Alice Brown lives in New York with her mum and dad and two brothers, Tony and Peter. It is Alice's fourteen birthday next week. The family has got two dogs, a cat and four rabbits. Alice likes cats and rabbits but her brothers like dogs. Alice's dad works in a hotel. He's a hotel manager. Her mum teaches English at a junior high school.

    Alice and her brothers study at the same school, but they are in different grades. She's in Grade Seven. Her brother Tony is in Grade Ten and Peter is in Grade Six. They live in a flat near the school. They walk to school together every day.

    Alice is interested in computers. At home she plays computer games in her free time.

    One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏表演). And a family was standing in front of us.

    The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean．The children talked about the clowns(小 丑), elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

    The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly answered, “I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”

    The ticket lady said the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on th e man's face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”

    The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground．(In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, “Excuse me, sir, this dropped out of your pocket.”

    The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad's eyes, held my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. “Thank you, sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

    My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

    My name is Lucy. I am now in China. I am a student of No. 4 Middle School. There are some clubs in our school. They are an English club, an art club, a music club, a ball game club, a swimming club, a chess club and a computer club. There is a "Show Yourselves (你们自己)!" Festival in our school. On that day, students from different clubs show their talents in difficult ways (用不同的方式). They can sing English songs and draw. They can play the guitar, the violin, the piano and drums. They can also play chess and show us their swimming skills (技巧). They like this festival very much. I join the art club. I draw many nice pictures for the festival. That makes me very happy.

    Tommy hated school and was always looking for excuses(借口)not to go. If he sneezed(打喷嚏), he asked his mother to write to his teacher saying he had a cold. If he had a headache(头痛), he asked his mother to take him to the doctor during school hours. He spent more time at home than he did at school. On the days that he did go to school, he looked for excuses to come home early.

    One day he came home from school in the middle of the morning. His father was surprised.

    "You're home early," he said. "Is the school finished today?"

    "No, dad," Tommy said. "I came home early."

    "How did you do that?" his father asked him. "What did you say to the teacher?"

    "I told her that I had a new baby brother and that I had to come home and help you."

    "But your mother has had twins(双胞胎)," his father said, "a boy and a girl. You've got a baby brother and a baby sister."

    "Yes, I know, Dad," Tommy said, "I'm saving up my baby sister for next week."

BEIJING, May 28, 2024 (Xinhua News)—The Shenzhou-18 crew (全体工作人员) completed the first spacewalk of their mission (任务) at 6:58 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Tuesday, according to the CMSA (中国载人航天局).

The two members of the Shenzhou-18, Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu, started their spacewalk. They worked outside the Tiangong space station for nearly 8.5 hours. With the help of space equipment (设备) and a team on Earth, they successfully completed many tasks during their spacewalk, including some difficult fixing tasks. Now they have returned to the Wentian lab module (实验舱). The third crew member, Li Cong, stayed inside Tiangong to provide support.

The Shenzhou-18 crew has set a new record for the longest single spacewalk by Chinese astronauts.

This marked Ye's second time to have a spacewalk, and his first spacewalk was in the Shenzhou-13 mission, but this is the first time for Li Guangsu to start a spacewalk.

The mission will include many tasks. First of all, the three members will do a series of space science experiments (实验) and many necessary tests. And then, they will carry out more activities and do some fixing work outside the space station. The three astronauts will work on board Tiangong until late October, according to the CMSA.

So far, Chinese astronauts have successfully carried out 15 spacewalks in all. On September 27, 2008, astronaut Zhai Zhigang in Shenzhou-7 mission made history as China's first person to take a spacewalk, which lasted about 19 minutes.

The Shenzhou-15 crew has achieved a milestone (里程碑) by having 4 spacewalks, marking the highest number of spacewalks by a single Chinese astronaut crew.

The Shenzhou-17 members completed, for the first time, the repair work to keep the equipment in good condition during their second spacewalk, which lasted about 8 hours.

 One day, my science teacher, Mr Pearson asked me to have a"quick talk" after class. Although I had always done quite well in science and maths, I had 1 a bit with schoolwork by Grade 8. I didn' t really find the 2 in trying. I just thought I'd leave school as soon as I could.

 So that afternoon, when all the rest of the class had 3 , Mr Pearson sat down next to me. He asked me what I wanted to do in the future. I could answer that question 4 , because I'd been thinking about it — I wanted to work in a garage(汽车修理厂).

"So you'd like to fix cars?" he said. "Why not 5 them?" I said"Making them?" Mr Pearson said. "Being a(n) 6 designs the best cars in the world possibly". It was something I'd never thought. Mr Pearson said, "You are good enough at science and maths to do that, I know. But you don't really 7 ." I said shyly, "In Grade 8,I just... find everything a bit boring". Mr Pearson continued, "It's sometimes boring, but it's like 8 a mountain. You can't enjoy the exciting point 9 you work up from the bottom. The way is steep(陡峭的), and there's no 10 on the way."

 Mr Pearson was there for me after that, to explain things that I couldn't understand, or to help me with 11 in my life. And every month or two, he asked me, "How are things on that mountain?" I always said, "No view but I'm still going 12 ."

 Mr Pearson was right. At the end of Grade 8,I really started to 13 science and maths. He wasn't right about me becoming an engineer though. I got a bit 14 of cars as I got older, and decided that I wanted to study medicine when I left school. I now work in medical research, and I really feel like I'm on top of that15 at last!