Mary is a six-year-old girl. She often goes to the shop and goes to the church (教堂) with her mother. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One day, when they are in the church, the pastor(牧师)asks, "Who wants to go to the heaven(天堂) ? Please put up your hands. "All the people but Mary put up their hands. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    "I want to go home with my mother," answers Mary."

    When they get home, it is dark. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} She is very busy. She washes some clothes.  She cleans the table and the chairs. Then she wants to sweep the floor. But the broom (扫帚) isn't in the room.

    "Could you help me, Mary? Would you like to go. out and bring the broom for me?"

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    "Never fear, God can help you,"

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} She puts her hand out of the door.

    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.

    A British man learned the skills to perform Beijing Opera, making people enjoy his lively performance of the Monkey King.

Ghaffar Pourazar, born in Iran, is full of interest about China. In 1993, he happened to watch Beijing Opera which professionals from Beijing performed in London. Ghaffar fell in love with the beautiful voices, colorful costumes, excellent shows and so on. So after one year, he arrived in China alone and became a student of Beijing Opera at a Beijing school.

At the age of 32, he had to learn with children every day. For him, it was difficult to learn the dialogue in Beijing Opera and it was even his biggest obstacle. But he never gave up.

Four years later, he began to learn to perform the Monkey King, a traditional character(人物) from the Chinese classic story Journey to the West. He arrived in the workroom an hour earlier than other performers and also bought books and CDs to better understand the character. He once got a top international prize(奖品) for performing the Monkey King.

To help more people enjoy Beijing Opera, Ghaffar often teaches the traditional art form in schools in the US, Britain and other countries. Ghaffar led(带领) a group of actors to perform 66 times in a month and a half in the United States. He also led a 48-member team to perform in Malaysia. In the past 10 years, he has performed(已经表演了) more than 400 shows.

Have you ever been to Thailand(泰国)? It is a country in Southeast Asia. I've been in Thailand for a few days with my parents. We are here for a holiday. 

Now we are staying in Bangkok. It is the capital of Thailand and it is a very interesting place to visit. Yesterday we visited some places of interest in the city. They were great!①今天早上，我们去购物。Bangkok was a wonderful place to shop for jewelry（珠宝）and clothes. My mother bought some beautiful dresses. My father and I bought some fashionable T-shirts. 

Thailand is called "Land of Smiles" because people here are very friendly. And it's true! When we eat in the restaurants in Bangkok, the waiters are really nice and they are always smiling.②Thai food is delicious, but it is a little spicy（辛辣的）for me. You can also get Chinese food here because a lot of Chinese people came to live in Bangkok many years ago. Chinese food is very good, and it isn't as spicy as Thai food. American food can also be found in Bangkok.