A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It wasn't built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.

    Even so, traveling isn't that difficult. The waterway has always been the best way to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that connect one river with another and can also guide you where you want to go. People in Venice move from place to place by boat. They like to enjoy the scenery and cool summer nights while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along the river.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem. Sometimes tourists will have such strange experiences. One moment they walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there's nothing special. But when they come back to the bridge an hour later, it's underwater and everyone is wearing rain shoes.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimeters. Another problem is that the temperature has risen over the years. This has made ice of the Arctic Ocean（北冰洋）melt（融化）.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower. The Italian government has asked some of Italy's biggest companies to build the MOST project, which was planned to be built under the seawater to stop the rising water. Anyway, this project is helping solve the problem.

    Venice lies in the northeast of Italy. You can't{#blank#}1{#/blank#} cars in this strange city. Although it was built on {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 110 islands and seawater is almost everywhere around the city, traveling is{#blank#}3{#/blank#} There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that connect one river with another one. People can take a {#blank#}4{#/blank#}from place to place there{#blank#}5{#/blank#} water makes the city special, it is also a big problem. Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from being covered by water in the future.

Jellyfish and Crocrodiles（水母和鳄鱼）

    Hi, my name's Ben. My family, that's Mum, Dad and me, live in Broome in Western Australia. Western Australia is about 80 times larger than Italy, but only 1.5 million people live there. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It has a population of about 12,000. It's right on the coast and is known for its famous Cable Beach, which is 20km long.

    We live in the town in a house with a large garden.  {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We drive to Cable Beach and look for a quiet place to swim or to fish. We don't go swimming from October to March because there may be box jellyfish in the water. The box jellyfish is one of the most dangerous jellyfish. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you are attacked by one, the best thing to do is to pour vinegar（醋）over the area of your body where you are hurt. That's why we always take a bottle of vinegar with us.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} A year ago I went camping in the bush with my friend Bill and his dad. We wanted to do some fishing and set up camp about 20 metres from a river. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Bill's father told us to get up and we quickly got out of the tent and ran to the car, which was only 10 metres away.

    Bill's dad started the car and turned on the headlights. In the light, we could see a big crocodile pulling the tent into the river!

    Many students think it is too difficult to learn English well, though they know it is important. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Firstly, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} A lot of people can't speak English well because they are afraid of making mistakes. But in order to improve your spoken English, you need to be brave and confident. Don't care too much about the mistakes in your spoken English. Being able to express your ideas is the most important thing.

    Secondly, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You can watch Hollywood movies like Spider﹣Man and Captain America. Listen to what they say carefully and try to understand the main ideas of the movies.

    Lastly, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I know that students are tired nowadays and you always have to do exercises of different subjects. But practice makes perfect. Only by doing a lot of exercises can you get better English skills.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and you just have to find the best way for you.

A. watch English movies.

B. don't be afraid to speak English.

C. listen to English songs.

D. Here are some ideas on how to learn English well.

E. All in all, there are many ways to learn English well,

F. do a lot of English exercises.

    Once upon a time, there was a king. He only had one leg and one eye, but he was very smart and kind. Everyone lived a happy and healthy life because of the king. One day, the king was walking through the palace hallway and saw the paintings of his ancestors(祖先).He thought that one day his children would also walk in the same hallway and remember all the ancestors through these paintings. He wanted his children to remember him, too. So he invited many famous artists to his palace.

    All of the artists began to think about the king's physical disabilities(生理缺陷). How could his painting be made very beautiful? It was not possible. They weren't sure what his painting would be like. So one by one, they all started to politely refuse to make a painting of the king.

    But suddenly one artist raised his hand and said he would make a very nice painting of the king. The king became happy hearing that. Then the artist started painting. After a long time, the painting was ready.

    When the artist showed the painting, everyone was shocked. In the painting, the king was sitting on a horse, on the one—leg side, holding his bow (弓箭) and aiming (瞄准) something with his one eye closed. The king was very happy and gave him lots of money.

    As we all know, no one is perfect. So we should try to focus on (关注) others' advantages instead of their disadvantages. Just take an optimistic view (乐观的观点) of the event. Everyone can do a good job.

    Let me tell you something about sharks. Sharks are among the oldest animals in the world. There are over three hundred and fifty different kinds of sharks in the world. Most sharks are about two meters long and live in the oceans.

    A shark can smell something in the water, for example, the blood of animals. That helps them find their food. Sharks mainly eat fish, other sharks and plants in the ocean.

    Most sharks bite (咬)people by mistake. They think a person is a large sea animal. When the sun goes down or comes up, sharks are looking for food. So at these times people shouldn't go swimming in the ocean. Today people kill sharks for food and their skin. The number of sharks in the world is dropping fast.