I am off on a trip on my own. Yes ! Alone! I can't wait to get going to Europe to see some cities I really want to visit. It is great because I can choose what I want to do in each city. I am going to travel by train on the Eurorail.

     The train trip was fast and the views of the countryside were amazing. Now I am in Salzburg, Austria. The quiet hills of Austria are a great place to relax. The movie The Sound of Music was filmed around this area. Mozart, the famous musician, was from here. I listened to some of his classical music.

     The train ride to Amsterdam was a long one. It gave me time to write some postcards to send back home. Amsterdam is a fun city, full of friendly locals and many tourists. I spent the whole day visiting the art museums here. The museum about the famous Dutch artist Van Gogh is filled with history and beautiful art. I took a boat ride and saw local people in traditional dress. I even got to taste some delicious Dutch cheese.

     Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the safest places in the world. I spent a busy and nice day at the Tivoli Amusement Park. It is a huge park which even has concerts and dance shows. Hans Christian Anderson, a famous writer of children's books, was born in this city. I found a lovely bookshop and bought two of his fairy tale books, The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling. My travels alone are done! What an adventure this trip has been! I love it.

    Mr Guo is a teacher from Xi'an．He asked his students to hand in their homework through a QR code （二维码）．"We spent an hour or two in class learning how to generate （使产生） the codes，and in the end everything gets easier，"said Guo．"When students finish the homework，they keep it on WeChat （微信）．Then，each student makes his own QR code and gives it to me．So I can check their work everywhere using my computer or telephone．"

    The QR codes can be sent to Mr Guo by email，QQ and WeChat．When Guo scans （扫描） his students'QR codes，their homework appears on his phone．He finds that their homework becomes more creative （创新的），with many pictures，music and even videos．

    Guo's students like the new way and think it is interesting．"We are living in the information age．Many students like to work with computers，which makes learning more fun．"said Tingting，a student of Guo's．

    "The paper is not easy to keep，but the code is easy to keep and share．"Guo said．" It is worth trying to use new technology in education．Education itself is a kind of creation．I don't want my students to fall behind the times．"

    However，some parents are worried．They are afraid that their children will spend too much time on computers and less time communicating with teachers．But in fact，it's unnecessary．Students still need to look up information in books and write it down when they do their homework．They only use the code when they hand in their work，which doesn't take them too much time．Also for teachers，it allows them to check the students'work at any time．And it's also an easy way to share homework with other students．

B

    Frederic Chopin(弗兰德里克.肖邦) was born in March, 1810, near Warsaw in Poland(波兰). He was one of the greatest musicians in the world. In 1831, he went to Paris. No people but he could play the piano very well.

    At that time people in Paris liked the Hungarian(匈牙利的) pianist Franz Liszt(弗朗兹.李斯特).One night, at a concert, Liszt went to the piano and the people shouted. As all the lights in the concert were turned off, a wonderful piano concert started. The music was so good that the listeners were all greatly interested. They kept praising the pianist and thought that Liszt had reached something new in playing the piano. Suddenly, all the lights were turned on again as the music came to an end. And there stood a young man instead of the famous Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt.

    Liszt had planned all this. As the lights went out, Liszt left his chair and let Chopin take his place. So with the help of Liszt and his own talent(天赋), Chopin soon became famous.

Zac and I were always best friends. We both started playing football from an early age. Zac was bigger than me and it was difficult to score a goal when he was in front of me. I was faster, though. Once I got past him, he couldn't catch me.

There were two under-17 teams. The first team was the Springtown Stars. They played the most important games. The other was the Springtown Asteroids. They were also a good team but not as good as the Stars. Zac and I were proud to be in the Stars!

It was time for the coach to name the team for the season. Zac's name was called out but mine wasn't. I went to check the list on the board. I could hardly believe my eyes! How could the coach make such a mistake? I was as good as Zac. What pain I felt! I lost my place in the Stars. After that, I had to practise with the Asteroids but I didn't enjoy it. I played so well, yet no one understood this. I began to despise (鄙视) Zac and the coach. However, one Saturday, I watched the Stars play against another team. I thought they wouldn't play well without me, but I was wrong. I began to see that they had great teamwork and skills. Zac was especially good. He had worked harder than me and was much better now. Perhaps I was not as good as I had thought. As he left the field, I gave him a big high five, "Zac, you are great! I will be back to the Stars next season."

Hello, my name is Sam. I come from London, but I am in Beijing now.

I live with my parents, my twin brothers, my little sister and my good friend Polly. What do we like to do in the evening? I often do my homework with my brothers after I get home. My mother often cooks dinner, and my father often tells stories to my little sister. What about my pet cat Polly? Oh, she likes walking in the park. We often have dinner at six o'clock.

Now it's eight o'clock in the evening. What are my family doing? My father is watching TV in the living room. My mother is cleaning the house, and my sister is sleeping in her room. My brothers are playing computer games after doing their homework. Do you know what I am doing now? I'm not sleeping. I'm going online to write an email to my pen-friend Leo. He comes from Sydney. Where is Polly? Look! She is sitting on the floor and watching TV too.

 Sammie Vance, 14, knows there's nothing worse than being without friends. For years, she has been helping1 kids. She is running the Buddy Bench2 .

 Anyone who is alone could sit on the buddy bench. It tells other kids he or she needs a3 . It's helpful to make other people notice someone in need of care.

 Sammie thought about the Buddy Bench programme in 2017. First she introduced the 4 to her teachers and parents to get their support. But there have been small challenges, like5 . To make the cost less and be eco-friendly, Sammie decided to make the bench from recycled materials(回收材料). She called on people to 6 bottle caps. In the end, she got over 1200 pounds of them. A company called GreenTree Plastics recycled these into three benches. The benches 7 became popular and soon brought kids together. From then on, Sammi e helped communities(社区) around the country 8 buddy benches.

 Sammie has some changes herself. She has learned to accept her weakness and become a better person. "I used to be really 9 ," she says, "but I'm more outgoing now. It helps me10 in different parts of my life."

 Sammie's story shows helping people can start at any age. Even small acts of kindness can be powerful.