It was in autumn. A woman was ill. She 1 in the hospital. Her husband died ten years ago. She had no sons 2 daughters. Nobody 3 her. She felt very 4 .There was a tree outside her room. She saw the leaves fall down. Day after day, there were fewer and fewer leaves 5 the tree. The woman was very sad. She didn't want to eat or drink. She became worse day by day. She got a strong feeling of death. One day, she said, "When the last leaf falls down, I 6 die."

    An old artist knew that. He decided 7 this woman. One night, all yellow leaves fell down. The artist painted a green and yellow leaf and then put it in the tree. The next morning, 8 the woman looked out of the window and saw the last leaf, she was filled with 9. She wanted to be alive. She didn't want to fall down like 10 leaves. From then on，she became better and better and lived well.

    Don't give up your hope at any time.

Comfort Zone

    I would never forget what I learned from the day when I left my junior high school. On the last day our teacher told us something1that I would like to share with you.

    He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car and a few friends inside the circle.

    He asked, "Can anyone tell me what this is?" In a long silence, one student decided to2his idea," The world?" The teacher said, "That's close. This is your Comfort Zone. Inside your circle you have all the things that are important to you. Your home, your family, your friends and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any3."

    "Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle?" A strong silence came over the room. The same student replied," You are afraid." Another student said, "You may make mistakes." The silence continued and our teacher smiled and asked," When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first student said," You4something."

    "Exactly, you are learning." Our teacher turned to the blackboard and drew an arrow（箭头）5from the man to the outside of the circle. He went on saying," When you leave your Comfort Zone, you put yourself out there, in a6that you are not comfortable with, The result is that you learn something that you did not know and you enlarge your knowledge to become a better person." He turned again to the blackboard and drew a bigger circle around the original（原来的）circle, and7a few new things like more friends, a big house, etc.

    A lesson from this story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Zone you will never be able to open your eyes to the outside world and learn, When you step out of your Comfort Zone, you will8make your circle bigger to challenge your mind and grow to be stronger, and all in all be a better person.

Wang Hua is a twenty-year-old young man. Two years ago, he finished high school and found a job in a shop. Usually he works until 9 o'clock at night. He is very tired when he gets home. After a quick supper, he always goes to bed quietly. His grandma who lives downstairs (楼下) is happy with this. 

One day, on his way home, he happened to meet Zhou Weilun. They were both happy because they hadn't seen each other since graduation (毕业). They talked about their school, teachers, classmates and their future. They couldn't stop and went to Wang Hua's house together with some fruit and drinks. They went on talking there. 

"Have a look at your watch, Wang Hua. I left mine at home," Zhou Weilun said. "What time is it? Maybe I should go home. "

"Sorry, but there is something wrong with my watch," said Wang Hua. 

Wang Hua thought for a while and began to stamp (跺脚) his foot on the floor. "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sound woke up his grandma. The old woman shouted, "It is twelve o'clock at night, Wang Hua. Why are you still jumping upstairs?"

Chinese writer Mo Yan has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature（文学）. He is the first Chinese to win the prize. 

Mo Yan was born into a farmer's family in Shandong in 1955. He left school to work at the age of twelve, first on the farm, later in a factory. In 1976 he joined the PLA and during this time he began to study writing. His first short story was published in 1981. he has written many famous books about his childhood and his hometown. Many of his books have been translated into English

Mo Yan's winning of the Nobel Literature Prize, widely regarded as a great encouragement for China's literature, is bringing more confidence to the nation's young authors. 

Do you like traveling? You always see {#blank#}1{#/blank#} landscapes(风景) on the trip. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, the landscape is so beautiful that you'd like to take it home. Kathleen Vance can help {#blank#}3{#/blank#} make it come true.

Vance lived {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a farm in Maryland when she was young. Later, she moved to New York City. But Vance {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the life there. She loved nature(大自然). So she tried to bring nature {#blank#}6{#/blank#} people's life. She started to put landscapes into suitcases (手提箱).

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} you open Vance's suitenses, you will see small forests. hills and rivers. But you can't find roads or {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. It's Vance's special way of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} nature."I want people to enjoy nature and think about what they can do for it." Vance said

Now, you can see Vance's " Traveling Landscapes" in art shows around the world. But you don't need to{#blank#}10{#/blank#} for them to come to your city. Because Vance of ten shares (分享) them on the Internet(?正联网).

My name is Susan. I am a student of Green Middle School. It's a nice and beautiful school. Here is a map of it. 

Look at the map of our school. This is the music hall, just across from the science building. The music hall is a yellow building with two floors. We often listen to music in it. Sometimes, we have music lessons in it too. The science building is yellow too. A small shop is between the science building and the teachers' building. We can buy many kinds of school things in it. The teachers' building is white. Our teachers often correct (批改) our homework or prepare (准备) lessons in it. Behind the teachers' building is the school hall. It's new and nice. We often have parties or speeches (演讲) in it. A large sports field is next to the school hall. All the students go there and do exercises together in the morning. Every Monday we raise the flag there. The classroom building is across from the school hall and the sports field. We spend most of the time in our classroom. It's big and clean. 

I love my school. It's a beautiful place and I can learn a lot in it.