Gemma Burford

    Gemma was born in 1978 in a quiet village in England. Her mother worked in a library and her father worked in a hospital. When she was a student at Oxford University, she traveled (旅行) to Tanzania and met her husband (丈夫), Lesikar, for the first time. They got married (结婚) in 2003 and had their daughter, Lucia, two years later. Now Lucia studies in a small primary school, and Gemma and Lesikar also teach her at home.

 Judy Boehmer

    Adam is Judy's first child. She now has four sons, seven daughters and a pet dog, Bosco. Judy and her husband, Larry, live in Atlanta, Georgia, but they also have a motorhome (野营车). The Boehmers are a circus (马戏团) family and all the children are performers at the circus. The children don't go to school, but study at home. The family travels more than 40,000 kilometers a year for their work. The first show of the Boehmers was at a park in Lowa in 1989, and they now perform all over America.

    Zak's grandfather, Stan was very famous. Why? Because he had a very, very, very long white beard (胡子).

    One day, Zak asked his grandfather, "When you sleep, do you put your beard over or under the quilt (被子)?" "I'm not sure. I never care about that," said his grandfather, "I'll look tonight."

    Stan got into bed that night and pulled up the quilt. Then he remembered his grandson's question. Aha! His beard was under the quilt. But wait. Did that feel right?

    He lift his beard from under the quilt and put it above it. This also didn't feel right. Si he put the beard under the quilt again. But he soon felt it would be better if it were out. The beard went in and out—first under the quilt, then over it, under, over, all night long.

    Stan spent a sleepless night. In the morning, he was so tired and unhappy that he cut his long beard right off!

    Stan's wife was so happy. She advised Stan to cut that beard off many times, but he never did it. Now a simple question made him do that.

    One can hardly imagine Chai Huilong, wearing glasses and a T-shirt, as a Chinese chive(韭菜) farmer.

    Two years ago, Chai graduated from Tianjin College of University of Science and Technology. He took over his parents' 20,000 square meter plot of land and set up a business: growing Chinese chives.

    But instead of growing Chinese chives in the traditional way, Chai plants them in garden pots and sells them directly to customers through an online sore. Now his family makes 10 million yuan a year.

    Running a business is a dream for many young graduates. Chai is one of those young graduates who have found great career opportunities in rural areas. They make good use of their agricultural knowledge and new skills, and get support form the government.

    When Chai came up with the idea of growing Chinese chives, he was not sure about running his own business. But Youth Business China, a non-profit(非盈利的) program supported by the government which helps encourage youth entrepreneurship (创业精神), gave Chai courage and confidence. The program offers 30,000 to 50,000 yuan in start-up funding to young people who have great ideas. It also assigns(分配) each of them a tutor who provides guidance on spending the money and running the company.

    "My relatives and friends regard farming as a bad job. But being a farmer is just my job," said Chai. So far, his products have been shipped to places as far as Dubai on the Arabian Gulf. Chai is confident that he can make a greater success of this job in the future.

    For Schultz, a 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime.Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

    Speaking of his journey, he says, "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child ,but now I finally have a chance to experience it."

    The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany ，Russia and other 4 European countries. They will then enter China from the country's western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.

    Nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. "We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries ,have been joining us ,"says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.

    Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5 million of them were from Europe. Beijing ,Xi'an , Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations(目的地) for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go ,Schultz says ,"Compared with modern cities ,the culture in western China attracts(吸引)me more."

    As Shi Xiang head of the China Tours, says ,"Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors ,the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China ,especially the northwestern part of the country."

    (China Daily)

It 's the year 2123.With the help of the newly-invented time machine,Joe (J),a middle school student in the United States,travels back to 1886to interview Mark Twain (M).

J:Hi, are you Mr. Mark Twain?

M:Yes, I am. Do I know you?

J: My name is Joe. I come from the future. Nice to meet you, Mr. Twain! M: Oh, oh! What a big surprise!

J:You are my favorite writer! May I ask you a few questions?

M: Sure. 

J: So what encouraged you to become a writer?

M:Well, when I was young, I never thought I would became one. 

J:Then, what was your dream job?

M:In fact, I just wanted to make a living at that time. I was a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. But in 1861, I moved west. 

J:What did you do there?

M:I worked as a gold miner(淘金者). But sadly I didn't find anything close to gold. 

J:What did you do there?

M:I enjoyed creating stories Maybe I had a talent for that. I sent some of my stories to The Territorial Enterprise. It was a leading newspaper at that time. The boss was so satisfied with them that he offered me a writing job. 

J:And then you became famous as a writer?

M:Um. . . you could say so. 

J:One last question, could I share this interview on the internet?

M:Wait a minute. What is this "internet" thing?

J:. . . 

提示：1.遇到困难时，自我减压（如：相信自己、参加课外活动、读书、听音乐等）；

2.寻求他人（如：父母、老师、朋友等）帮助；

3.你对困难的看法。

参考词汇：overcome 克服 bravely 勇敢地 give in 屈服

要求：1.短文必须包括所给提示中1-3项的内容，可展开思路，适当发挥；

2.短文中不能出现真实姓名、校名和其他真实信息；

3.字数100词左右。

……