George lived with his sick mother in a poor village.

    One bright sunny1in July, he went early to the forest two miles away. He was asked to2some wood from under the trees. After working hard for half a day, he looked around for a3 place to rest and eat his lunch. Suddenly some fine red wild 4 caught his eyes.

    "How good these will be with my bread and butter!" thought George. He at once began to5all the strawberries he could find and sat down by the river, ready to enjoy them.

    Then just as he was lifting the6strawberry to his mouth, he thought of his mother. "Shall I7them for her?" said he, thinking how much they would make8happy, yet still looking at them with longing (渴望的)eyes.

    "I will eat half, and take the other half to her," said he. Then he divided the strawberries into two.9he found each half looked so small that he put them together again.

    "I will only taste one." Then seeing that he had taken the biggest, he put it back. Finally he 10 them carefully with some leaves, deciding to keep them all11his mother.

    When the sun was beginning to go down, George went home.12happy he felt that he had all his strawberries for his sick mother. The13he came to his home, the less he wished to taste them. As soon as he arrived, he ran to his14and happily offered his wild strawberries. Tears in eyes, she put her hand on his head and said15, "And you kept them for your sick mother, did you? God will bless you for all this, my child. "

   Could the eating of the strawberries have given George half the happiness he felt at this moment?

    O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.

   When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During 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.

   He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.

There is nothing like chocolate. Just thinking about it can make your mouth water. September 13 is the International Chocolate Day, which gives us a good reason to celebrate the world's most popular sweet. 

Chocolate comes from a civilization（文明）called the Maya. They had a special food called cocoa. The word cocoa means" gift from God". About five hundred years ago, the Europeans found the Mayans and used cocoa to make chocolate. 

For centuries, only the rich could enjoy chocolate, and normal people could not get hold of it. All this changed when European companies started to produce chocolate bars in the 19th century. Chocolate comes in different colors and sizes. People often eat white, dark and milk chocolate. The biggest chocolate bar was ever made in Italy in 2011 and weighed almost 6 tons! That's as big as an elephant. 

There are also different shapes of chocolate and people often take them as holiday gifts. Chocolate bunnies（小兔子）and eggs are popular on Easter, chocolate coins are common on Christmas Day, and chocolate hearts are great gifts for Valentine's Day. At certain parties and wedding ceremonies(结婚典礼), chocolate fountains always surprise guests. 

Lots of people say chocolate is bad for your health. Not necessarily so! Scientists now say it is good for people's heart and can make the body release chemicals that actually make us happy and make us feel better. But don't eat too much of it. 

The first International Basketball Expo（IBE）（国际篮球博览会） is from November 8th to 12th，2023，in Fujian. In the Basketball Expo，we can see great love for the sport. 

Song Yihong loves basketball very much. He is 11 years old now. He plays basketball for 6 years. At first，he does this sport because he wants to be tall（高的）. "I'm too short. I'm not happy about that. And my mother wants me to keep healthy，so I play basketball. "He plays basketball every Thursday and Friday evening，and also Sunday afternoon. 

At first，he finds it difficult but now he thinks it interesting and useful. He thanks his P. E. teacher and friends very much because they give him much help. He thinks he is ready（准备好的） to meet difficult things because basketball helps him to be strong（强壮的）. 

"I know many students love basketball too，but they think it's not easy. Don't be afraid（害怕的）. Just play and you can have fun!"

Bill is a 7-year-old boy. There are 1 people in his family. They are his parents and him. He likes doing exercise. He brings a 2 to school every day because he loves it very much. After class, he often plays basketball with his classmates at school. His favorite color is 3 . So he has a blue schoolbag and some other blue stationary. 

Bill wants to have a dog, but his mother doesn't like it. One day, his friend Gina asks him to look after her dog Coco. Coco is very clever. When you 4 , "Coco, come here", it is coming. 

Bill plays with it very happily. But Coco is 5 at night. Bill looks for it everywhere, but he can't find it. He buys a new 6 . It 7 Coco. The next morning, Gina comes and 8 her dog back. When she gets to Bill's home, her Coco comes out of nowhere. Bill tells her the story. She doesn't mind and says thanks to him for his help. Then she goes 9 with Coco. "But what can I 10 the new dog? "Bill asks.

He was an old man who fished alone in a boat and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish, the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week.

It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his boat empty and he always went down to help him carry fishing tools.

The old man was thin with deep wrinkles（皱纹） in the back of his neck. His hands had the deep scars（伤疤） from dealing with heavy fish. But none of these scars were fresh.

Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and full of confidence.

"Santiago", the boy said to him as they climbed from the bank where the boat was pulled up. "I could go with you again. We've made some money."

"No," the old man said. "You' re with a lucky boat. Stay with them."

"But remember how you went eighty-seven days without a fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."

"I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me willingly."

"It was papa who made me leave. I am a boy and I must do what he told me to."

"I know. I quite understand that."

"He hasn't much faith （信念）."

"No," the old man said. "But we have. Haven't we?"

"Yes," the boy said. "Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we'll take the fishing tools home?"

"Why not?" the old man said. "Between fishermen."

They sat on the Terrace. Many fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry. Some other older fishermen looked at him and were sad. But they didn't show it and they spoke politely about the sea, the weather and of what they had seen.