One day an old man is on his way home. Just then a stranger(陌生人)stops him and asks, "Excuse me, how long will it take to walk to the next village?"

    The old man looks at the stranger but he doesn't answer. The stranger says to himself. "This old man can't hear me clearly. I will ask him again." Then he asks the old man loudly. The old man thinks for a while, but he still doesn't answer.

    At this time, this stranger is very angry and shouts at the old man." How long will it take me to walk to the next village? ''But the old man doesn't give him any answer. So the stranger begins to walk quickly to the village.

    The old man calls after him, "My friend, it will take you only fifteen minutes." The stranger says, "Well, why do you tell me now?" The old man says, "How could I tell you just now? I don't know how fast you can walk."

    George Stephenson was born in 1781 in a poor family. He had to start work when he was only eight. When George was fourteen, he became his father's helper. He spent a lot of time learning about engines. On holidays, he often took one engine into pieces and studied each piece carefully. Soon he became a very good worker though he could not read or write.

    He began to learn the English letters when he was seventeen years old. Every day after he did twelve hours of hard work, he walked a long way to have lessons from a young teacher.

    On his eighteenth birthday, he wrote his own name for the first time in his life. George invented many things in his life. The train was the greatest one among them. Today when we watch or take trains from one place to another, we will think of this great man—George Stephenson.

People in Firenze are talking happily about the new shopping mall. The new shopping mall is just outside the city, next to the city's train station. And over 70 stores are open in the mall.

People like going shopping there because there are two big supermarkets.There are also many clothes stores for them. There's a bookshop, and there are two glasses stores. There are two toy stores, and there are seven restaurants.There's even a large cinema.

Almost everyone in Firenze is excited because the new shopping mall is now open. But some people are unhappy. Do you know who they are? They are the owners(店主) of the stores in the center of the city. Many people aren't shopping in their stores but at the new mall.

A. Choose the best answers.
B. Answer the questions.

You might have seen beautiful rainbows in the sky before. They form when sunlight falls on water drops in the air. But in fact, moonlight can also create rainbows in the same way. They are called "moonbows". They are similar to rainbows, but they are created by moonlight. 

Moonbows are more unusual than rainbows. Different weather and astronomical (天文学的) conditions have to be just right for moonbows to be created. The moon has to be very low in the sky — only 42 degrees from the horizon (地平线). The moon has to be a full moon or nearly full. The sky must be very dark for a moonbow to be watched clearly — any bright light can obscure it. Water drops must appear in the air in the opposite direction of the moon. Moonbows appear on the opposite side of the moon and usually look white to the human eye. This is because their colors are not bright enough to be noticed by the human eye. 

Moonbows more often appear in some locations around the world. Most of these locations usually have waterfalls, which create thin fog in the air. Some of these locations are the Yosemite National Park in California, Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Kentucky and Waimea in Hawaii, US. 

Moonbows do really happen. So at a certain time and a certain place, when a moonbow happens to appear, you can't miss it if you're right there.

You never know where life will lead you. When I was a young boy, I got 1 up my nose one time. After that I 2 wanted to get in the water again. I thought swimming was not for me. One day, I 3 my skateboard and broke my leg so badly, and the doctors said I could never really skateboard again. They said swimming was the only 4 that would be good for me. Well, I gave it a 5 . Every week, I got a little 6 and hated swimming a little less. I worked at it so much that one day my high school swimming coach asked me to 7 the school team. You can imagine how that made me and my family feel 8 I was so afraid of the water before! Much to everyone's surprise, I won third place in the city finals. 9 is a big part of my life now. You never know which road life will take you down. Look at me — a swimmer! For this reason, I say: don't limit(限制) your 10 . And remember, life is a swimming pool. Jump in and start swimming! You might be surprised at where you end up. 

Hey, I'm Gina Green. Let me introduce the photos to you.