D

    I'm a student with different interests. I play football for Whitburn AFC at under 19 level, where I play as a right midfielder(中锋) which I enjoy very much. I like talking with many different kinds of friends. The cinema is a place where I go as often I can, as I am a huge movie lover. I like both action and other types of films.

    The thing I would say I do the most is listening to music. I like mainly rock music. However, my CD collection includes a wide selection(精选物) of music. With my interest in music I go to see my favourite bands when they come on tour.

    The Internet and computers are something I usually do with when I'm free, but I would not say it's my main interest in life. Traveling to many different countries is a great experience. I have been to Spain, Belgium, Holland, France and even England. I went to a little town in Spain last year just outside Barcelona. Anybody there hardly speaks English, however, I found that I can communicate with these people who speak a different language from me and I am still able to understand. Meeting people from abroad is very interesting.

    Do you like making friends with me?

C

    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

    "I have some exciting news, class," said Mrs. Pike.

    It was almost lunchtime, and Jenny Archer was hungry. She drew a piece of apple pie in her notebook. Sometimes Mrs. Pike's news wasn't very exciting.

    Once, Mrs. Pike had said it would be exciting to watch a filmstrip (幻灯影片) called Tommy Tooth and the Whole Truth about Teeth. But it wasn't.

    "We're going to have a contest(竞赛)," said Mrs. Pike.

    Jenny put down her pencil.

    "The whole school will take part," Mrs. Pike went on. "We're going to collect empty tin cans to sell. We'll use the money to buy a video camcorder and a TV monitor for' the school. "

    "What kind of contest is that?" asked Clifford Stern. "Just collecting cans?"

    "The class that collects the most cans," said Mrs. Pike, "will use the camera first. We will make our own class movie. You could all be star!"

    "Me, a movie star!" Jenny said to herself. Now, that was exciting.

    "The person in the class who brings in the most cans will direct the first movie," Mrs. Pike finished.

    Wow! Directing a movie might be even better than starring(主演) in one. The director could make up the whole story. He/She would choose the actors and tell everybody what to do. Jenny loved to make up stories. And she was good at telling people what to do.

    She was sure she'd be a great director.

    The whole class was noisy at once. She looked over at her friend Beth. Beth's eyes were bright.

    "You can be the star of my movie," Jenny whispered to her.

    "Your movie? What do you mean?" Beth asked.

    "I mean when I win the contest," Jenny said.

    "What if I win the contest?" Beth said.

    "But I have to win," answered Jenny. "I've always wanted to make a movie."

    "Since when?"

    "Well, I realised it just now," Jenny admitted. "But don't you think I will make a good director?"

    “I think I might make a good director," Beth said.

    Beth was one of Jenny's two best friends. Jenny didn't want to fight with her. But she really wanted to direct the class movie.

    "Let's not fight." Jenny said. "We will both be good directors."

    "You're right," Beth said. "We won't fight. Let's just say, may our friendship last forever. "

    Jenny shook Beth's hand. "May our friendship last forever," she repeated.

    Patrick Johnson, an artist for the Washington Post, found some treasure in his new house-35, 000 dollars in a place where no one could see it. Although he had car and house payments in his head, he still decided to return all of the money to the previous(先前的)owner of the house, Mr Williams. Would you had done the same？

    Just hours after he had bought the house, Patrick came into the small house, where he was planning to lay out his tools and hang things up. He looked up and saw a little hole in the wall. He didn't know what it was inside, so he walked towards the wall. It was very dark inside, but an old box caught his eye." I caught the thing. It was heavy. I thought it might be some pieces of wood, "he said. Actually it was not. It was filled with lots of dollar bills. But he and his wife knew they had to return the money to Mr Williams.

    "I've got two boys and we teach them to be honest and to do what is right. I knew this was a teachable moment that I would never get back again, "Patrick said to his wife." So I thought we would do something honest with it. It's been a great thing for us and our kids."

    Hello! I'm Jenny Smith. I'm a student at No.5 Middle School, I'm at school now. Look! This is my desk. It is yellow. What's on my desk? Three' black pens, a blue ruler and an English book. The ruler is Sally's. She likes blue. Sally is my good friend. She is a nice girl. Her phone number is 518- 9236. I often call her. The English book is Peter's. He likes English very much. Whose are the pens? Of course, they're mine.