, Hawking went first to Oxford University where he studied physics and then went to Cambridge University where he studied cosmology(宇宙学). As he himself admits, he didn't work hard. He was a very lazy student, and did very little work. However, he still got high marks.

   ⑵ 在他20岁的时候，他的身体出毛病了。 He started to knock into things. When he visited his family at Christmas time, his mother was so worried that she made him see a doctor. Hawking was sent to hospital for tests. Finally, the result came back. Hawking had motor neuron disease（运动神经元病）. ⑶The illness would make him unable to speak, breathe or move without the help of a machine. Doctors said they had no way to help him. He would die before 23.

    At first, Hawking became very sad. After a while, though, he began to see his life in a different way. As he later wrote, “Before my illness was diagnosed(诊断), I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, ⑷I suddenly realized that there were a lot of valuable things I could do.” Then Hawking got married and found a job at Cambridge University as a professor. ⑸He strongly believes that his story shows that nobody should lose hope, no matter how bad their situation is. “Life is not fair.” He once said. “You just have to do the best you can in your own situation.”

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    Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can't talk with words, but they can talk with sounds. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They are mammals (哺乳动物), but they swim together in a group.

    Dolphins talk to the other dolphins in a group. They give information. They say "Welcome" when a dolphin comes back to the group. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They talk when they play.

    They make a few sounds above water. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} People cannot hear these sounds because their pitch (音调) is very high. Scientists make tapes of the sounds and study them.

    Sometimes people catch a dolphin for a large aquarium. (An aquarium is a zoo for fish.) People can watch the dolphins in a show. Dolphins don't like to be away from their group in an aquarium. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    There are many stories about dolphins. They help people {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Dolphin meat is good, but people don't like to kill them. They say that dolphins can bring good luck to them. Many people believe this.