Mr. Turner liked fishing. It was his favorite sport. He often fished for hours without catching anything. But this did not worry him. Some fishermen couldn't catch fish. Sometimes they caught old boots or rubbish. Mr. Turner was even worse than the fishermen. He never caught anything - not even old boots. After he spent whole morning on the river, he always went home with an empty bag. "You must give up fishing!" his friends said, "It's a waste of time."  "But they don't realize one important thing. I'm not really interested in fishing. I am only interested in sitting in a boat and doing nothing at all. It can make me forget the noise of the city and live quietly for some time." he always said to himself.

As you walk down the street, an object falls from a tall building and {#blank#}1{#/blank#}you. Who should be responsible for this? Or maybe you try to help someone in danger, but you accidentally hurt the person. Will you get in trouble for this? China's Civil Code(《民法典》) will give you the  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

On May 28, the National People's Congress (全国人民代表大会) agreed China's first-ever Civil Code. With 1,260 articles, it is a collection of laws that is about personal issues, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}property (物权), marriage, family, personality rights, and inheritances (继承). It's like an encyclopedia (百科全书) for social life.

China does have laws that cover these issues. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} , all kinds of these laws are not unified. The Civil Code gathers them into one unified document and makes improvements. With the Civil Code, China hopes to set up a country under the rule of law with {#blank#}5{#/blank#} protection for civil rights.

One special thing about the code is the part about individual (个人的) rights. It's a major innovation (创新) to form the individual rights into one part alone. This part includes laws{#blank#}6{#/blank#} relate to one's body, health, name, image (肖像), and fame.

Some of the laws in this part deal with how new technology is{#blank#}7{#/blank#}.For example, people who use AI face swap (调换) tools to make videos may go against {#blank#}8{#/blank#} image rights. The laws also provide data protection rights relating to possible data leaks by tech companies.

As we know, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were several attempts to draft (起草) a civil code in 1954, 1962, 1979 and 2001. But the conditions {#blank#}9{#/blank#} not good enough. In 2015, China started to work on the present code and{#blank#}10{#/blank#} it after 5 years. This year, the code took effect on Jan. 1.

Miss Brown did not like getting up early in the morning. One day a lecture was going to be given by an artist at nine o'clock. Her sister was1. She set her alarm clock for half past seven. This should 2her plenty of time to get ready and3early enough for a good seat. She was determined to4there in time. She would never forgive(原谅)herself for5the lecture. That is a famous artist's lecture.

The next morning, she slept through the alarm bell and woke up at half past eight. Shew as rushing and everything went6. At last, she was ready, and rushed out to catch a bus. When she arrived at the university, she7to the lecture hall. She was surprised to find that the doors were locked. She looked round to find someone, and saw a clock. It said half past seven. "I can't understand it. "She cried out. "Nobody's here and the clock is8! "Then she suddenly remembered. Her alarm clock had stopped the day before and she must 9to reset (重新设置) the hands. "This is the first time I'll hear the beginning of a lecture. "She said to10, laughing.

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows the exact date of Christ's birth, but most Christians celebrate it on December 25th. On this day, many people go to church，they can take part in special religious services. In Britain, Christmas dinner is eaten at noon. During the Christmas season, they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes. 

One German couple tried their best to prepare for their Christmas decorations in a different way. Thomas and Susanne decorated the outside of their house with a few simple Christmas decorations. From the outside, their house looks normal. However, the inside of the house is so different from the outside. 

They started decorating in October. It took them 8 weeks to set everything up. They put 100 Christmas trees into their small house! They decorate the trees with small coloured electric lights and 16, 000 baubles. 

They did not always have so many trees. In the beginning, they had a small Christmas collection. As time went on, they grew their collection rapidly. They started decorating in early October . It's so special even the bathroom has a Santa Claus toilet seat. 

Patricia Casquinho is a 15- year- old girl. She was born in Portugal, but lived in Germany for years before she finally went to study in the US as an exchange student(交换生). What made Patricia interested in studying in America?

"I love watching American movies about teenagers. I come here to experience the high school life," Patricia said. However, her life in the US was not easy at first." It was hard to get used to so many different things here. But talking with my new friends made it much easier. They helped me a lot," said Patricia.

 During her stay, Patricia noticed some differences between the schools in the US and Germany." In Germany, we don't have many exams like SATs or SOLs. We just have final exams. Also, there is a difference in the school timetable. The school day in Germany is shorter. Students usually start later and finish earlier. Besides, American students often take classes with different students from different grades. We don't do that in Germany. And we don't have school sports teams either," Patricia shared.

"I've played sports games on the school sports team since I came here. This is really my favorite experience in the US. And I will share my life here when I go back home," she said.