Long ago, people did not need money. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    As time passed, people learned to raise animals and crops. Sometimes, families produced more than they needed, so they started to trade (交易) with other families. Later, people began to use money as a means of exchange. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They used shells, rice, salt, large stones, etc.

    During the 600s BC, people began using coins as money. They soon found that coins were easier to carry than goods (货物) and lasted a long time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The Chinese were the first to use paper money, probably as early as the eleventh century. The Italian traveller Marco Polo saw the Chinese using paper money when he visited China in the 1200s. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Today, we have many ways to pay for things. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Often, people prefer to pay for things by card. Paying with a card is easier and safer than carrying around a lot of "real" money.

    Everybody hates rats. But rats may soon be man's new best friends.

    What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue (援救) dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can't get into small space. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

    How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat's brain gives a signal. This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat's brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

    Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. "Robots' noses don't work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that," says a scientist. Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity.

    The "rat project" is not finished, but a scientist says, "It would be fantastic. A rat could get into space we couldn't get to and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe." Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).

    There's a park near my home. People like to go to this park after work, because they like the beautiful flowers and clean air in the park. Some of them go there every day. Look! That's Mr. King. He is taking a photo for his son, Jim. They look very happy. Some boys are playing games. Some boys are playing football. Lucy and Lily are standing under a tree. They're talking. There's a small river in the park. We can see some boats on the water. Some children are sitting in the boats with their parents. Listen! A girl is singing.

    This is really a nice park. We all like it very much.

Once upon a time, there was a young man called Ma Liang He was poor. But he was kind and hard-working and liked drawing. One night, he dreamed(梦见)that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush(神奇的画笔)and asked him to use it to help poor people. When he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush in his desk.

From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use or drink, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river.

Then many people knew about the magic paintbrush. But a few days later, a rich and bad man heard that the magic paintbrush could turn everything to life. He took the magic paintbrush away from Ma Liang's house and put Ma Liang into prison(监牢). Then he drew a lot of pictures with the paintbrush, but they could not become real.

So he said to Ma Liang, "If you draw some pictures for me and make them real, I will make you free."

The young man agreed and drew a sea first. Then he drew a golden mountain which was far away from the sea. The bad man said, Draw a big ship quickly. I want to go there to get the gold."

After the young man drew a big ship, the bad man jumped into the ship with his family and friends quickly. When the ship moved to the middle of the sea, the young man drew a large wave(波浪)and they never came back.

Ben My First day at School

Ben's mum My Son's First Day at School

I live next to a school. There's a wall between my neighborhood and the school. 

One day, on my way home, an apple flew towards 1 . It just landed(掉落) in front of my feet. How lucky I was! I guessed a troublemaker(捣蛋鬼) on the other side threw 2 apple over the wall. Thinking it was a small accident, I didn't care 3 it. 

A week later, when I 4 the same place, an apple came flying again. This time it landed on the roof(屋顶) next to the wall. I was a bit angry, 5 again, I did nothing. 

Yesterday, while I was walking back home, I saw another apple. It was flying so fast! Seeing that, I was 6 than I was last time. If he kept doing this 7 action might hurt others. So I decided to teach him a lesson. 

I told my friends about it first. They advised me 8 the apple back next time. But I didn't want to do that. An eye for an eye ends up 9 the whole world blind. 

Finally I planned to call the school to find out who was the troublemaker. And I wanted all the 10 to learn from his mistakes.