Hi! My name is Dave. I am a middle school student but I think my life is different from most other students. After school, I always hunt wild birds and animals with my father, uncles and brothers. I also help them to plant and harvest (收割) crops. I want to be a carpenter. A carpenter is someone who works with wood and fixes (修理) chairs and other things made of wood. I have made lots of things like tables and other furniture.

    My elder sister does many different kinds of things every day. She makes our candles (蜡烛) by using the oil and fat from sheep and cows. These candles give us light at night. She also gets the wool from sheep. My mother and grandmother also teach her to sew. She can make letters and pictures on the cloths with needles.

    I think we live a very happy country life.

    When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter, and the chemicals that poured out had made a wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest. One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area. Paul knocked him down. From then on, something happened inside him.

    Years later, Paul was back in the area, and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back. The answer from that big industry was "No".

    Paul then went to college to study the science of plants. He told the teacher about his plans. Unfortunately his teacher says, "It will be a waste of your time to try to do it." Everyone knew that, he was told. Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected, he wouldn't get his idea accepted.

    Paul later got married and had some kids. But this dream would not die. And then one night he did what he could with what he had. Under the cover of darkness, he went to secretly into the wasteland and started planting.

Every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass. For fifteen years he did this against the common sense. Slowly rabbits appeared. Later the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing.

    Now the place is covered with fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has. It took him so many years until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible promise he made to himself as a child.

    Winter can be a difficult time to take exercise. Apart from the short daylight and cold weather, there are also plenty of holidays to keep you away from exercising. So how to keep fit and not to put on too much weight during the winter time? Here are some tips for you.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You don't necessarily have to do some intense(剧烈的) sports. When you run or walk, don't worry about how fast or slow you're going. Just find a rhythm(节奏) that makes you feel easy and comfortable. Winter is not the time to be strict with yourself.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Before you head out, warm up indoors to slowly raise the heart rate(心率) , without sweating(流汗) a lot. Run in place, walk up and down the stairs, or use a jump rope. It does work as long as it can get your heart beating faster.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Try to take exercise during the daytime. When the air is the warmest and the sun is out, the weather is more suitable for exercising. But if you have to walk or run in the dark, do carry a flashlight.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Exercising with a friend, even once a week, can help you get out of the door. It's hard to stay and not to move when someone is waiting for you, and you two can encourage each other.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you cannot stand the cold outside, why not go for some indoor sports? You can take a yoga class, play badminton or swim in an indoor swimming pool. Whatever sport makes you want to exercise, just do it. Never stop moving for health!

    Last week Lu visited England. He stayed with my grandmother. He said it was a strange visit. "I don't understand, but I frightened(害怕) your grandmother a lot. When I arrived, I gave her a purse from Zhengzhou, she looked in it and asked me to take it back.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Do English people like spiders?"

    "Later we went shopping. Someone was painting a shop front, so there was a ladder(梯子).Grandmother stopped me from walking under it and said I must walk around it. I liked the shops and bought some lovely rose soap(肥皂) for my mother, a smart umbrella for my father and some new shoes for myself.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Your grandmother came in and screamed(尖叫) !"

    "Then I broke a small mirror in the bathroom.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}I felt very sorry. When I left I gave your grandmother some flowers. She counted and there were 13. She didn't like it.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}"I explained to Lu, "My grandmother follows the old customs(习俗). You must not give someone an empty purse or they will have no money. You must not kill a money spider or the same will happen. Also it is very unlucky to walk under a ladder and to put new shoes on the table. An open umbrella in a house means someone will die. Breaking a mirror brings seven years' bad luck, and 13 is also a very unlucky number.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}."

    When did you last say "I love you" to your father? If you can't remember, then you can get the chance this Father's Day on June 19. Generally compared with (与……相比) a mother's gentle love, a father's love represents qualities such as independence, confidence, courage and adventure (冒险).

    Also, caring fathers help their children get along with others. Fathers can lead their children into their social circle (社交圈). They can also teach them how to behave and control their feelings.

    For example, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was quiet and didn't like to talk with others when he was a little kid. So his father often held family parties and let Bill play games with family members. ⑶ "My ability of leading and cooperating (合作) became better through games." Gates once said in an interview with US Fortune magazine.

    US actor Will Smith said that his father taught him important lessons through small things. His father once planned to tear (拆) down a wall of their shop and rebuild it. But little Will thought it was impossible. After a year and a half, they did it. "You didn't try to build a wall. You are going to lay a brick every day. And soon you have a wall," he said on a TV show.

⑷"One father is more than a hundred school-masters", British poet George Herbert once said. Do you agree?

Mr. and Mrs. Albino, with 64 children, have the world's largest family. Not one of their children is adopted(领养).

When people hear about the Albinos' large family, the first question they ask is, "How is it possible? How can one woman give birth to 64 children in her lifetime?" The answer is simple: {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Soon after the Albinos got married, the children came quickly, in twos and threes. The first 21 children were boys. Mrs. Albino loved her sons, but she wanted a daughter very much.

The Albinos spent the early years in Argentina. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} To travel from Argentina to Chile, they had to cross the Andes Mountains. Mr. and Mrs. Albino and their 21 sons made the difficult, two-week journey on mules. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

During the snowstorm, Mrs. Albino gave birth to triplets, a boy and two girls!

The oldest Albino children are in their thirties and forties. They are on their own now, but 18 of the Albino children still live with their parents. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The shack has electricity but no toilet or running water. The children wash in a small bowl in the dusty backyard.

At times there is very little food in the Albinos' small house when there is not enough food for everyone, Mrs. Albino makes sure the youngest children do not go hungry. "The smallest eat first, and then the bigger ones. We've always done it that way," she says. Obviously, the Albinos do not have enough money for their big family, then, do they continue to have children?

The Albinos do not use birth control because it is against their religion(宗教). They could let other people take care of their children, but Mrs. Albino will not allow it, "When my two brothers and I were babies," she says, "our mother left us at an orphanage(孤儿院) and never returned. We lived there together until we were five. Then a couple adopted my brothers and I was left behind. I was heartbroken.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Even if I didn't have much money, I would always take care of my children by myself." Mrs. Albino has kept her promise.