Mr. and Mrs. Albino, with 64 children, have the world's largest family. Not one of their children is adopted(领养).

When people hear about the Albinos' large family, the first question they ask is, "How is it possible? How can one woman give birth to 64 children in her lifetime?" The answer is simple: {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Soon after the Albinos got married, the children came quickly, in twos and threes. The first 21 children were boys. Mrs. Albino loved her sons, but she wanted a daughter very much.

The Albinos spent the early years in Argentina. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} To travel from Argentina to Chile, they had to cross the Andes Mountains. Mr. and Mrs. Albino and their 21 sons made the difficult, two-week journey on mules. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

During the snowstorm, Mrs. Albino gave birth to triplets, a boy and two girls!

The oldest Albino children are in their thirties and forties. They are on their own now, but 18 of the Albino children still live with their parents. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The shack has electricity but no toilet or running water. The children wash in a small bowl in the dusty backyard.

At times there is very little food in the Albinos' small house when there is not enough food for everyone, Mrs. Albino makes sure the youngest children do not go hungry. "The smallest eat first, and then the bigger ones. We've always done it that way," she says. Obviously, the Albinos do not have enough money for their big family, then, do they continue to have children?

The Albinos do not use birth control because it is against their religion(宗教). They could let other people take care of their children, but Mrs. Albino will not allow it, "When my two brothers and I were babies," she says, "our mother left us at an orphanage(孤儿院) and never returned. We lived there together until we were five. Then a couple adopted my brothers and I was left behind. I was heartbroken.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Even if I didn't have much money, I would always take care of my children by myself." Mrs. Albino has kept her promise.

Everyone wants to be successful, but failure (失败) is a common thing for us to meet with.1, sometimes we fail the exams; sometimes in the sports meeting, others2 but we fail. So almost3 meets with the failure in his life.

However, different people have different4 to deal with(处理)the failure. Some people lose hope when they fail. They seem to think that it is the5 of the world. But others don't take failure6. They seem to think that failure is the first step(步骤)to success. They will7 and try their best to get the final success.

Now let's imagine( 猜想)the ends of the two ways. If we are afraid of the failure and always feel sad, and don't try our best to change ourselves, we may meet with more and more failures. But as8 as we are hopeful and brave to face the failure, and never give up, we will become9 and our dreams will come true some day.

So, please remember: Life doesn't give us the pleasure we want. But if we never give up and10do little by little, it will make a big difference.

Why Live Near the River?

Imagine pioneers traveling west in the 1800s. In those days, it was hard to find running water and shops where to buy things. As time went by, most pioneers had to make their homes near a river so that they could get water easily.

How did rivers help people live in the past?

Back in the pioneer days, people grew their own food, caught their own fish, and collected their own water.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}People also used rivers as roads, traveling on boats. Traders shipped goods (货物) to people from other areas.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

When building many factories right next to rivers for the water's power to make machines work, some people choose to live near a river for working. They use the river to ship large goods, and some of them work at these factories where power factories provide electricity for homes and businesses.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Who wouldn't want to live near a river?

Some people are nervous about living near rivers because rivers can cause floods (洪水). Every once in a while, floodwaters rise higher than a house, ruining (毁坏) many things in the house.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Such waste causes water to smell bad and pollutes the crops (作物) we eat. Water and crops in polluted areas can make people very sick.

How do people decide where to live?

 {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Rivers can provide jobs and fun activities in a beautiful place. However, those living by rivers should be willing to accept possible problems as well.

Ye Shengtao was a famous Chinese writer. He created the first collection of fairy tales(童话集) named The Scarecrow(《稻草人》) for Chinese children between 1921 and 1922.

Ye was born in 1894 in Jiangsu. He once worked {#blank#}1{#/blank#} a teacher in a primary school He often told his students stories from Chinese and foreign classics. His students were all happy {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (listen) to those stories.

In 1921, Ye {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (begin) to write fairy tales for a magazine. He finished his first fairy tale Little White Boat in November of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} same year. In the following seven months, Ye wrote {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (many) fairy tales than before. And they made up The Scarecrow we see today.

There are two kinds of stories in the collection. The {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (one) story is about children's innocent smiles and beautiful feelings like Little White Boat. People's hard life like The Scarecrow {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (describe) in the second story. In the story, the scarecrow often sees poor people's difficulties in life, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} he isn't able to stop them from happening or give people a helping hand. He feels very helpless and falls down in the field at last. Ye wanted children to care about what happened around {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (they). And he hoped children could understand adult's {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (sad) after reading the collection.

Good works always stand the test of time. Nowadays, Ye's fairy tales are still popular with children.

 "BANG!" the door was shut loudly. I was just standing there, with my father standing on one side, and I on the other side. We were both in great anger. "Never set foot in this house again!" my father said angrily. With tears in my eyes, I rushed out and ran along the street. The street lights were shining. I felt sad and walked aimlessly (漫无目的地) . 

I didn't know whether it was because I had grown up or because my dad was getting old. He always put his opinions on me. We were just like two people in two different worlds. It felt like there was an iron door between us that could never be opened. 

My heart was frozen (冰冷的) on this hot summer night.As I walked on, there were fewer and fewer people on the streets. When I finally reached my house, I saw that the light was still on. 

"Perhaps my dad is throwing away some of his old stamps," I thought. "Perhaps he thinks they are useless." I never had the courage to tell him that I liked collecting stamps. All the lights were off except my father's. 

Dad was always like this. Maybe he didn't know how to express himself. After shouting at me, he never showed any moments of regret (懊悔) . This was how he always was. He had been a leader for so long that telling everyone else what to do had become his second nature. 

The light was still on. With the key in hand, I opened the door nervously. When I opened the door, tears ran down my face. I suddenly realized that the iron door that I had imagined between us did not exist (存在) at all. Love- it's second to none.