Characters: Evan, Mrs. Bordoni, Mr. Cortez, Rita. Marco. Tom

Setting: An elementary school

Mrs. Bordoni: (Stands at the school gate) Good morning! You need to go straight to your classrooms, children. (A shy boy walks up, with a red face.) What is your name?

Evan: (Looking at the ground) My name is Evan.

Mrs. Bordoni: Welcome to Northside. I'm the principal(校长), Mrs. Bordoni.

Evan: (Looks surprised) Oh! Good morning.

Mrs. Bordoni: I know you are new to our school, but you will like it here. I will take you to your classroom.

Evan: I didn't want to move… and leave my friends.

Mrs. Bordoni: You will have friends here. You'll see.

Mrs. Bordoni: Here's your room, 106.

Mr. Cortez: Welcome to our class! I'm Mr. Cortez.

Evan: (The class looks at him. He speaks softly.) Hello.

Mr. Cortez: We are talking about a story we just read. Who can tell Evan what it was about?

Rita: This family moves to a new state. Their story is both funny and sad.

Evan: (Cheering up) Did they like the new place?

Marco: Not at first. But they made lots of new friends.

Mr. Cortez: What happened to make them change their minds?

Tom: The girl from next door said she needed help. When they got to her house, a sign said, “Welcome”.

Marco: It was a surprise party for them. The whole family was laughing.

Mr. Cortez: The neighbors made the family feel welcome.

Mrs. Bordoni: (Stands in the doorway) Evan, it's time for lunch. (They enter the lunchroom. A sign says, “Welcome Evan”.) It is hard to change schools and leave old friends. Now, we are your friends.

Evan: (Smiles) I can't believe you did this for me.

    Once again, God seems to have put a homeless person in my path. Lately, I have regularly come into contact with people that I just can't ignore .

    His name is Mark and I was surprised to hear that he is only three years older than me. He looks so much older! He was on the counter, asking for money. I parked my car and plonked(砰地放下) myself down on the curb(路边) to talk. People were driving by and looking at us, but I didn't care.

He told me about his life. How much of his story I believe, I don't know. He told me he was dying—-that part I believe, for he could hardly walk and had trouble catching his breath.

    I asked what I could do to help him. He said all he wanted was a slice of pizza. I gave him $3, the only cash I had . He said he wanted to go to get the food himself, but he was stopped from the shopping center for begging. I said I would get it for him and asked if he wanted something to drink .

    Then he asked for a(n) ride to the trail in the woods where he had his tent. Usually I don't give rides to strangers, but this was just up the street, and quite honestly he had no physical threat to me. When we parted, he held my hand for a long time and we just looked at each other wordlessly for a few moments.

    At that time, he wasn't a homeless man and I wasn't a sufferer .We became just two souls making a human connection I don't know if I will ever see him again, but I know I will never forget him. God bless you, Mark, and your beautiful blue eyes and gentle soul.

In English learning, spoken English is very important, but many students complain that they can't understand well when others speak English. And they say that their 1 English is not good, either. Well, what can we do to improve our spoken English 2 ?

The most important thing is to believe in 3 . Maybe many of us are afraid to make 4 while speaking English. But as English learners, we can usually make progress by 5 the problems in learning. It doesn't matter if our 6 can't be as good as the native people's. We should 7 it as a challenge, and then we can get 8 practice. We needn't worry at all that the native speakers will 9 us. Be brave enough, and then we'll improve our spoken English quickly. 

In a word, don't be 10 , and believe in ourselves. Next time we should speak English aloud in front of others whether or not what we say or use is right. 

Winter comes after autumn and before spring. It brings snow and ice. Here are different ways to know it's winter.

The days are short and the nights are cold. The winter solstice (冬至) is the start of the coldest days in winter, and it is the shortest day of the year!

The sun isn't warm in winter. There is lots of snow in winter. People and animals don't like to go outside.

In winter, when you look outside, you'll see a lot of brown things, not the green ones. There are no leaves on most of the trees.

Some animals hibernate. They sleep in winter. But others keep food in autumn to eat in winter, because it is difficult to find food. Many birds fly from the north to warm places for the winter. They will come back when spring comes.