Charlie Chaplin's parents separated a year after his birth in 1889. He lived with his mother and elder brother in a flat in London.

    Mrs. Chaplin managed to 1 her children on her own with the money she made as a singer. 2, their economic (经济的) situation changed when she became ill with laryngitis(喉炎) in 1894. Instead of resting her 3 until it got better, Mrs. Chaplin kept on singing. Her voice got weaker and weaker and she began to find it 4 to find well-paid work.

    One evening Charlie happened to be in the theatre 5 his mother singing on stage. Suddenly, her voice 6. She tried to finish the song, but the audience (观众) began to whistle and got angry. Mrs. Chaplin could not continue any longer and walked 7 the stage crying.

    The stage manager knew he had to do something quickly to 8 the embarrassing situation. He remembered Charlie once sang at a party. He 9 took Charlie by the hand to the stage. After a brief introduction, he left Charlie to please the audience.

    Charlie began to sing and dance in front of hundreds of people. The audience enjoyed the 10 very much and began to throw money. 11 Charlie saw this, he immediately stopped singing and announced to the audience that first he would 12 the money and then he would finish the song. The audience found this announcement especially 13 and started to throw even more money onto the stage.

    Charlie felt perfectly at home on stage. He did not feel 14 at all and danced and sang more songs to the audience. To his amazement, there was more 15 and more money throwing.

    That night was Charlie's first public performance on the stage and his mother's last.

    It was 3:43. Thunder was crashing and the rain was pouring. Suddenly my father rushed into my room." Adam! Adam! Get up! We're flooding!" he shouted and shook me by the shoulders. That woke 1  up! I ran downstairs to the basement. It was like a swimming pool. My mother and I immediately started to pick up things and take them upstairs. I had no 2  on, so my feet were quite freezing.

    Things got worse every minute. Within the next hour, we had moved everything that we could to the first floor. The computer, big-screen television and heavy boxes 3  with our most valuable things were taken to safety. 4  , our piano, sofa, washing machine and water heater were all still down there—being 5 .There was nothing we could do.

    That was the hardest part. Knowing that your home is being destroyed is bad enough, but 6 that you can't do anything to stop it feels even worse.

    Water had come in our front door. Rescue 8  were floating in our streets. Mother told me to pack an overnight bag of clothes and valuables and get ready to leave.

    When it was 9  safe to walk outside, all the people in the neighborhood 10  at the street corner. People became friends, and friends became like family. People 11  each other. We learned later that the National Weather Service had declared the storm a flash flood.

I really have 12  something from this flood. I've learned what destruction is. I have learned what 13  means. I know in the future, when I watch people's lives affected by natural disasters, I can understand them. I will show great pity on them and I will do what I can to help them.

When I was a child, watermelon (西瓜) was too expensive for my family. One of my father's friends, Bernie,was a rich businessman. He owned a large fruit store in another place.

Every summer, when the first watermelons arrived, Bernie would give us a call. My father and I would go to Bernie's place. We would sit on the dock (码头) happily and get ready for a big meal.

Bernie would take a big watermelon out, cut it up, give us both a big piece and sit down next to us. Then we three would put our faces into the watermelon, eating it happily.

In my father's eyes, Bernie was a real rich man. I always thought it was because he was a successful businessman. Later I learned that it was not Bernie's money that made my father think like that. My father thought he was rich because of the way he lived his life. Bernie knew when to stop working, get together with friends and enjoy his "watermelon".

When I grew up, because I was too busy making money as a doctor, I forgot the lesson I once learned on the dock. Well, now I've relearned it. Though (尽管) I'm still busy working as a doctor, I will try to slow down and take the time to enjoy the small pleasures (快乐) of my life.

One day, a fox was walking through the woods. Suddenly, he saw some tasty grapes 1 a tree high above him. He was quite hungry. First, the fox planned to jump2 the grapes. He jumped and jumped, but each time he was getting farther away from the grapes. After a short rest, he came up with3 idea. He tried taking a few steps back and doing a running jump at the grapes. But again, he could not4 them. He even tried to climb the tree to reach the grapes, but his hands were5 weak that he couldn't pull himself up the tree. How he wished he was like a monkey! He sat and looked at the grapes6 .

Just then, a bear walked by7 he saw the fox looking at the grapes. The fox turned to him and said, "I have tried these grapes. They don't taste good at all." After saying these words, he turned around and8 .

The bear looked at the9 back and didn't believe the words. He reached up got the grapes and ate them. They are10 grapes in the world. It seemed that the fox decided the grapes must be bad just because he couldn't have them.

Shortly after I arrived in France, my phone was stolen. 

I was taking a trip by 1 . After knowing my phone was gone and I had missed the last train into the city, I 2 to spend the night at the train station. The workers there were very kind, assuring (向……保证) me their country was 3 . However, I still felt a little 4 and didn't want to take the bus in the dark. 

The next day, I arrived in Paris and reached the hotel at 8 am. At the front desk, a man 5 my story. Being 6 , he wanted to show me that Paris was a great city. He gave me his phone number after only 7 me for 20 minutes. He told me that 8 my visit to the Louvre the next day, I should call him so that he and his friend could 9 and show me around.

His friend spoke poor English, but was very 10 . They took me to the best cultural places in Paris. They acted as my guides 11 I had no map. They provided me with a lot of 12 that I would have never known if I had been on my own—or on my phone! 

They even took me to try traditional French food, like crepes, and didn't let me 13 anything. They were so kind and caring and we 14 became close friends. It's safe to say that the 15 of the trip was not so good, but I had the best experience in Paris and would love to go back!

Good morning, boys and girls. I'm Kate. Kate Walker is my 1 name. I am 13 years old. I'm 2 the USA but I live in China now. I love China. It's a beautiful 3 . I also love Chinese 4 , like Mapo tofu and hot pot.

 Now, I 5 a student of No. 5 Middle School. My teachers and6 at the school are very kind. My best friend 7 Yang Li. Both of us love music. Yang Li is good at 8 . And I can sing well. So we join the school band together. Yang Li is nice. My Chinese is poor and9 helps me a lot with it.

I have many 10 like doing sports and reading. My 11 sport is ping— pong. On weekends, I often12 it with my friends. And we always have a lot of fun. Besides playing ping— pong, I also read for 1.5 13 every day.

I am very14 to study in our school. And I15 to have a wonderful time with you.

Thanks for your listening!