It's five o'clock in the afternoon. School1and the students from Class 3 are going to Grandma Liang's house. Grandma Liang has no2or daughters. So the children often go to help3do some housework.

    Now the children are at Grandma Liang's4. Grandma Liang is very5to see them. Look! Lily is6with Grandma Liang in the living room. Betty is cleaning the7. Jane is washing clothes outside the room.8is Ann? Oh, she is in the kitchen. She is making9for Grandma Liang, Jim is next to Ann. He is10her.

    Bill and Cathy wanted to go on a holiday. They chose a place called Maldives（马尔代夫）. And they decided {#blank#}1{#/blank#} there for two weeks in spring，because the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} there was perfect at that time. They thought they would have a {#blank#}3{#/blank#} trip. But their tip was more like a nightmare（噩梦）!

    The plane {#blank#}4{#/blank#} off twelve hours later because of the bad weather. And they couldn't fly to Maldives {#blank#}5{#/blank#} there was a storm. They had to fly to the capital city instead. There they stayed in a small hotel near the airport.

    The hotel was next to the sea, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the sea was so dirty that they couldn't swim in it. The food in the hotel was awful, too. For breakfast there {#blank#}7{#/blank#} only bread and milk! Because of the bad weather, they had to stay {#blank#}8{#/blank#} another night in the small hotel. And they had {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to do. It was so boring. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} , they arrived in Maldives three days later. And someone told them the weather there had been wonderful all the time!

The Ling family did not think they were going home with a pet that day. Annie wanted to visit the animal shelter(避难所). She wanted to see the cats and dogs. She had wanted a pet for years. Her parents were waiting for the girls to be old enough. Annie was seven. Her sister Lily was only three. Lily was still learning how to act around animals. She had a lot of energy!

Annie and Lily were excited to see the animals. A shelter volunteer gave the Ling family a tour. The volunteer talked about why animals came to the shelter. Some were found by the road. Others were dropped off by families who could not care for them.

Finally, the Ling family got to see the animals: There was a cat section and a dog section. They were all so cute! Some of the animals looked scared. This made Annie sad. The volunteer explained that animals need time to get used to a new place. She assured(向......保证) Annie that all the people caring for these animals were kind.

The Ling family walked through the dog section. They started talking. A dog just felt like the right choice. Annie's mom could not take her eyes of fan older black dog with kind eyes. Annie's dad was interested in a large, energetic dog. Annie had found her own favorite. He was a young puppy. He was brown with spots. He had been found near the railway with six other puppies(小狗). Annie could not take her eyes off this dog. She thought he had the cutest face in the world.

Annie pleaded(恳求) with her parents. They did not want to make a quick decision. But they could see in Annie's eyes that she had found her companion(伴侣). The volunteer talked about what a good breed the dog was and that he would be kind with children. That was what the family needed to hear. They decided to take the little puppy home.

Valerie is a creative Southwest Airlines (美国西南航空公司)worker. Her work is to guide1 in and out and help with luggage(行李). So she sees the zipper pulls (拉链头) everywhere. After collecting zipper pulls for years, she2 these small things into something lovely: a shining dress. 

Valerie shared more about the dress. 

"When I started working here in 2011, I was3 several zipper pulls every day. I told my partner that I was going to do something with 4 , " she said. "At first I was thinking about something small, but then I5 to make a dress. "

She 6 a dress at a second-hand store and got to work. Because of the pulls' weight(重量), she chose a well-made dress and 7 fishing lines to sew (缝) them on. 

To make the dress look beautiful, Valerie took special care in keeping the pulls 8 in size and shape within each line. "The9 was sewing them on in a straight line, " said Valerie. "But I'm10 myself because I made it. "

Many people think skateboarding（滑板） is very cool，but it's hard to learn this sport. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}in a skateboarding camp last summer. On the first day，our{#blank#}2{#/blank#} ，Hagen，taught us how to stand on a skateboard. It sounded{#blank#}3{#/blank#}，but in fact it was difficult to do that. 

I could hardly keep my balance（平衡） on the skateboard， {#blank#}4{#/blank#}I was a beginner. I often fell on the ground. I couldn't even stand up. I was so tired that I wanted to have a（n） {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. But just when l was going to give up（放弃），I remembered the words my mum told {#blank#}6{#/blank#}， "No pains，no gains. " If I stopped halfway，I wouldn't get anything from this camp. So

A few days {#blank#}7{#/blank#}，Hagen taught us how to be cool on the skateboard. With all of my hard work，I did my {#blank#}8{#/blank#}to be cool. 

You may be interested{#blank#}9{#/blank#} skateboarding and think it is cool. {#blank#}10{#/blank#}，if you want to learn it well，you must practise hard. Without the love for it，you will never be cool on a skateboard!