One afternoon, Kate and her brother, Bob, went out to play. Kate was eight, and Bob was ten. "Let's go to the bridge and we can see fish in the river." said Kate.

    "I don't know…" Bob said." Mum told us, "Don't go on the bridge." She said it's dangerous.

    Kate said," I am not afraid. Are you?"

    They walked onto the bridge and began looking for fish in the river. The bridge was a train bridge. Trains went over the bridge three times a day.

    The children were standing in the middle of the bridge when they heard a loud noise. "A train is coming!" Bob shouted. "Run!" He ran to the end of the bridge. He was safe.

    Kate ran, too, but she fell. The train was coming fast. Kate ran towards Bob. She fell again right on the train tracks（铁轨）. There was no time to leave. She had to lie down between the tracks. A few seconds later, the train went over the girl, but she was not hurt at all. She stood up and said to Bob, "Don't tell Mum! Don't tell Mum!"

    At last their mother found out the story. She was angry because they went on the bridge. But she was happy that Kate was all right.

    Hi, I'm Tina. I'm a student in Grade One. I have a twin brother, and his name is Tom. We are in the same class. We go to school together every day and we know each other very well.

    Tom likes music very much, and he likes JJ Lin's songs best. He wants to be a singer like him when he grows up (长大). After dinner, Tom tells me he wants to go to JJ Lin's concert tomorrow, but we have lessons. So he calls our teacher Mrs. Green on the phone.

    "Hello, Mrs. Green," Tom says, "Tom is ill and needs to stay at home tomorrow." "I'm sorry to hear that," says Mrs. Green. "Who is that?"

    "This is my mother, Mrs. Green."

Finding China's Sporting Passion

Thomas J. Scheuer from the US studies at Tsinghua University. He is also a professional(专业的) table tennis player. Why do Chinese players always dominate (占 领 先 地 位 ) the major table tennis events? Scheuer heard that one of the reasons is that there is a large fan base(基础) for the sport in the country. Almost everyone can play a little. To see whether it's true, he went to a park and visited a club to find out. The result surprised him. 

At a park in Beijing, Scheuer saw many old people playing table tennis. A man said that he had been playing the sport for more than 50 years. He plays for two hours every day. He was even named one of the "Beijing Masters" when he was 70. "I've noticed that I'm the youngest player here in the park, " said Scheuer. 

Then Scheuer visited a table tennis club. There, many kids were practising. A boy said he hoped that he could be an excellent player one day. A girl said playing table tennis helped her relax after doing schoolwork. 

The visit made Scheuer truly appreciate(欣赏) the enthusiasm (热情) that Chinese people have for table tennis. 

"Dubbed as China's 'national sport', table tennis is as popular in China as soccer and basketball are worldwide, " Scheuer said. 

 Scheuer was also impressed to find that Chinese people of all age groups take part in the sport, not just to win, but also to have fun, to socialise(交际), and to live a healthy life. Such a spirit(精神) touched him. 

Kate Sessions was interested in trees when she was a child. While other girls didn't want to get their hands dirty, little Kate enjoyed picking up branches(树枝) and fruits in the forest. Kate also danced and sang songs happily there. She felt the trees were her friends. She loved the way they grew toward the sky and how their branches stretched(延伸) to get the light. Kate thought the trees were like big umbrellas that protected her and the animals, birds and plants that lived in the forest. Kate smiled as she walked among the trees, enjoying the sounds of birds. Not everyone felt at home in the forest,but Kate did.

Kate learned well in school. She learned how to read and write. She remembered the stories she read. But best of all, she liked studying wind and rain, plants and trees, especially trees. At that time, very few girls chose to study science, but Kate chose to learn ecology(生态学) because of her love for it. She still tried to make her dream come true as a person who knew much about trees. 

After leaving school, Kate came to San Diego, a city with few green plants and bad air. Kate made a decision to better the air of the city, so she brought different kinds of trees to San Diego and called on her friends to plant trees with her. With hard work, they made Balboa Park in San Diego a beautiful and fantastic garden. Kate is also known as the" Mother of Balboa Park". 

 What does a day look like for a high school student in the United States? Well,I can tell you about my day in high school.

 Our schoolday goes from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Sometimes I have cheerleading(啦啦队活动) practice or play practice at 6:30 am. If I have time,I eat breakfast at the school dining room.

 Then I go towards my locker(锁柜) and take my books for the first period. Each class goes for about 50 minutes and we have 10 minutes to get to the next class. We study many things, such as science, maths, French and PE.

I play the piano in a band, so one of my class periods is used for that. Lunchtime is usually at 12:30 pm, and then we have some time to hang out outside or by our lockers. At the end of the day there is a seminar (研讨会) period. It is used for studying or meetings.

 After school, I cheer at a basketball game, or have speech practice. My family always try to have dinner at around 7:00 pm, but there isn't always time. I finally start doing homework at around 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm.

 So there you have it! That's my day in high school.