A

    Jack Johnson is one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the world.

Jack was born on May 18,1975 in Hawaii. Being the son of a famous surfer,Jack naturally has an interest in surfing. Most of his life lessons were learned in the water. At the age of 17,Jack entered the finals of the Pineline Masters—the world's most famous surfing competition. Everyone thought Jack would become a professional surfer like his father. Unluckily, one month later,he had a deadly accident while surfing and was seriously hurt.

    Life is like a revolving door. When it closes ,it also opens. Jack started to practice playing the guitar and write songs when he was staying in hospital. At first,his father thought Jack only did it for fun,but soon he was surprised at the great progress his son had made.

When studying in the university, Jack didn't stop practicing his guitar skills. He played the guitar for school parties. He wrote songs and sang them for his teachers and friends. They liked his songs. His first music album Brush fire Fairytales came out in 2001. It was a great success. His second album，On and On ， was much like his first. They were filled with sweet，easy-going songs

that everybody liked listening to. Later Jack had lots of concerts in and out of America. He became popular all over the world.

    Jack had five albums by 2010 and more than 15 million copies of them were sold. His music doesn't fit into any of the popular music styles like pop, rock, R&B or hip-hop. It is more like folk music, played with a guitar and beautiful voice. When listening to his songs, you feel like lying on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine.

    Jack is a talent, though he himself says he is only a surfer who loves music. In his songs we can find his secret of success: Whatever happens in our lives, we have to accept it and do the best we can.

    Mr. Hunt came from a poor family. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father worked hard but wasn't paid much. And his mother did all the housework at home. They were both able but they couldn't get enough money for their family.

    Mr. Hunt was in school for only three years and he had to stop to help his parents though he was good at his lessons. When he was sixteen, he came to the city and began to work in a small factory. He learned from an old worker and became a skilled worker. The old worker liked him and married his daughter to him. The young man did not have his own house and had to live with his parents-in-law(岳父母). His mother-in-law always thought he was poor and often chattered(唠叨). So the young man tried to save everything and hoped to have his own house.

    It was one fine Sunday. The old woman wanted to have a picnic on the top of the hill. She told Mr. Hunt to drive her car. But sometimes she told him to turn left and sometimes to turn right. The young man had to listen to her. At a crossing the lights were red but she made him turn left. The policeman stopped them and told the young man to give his license to him.

    “If I did wrong, sir,” said Mr. Hunt, “It was my mother-in-law's fault(过错). She was driving the car though she sat behind me!”

    Captain（船长）Nemo invited me and my friends to go hunting with him in the forests of Crespo Island. I asked him why he was so interested in Crespo Island. “I thought you preferred the sea to being on land.”

    “I do,” replied the captain. “But these forests are under the sea.”

After going through a door, we were about ten meters under the water. The light from the sun reached us. Everything looked very colourful. We were going deeper and deeper. At 100 meters deep, we could see quite well, and Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to some dark shapes. This was the forest. The “trees” in the forest were giant seaweed, and all their “branches” were vertical（垂直的）.We could not stop looking at them. Fish swam around the branches like birds in a forest.

    Suddenly, I saw a large sea spider about a meter tall. It was going to attack me. Captain Nemo's man killed it with his gun, but it reminded me that the sea could be as dangerous as it was beautiful. When we reached 150 meters, it was dark. The sun's light could not reach this depth（深度）. We turned our lights. We could see about 20 meters around us. Finally, we found Crespo Island—where a steep rock wall rose in front of us.

    We could go no further, so we walked back toward the Nautilus. Suddenly, Captain Nemo stopped and shot an animal with his gun, it was a beautiful and rare sea otter. At last, we could see the Nautilus. Several large sharks swam over us. Luckily they didn't see us. We re-entered the Nautilus safely. I was tired but amazed by what I had seen.

    I'm Katy. I have many good friends, and Jema is one of them. I'm in Class Six, and Jema is in Class Eight. We first met in our school tennis club. Both (两个) of us like playing tennis, and we often practice together.

    I often visit Jema on the weekend: Sometimes we swim in the pool or go shopping with our friend Sarah. She is in our school dance club and dances beautifully. I went to Jema's house today. It was raining, so we couldn't go out.

    "Let's watch a movie," Jema said. "You're my guest (客人), Katy, so you can pick it."

    I picked a movie called Dance of Joy. It's about a girl called Susan who likes to dance. Susan has a cat named Albert. Albert chews (咬) her dancing shoes, so she can' t dance anymore. Luckily, she gets a new pair of dancing shoes. Albert surprises Susan by bringing her the new shoes in his mouth. It is a wonderful happy ending.

