Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835,in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town ofHannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemensloved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that allthe boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 yearsold, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. Hetravelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, heachieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up anddown the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and triedseveral jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working asa writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen namefor his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from hisdays on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. Therewas a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it.He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "MarkOne" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each markwas about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant thatthe river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about ajumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe.He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort,Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, whichhe wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous andpopular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write tohim, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "MarkTwain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay fromthe writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He isconsidered to be one of America's most important writers.

    If you are hungry, what do you do? Have your favorite meal and stay quiet after that. Just like your stomach, your mind is also hungry. But it never lets you know. It 1 serves your needs and never lets itself grow because you keep it busy thinking about your friends or favorite stars. When mind loses 2 freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop. This 3be the reason why we all sometimes think "What happens next?", "Why can't I think?"

     In fact, hunger of the mind 4 through wide reading. Why reading but not watching TV? It is because reading 5 the most educative tool used by us since our childhood.

    Once you read a book, you run your eyes 6 the lines and your mind tries to explain something to you. The interesting part of the book 7 is stored in your mind is regarded as a seed（种子）. Now this seed is unknowingly used by you to develop new ideas. If it is used many times, the same seed can give you great help to relate lots of things. You can never think of these things even in 8 dreams in your life.

    This is creativity. Also this helps you 9your vocabulary. In no time you can start talking with your friends in English or any other language 10you will never run out of the right words. So guys, do give food for your thoughts by reading, reading and more reading.

The name of my best friend is Joyce. She cares about me a lot. She always helps me. I met her in Class 6 and became best friend. She is my true friend because she understands me very well and cares about my every need. I like her very much. I never had any friends like her ever before. She comes to my home and I also go to her home. Our parents respect(尊重) us very much and like our friendship. She is so important to me that I never want to lose her. Whenever I get absent(缺席的) from the class, she helps me do all the left homework and classwork. She is similar to me in many ways. She never argues with me. She is an open-minded girl and never feels bad about my misbehaviour. She is very funny and makes me laugh through her interesting jokes and talks in our spare time. She is very cute and attractive. And she draws everyone's attention by her smile. She always encourages me to do better in class and exams. We are good at sports and academic activities. We manage to share things in difficult times. We always perform better in class tests and main exams. 

Long long ago, a man went to his neighbor's house and tried to steal something. On entering the gate, he saw there 1 a big bell. The bell was beautiful in design and shape, so the thief 2 to carry the bell back home. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not move it, because the bell was both big and 3 . He thought for a while and believed there was only one way to solve the problem. He had to break the bell to pieces before he was able to carry them back to his home 4

The thief found a big iron hammer, with which he struck(敲击) the bell with all his strength. The striking5 a big crashing sound, which made the thief terribly frightened. He got flurried(慌乱的）and hugged the bell, trying to muffle(裹住) the crashing sound with his6 . But how could the sound the muffled? He subconsciously (下意识地) shrank back and covered his ears hard with his hands.

The sound became weaker, so the thief became7 at once. The sound of the bell couldn't be heard when the ears were covered. He immediately had his ears plugged(堵住) with some cotton. He thought that in this way 8 could hear the sound of the bell. Feeling relieved, he began striking the bell, one blow after another. The sound of the bell was heard in the 9 , and finally people caught the thief.

Later, people used the interesting phrase "plugging one's ears while stealing a bell" to10 the ignorance and foolishness of the person who deceives(欺骗) himself as well as others.

Hello! My name is Nancy White. I'm 14. I'm a new student in Miss Lin's class, Class 4. She is very nice. There are 16 boys and 12 girls in my class.

____His name is Musio. He is a robot(机器人). He can speak(说）English very well. And he can spell many words for me. So he can be my English teacher, too.

I want to make friends with you. Do you want to be my friend? Please call me. My telephone number is 582306. Or you can write to me at nancywhite@sina. com. Thank you.

Wu Mo and her parents live in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. It is a beautiful city with a population of more than 9. 6 million. With a long history of about 7, 000 years, Ningbo is not only a famous historical and cultural (文化的) city in China, but also a great place for tourists. 

Wu Mo is good at her school subjects and she really loves reading. There are a variety of books in her large room. This weekend her uncle and her cousin Wu Gang will come to their home by car. They live in a town not far away from Ningbo. Wu Gang also loves reading. He hopes Wu Mo can take him to Tianyige Museum because he knows that there are many valuable ancient books in it. Wu Mo feels happy because they both have the same interest. 

Tianyige Museum is in Ningbo. It's famous for its collection of about 300, 000 ancient books. People see the museum as the biggest library in South China. In fact, it is one of the three oldest private (私人的) libraries in the world. And it has a history of more than 450 years. 

The opening hours of the museum are different. From May 1st to October 31st, it is open from8:30 am to 5:30 pm. From November 1st to April30th, its opening time is from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Well, the museum isn't open every Monday morning. 

Wu Mo is looking forward to their visit. They believe the museum will open up a new world for them.