Ben Jones was walking home from school one day when he saw a black cat. It was walking across the srteet in front of him. Ben stopped, turned around, and walked down a different srteet to go home. Why did he do that?
    "It's unlucky when a black cat crosses the street in front of you,”says Ben,“I did not want to walk down that street!”
     Many people think that some things bring bad luck. For example, some people think that 13 is an unlucky number. They never invite 13 people to a party.
    "I never walk under a ladder(梯子),”says Ben.“And I never open an umbrella inside the house. They both bring bad luck.”And what brings good luck?“We have a horseshoe over the front door of our house for good luck,”says Ben.
 “And when I find a peney on the ground, I always pick it up. That brings me good luck all day!”

    Last weekend I went camping with my dad and my brother, Jim. We took a tent, sleeping bags, flashlights, water and food. We reached the campsite (营地）on Saturday afternoon. There was enough room to build a campfire. Jim and I collected some dry leaves, small sticks and Dad started a campfire. Then we cooked potatoes and cabbages for our supper and had some apple cakes. Everything tasted delicious.

    Soon it was time to put up the tent. We helped Dad pull the tent out of the bag, but unluckily, we found no poles (杆子）to hold it up. “Oh,” cried Jim, “I left them at home.” What could we do? Dad looked up the starry (星光璀璨的）sky. The night was clear and the air was warm. “It's OK, we don't need a tent.” Then he put the sleeping bags on the ground.

    We slept well that night. The sun was shining on us when we woke up the next morning. I think it was my best camping trip.

    In the state of Qin (秦国), there was a man called Shang Yang (商鞅). He was a statesman (政治家) and worked out many reforms(改革) for the state, like paying more attention to farming and giving rewards (报酬) to soldiers who were successful when at war.

    But these reforms were not easily carried out (执行) at first. Most people didn't trust Shang

    Yang. In order to solve this problem, Shang Yang came up wiIh an idea. He put a thin wooden pole at the south gate of the Qin capital. Many people came to see him and the pole.

    Then, in front of the crowd, Shang Yang said loudly, "The man who takes this pole to the north gate will get 10 gold pieces."

    It was a sample job and the reward was so large. However, some time passed and no one stepped forward. They all thought Shang Yang was making a joke.

    Hearing no answer, Shang Yang stepped forward and said, "The reward now goes to 50 gold pieces."

    This reward was unbelievably large. Finally, a man from the crowd came forward. He put the pole on his shoulders and walked to the north gate. True to his word, Shang Yang gave the man 50 gold pieces.

    After that, the people of Qin were all talking about what Shang Yang did about the pole. They believed he was a man of his word. So when Shang Yang began carrying out his reforms, the people followed him.

    Under these great reforms, Qin grew stronger and stronger. Al last, Qin made all the seven states into one empire (帝国).

    Ferdinand Magellan(1480~1521) was a Portuguese explorer. In 1519, he led the voyage to sail around the world. It was also the first voyage to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Magellan gave the Pacific Ocean its name, which means "peaceful sea" in Portuguese. However, Magellan was killed in a battle before the voyage was finished. Only one of his ships, Victoria completed the journey.

    It's said that Laozi lived in the about 5th century BC. It is believed that he wrote Daodejing. This book is popular in both the East and the West, and it is still widely read today. Many people have found inspiration(灵感)from this book. There are many famous sayings in Daodejing. One of them is, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

    Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician and astronomer. He discovered the law of universal gravitation. In 1687, Newton published one of the most important books in the history of science. In the book, Newton described many laws that show how the universe works. It's said Albert Einstein kept a picture of Newton on the wall of his study.

    In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married an emperor(皇帝).Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favourite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

    One day, a priest(牧师)passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life？

    The priest made a puppet(木偶)out of bits of clay(黏土).He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

    The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife had been spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

I always tried to do something for the children in some poor villages. On a hot July day, I{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (参加)a group of volunteers and came to a small village in the west of China to  build a library at a primary school.

After a three-hour ride, we{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(到达) the village  at last. The school was poor and we had to choose a{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (明亮的) small room as the library. Our job was to{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (改变……的位置) the books into the room, place them on the{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (架子) and set up small tables and chairs.

I soon found the work wasn't as fun as I had{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (期盼). Later that afternoon, students began to borrow books from the library. One student thanked us again and again because they couldn't{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (买得起) so many books. My{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(心) was filled with Joy. Then we worked on and in the end, we {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (创造) a library.

It only took us one day to build the library, but it will make a{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (差别) to the children's lives.