Many people can speak one or two languages, but 10-year-old Arthur can s peak many languages. He can speak English, Hindi, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Thai and Polish. Arthur is from Sydney, and he gets his skills (技能) from his parents. He also learns from DVDs by himself. Now Arthur is learning Luganda. It's a language of a country in Africa. Arthur says languages and music are his favourites at school. Arthur hopes his language skills can help him when he grows up (长大). He wants to be a doctor and go around the world to help people.

    My family lives very happily on a farm near a small town. My father always learns some information about weather through the TV, the Internet and newspapers.

    One evening, he asked us to meet at the table after dinner. "I have some bad news," he said. "The weather reports on the television warned(警告)that we would face a typhoon tomorrow."

    At 6:30 a.m. the next day, the winds started and the rain was falling heavily. There were new warnings that the sea level could go up as much as 5 meters.

    The winds were terribly strong and tree branches were flying everywhere. Trees were falling down and the rain kept coming down.

    Just after 10:30, the wind stopped suddenly-it was strangely calm and the sun was shining. Then the winds came howling(咆哮)again, but this time more rain fell. There were more flying things and the storm came in. Everything within 1 km of the coast was flooded-there was fish in the streets. Now the winds were dying down, but the rain was still falling.

    After another two hours, the wind came to a stop at last. My home was in a mess and my mum burnt her arm when the hot water from the stove hit her skin. We were all frightened, but we were all safe, including the cat.

    My mother is a teacher. On weekdays, she gives lessons at school and on Saturdays she works in clubs. On Sundays, she is still busy.

On Sunday morning, mum gets up at six. She cooks breakfast for us first. And then it's time for cleaning. After that, she has breakfast with father and me. At 9, she goes to buy food for lunch in the supermarket. She can have a short rest after lunch. In the afternoon, mum doesn't go out. She helps me with my lessons. She does some reading, too.

    Mother watches TV at about 7 when she finishes (完成) the housework. But at that time she is always tired and falls asleep (睡着) in the sofa sometimes.

    A taxi hit a truck. A policeman spoke to the taxi driver and the truck driver. He also spoke to Tom. Tom was a witness(目击者). This is what they said.

    Truck driver: I was driving from the airport to Newtown. A car crossed the road, so I slowed down. I did not stop. A taxi hit the back of my truck. Nobody was badly hurt but both vehicles were damaged.

    Taxi driver: I was driving behind a truck a few kilometres from Newtown. The truck stopped suddenly. The driver did not give me a warning. I was driving very slowly. I could not pass the truck because there were two cars coming near from Newtown. My taxi hit the truck, and some glass cut my left hand.

    Tom: I saw the traffic accident about a kilometre from the airport. A truck was going to Newtown. It was not going very fast. There was a taxi about two hundred metres behind the truck. It was going fast. When the truck slowed down, the taxi hit it. The taxi driver was not looking at the truck. He was looking out of the window at something. My friend saw the accident too.

    Tom's friend spoke to the policeman and agreed with Tom.

    My dad works from Monday to Friday in a bank. He uses the computer to count money. His job is very important in the bank. Dad is also busy at home. At weekends he cooks dinner. Usually he cooks Italian food. On Sundays he makes five pieces of pizza. Sometimes he cooks chicken and makes Chinese food. My mum watches and helps him. I help my dad, too. I wash the dishes.  Many people think it is strange for a man to cook. But my dad enjoys his hobby. Cooking relaxes him. He is a weekend cook.