When I was five years old, I took a boat out on the river and went fishing by myself. I really wanted to catch a fish! But they were not biting. I stayed in my boat for three days, waiting. A few times, I thought I felt a fish at the end of the line. The first time I pulled in my catch, it was not a fish; it was an old bag. The second time, it was a shoe. Finally, at the end of the third day, I felt a strong pull at the end of the line. The pull was so strong that my boat raced around and around. I needed all my power just to hold onto the fishing rod. I pulled, and I pulled and I caught the biggest fish that ever swam on the earth! It was heavier than everyone in this room put together! Then something terrible happened! After I pulled the huge fish into my boat, I saw that the boat was going under water! Water was coming into the boat from all sides! I was not a very good swimmer, so I was scared.

    Although it was the hardest choice I ever made, I had to let the fish go. I pushed it back over the side of the boat, and we waved good-bye to each other as it swam away.

    Lost Underground is a story about four school children who went on a trip to some caves. These caves were very large and people could go into them only with a guide. However, four children decided to explore on their own. They went in the caves with a group, but left the group and walked down the tunnel. They thought it would be fun to explore the cave alone.

    Soon they came to a hole in the wall. They climbed through the hole into another part of the cave. Then they decided to turn back, but they could not remember the way. They were lost in the caves. When the guide led the other children out of the caves, he counted them. He discovered that there were four children missing. He had to go back into the caves to try to find the missing children.

    The children who were lost moved deeper into the caves. The deeper they went, the more lost they became. They were frightened. They started shouting for help, but the guide didn't hear them. How dangerous!

    Soon they came to an underground river. They guessed that the river must flow out of the caves. The water was very cold and deep, but the children kept on swimming. For a long time, they swam in darkness, then they saw a light ahead of them. The river was flowing out of the caves into a big river and the children were able to leave the caves. They climbed out of the river onto the riverbank. They saw the bus with the other children in the distance.

    The film Forever Enthralled was directed by the director(导演)Chen Kaige, and famous stars acted in it, such asZhang Ziyi and Chen Hong. This film shows Mei Lanfang's life.

    Mei, a master of Beijing opera, grew up in a family of Beijing opera performers. He began to perform on the stage(舞台)in 1904 when he was 10 years old. He learnt his acting skills and played female roles and became highly good at singing, dancing and acting. He turned himself into a performer of almost all types of the "Dan" female roles.

    In July 1937, the Japanese army occupied(占领) Beijing. The officer of the army told Mei to perform for them and promised to give him a lot of money. Mei refused to do so, and from then on, he gave up performing on stage during the war. This made him poor until the war ended in 1945.

After 1949, he made the Dan have an important place in Beijing opera through many years of hard working. In his 50-year stage life, he used new acting skills and made lots of good operas. So he became the symbol of Beijing opera.

    My name is Scott Christenson. My story is one you've probably heard before. It goes something like this:

    When I was young, I was always athletic and did sports every day. At that time, I was in good shape. I ate whatever I wanted and never put on a pound. Over the years, many bad habits had been formed, such as smoking, drinking and staying up late. I often ate junk food. Besides, I was too busy to do exercise. By the time I got out of college, I was out of shape. I was getting fatter and fatter.

    I realized those bad habits were not good for my health, so I decided to start teaching myself about healthy eating and exercise by reading books and surfing the Internet. My work in the healthcare industry as a writer also allowed me to study the knowledge of healthy and unhealthy behavior. I tried to have a healthy diet, and I exercised two hours a day. Amazingly, I lost 18 pounds last year. I've got back in shape and I still keep my good habits.

The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in a town of Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks stores in Seattle and they joined into a small company. 

Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year. Howard Schultz met the three men who run （经营） Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen instrument. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, and he was interested in the company. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did and he liked what he saw. He wanted to become part of the company. In 1982, the original (原先的)Starbucks owners chose Schultz as the company's head of marketing. 

In 1983, Schultz travelled to Italy. The special atmosphere(氛围) of the coffee bars there caught his eye. To Schultz, it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work, and coffee bars. His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle. 

Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new stores - and that was only the beginning. In fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks stores opened somewhere around the world every day!

Today, Starbucks has thousands of stores, including stores in twenty - six countries. One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United States is the way Starbucks works with local stores and restaurants. By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gets an understanding of customers in the city. This understanding helps Starbucks open stores in the right places for their customers.