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.

There are many holidays and festivals. Dads have Father's Day. Children have Children's Day. Is there a special day for old people?

Double Ninth Festival is a special day for old people in China. It started long ago. The festival is on lunar September 9th. On this day, people show love to their grandparents.

People do many different kinds of things on this day. They enjoy flowers, eat special cakes and drink wine (酒).

It's very interesting. The best way to celebrate it is climbing hills or mountains. People think climbing will bring them good luck and help old people live long lives. Double Ninth Festival is also a good time for a family get-together. And young people give their presents and best wishes to the old.

To Borrow Arrows with Thatched Boats

One day, Zhou Yu ordered Zhuge Liang to make 100,000 arrows（箭）in ten days. Zhou Yu thought it was impossible, but Zhuge Liang said, "Give me three days." Then he asked Lu Su to lend him 20 boats, and the soldiers put some scarecrows（稻草人）in line on the boats. He reminded Lu Su not to tell Zhou Yu what was happening. 

When Lu Su came again to see Zhuge Liang, he found nothing unusual. Nothing happened on the second day, either. In the small hours（凌晨）of the third day, Zhuge Liang invited Lu Su for a boat ride. The 20 boats were tied together with strong ropes. Zhuge's fleet went towards the camp of Cao Cao. The surface of the river was covered with thick mist（雾）all over. People could hardly see each other on the river. When Zhuge's fleet got close to the Cao camp before dawn（黎明）, Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to shout and beat drums heavily to pretend an attack. But Zhuge and Lu Su only sat inside one boat drinking wine to enjoy themselves. 

As soon as the Cao camp heard the shouting and drum beating, they mistook it for a surprise attack by the Zhou Yu camp. Since they could see nobody on the river, they had to order 3,000 soldiers to shoot arrows to stop the unexpected attack. The front of the scarecrows was quickly full of arrows. After a while, Zhuge Liang had his fleet turned around to get the other side of the scarecrows to face the Cao camp. When both sides were full of arrows, the day broke. Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to return. The soldiers shouted in excitement, "Thank you, Cao Cao, for your arrows." After they got back to their camp, they collected more than 100,000 arrows in total from the scarecrows.

Ashley was outspoken, fashionable, and the "Queen Bee" in my school.

I looked up to her and idolized her. I listened to the music 1 listened to, wore the clothes she wore. I even took art class 2 I had really wanted to take theater. I finally fitted in her group.

One day, I walked out of my last class a few minutes earlier to 3 for our group at the dining hall. Concentrating on my homework, I didn't notice they had sat down 4 me. Before I could turn back to say a word, I realized what they were talking about.

I listened 5 . "She's such a loser," one girl said.

Another girl added, "Ashley, she always follows you, trying to 6 you."

"I wish she would leave us alone. We were in the same summer school and now she thinks we're best friends." The once familiar voice sounded so cold and 7 .

I was mortified. My hands were shaking. I couldn't help crying sadly. I felt heart-broken for the very first time. How did this happen? I thought we were 8 .

I ran home. My mother just held me while I sobbed for hours. The 9 she gave was so simple, and I had heard it a million times. "Just be yourself and people will like you for 10 you are." This time it became so 11 . Then and there I decided to find myself back. That was exactly what I did.

Over the next month, I went through a lot of 12 . I bought new clothes that I wanted to wear. I no longer went to 13 class with them, and took theater. I began making new friends. I developed my own opinions and never again followed the crowd.

I had a (an) 14 school year. When I look back, I think it was the year when I discovered the person I was going to be. Despite the pain I felt that day, it was a 15 they had given me. I will never forget about it!

My name is Wang Jialing. My English name is Alice. I'm a 1 in a middle school in Beijing. I have a good friend 2 school. Her full name is Mary Smith. Mary is her3 name and Smith is her family name. She is 4 English girl. She is from Lon- don, but now she is in Beijing with her mom and dad. They are English teachers in our school. Mary and I are in the same class. We often go to school together (一起). She often 5 me with my English, 6 . She wants to learn Chinese well, 7 I often help her with 8 Chinese. Now she can speak some Chinese.

Mary is a 9 girl. Mary likes China very much. Sometimes we talk with each other(互相) in English, sometimes in Chinese. Mary and I often help each other. I'm very happy to make 10 with her.

David was a bit too fat. He went to buy an exercise machine. He tried to 1 some weight(减肥).

At first, he put it in the basement (地下室).2 he did not use it often. He hardly (几乎不) went into the basement.

Next, he moved it into his 3 . But he still didn't use it very often. That's because he would only go into the bedroom when it was time for him to go to 4 . Finally, he moved it 5 the living room. He put the machine next to the 6 . His wife thought maybe this would finally work. He could exercise and 7 outside at the beautiful garden at the same time.

After about a week, his wife 8 David how his exercise was going. He said," Well, yes, I do 9 exercise these days. Every time I want to10 the window, I have to walk around the exercise machine."