When I was a kid, I did something really terrible. My father bought me two goldfish and named them "Iasc" and" Iasc Elie". He told me that meant "Fish" and "Other Fish" in Irish. To an eight-year-old child, the names seemed really boring.

    These boring names made me feel the goldfish were boring, too.  They did nothing more than swim around in their bowl. Sometimes, for fun, they would swim to the bottom of their bowl and dance around along the bottom, looking for interesting pieces of gravel.

    I tried many ways to make the goldfish more exciting. The most interesting thing was to see how long they could live out of the water. I took a fish out of the water with my hands and watched it gasping for air. Then I put it back in the bowl.  And then I would take them out of the water again, for longer and longer each time.

    Iasc and Iasc Elie started swimming towards the top of the water, not moving very much. Then they started floating on the top of the water. In other words, they were dead.

    I thought that bigger pets are more exciting, such as a cat and a dog. It would live longer than a goldfish, and then I kept a dog as my pet.

    Esperanza lives in a poor Latino(拉丁美洲的) neighbourhood in Chicago, America. She dreams of having her own house one day. Her parents told her that when they moved from their last house, they would have a new and shiny(亮闪闪的) house. But the house is small and old.

    Many people live in Mango Street, in a big old house, Esperanza lives behind it with her family. A lot of the people who have come from Mexico don't speak English. Many miss their home country. Esperanza understands their sadness, but she also feels at home in America. She is an American, but her roots(根) will always be Latino.

    Esperanza is young. Like her friends, she has to grow up fast. She is stuck between being a girl and being a woman. In the poor and dangerous area where she lives, this is difficult for her. Mexican people usually live in a close neighbourhood. This means that people live packed(挤塞的) in together. Everyone knows everyone else. So Esperanza knows other older girls that do things she is not comfortable doing. It is just a fact of her life.

    But Esperanza has good friends too. She becomes friends with two sisters named Lucy and Rachel. They ride bikes and have adventures(冒险) together. Esperanza is also friends with a girl named Alicia. Alicia is afraid of the rats in her apartment. She shares her poems with Esperanza.

    Linda and Lily are sisters. Linda is fourteen1old and Lily is eleven. They2in Beijing with their parents this year. They are3in Beijing, so they don't know much about it. They are students, but they are not in the same school. Linda's school is not near (在……附近) her home. How4is it from her home to school? It's about five kilometers. So she usually goes to school5bus. She walks to the bus stop near her home first. And then she6a bus to school.7usually takes her half an hour to get to school.

    Lily's school is8one kilometer from her home. She usually9her bike to school.10when she gets up early sometimes, she will walk to school. She likes walking in the fine weather (天气). When she goes to school by bike, it usually takes her ten minutes. When she walks, it always takes her twenty — five minutes.

Mary is studying in a middle school in Shanghai. She likes Chinese {#blank#}1{#/blank#} very much because it is delicious. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Mary is watching the dragon boat race with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} classmates Alan and Henry. 

At noon, they all feel {#blank#}3{#/blank#} so they take a bus to a Chinese restaurant. They want to order (点餐) some Chinese food for {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. "I don't want to eat hamburgers. They are not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} for my health," Alan says. "I'd like some rice and chicken. What about you, Mary?" "Many Chinese say if you eat a dumpling with a coin (硬币), you can get good luck," says Mary. "We will have{#blank#}6{#/blank#}important test next Monday, so I'd like to have some Chinese {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to have good luck." 

"Haha! Mary," Alan says. "You can only eat them {#blank#}8{#/blank#} Chinese New Year." "Oh, I know, but now I want to{#blank#}9{#/blank#}some dumplings," Mary says. "And what would you like to eat, Henry?" 

"I'd like noodles," says Henry. "And I'd like some fish, too. It shows you will have lots of money {#blank#}10{#/blank#}fish sounds ‘yu' in Chinese." 

Marie was born on September 8th,1973 in London,England. She was the daughter of John,a rich and famous man. Though she was born famous,her parents wanted her to live a normal and independent life. She went to a state school and earned pocket money on her own. When she wanted pocket money,she had to clean dishes at a restaurant near her home.

Though Marie had the look to become a model,she was most interested in becoming a fashion designer. At the age of thirteen,she made her first jacket. 

Three years later,she started working on her first fashion design collection. When she attended college,some students called her "Daddy's Girl".But when her graduation fashion show came out,she made them surprised.

Later,she worked for some famous brands and achieved great success. In 2001,she started her own brand and began to have some famous customers. Now she is a world-famous fashion designer.