Twenty years ago, my father, John, wanted to be a businessman. He wanted to be rich. So he worked very hard and every day he went home very late.

    One night when he came home from work, a robber stopped him and wanted to take his money. My father was very afraid. He didn't want to lose his money. But he didn't know what to do. Luckily a policeman came and caught the robber. My father thanked the policeman politely.

    Now my father is a policeman. He wants to help other people.

   Phil White has just returned from an 18,000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making thisepic journey. First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did. He raised £70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam. White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world. He is still waiting to find out whether he has broken the record or not.

   White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June, 2004 and was back 299 days later. He spent more than 1,300 hours in the saddle (车座) and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains. He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe first, and then the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and finally the Americas. Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team. No jeep carrying food, water and medicine. No doctor. Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.

   The journey was lonely and desperate at times. He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need. There were other dangers along the road. In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to get away with the little money he had. The worst thing that had happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia. For 1,000 kilometers he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him. This part of the trip was slow, hard and depressing, but he made it in the end. Now Mr. White is back and wants to write a book about his adventures.

    There are some skills for students to listen to the teachers in class, which means you're going to have to practice them. Just as you would have to practice basketball to be a better player, you also have to practice listening. How to listen in school? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One of the things you'll need to do is to make sure that your mind doesn't wander(漫游). It's easy to start thinking about other things, especially when you are not interested in the subject. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

   Next, listen for the main ideas. If you want to catch every little piece of information, you'll feel tired and bored. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Not only does this show respect to the teacher, it also helps prevent your mind from wandering. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Or it could just be someone talking to their neighbors who shouldn't be, it can even be some birds outside the classroom window, or a group of kids who are talking loudly as they pass the door to your room.

    Finally, you need to take notes because you will not remember everything the teacher said. You'll have to take down the notes so that you can study it after class. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Listening isn't always easy, but if you follow these simple steps, you'll be much more successful in your classes.

    We're lucky. We have a good class{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(monitor) His name is Bob. He{#blank#}2{#/blank#}do many things. Every day he{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(run) to school. He runs really fast! In class he can{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(answer) any{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(question). He can write English,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(China) and Russian. He can play a lot of{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(sport) like basketball, football and table tennis. But he{#blank#}8{#/blank#}swim. He{#blank#}9{#/blank#}strong and can eat four bowls (碗) of noodles at lunch. He{#blank#}10{#/blank#}eat six apples at a time.

Genevieve Moss has serious hearing loss. Her world has always been silent. Alone in a town in England, she often felt lonely.

Then one day in April in 2021, something stopped Moss as she read the local newspaper. It was a photo of a tiny black-and-white cat. A family was looking for a home for their last newborn cat. Moss fell in love with it at first sight and contacted the family. Soon, the cat came to Moss's house. Moss called the cat Zebby because his colors looked like those of a zebra.

Moss once heard of studies showing that pets can help people deal with loneliness. However, she had no idea that Zebby would become her helper and her ears. From their first night together, Zebby has slept next to her. When he hears noises in the dark, he jumps up. "He became my night watch cat," Moss said. "Sometimes he would run around the room until I woke up."

After several weeks, Moss noticed that whenever her phone rang or someone knocked at the door, Zebby would touch her lightly. It wasn't long before the cat took on another task: collecting Moss's mail. Now whenever he hears the mailbox being opened, he runs towards it, carries the mail in his mouth and drops it at Moss's feet.

This past May Zebby was named Britain's National Cat of the Year by Cats Protection. According to the largest cat charity, Zebby beat out about 3,000 other cats because of the many ways he makes Moss's life easier. He has had no training at all, but his natural abilities seem to have told him that his owner needs his help.

"Zebby has made my house a home," Moss said. "I can hardly imagine not having Zebby in my life now."

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, do you eat mooncakes? Do you know that the history of mooncakes is related to two wars?

In the Tang Dynasty, there was an emperor (皇帝) named Li Shimin. Once, his army won a war and returned {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the Mid-Autumn Day. While Li was celebrating with his army, a Tibetan trader (吐蕃商人) gave him some round{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (cake) as a gift. Li was happy and{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (send) these cakes to his soldiers. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} that, these round cakes became popular. Many people ate {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(they) during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Later, the cakes were named as "mooncakes". 

Zhu Yuanzhang was the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ended the Yuan Dynasty through an uprising (起义). When he organized the uprising, it was difficult to send messages {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(secret). One of his friends came up with{#blank#}7{#/blank#}idea. He gave mooncakes with a note hidden inside of them to other people. The note read, "Uprising on the fifteenth night of the {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(eight) lunar (农历的) month." After the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (success) uprising, Zhu gave mooncakes as gifts to his people. Since then, it {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (be) a custom to eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.