A long time before I was born, my grandma and grandpa moved into the house on Beechwood Avenue. They had a young family of 4 little girls. During that time, it was hard to find a job. So, on weekend grandpa and grandma cleaned the garden to grow some of their own food. They planted tomatoes, beans, cabbages, potatoes and strawberries to feed their growing family. All summer long, the family ate food from the garden.
The family grew up, and before too many years had passed, the grandchildren came to visit. Grandma and grandpa still planted their garden every spring. Everyone still enjoyed the good food from the garden and always took some home.
Then grandpa died in one summer when he was eighty-nine years old. It was a lonely winter for grandma. She sat near the window, looking out at the yard and wondering if she could plant the garden in the spring. It would be hard to care for it by herself. When spring came, she planted only a little.
One nice day in the early summer, grandma heard a noise in the front yard and looked out the window. There were thousands of bees in the air. Grandma wondered what she could do. She decided to wait and think it over. Before long, she decided the bees won't bother anyone, so she went about her business and didn't give them any other thought.
That summer, grandma's little garden grew and grew. The neighbors all puzzled why they grew so well. One day, grandma's brother Frank visited her. Frank said，"In my hometown, the farmers often hired beekeepers to set up bee houses near their fields. The bees helped them to grow." That was when Grandma realized that her bees had helped with her garden all summer.
From that Time on, grandma always believed that since grandpa couldn't be there to help her that summer, he had sent the bees to take his place and make grandma's little garden grow and grow.

    A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms( 习语 ), though my teacher emphasized(强调) the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.

    One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be astonished. Gently shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, he said, “You don't say!” “You don't say!” I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not an appropriate(合适的) topic. “Well, I'd better change the topic.” So I said to him. “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It was magnificent(宏伟的).” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide. “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it.” Soon I was interrupted again by his words “You don't say!” I couldn't help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn't request you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised. I said, “Didn't you say ‘you don't say?'” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “‘You don't say' actually means ‘really!'. It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don't pay attention to English idioms.” Only then did I know I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions(习语表达). Remember -- what the English teachers said is always right to us students.

    One day a poor farmer was taking a bag of rice to the town. Suddenly the bag fell down from his horse on the road. He didn't know what to do about it because it was too heavy for him to lift (举起) it by himself. He only hoped that somebody would soon pass (经过) by and help him.

    Just at this moment a man riding a horse came up to him. But the farmer was very disappointed(失望的)when he saw who he was. It was the great man living nearby. The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him for help.

    But to his surprise, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came near. He said to the farmer, "I see you need help, my friend. How good it is that I'm here just at the right time！" Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took the other. They together lifted it and put it on the horse.

    "Sir, " asked the farmer, "how can I pay you？"

    "It's quite easy, " the great man answered with a smile, "Wherever (无论在哪里) you see anyone in trouble, do the same for him. "

    Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest inventors of all times. One of his most famous achievements is the electric light. He tried thousands of times to make a long lasting light bulb (灯泡). Although the light bulb is not his invention, he is the only one to have made such a successful light bulb. Many people remember him for the invention of the electric light. He held a lot of patents (专利权) worldwide. Many of them were approved (批准) in USA.

    We can find his inventions in many fields. In fact, many of the advanced inventions were based on his ideas. He invented a phonograph (留声机), a film picture camera, a ticket recorder and so on.

    Edison was not a good student at school. But he loved to do new experiments. When he was still a child, he built his first lab to perform his experiments.

    An amazing story of Edison's childhood is that he almost made his servant die. Edison used to think that birds ate insects and these insects might make them fly. So, he collected these insects and blended them to make juice. He then let his servant drink the juice. After drinking the juice, the girl lost her sense. But luckily, she was saved.

Hi, I am Mary. Here is a box, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} some things for my family are in it. This is  a yellow eraser. It's my brother's. Is this black pencil {#blank#}2{#/blank#} his? Yes, it is. He often{#blank#}3{#/blank#} some nice pictures with it.

Look! This is the key to our house. I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} it yesterday. Luckily, I found it with the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of Ms. Lin. Look at the notebooks. Are these {#blank#}6{#/blank#}? No, they' re not. They' re my classmate Tom's. I borrowed them from him last night. Can you {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the watch? Whose watch is it? Yes, it's {#blank#}8{#/blank#} my father, because his birthday is coming. I think he will be {#blank#}9{#/blank#} when he gets the gift. What's that? It's a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. I usually use it to look up some new words.