John James Audubon loved all kinds of birds. He spent his life studying them. He painted all the birds of North America.

    John James Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785. When he was a young boy, he moved to France with his family. His father was in the French Navy. He had a farm in the United States. When John was 18, his father sent him to the farm, hoping John would take care of it. But John didn't want to do that. He wanted to hunt, fish, and draw birds. John drew lots of pictures of birds. He wanted to make them look real.

    In 1808, John married Lucy Bakewell and they moved to Kentucky. John and a friend went into business there. They ran a shop. John really didn't like working in the shop. The business soon failed. John wanted to paint full-time. Lucy agreed to help. She got a teaching job to support the family. By that time, they had two young sons.

    John wanted his bird paintings made into a book. He finally did find someone to print his bird pictures in a book. Many people wanted John Audubon's book. Although his book was a great success, John wasn't happy with it. He wanted to show every bird found in North America. By 1838, John finished a great work. It wasn't just one book. It was an amazing set of four books called The Birds of America. It had many paintings. Today, these paintings are very famous.

    Papercutting is a kind of the traditional folk art in China. Papercutting has a long history of about 1,500 years. Let's learn something about papercutting.

    Wonderful meanings

    Papercutting has some wonderful meanings. Some papercutting means happiness and good luck. In the Spring Festival, people paste(粘贴) "Fu" on doors or windows. At a wedding, people paste "Xi".

    The largest Chinese papercutting

    The largest papercutting was made by Gao Xiaodong. It has an area of about 456 square meters. It is as large as a basketball court.

    Why is it red?

    In the old times of China, people think highly of the sun. Red was the color of the sun. They always regarded red as the symbol of hope and life. Now, we can also see red everywhere in China. The walls of old palaces are red. Lanterns are red. Weddings are always full of red things, too.

    Black papercutting in Shanzhou

    Much of the papercutting is red. But papercutting in Shanzhou, Henan Province is black. Black is the best color there. Shanzhou is a dry place. People make black papercutting and wish for rain.

    Grace is my pen friend. She is a 13-year-old English girl. What's her school life like? Now let's get to know something about the school life in England.

    •Study

    Most students take the school bus to school. Some go to school by train. When they arrive at their classrooms, they put their homework in a box. Then one student will take it to the teachers' office.

    •Lunch

    Students often have lunch at school. The lunch time is usually from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. They can have free school lunch. They don't have to pay for it.

    •Uniforms

    Students often wear uniforms at school. On their uniforms, you can see the school logo(校徽). They think uniforms are important. When they go on a school trip, they all look the same. So students may not get lost. What's more, students don't need to worry about what to wear every day. Their parents don't have to buy expensive clothes for them, either.

    We should not use more water than we actually need. If we do, we will not have enough water in the future.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}It is not a difficult question to answer. If we remove more fresh water than nature replaces, we have taken too much.

    Many cities run campaigns (运动) to get people to stop wasting water. They show them ways they can cut back on water use.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}What's more, they carry out programs that offer money to reduce water use. For example, they give people shower heads and toilets that use less water.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Another threat (威胁) to our water supply is pollution. When our sources of fresh water get polluted, we can no longer use this water. This also endangers (危及) the animals that depend on the water.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}We can save lots of water by not letting taps (水龙头) run while we brush our teeth or by turning off taps right after washing hands. By collecting cold water when we're taking warm showers, we can also save water.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}In this way, we can make full use of water.

Humans are mammals (哺乳动物). Most mammals are born able to do many things.

Some can walk within a few minutes of being born. They have to be able to run away if 1 is near. But human babies are born 2. They need the care of adults to live.

In the first month of life, babies can not smile or sit up. They can not even hold up their own heads 3 some help from grown-ups.

In the next few months, babies grow a lot. They learn to roll over, support their heads, and 4 sit up while being held.

Babies also have to learn to use their 5. It takes months for them to learn to reach for objects. At around six months old many babies can 6 an object from one hand to another.

Babbling is 7 a human baby learns to speak. Babies all seem to make similar sounds by babbling. They try to imitate (模仿) the sounds they hear from adults. It will take about nine months 8 a baby can say real words.

Somewhere around a baby's first birthday he or she may stand or walk with help. Soon the baby will 9 around on his or her own!

The first year of a baby's life is a time of growing and 10. Growing sure takes a lot of work!