Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.

The Art of Paper

    Chen Zijiang is a paper cutting expert whom I interviewed for my article on Chinese Art. Paper-cutting is something that he learned to do from an early age.

    "It is a Chinese folk art with a long history," Mr. Chen told me, "Paper cuts of animals have been found in tombs. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}" He added that by the Southern Song Dynasty, paper-cutting had become an important part of everyday life.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They are paper cuts for decoration, for religious purposes (宗教目的) and for design patterns.

    Paper cuts for decoration are often seen, on windows and gates. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}They are also used on presents. A present for parents whose child has recently been born might show a paper cut of children, for example. Paper cuts which show the Chinese character for double happiness are often used to celebrate weddings.

    Paper cuts for religious purposes are often found in temples{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The third kind of paper cuts are these used to make patterns on clothing. They are also sometimes used to decorate jewelry (珠宝) boxes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

Duc-Hwan wasn't excited about going to the swim team's awards ceremony(颁奖典礼).

"I don't see why we have to be here, Dad,"he said. "It's not like I'm receiving an award.     ▲    "

"Not true,"said Dad. "You won third place at the last sports meeting."

"I can't imagine joining the team next year," Duc-Hwan said as he had his lunch.

"Hey, Duc-Hwan!" It was Coach Andy."Hurry up and finish eating. It's time for the awards."

"Yeah, Coach, okay," said Duc-Hwan, trying to sound as if he didn't care.

"You're part of the Dolphins Swim Team, and we're about to begin."

Duc-Hwan clapped (鼓掌) every time a teammate got an award. The ceremony seemed so long. Suddenly, Dad pushed Duc-Hwan's knee. "Coach just called your name."

Duc-Hwan looked around. Everyone was looking at him. "Are you going to come up here?"asked the coach. Duc-Hwan rose slowly and made his way to Coach Andy. "Duc-Hwan, this is the only award decided by a team vote(投票). I think it's the most important award. You showed your resolve (决心). Even when you came in last, you never gave up. I hope you'll join the team next year."

Duc-Hwan looked at the crowd quickly. Everyone was standing and clapping. Duc-Hwan smiled.

The world's attention turns to Sweden for the announcement (公布) of the Nobel Prize winners 1 December 10 each year. The Nobel Prizes, six prizes given to groups or individuals who are really excellent in 2 fields, were founded by a Swedish inventor, Alfred Nobel. 

 Alfred Nobel was the man who invented dynamite, a 3 explosive(炸药). During his life, Nobel made a lot of money from his invention, and he decided 4 he would use his money to help scientists, artists, and people who worked to help 5 around the world. 6 he died, he decided to place the money in a bank and the interest(利息) would be given out as five cash prizes every year. 

 The prizes 7 were set up by Nobel were first handed out in 1901, including physics, medicine, chemistry, literature, and peace. Later, in 1968 the Bank of Sweden 8 a prize in economics to celebrate the bank's 300th year of business. 

 The person who receives a Nobel Prize 9 a cash prize, a medal, and a certificate. The money for each category is worth about 1. 5 10 dollars. The aim of the prize is 11 the winner to carry on working or researching, and they don't have to worry about 12 money. 

 The prizes can be given to either individuals 13 groups, like Albert Einstein, Tu Youyou and the United Nations. The prize winner who has won the 14 times is the International

Committee of the Red Cross. This organization has received three Nobel Peace Prizes, and the founder, Jean Henri Dunant, was awarded 15 first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.

"Dream may be more important than sleep. We all need to dream," some scientists say. Dreams take up (占据) about half of our sleeping time. People have several dreams each night.

Dreams are like short films. They are usually in color. Some dreams are like old films. They come to us over and over again. That may be because the dreamer is worrying about something. Dreaming may be a way of trying to find an answer.

Some people get new ideas about their work from dreams. They may think about their work all day. These ideas can carry over into dreams. Sometimes we wake up with a good feeling from a nice dream. But often we can't remember the dream. Dreams can go away quickly from memory.

But too much dreaming can be harmful. The more we sleep, the longer we dream. The mind is working hard when we dream. That is why we may have a long sleep and still wake up exhausted. We may feel sleepy the whole day.

Everyone has a family name. My name is Jane Armstrong. Armstrong is my family name. What does Armstrong mean（意思是）？Does it mean my arms are strong（强壮的）？But I am a slim    girl. I don't have strong arms. My best friend is Lucy Long. Is she a tall girl？No，she isn't. She is short. But she has long hair. 

Some family names come from jobs. My cousin's name is James Cook. Does it mean he can cook？No, it doesn't. And he doesn't like cooking . He only likes eating nice food. And he likes the TV show A Bite of China（《舌尖上的中国》），because it is all about nice food. Some people get family names from places. Ann Hill is my classmate. Is there a hill near her home？Yes, there is one hill behind her home. But her uncle, Tom Hill, lives 20 km from a hill.