There are some computer programs outthere for creating art, such as Photoshop or Microsoft Paint. But you probablywouldn't guess that Microsoft Excel is one of them.

For many of us, Excel is just a type ofoffice software. But for Tatsuo Horiuchi, an 80 year –old Japanese, it is hispaints, his water colours and his canvas (画布)。About 20 years ago, shortly before retiring (退休), the artist thought that he needed a new challenge in his life. Sohe bought a computer and began making beautiful works of art with Excel.

"I didn't use Excel at work before, butI saw other people using Excel to draw pretty graphs (图表). So I thought, I could probably draw with that," Horiuchisays, "Graphics software is expensive but Excel can store on most computers.Besides, it has more functions and is easier to use than Microsoft Paint."

Horiuchi also tried using Word but waslimited (限制) to the paper sizing. Thereis far more freedom for the artist to produce his painting in Excel. Horiuchi'scolourful Excel art deeply describes the richness of traditional Japanesepaintings. It often shows highly- detailed sights, along with people, plantsand animals.

"I set a goal(目标), "Horiuchi says, "that is, in 10 years, I would be ableto paint something excellent enough to show to people. "And he hascertainly achieved that goal.

Since his discovery of Excel's artisticfunctions and his ability. to use. them, Horiuchi has got worldwide praise. He hasgone on to win competitions with his works. Not surprisingly, he took firstprize at the Excel Auto shape Art Contest in 2006. Having made quite a name forhimself, the elderly Japanese artist was given a new name-"the Michelangeloof Excel".

Mount Qomolangma is the highest mountain in the world.It is in the Himalayan (喜马拉雅) Mountains between Nepal(尼泊尔) and China，and it is about 8,900 meters high. Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay from Nepal were the first people ever to climb Mount Everest in 1953. Men from several different countries climbed it after that.

Junko Tabei，a Japanese was the first woman to make this difficult climb. A Japanese newspapertelevision company chose fifteen women from mountaineering clubs to climb Mount Qomolangma in 1975.The group climbed for several days.Then there was an accident.The heavy ice and snow hurt ten of the women.They had to stop climbing.The other five went on climbing.

Only Ms Tabei was able to climb the last 70 meters. She was standing on the top of the world. She was the first woman there. Ms Tabei was 35 years old at the time. She started climbing mountains in 1960. She still climbs mountains.She is not an ordinary Japanese housewife. Ms Tabei makes money for her trips by teaching English and piano to children.She climbs a mountain about every three years.She has climbed some of the highest mountains in six countries. Finally，she wants to climb the highest mountain in every country in the world. When she reaches the top of a mountain，she thinks，"I'm glad that I'm at the top."

I usually get up at 8:00 a.m. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} weekends. Last Saturday, I wasn't woken up by my alarm, but by my {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (mom) call. At 7:00 a.m., Mom {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (sudden) picked up a phone. After that, my mother {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (tell) me that my grandfather was sick {#blank#}5{#/blank#} they had to go to the hospital right now. I needed to take care of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (I) today.

I took {#blank#}7{#/blank#} shower, and then I began to prepare my breakfast. After breakfast, I did my homework. I practised {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (play) the piano in the afternoon. While I was {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (sweep) the living room, my parents came back. It was 8:00 p.m. My mother happily said that I finally {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (grow) up.

My neighbour, Mr Brown, is a very old man. His children live in a different city, so he lives{#blank#}1{#/blank#} most of the time. Mr Brown has a small dog, but for him it is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to take the dog for walks because he is too old. The dog needs to go outside twice every day.

I want to help Mr Brown. Now, every morning {#blank#}3{#/blank#} I go to my school, I go to Mr Brown's house. I take his dog for a short {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The dog is always happy and {#blank#}5{#/blank#} jo go out. After that, I bring the dog back home and then I get ready {#blank#}6{#/blank#} school.

 In the afternoon, when I come back from school. I have more time. I {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the dog to the park. We play ball games for a long time, and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} never gets tired.

 Mr Brown often thanks me for my {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. He is always kind and gives me some sweets when I see him. The small dog also {#blank#}10{#/blank#} happy. It's good to help Mr Brown and his dog. I like making them happy.

Eric has a new baseball hat. It is from his sister Kate. The hat is purple and it is beautiful. Eric loves it. He wears(戴) it every week. When he doesn't wear it, he always puts it on his desk. This morning Eric wants(想要) to go and play baseball with his friends. He wants to wear the hat, but the hat is not on the desk. Where is it? Eric looks for it under the sofa, under the chair, in the schoolbag, just everywhere.

____

"Do you see my hat？" Eric asks his family. No one sees it.

Eric is sad. Because his hat is lost. At that time, his dog Huanhuan comes. And the hat is on his head! He loves the hat, too.

Eric is very happy. He gets the hat and leaves home.

 When we were little, my brother Gary and I were best friends. We did everything together and we had the same friends. When we 1 older, this changed so much. We did not talk and were different 2 each other. 

 When Gary was at school, he was a top student. He 3 had any problems in his classes. All of Gary's teachers liked 4 because he was so smart. However, school was 5 for me. I had lots of problems at school. 6 I had a hard time, the teachers were still strict7 me. They thought that I should do better because my brother was so smart. When I was in middle school, I played every sport I could. I really like sports——8 of them. I could not just sit and do9 . I had to be doing something at all times, but Gary never got into sports. He tried to 10 soccer at school, but he couldn't kick the ball well. My brother and I became so different. How could we be best friends again?