John James Audubon loved all kinds of birds. He spent his life studying them. He painted all the birds of North America.

    John James Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785. When he was a young boy, he moved to France with his family. His father was in the French Navy. He had a farm in the United States. When John was 18, his father sent him to the farm, hoping John would take care of it. But John didn't want to do that. He wanted to hunt, fish, and draw birds. John drew lots of pictures of birds. He wanted to make them look real.

    In 1808, John married Lucy Bakewell and they moved to Kentucky. John and a friend went into business there. They ran a shop. John really didn't like working in the shop. The business soon failed. John wanted to paint full-time. Lucy agreed to help. She got a teaching job to support the family. By that time, they had two young sons.

    John wanted his bird paintings made into a book. He finally did find someone to print his bird pictures in a book. Many people wanted John Audubon's book. Although his book was a great success, John wasn't happy with it. He wanted to show every bird found in North America. By 1838, John finished a great work. It wasn't just one book. It was an amazing set of four books called The Birds of America. It had many paintings. Today, these paintings are very famous.

Did you know that the Beijing Winter Olympic Village had a rooftop (屋顶) farm? It covered 4,620 square meters. To relax, athletes and coaches could try growing vegetables there.

It shows just how much Chinese people {#blank#}1{#/blank#} growing vegetables. China has a lot of available land for planting things. For {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, Chinese people made a living through farming. The Book of Songs《诗经》, written 2,500 years ago, records many {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of vegetables.

Nowadays, even though some Chinese people no longer have a lot of land, they still grow vegetables {#blank#}4{#/blank#} they can. Xue Ling, 35, is one of them. Since 2010, she has been planting vegetables on the balcony (阳台) of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} apartment in Jinan, Shandong province. "It's the only way to keep my food, at least the vegetables, clean and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}," she said. Caroline Ma from Hong Kong grows vegetables {#blank#}7{#/blank#} a hobby. In 2020, Ma started farming on her rooftop and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} planting seeds that she collected during her travels. For Ma, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} is a meditative (冥想的) experience. "I am in my own little world and I can forget about my problems," she said.

It seems that planting vegetables brings {#blank#}10{#/blank#} than just food for Chinese people.

I'm a bit of an airplane fan. For the past few years, I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (have) many model planes on my desk at work. You can imagine my joy when I had the chance to experience the first flight ofC919 jet yesterday. Luckily, I got one just before the tickets {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (sell) out. 

Before boarding, I found that almost every one of the 160 {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (passenger) walked around the plane to celebrate this historic moment. They got more excited {#blank#}4{#/blank#} ever before and some began to take selfies (自拍) . {#blank#}5{#/blank#} happy they were! 

The {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (excite) continued on board as the C919 took off. A special breakfast {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (serve): Shanghai noodles, some White Rabbit milk {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a special dessert with a "World's First C919" logo on it. It was a pretty short flight, about 2. 5 hours from Shanghai to Chengdu. Soon we landed at our destination, and we cheered {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (loud). Almost everyone seemed overjoyed to have taken part in such a proud moment for China. 

Now I‘m looking forward to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (see) what new planes COMAC (中国商飞公司) has planned for the future. I can't wait to see them take on Airbus and Boeing! 

In the modern society(社会), it is common to see people wearing ties and hats. But at one time, wearing ties and hats was the symbol of social position(社会地位)in England. Not all people wore them. 

A farmer or a common worker never wore ties or hats. Only those who used their brains(大脑)to make a living wore ties and hats. Wearing ties and hats showed you were a professional(专业人员)and full of knowledge. At the same time, it showed you had a high social position. If a man wanted to find a job, he had to wear them. It was hard for a man to find a job if he didn't wear a tie or a hat. 

Until 1960s, it was common for men across the western world to wear hats and ties as part of their business uniforms. But things changed later. President Kennedy(肯尼迪总统) never wore a hat and he didn't like a tie, either. People seldom saw him wearing them. Seeing that the president didn't have them, millions of other men imitated him. They also took off ties and hats. 

Nowadays, people still wear ties and hats. But they are only decorations. Anyone can wear them if he or she likes. What will they be like in the future? No one can guess. 

Once there were two neighbors living next to each other. One of them was a retired(退休的) teacher and the other was an engineer. 1 of them planted the same plants in their gardens. The retired teacher was giving a small number of water to his plants and he didn't always give a full attention to them. But the other neighbor gave a lot of water to his plants. He 2 them too well. One day,a rainstorm started suddenly during the night. The next morning, the engineer was 3 to see that his plants came off from the roots(根). But the retired teacher's plants grew very well. The engineer went to the retired teacher and asked," We both grew the same plants together. I took care of my plants 4 than you did for yours, and even gave them more water. Still, my plants came off from the roots, while yours didn't. How is that possible?" The retired teacher smiled and said," You gave your plants more attention and water, but because of that they didn't need to work 5 for water. You made it easy for them. While I gave them just proper(恰当的) water and 6 their roots search(寻找) for more. And their roots went deeper and deeper, which made them 7 "

This story is about parenting where children are like plants. 8 everything is given to them, they will not understand the hard work it takes to have those things. Teach them 9 to walk, but let them go their own way. Sometimes it's best to guide them but not to 10 them