    I told Jema I loved the movie. She laughed and said she found it quite boring. She only kept watching it because I was enjoying it so much. I felt a little bad about it, but it's nice to have a good friend like Jema.

Good Neighbours

    Mr. and Mrs. March lived together with their four daughters. Amy was very shy. Beth loved being at home. Meg looked very pretty. Jo was tall and thin and she was a tomboy. Their home was always busy and full of noise and people. Next to them lived old Mr. Laurence and his grandson, Laurie. They lived in a very large and comfortable house. But it was a house without life.

    One day, Joe saw Laurie standing at an upstairs window in his house and looking down at their garden. Jo's sisters were playing in the snow there. They were throwing snowballs and having a lot of fun. But Laurie's face was very sad.

    "Poor boy!" Jo thought. "He's all alone. He needs some friends." She couldn't stop thinking about him. She wanted to go and see him, but how could she go to the house without an invitation?

    Then one snowy afternoon, she saw Laurie's grandpa go out. This gave her an idea. She took a broom from the kitchen.

    "What are you going to do, Jo?" asked her sister Meg.

    "To clear the garden path." Answered Jo.

    When Laurie saw Jo from the window, a big smile changed his pale, sad face.

    Jo laughed and shouted, "How are you? Are you ill?"

    Laurie opened the window and said," I'm better now, thank you. I had a bad cold and had to stay inside for a week".

    "I'm sorry," said Jo. "Are you bored?"

    "Yes, very." he replied.

    "Don't your friends come to visit you?"

    "No. But I don't want to see anybody. Boys are noisy and they give me a headache."

    "Girls are quiet."

    "I don't know any girls."

    "You know us."

    "That's true! Can you come and visit me?" cried Laurie.

    "I'm not quiet, but I'd like to come," replied Jo. "I must ask Mother first." She ran back into her house.

    A few minutes later, she returned and rang the bell on the door of Laurie's house. A servant took her upstairs.

    "Here I am!" she said brightly. "Mother sends her love and my sisters gave me this blancmange (牛奶冻) for you."

    "That looks delicious," Laurie said. He was very happy to see Jo.

Jo looked around. There were lots of books on the shelves.

    "A nice room!" she said. "I can read to you if you like."

    "No, let's talk," replied Laurie.

    "All right," said Jo, "I can talk for hours. My sisters say I never know when to stop."

    "You have three sisters—Amy, Beth and Meg." Laurie continued.

    "How do you know this?" Jo was surprised.

    "You call each other's names when you are in the garden. Sometimes I can see you all around the table with your mother. She has a very kind face. I like looking at her. I haven't got a mother."

     Jo felt sad when she heard this.

    "Why don't you come and visit us?" she said, "It isn't good for you to stay in this house all the time."

    "Thank you. I'd like to come very much." Said Laurie.

    "We know all our neighbours except you." Jo said, "I'm glad we're friends now."

    She told him about all the interesting things in her life. She said," Besides(除了……之外) plays, I also love books." Laurie loved books too, and offered to show her the library in the house. The library was a wonderful room. Jo loved it.

    "Wow!" she said, "All those books!"

    Laurie said, "A person needs more than books."

    (Adapted from Little Women)

Drawing on a New Friendship

    Last Saturday, I went to the park to draw. When I finished the outline of a girl, a shadow（影子）fell across my drawing.

    "That's not a bad start", said the shadow. "Do you have any finished drawings?" I looked up to see a girl about my age.

    I was displeased that someone was looking at my drawing and interrupted me. "Not bad?" I asked.

    "No need to be angry." The girl handed a sketchbook(素描本)to me." Want to look at my drawings?"

    I felt curious and traded sketchbooks with her. Her sketches of people were okay, but I was really attracted by her drawings of nature, like trees, rocks, and rivers, all done with great detail.

    "Wow！You have some talent," I said. "What's your name?"

    The girl took back her sketchbook and answered, "Emma Thompson."

    "I'm Alice Ruiz, "I said." You draw so well. Are you in an art class?"

    Emma replied, "No. The art class is full, so I have to wait until next term. Besides, you're a talented one. I really find it difficult to draw people, but you make it look easy."

    "I have a great idea！"I said." Let's draw together！You can draw the nature views on one piece of paper while I draw the people on another. Then we'll exchange and finish each other's drawings. That way, both drawings would show off both of our talents!"

    "That's not a bad idea, Alice, "Emma agreed.

    About an hour later, we completed our drawings. I had drawn a boy walking with his dog. Emma had added a path and some flowers. Emma had drawn a beautiful tree, and I had added a girl reading under the tree.

    "This was a fun idea, "I said." Hey, Emma, would you like to meet me here again to draw together?"

    "See you next Saturday, Alice, "Emma said with a smile.