Peter and Mike are very good friends. They are in the same class at school. They often go to school and play t{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, and they often visit each other's home at weekends, too.

    Now they are b{#blank#}2{#/blank#} eight years old. Peter's mother has got a new baby. Peter is very glad to have a little brother, so he is always talking about his younger brother to Mike.

    At first Mike is very interested in the new baby because he doesn't have any sisters or brothers. But after some time he begins to get tired of Peter's endless talking about it. He also feels a little jealous (嫉妒) of his friend.

    One morning before class, when the two boys m{#blank#}3{#/blank#} at the school gate, Peter says to Mike cheerfully, "Do you know, Mike, my little brother, has put on nearly half a pound in weight this week."

    "That's not much at all," answers Mike. "I know a baby who can put on more than ten pounds a day."

    "Oh, that can't be t{#blank#}4{#/blank#}," answers Peter. "W{#blank#}5{#/blank#} baby is it?"

    "An elephant's," says Mike.

    A rabbit is running into its hole. You may ask, "What happened?"

    Well, when a rabbit sees something dangerous, it runs away. Its tail moves up and down as it runs. When other rabbits see this tail moving up and down, they run too. They know that there is a danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has given them a signal.

    Many other animals use this kind of language too. When a bee found some food, it goes back to its home. It cannot tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does a little dance in the air. This tells the other bees to go with it to find food.

    Some animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for example, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs (发出呼噜呼噜的声音) when it is pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning.

    But human beings have something that no animals have—a large number of words about things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other information and to tell or inform other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By writing words down we can remind ourselves of the things that have happened, or send messages to people far away. No animal can do this. No animal has the wonderful power of language.

    No one knows how man learned to make words. As centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

    People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. A very large English dictionary, for example, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not know all of them. The words we know are called vocabulary. We should try to make our vocabulary larger. Read as many books as possible. When we meet a new word, look it up in the dictionary. A dictionary is the most useful book.

Peng Liyuan, First Lady of China, made a speech （发言） in English at the United Nations（联合国） on September 26. She talked about education and shared her Chinese dream with the world. 

Peng began the speech with a story of her father. Her father grew up in a small village in China. In those days, not many villagers could read, so her father opened up（开办） a night school to teach them. With his help, many people learned to write their names and read newspapers for the first time. And many women were able to teach their children how to read. Peng's father's love for education influenced（影响） her. She was lucky enough to have a good education. Later, she followed her father's footstep（脚步） and became very good at music. 

Education is important, but still, some children in China can't go to school. Peng hopes that all children, especially （尤其） girls, can have a good education, and that is her Chinese dream. 

A British woman used an ancient Chinese invention to help her son deal with a modern problem. 

Dr. Rashmi Mantri grew up in India. She was taught how to use an abacus to solve math problems when she was a little girl. After noticing her son Dhruv had great difficulty with math，she started emploving the same ancient Chinese tool to help him after school. 

In just six days，Dhruv started to show rapid progress with the abacus. He enjoyed learning on it because it was like a game. He started to learn fast and would go on to become an excellent student in math. Surprised by the progress，teachers asked Dhruv to perform with the abacus at a school meeting，where some parents even came to ask for advice on using it to help their kids. 

Known as the Fifth Invention of Ancient China，the Chinese abacus helped people so lve all kinds of math problems in ancient China and is still used today. People find that using an abacus can also improve thinking and practical abilities. In 2013, the Chinese abacus was officially listed as an intangible cultural heritage of human beings(人类非物质文化遗产). "The abacus becomes a playing tool for younger children. It feels like a game. I think the success comes because children can touch and feel an abacus and picture it in their mind. "said Dr. Mantri. 

Everyone has his or her own experiences and daily routine. Here are three people talking about their daily lives．