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.

    I am 13. It's my first time to go to New York. I go there with my friend Emma. We get to New York at about 10pm, and we want to do some sightseeing(观光). So we go to the Empire State Building. But the 86^th floor(层) is cold. A long time later, we go to the hotel(酒店).

    On the second day, we go shopping in the morning, visit the Statue of Liberty at noon, and go shopping again in the afternoon.

    It is rainy on the third day, but we get up early in the morning. We have some bread and go to Rockefeller Center. We see the whole city there. I feel like I am on top(顶部) of the world. In the evening, we walk around Times Square, watch all the people and the street performers(街头艺人). At 11pm, Emma and I go back to the hotel. We go back home the next day. New York is really a good place.

    I found out one time that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of trouble. I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final test. During the test, the girl sitting next to me whispered something, but I didn't understand. So I leaned over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me if I had an extra pen. She showed me that hers was out of ink and would not write. I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk.

    Later, after the test papers had been turned in, the teacher asked me to stay in the room when all the other students were dismissed. As soon as we were alone she began to talk to me about what it meant to grow up; she talked about how important it was to stand on your own two feet and be responsible (负责任) for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized the fact that when people do something dishonest, they are really cheating themselves. She made me promise that I would think seriously about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could leave. I walked out of the room wondering why she had chosen to talk to me about all those things.

    Later on, I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked as if I was copying answers from the girl's test paper. I tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was it seemed very very strange to her that I hadn't talked of anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test. Even if I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor by letting her use my pen, I am sure she continued to believe that I had cheated on the test.

Daisy forgot to set the alarm clock (闹钟) so she had to run to catch the bus. This made her feel tired and rushed when she started her science test. After she handed in her test paper, she was certain that the test had not gone well. With a heavy heart, she left the classroom.

That afternoon, Daisy left school to work part-time at Beckman's. After she finished her work, Mrs. Beckman called her into the office. "Daisy," she said, "you have been a great worker. But business has been slow; we have to let you go."

Feeling down, Daisy left the office. As she walked slowly towards her aunt's house, she tried to think about the new hairstyle her aunt had promised her. When she arrived, Daisy showed her aunt a picture of the style she wanted.

"Well, you're done. What do you think?" Her aunt asked about an hour later.

What Daisy saw in the mirror left her speechless. It was nothing like the picture! How could she possibly go to school again?

The next morning, putting her things in her locker, she ran into Ms. Wilson, her science teacher.

"I know, Ms. Wilson, I did very poorly on the test. It's just that I forgot…"

"What are you talking about? Daisy, you did a great job!" Ms. Wilson said. "What I wanted to ask you is if you would be interested in working a few days a week after school as a lab assistant (助手). I need some help organizing all the materials." Daisy happily accepted.

"Daisy!" she heard as the rest of the students began to enter the building. "Where did you get your hair done?" She was so excited about her test and new job that she had completely forgotten about her hair.

"Wow! That is so cool!" she was told. She couldn't believe her ears. Everyone loved her hair.

What a couple of days it had been! Walking home, she smiled as the radio of a passing car played the song "What a Difference a Day Makes".

The Double Seventh Festival, also known as the Qixi Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival. Here is a beautiful story 1 it.

 Long long ago, there was a young man 2 Niulang. One day, he met a beautiful girl— Zhinu, the Goddess's seventh daughter. She had just run away from the boring heaven(天国) to look for fun on Earth. Zhinu soon fell in love with Niulan g and they got married without 3 the Goddess. They lived a happy life on Earth and gave birth to two children. Unluckily, the Goddess soon found out the fact and 4 Zhinu to return to heaven. With the help of his magic cow. Niulan g flew to heaven with his children to look for his wife. The Goddess discovered this and was very 5 . Taking out her hairpin(发簪), the Goddess created a wide river in the sky to separate(分开) the two 6 . From then on, Niulan g and Zhinu had to live 7 on the two sides of the river. However, their true love touched all the magpies(喜鹊) in the world,8 once a year tens of thousands of magpies would fly up to heaven to make a bridge(" the bridge of magpies") for the couple to meet each other.

 At last, the Goddess allowed 9 to meet each year on the 7th day of the 7th Chinese lunar month. That's 10 the Double Seventh Festival started. Today, it is a great day for Chinese young people to express their love.