Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.

Susan and Annie are both from Holland. Here are their emails.
 

"I want to know how to speak English well.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} can I do?" Bill asks this question like many students do. I ask{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(he),"How do you learn English?" He {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(answer),"Only in English class." {#blank#}4{#/blank#}first thing I will say is, "That is not enough!"

If you want to speak English {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(good), you have to practise. Speak to friends, classmates, people online or in stores. Speaking is the best way {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(learn) a language.

In my class I usually ask my students how they feel {#blank#}7{#/blank#} speaking English, and they often say "nervous", "scared" or some words like these. The {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(two) piece of advice I can give is to relax. Don't worry about making {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(mistake). If you can't think of the right word to use, don't worry about it and just say what you want to say.

Speaking English well isn't just about practising your {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(speak). It is also important to listen to English. Listening to the English songs and English tapes is helpful.

How do you go to school evey day? By bike or on foot? Maybe you can try a new way— taking a S' Gool Bus.

The S' Gool Bus is also called the bike bus. It was invented in the bike kingdom— the Netherlands. It is all about green lifestyle, sports and sharing. It's interseting for kids to ride the bus together to go to school.

Also, it is very safe. The bike bus has a driver and eleven seats for kids. Each one has a helmet and safety belt. There is also a roof on the bus. It can be used on hot days or rainy days to make kids feel comfortable.

Riding the bike bus is one of the greatest ways for children to get to school. Peter, a 10- year- old pupil, becomes a big fan of the bike bus." Now the S' Gool Bus is my favorite way of transport. I can ride it together with other kids to keep healthy. It's full of fun." For most parents, it can help them save a lot of time because they only have to pick up their children after school.

The S' Gool Bus is becoming more and more popular in some countries like Germany and France. Its inventor Thomas Tolkamp says,"I hope I can sell the bike bus to more countries in the future. As green lifestyle becomes popular, ideas like this get popular, too. I think it will work well in other countries." The use of the S' Gool Bus shows us that we can save the Earth in many ways as long as we want to have a try.

"Dreams may be more important than sleep. We all need to dream," some scientists say.

Dreams take up about one quarter of sleeping time. People have several dreams each night. Dreams are like short films. They are usually in colour. Some dreams are like old films. They come to us over and over again. That may be because the dreamer is worrying about something. Dreaming may be a way of trying to find an answer.

Some people get new ideas about their work from dreams. They may be thinking about their work all day. These thoughts can carry over into (延续到) dreams.

Sometimes we wake up with a good feeling from a dream. But often we can't remember the dream. Dreams can disappear quickly from memories. 

Too much dreaming can be harmful(有害的). The more we sleep, the longer we dream. The mind is hard at work when we dream. That is why we may have a long sleep but still feel tired when we wake up.

I'm Jimmy. I live (住) with my family. We have a big living room (大客厅).In the middle of the living room is a big sofa. On the left (左边) of the sofa, there is a bookcase. My sister and I always sit on the sofa and read books after dinner (晚餐). On the right (右边) of the sofa is a table. There are some oranges on it. My mother likes them. In front of (在……前面) the sofa, there is a big TV

set(电视机). My father likes watching (观看) TV.

Oh, where is my white watch? It isn't in the bookcase. It isn't on the table. It's under the table!