Andrew Holleman, a 12-year-old boy, loved playing in the open land near his home. The land was wet and forested, and made a home for birds, other animals and many different plants. It made the perfect place for him to study and get to know the nature. He had seen some red-tail hawks, red foxes, wood turtles and other animals. He also found special native flowers.

      Suddenly it was announced that the “empty” land would be improved by a lot of houses on it. The plants would be removed, the animals would run away and most would probably die. Then the wet soil(土壤) would be covered with extra grounds. When he heard about the news, he was not happy. He was very worried that the land and water would be polluted.

      Andrew wrote down clearly all the research he had done about the area, and how the houses would affect the local environment. He sent letters to members of local government and television reporters. He also called on his neighbors to oppose the building of the houses.

Although he was only 12 years old, he had the courage and wisdom of a person much older. Andrew's teachers described him as gentle, shy and active. His classmates also admired how much he knew about local animals and plants and the environment. Each day after school, Andrew went door-to-door, to ask the people to sign, who did not want the houses to be built. In only one month, he got the signatures of 250 people. In the end, the land remained a safe place for birds, animals and plants that belonged there.

      Andrew won many prizes for his brave and great work to stop the houses being built, and thus help save the environment.

    There would be a school party on Friday evening. The girls were talking about what they were going to wear.

    “I'm going to wear a black dress, so everybody will notice me,” said Emily. “How about you, Linda?”

    “I'm not sure. Maybe jeans (牛仔裤), an old shirt, and a hat. People will notice me more than you!” Linda said.

    “But what are the boys going to do at the party?” asked Jane. “Do you remember the last school party, last year? They just stood there, and we girls had to dance by ourselves!”

    “I hear that some of the boys learned how to dance this summer. Maybe it'll be better this time,” said Mary.

    The party was held on Friday evening. Groups of students arrived. The music began. The girls stood in a line on one side, and the boys on the other side. Mr. Green, their teacher, tried to get them together, but failed. After a while, Tim said, “I don't want to stand here the whole time. The party is only for two hours. It'll be over soon.” He started to dance. All the others watched him. Then David asked Emily if she wanted to dance. Then Jack and Linda. Then, all began to dance. Soon there were more dancers than watchers.

    Mr. Smith is a teacher. He is near-sighted（近视的）. But he doesn't wear glasses. One day, he is walking in a street. He is thinking something. Suddenly a strong wind blows his cap off his head. Mr. Smith runs after it.

    He wants to catch it but he can't. At this time, an old woman from a door of the house says to him,

    "Hi! What are you doing, sir?"

    "Running after my cap."

    "Your cap? Aha… that's my black cat," she says.

    "Your cat? Sorry, but where is my cap?"

2023 is a breakout year for Al. It is changing how we live in every way. For example, there is an Al restaurant in Shanghai. Let's see what it is like.

The Al restaurant, located in the Hongqiao Area, covers about 130 square meters. It can serve about 300 people every day, most of whom are old people living nearby or office workers in the area. 

At the restaurant, people need to order food on a screen. For those who are not sure what to eat, the restaurant's robots can give advice. Then. the robots cook the dishes according to the order. They can make different kinds of Chinese dishes. like gongbao chicken and mapo toufu. What's more. the robots can control (控制) the temperature for dine-in or take-away food to keep the dishes warm. At the self-service area, people simply need to place their dishes on. a smart cash desk and the robots will tell them the price of the meal. People can pay in different ways, like asking bank cards or QR codes (二维码). The prices of the food at the AI restaurant are pretty low. Every meat dish costs only 8 yuan while every vegetable dish costs only 3. 5 yuan.

"The meals cooked by robots taste as good as those cooked by humans. It is cheap and convenient (方便的) for us to eat in the Al restaurant," said-an old man.

Would you like to have a meal in such a smart restaurant? How could AI help people next? Let's wait and see.

The Chinese ancient tea ceremony(仪式) is a practice of preparing, serving, and enjoying tea. It might start in the Tang Dynasty or even earlier and it reached its greatest time in the Song Dynasty. The traditional Chinese tea ceremony is usually held in important situations to welcome guests.

Main steps:

*Prepare a tea set. To hold a Chinese tea ceremony, a full tea set is needed, including a teapot, a serving bowl, cups, plates, etc.

*Heat the tea set. This step can help tea fully give off its nice smell.

*Put tea leaves into the teapot. Use the teaspoon, not the hand, to place some tea leaves into the teapot.

*Wash tea leaves. Pour the hot water into the teapot and keep it for a few seconds, and then pour out water quickly.

*Brew tea. Refill the teapot with hot water of a proper temperature, cover it and wait for a few minutes to keep the pleasant smell of the tea soup.

Manners and rules:

If you are the host, please:

*Serve the tea with both of your hands.

*Do not fill the teacup fully, since the hot tea soup might hurt the guests.

*Keep an eye on the teacups of your guests and fill them in time.

If you are the guest, please:

*Receive the teacup with both hands when being served with tea.

*Show your admiration and thanks to the host when smelling or drinking the tea soup.

*Take a small mouthful of tea soup every time instead of drinking it up at a time.

*Dress properly to attend the tea ceremony.

I am Helen. I'm a middle school student now. I have a good time at school. This term（学期） we have nine subjects（科目）——math, English, Chinese, geography, history, science, art, P. E and music. My father is a math teacher and he says math is easy and interesting. I like math, but I can't do well in math exam. I don't know why. I will try my best to solve it step by step. I like Chinese very much because I think it is beautiful and important. I always read Chinese books in the evening. I also like history. It is my favorite（最喜欢的） subject. Mr. Brown is great fun. In his history class, I can learn many interesting stories.

We always have art, P. E. or music in the afternoon. For me, the classes in the afternoon are fun and relaxing. I like to draw lots of pictures. My art teacher, Mrs. Smith, is nice. I listen to her carefully in class. In P. E. class, I like to play ping-pong with my classmates.