On September 19, Alibaba went public (上市) on the New York Stock Exchange(纽约证券交易所). It shows that Ma Yun has done his business successfully. A short Chinese man seems to be the tallest man in the world right now. Ma used to be an English teacher. So far, he has become the richest man on the Chinese mainland.

    Ma was born in Hangzhou and grew up as a happy kid. At the age of twelve, he found that English was very interesting. Every morning he got up at 5 a.m., and then ran to a hotel near the West Lake where he could communicate with foreign tourists in English. He did it for nine years. The experience made him become a fantastic English speaker and also opened his eyes to the wide world. In a 1995 trip to the US, Ma was shown to the Internet for the first time. Seeing the chance, Ma returned to China and set up a website without knowing much about computers. Four years later, Ma set up Alibaba in Hangzhou. People called him “Crazy Jack Ma”. But fifteen years later, Alibaba has developed into the world's largest e-commerce (电子商务) company.

    The world is an interesting place. Different people like different things.

    Some people like loud music. Other people don't. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Many people like sports, but they don't all like the same sports. In some countries, cricket（板球运动）is a very popular sport. In others it is not popular at all. No one plays it or watches it on TV. However, most people like soccer. The World Cup is very popular. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Different people like different foods. Some people don't like meat,  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Some people don't like potatoes or bread. They prefer rice.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Most people have their favourite colours. Some people like bright colours. Others prefer pale colours.

    Many people like travelling. Different people like different places. Some people like to go to the country.

    They like the fresh air. Some people like to go to the cities. Because they like shopping. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Do you want to improve your English? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You should write down the correct spelling and grammar（语法）next to the mistakes. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.Listening to the radio and reading newspapers in English are also good ways.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    If you have a pen friend, you can write emails to each other.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}you can speak to him or her.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}You should keep smiling all the time because smiling always helps.

    Kevin has an interesting hobby. He likes collecting tropical fish (热带鱼). He keeps his hobby for seven years. Now he is fourteen. There is a big aquarium in his room. There are many fish in it.

    Kevin often travels around the world with his family. He loves it because he can see the underwater world in many places. Under the water, he can see lots of tropical fish. Sometimes he can see sharks (鲨鱼). He wants to keep one or two small sharks in an aquarium, but he can't do it at home. So Kevin goes to help in the ZO0 on the weekend. There he can see a lot of sharks and some other big fish. Kevin likes working in the zoo because he can work with his favorite animals and learn more about them.

Information Card

    When George was thirty-five, he bought a small plane and learned to fly it. He soon became very good at it and made his plane do ①all kinds of tricks.

    George had a friend. His name was Mark. One day George wanted to take Mark up in his plane. Mark thought, "I've traveled in a big plane several times, but I've never been in a small one. So I'll do."

    They went up, and George flew around for half an hour and did all kind sof tricks in the air.

    When they came down again, Mark was very glad to be back ②safely, and he said to his friend in a shaking (颤抖的)voice ,"Well ,George, thank you very much for those two trips in your plane."

    George was very surprised and said, "Two trips?"

    "Yes, my first and my last," answered Mark.