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.

Your mother is the most important person in your life. She helps you with your homework. If you get ill, she stays with you the w{#blank#}1{#/blank#} night. She makes your m{#blank#}2{#/blank#} every day. Your mother is a{#blank#}3{#/blank#} there for you. That's why there is a s{#blank#}4{#/blank#} day for mothers a{#blank#}5{#/blank#} the world.

Mother's Day becomes a modern holiday in the US. A woman called Anna Jarvis and her mother, Anna Reese Jarvis, live in a poor town. They work hard to m{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the town better. Jarvis' mother died(去世) on Sunday, May 14. 1905. Their church holds a Mother's Day to thank her f{#blank#}7{#/blank#} the help.

Today, people in m{#blank#}8{#/blank#} than 40 countries celebrate the day. They give their mothers carnations (康乃馨)and o{#blank#}9{#/blank#} presents. In the language of flowers, carnations stand for happiness, sweetness and l{#blank#}10{#/blank#} .

Curt von Badinski is an engineer of a company in San Francisco. He is a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(西方人), and his home is in Los Angeles,which is 770 miles away from his workplace, so he has to take a plane to work and back. And he tries his {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(最好) to avoid being late.

Every workday morning, Badinski gets up at 5 am for the 15-minute drive to the airport.After parking his car, he goes to take the plane {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(径直地;直接地). After all, the plane won't wait for him to {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(赶上)up. After a 90-minute flight, he {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(降落到地面) at Oakland Airport and drives to his company. The {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(全部的;整个的)trip takes him about 3 hours.

Badinski can fly freely at any time to and from San Francisco, thanks to his payment on the airline, 2,300 dollars monthly.

Flying to work every day is not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(容易的) for Badinski because he can only sleep five hours every night. But he believes {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (没有什么) could be more important for him than his family. He had thought about several ways to solve the problem, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(包括;包含) moving his family to San Francisco, but none of them worked.

"The six-hour round trip shows that I have the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(能力) to have all the things I want," he explains. "I am always excited to start a new day. And I hope in the future my life and my work can be balanced."

Mike is a twelve-year-old boy. He lives with his 1 in a small town. One day, Mike has a fight* with one of his classmates. After school, he tells his story to his grandfather angrily."The boy is bad,"Mike says,"I don't 2 him."

The grandfather says,"Don't be angry. Let me tell you a story. When I am a boy, I also hate* others for what they do. I often fight with my classmates 3 lessons. That's why many classmates don't like me at all. It makes me so sad."

As the boy 4 carefully, the grandfather looks at him and goes on,"Later on, I think about this problem for a very long time. I find that there are always 5 tigers in my body. One is good and kind. He gets on well with everything around him. 6 the other is bad and unfriendly. He fights with everything all the time, and for no reason. He can't think carefully because he always hates others. It is 7 to live with these two tigers inside my body. They both try to control* me."

The little boy looks into his grandfather's eyes and asks,"8 tiger always controls you, grandfather?"The old man says slowly,"The one that I feed*. I always feed the good and kind tiger, so I 9 get angry or hate others now."

Mike says,"I'd like to feed the good tiger like 10 and someday I hope I can become the class monitor and other classmates will like me!"

Betty is not beautiful . She is too tall and thin. The kids in our class often laugh at(嘲笑) her, so Betty is 1 happy in school. 

I like making many friends, 2 I don't like talking with Betty. Just like other girls, I stay away from 3 , enjoying being with my group of friends. 

On the last day of the term, Mom says, "Ella, Betty will spend(度过) the 4 with us. "

"5 ? No one likes her. If my friends know it, they may 6 being friends with me. "

"Betty's father left. Her mom has to work. I must help her. She will come tomorrow. Treat her like yourfriend. OK?"

On the 7 day of the holiday, Betty comes over. We do homework, make meals and play chess, …We don't 8 a lot, but I get to know more about Betty. She's kind and she is good 9 making things. 

One sunny day, Betty says she wants to make a small treehouse in the old tree in the yard. I am interested in it. So when Betty does it, I 10 her. Finally, we work together to build the treehouse. It's so 11 that we can't move around freely but we feel warm here. 

From that day on, Betty and I spend hours in the 12 . We talk more—yes, we 13 . Most of them are true things that happen to us, so we know more about each other. 

But one day, a heavy rain comes to the village. Betty and I run 14 to save the treehouse but it is broken. I feel my heart is also broken. 

When the sun comes out, I still feel 15 , but Betty goes to help my parents to clean the yard. With tools in her hand, Betty says she wants to make another treehouse and fill(使…充满) it with more stories. Hearing this, I know that our friendship is stronger than the treehouse. 

Long ago in China, there lived five brothers who looked almost the same. The only way to tell them was by their amazing 1 . First Brother was as strong as ten horses. Second Brother could fly in the sky like a bird. Third Brother could 2 an ant sneeze (打喷嚏). Fourth Brother could make his body iron hard. Fifth Brother could make a river when he cried.

One day, Fifth Brother came across a strange 3 . When he was enjoying the delicious apple picked from the garden, 4 three men appeared. They took him to the owner of the garden. The owner was a bad, greedy man. He 5 Fifth Brother in his deepest prison. He said only if Fifth Brother 6 the treasure of Fire Island to him, he could set Fifth Brother free. Fire Island was in the middle of a nearby 7 . A dragon lived there, guarding its treasure. Stealing it seemed like a(n) 8 task, but Fifth Brother agreed to try.

That night, far away, 9 Brother heard Fifth Brother call for help. After listening to his story, Third Brother told other brothers what had happened. They made a 10 to go to help their brother get the treasure.

The next day, the five brothers worked together and with great 11 , they got the treasure from the dragon in the lake. Then Fifth Brother gave it to the owner. 12 the owner would not let Fifth Brother go because he thought Fifth Brother had many powers.

When Fifth Brother knew this, he started to 13 . Soon, his tears tan like a rushing river that swept the owner away.

Once the land dried out, the brothers journeyed home. They were 14 to be together again.

The next day, Fifth Brother said he was going on another walk. His brothers made him 15 that he would never eat in strange gardens again. Fifth Brother laughed and left.