The Dragon Boat Festival is an interesting Chinese festival. Usually, it's in May or June. People all like it very much.

    They usually have dragon boat races. Dragon boats are very long. They look like dragons. In every boat, there are many people rowing boats. Dragon boat races are very interesting for Chinese people.

    At the Dragon Boat Festival, people also eat zongzi. People usually use rice, meat(肉), vegetables and other things to make zongzi. There are many kinds of zongzi. They are all nice, and people usually give them to their friends.

    The Dragon Boat Festival is a great time for people.

根据短文内容，回答下列问题。

Hello, I'm Lisa. I'm a middle school student. What's this on the table? It's a photo of my family. Look! The woman with gray hair is my grandmother. And the man next to her is my father Steve Black. He is a football player. The woman next to my grandmother is my mother Annie Black. She is a teacher. The little girl in front of (在—的前面)my mother is my sister Laura. And the girl in red is me! Oh, I also have a lovely cat. It's black and white. Where is he? It's on my bed, haha!

Dear Xia Yu,

    Do you know that there are two special days for parents in America? One is Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May, and the other is Father's Day on the third Sunday of June. On these two days, American children often give gifts to their parents or take them out for lunch or dinner. Common gifts are flowers and cards for mothers and shirts or ties for fathers. I heard that it is becoming more and more popular to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day in China. I wonder if children over there also give similar gifts to their parents. I believe that there, are many ways to show our love. Actually, we don't have to spend a lot of money. It is also a good idea to help parents to do something instead.

—June

Information card

Personal Information of Teachers

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Jane Birch is from America. She can speak5 languages and has been to 14 countries. She is very popular with students and has many ways of learning foreign languages.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Daisy Chambers, a smart lady, is good at playing the piano. She has been learning it for ten years. Amazingly, she learns it all by herself. Many students are her fans.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Rod White is a creative teacher and inventor. He believes that invention is for every one and everyone can be an inventor. In his class, students find it great fun to do scientific experiments.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Emily Roy has written many stories. Students love reading her books. She always recommends good books to her students. She plans to write a book to share how reading changes her life.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Lewis Nichols is an excellent swimmer. He takes part in the winter swimming competition every year. He thinks that swimming in cold water builds up not only his body but also his will.

    Volunteering is fun and rewarding(有益的), but if you want to be a good volunteer, you need to learn more.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Be well-trained. Know what you're doing as a volunteer. If you need to learn about your job. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}If you're good at your job, it will be easier to help others.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Work as part of a team and make sure everyone works together and shares the work. If someone asked for help, just give a hand. If you need some help, ask politely for it.

    Be understanding.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Be friendly. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}To be a volunteer, you might meet new people who want to make friends with. You might just meet someone who becomes a friend for the rest of your life.

    August has always been difficult for me. It is the time when I realize that the books my English teacher assigned(布置) to me are not going to read themselves and that I have a difficult month in front of me.

    You might think that I don't want to spend my summer reading, hut that's not the problem；I love reading. On the first day of summer holiday this year, I borrowed a Gathering of Old Men by African-American writer Ernest Gaines. I enjoyed it very much. I read all the magazines that my parents subscribe to(订阅) and spend about     minutes every day with the morning newspaper.

    So why do I hate summer reading for school？Because the books on summer reading lists are often slow-going and just uninviting(不吸引人的) . Teachers don't under-stand that summer reading can be interesting as well as educational. They choose books called "spinach books": good for you, but not much fun to take in. Every summer, I read them, hate them and get bitter about the experience.

    This bitterness started three years ago when 1 began high school. As preparation. my English teacher told me to read The Age of Innocence(《纯真年代》). At 14, I couldn't understand the love 100 years ago in the story. I only know my love for baseball. The Age of Innocence was completely different to my life. What is more, sometimes I guess teachers don't think exciting plots make for "good literature". To me, a good writer describes events and characters in a way that makes the reader want to know what happens next.

    If I were making up a summer reading list, it would include The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. These are all books that have literary value(文学价值) and can also entertain kids. If the teachers could add a little fun into the books they assign, my Augusts would be a lot more enjoyable.