One of the best-known American writers of children's books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere．Now, an art show called "Doctor Strong From Then to Now" is travelling around the United States．The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong．

    Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children's book was published (出版)．Since then, he has written forty—five books that have been sold more than one hundred million copies around the world．

    Doctor Strong's books are known for their easy use of words and colourful, hand drawn pictures．These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures, The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others．

    The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show．It included about three hundred Doctor Strong's early drawings and some of his writings．

Most of Doctor Strong's books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages．For example, in McElligot's Pool, he describes the danger of pollution．He discusses the arms race (军备竞赛) in The Butter Battle Book, written in nineteen eighty four．

    Doctor Strong says he never planned to write stories just for children．He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages．He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand．

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835,in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town ofHannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemensloved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that allthe boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 yearsold, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. Hetravelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, heachieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up anddown the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and triedseveral jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working asa writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen namefor his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from hisdays on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. Therewas a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it.He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "MarkOne" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each markwas about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant thatthe river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about ajumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe.He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort,Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, whichhe wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous andpopular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write tohim, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "MarkTwain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay fromthe writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He isconsidered to be one of America's most important writers.

Everybody has his or her own hero in mind and is always trying to learn from the hero in life. As for me, my 1 is just that man. My grandfather had a small 2 . He also worked in a factory(工厂). 

One autumn, most of the farmers in the village were 3 , so he promised to help his neighbour harvest(收割) the corn as he often did. 4 , after harvesting his own corn, Grandpa's little corn machine broke. What was 5 , the factory where Grandpa worked made the workers have more work than usual. He had to 6 the farm early and didn't get back until very late. It seemed 7 to help out his neighbour because he really had no free time. 

One night, Grandpa 8 that he wouldn't let his neighbour's harvest rot(腐烂) in the field. 9 a machine, he'd harvest it by hand. 

"I don't think you'd have time to do it, "said my grandma. "Besides, it'd be too dark to do 10 at night. "

"I know of one night that I could do it!"he 11 . "There's still one more full moon in October. 12 the weather is clear, I think I can do it. "

A few days later, after a long work in the factory, my grandpa went to the 13 . The weather was cold but clear. He cut all the corn through the night to 14 his word. 

Sometimes, when I want to 15 keeping my words, I'd see my grandfather cutting corn in the light of the harvest moon. Behind him, corn straws(麦秆) stand at attention in respect(尊敬) for a man who keeps his word. 

A horse fair is an interesting place. There is always a lot to see. There are young horses from the country, little Welsh ponies, like Merry legs, and many beautiful horses too. But there are also a lot of poor, thin horses, worn out from hard work. I was very sad to see them. 

 At the horse fair there was a man with a gentle voice and kind grey eyes. He offered twenty-three pounds for me, but he was refused, then he walked away. Later, a man with a very loud voice came. I was ▲ he was going to buy me, but luckily, he walked off. Then the grey-eyed man came back again and said, "I' ll give twenty-four for him. "

"Done, " said the salesman. "He' s a quality horse and if you want him for cab work, he' s a bargain. "

 Half an hour later, we set off for London until we came to that great city. There were streets to the right, and streets to the left. We went into one of the small streets, and then into a very narrow street, with small and old houses on one side, and stables(马厩) on the other. 

 My new owner stopped at a house and whistled. The door opened, and a young woman, a little girl and boy, came out. 

 They all looked at me. 

"Is he gentle, father?"

"Yes, Dolly, as gentle as a kitten. You can pat him. "

 Dolly, the little girl, patted my shoulder without fear. It felt so good! They led me into a clean stable, with plenty of dry straw. After a delicious meal, I lay down to sleep and think"I'm going to be very happy here. "

—— Adapted from Black Beautyby Anna Sewell

What do you usually do when spring comes?Here {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(be) some ways to spend the spring days in my family.

When it is {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(rain), we go to the indoor climbing gym.The kids get excited {#blank#}3{#/blank#} they climb in a safe and comfortable environment.After they learn some skills at {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(climb), we can allow them to climb real rocks on nice days.

Swimming isn't just for hot days.We like to go to indoor {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(pool) during the spring.Practising swimming skills takes up a lot of time.

In fact, it's not easy {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(make) kids go out.When we go for a long walk in the mountain, we usually take a geology(地质学) guidebook with {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(we), and this makes the kids learn about the rocks, birds and flowers.It is good {#blank#}8{#/blank#} their development.

Spring is also {#blank#}9{#/blank#} good time to ride bikes.When we compare(比较) the warm spring with the hot summer, we find that we like the warm spring better.We can ride around the park and enjoy the wonderful scenery {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(happy).So why not make some plans during the spring days?