Vienna is a beautiful old city on the River Danube in the center of Europe. It's the capital city of Austria and the center of European classical music. In the 18th century a lot of musicians came to study and work in Vienna.

    In the Strauss family, there were two composers called Johann Strauss: the father and the son. The father, Johann Strauss the elder, wrote and played music for traditional dances, called the waltz. His dance music made him famous all over Europe. The son, Johann Strauss the younger, was also very successful and popular. He wrote over 150 waltzes. In 1866 he wrote The Blue Danube waltz.

    Mozart was another very important composer. He was born in Austria in 1756. Before he was six, he played not only the piano but also the violin. His family took him around Europe and he gave concerts in many cities. He wrote hundreds of wonderful pieces of music. But he became very poor and died in 1791 when he was only 35. Like Johann Strauss, father and son, he was a great European musician, and many people still think his music is perfect.

    I am a Chinese middle school student. I am 1 . I am in Class Three Grade Seven. I go to school by 2 every day.

    I live in Beijing. There are four people in my 3 . They are my father, my mother, my 4 and I. My father is a manager and my mother is a secretary in 5 office. My sister and I are 6 school.

    There are some 7 in my city. And there are many trees in front of 8 buildings. There is a garden 9 my house. There are many flowers in it. I like them very much. There is a playground near my home. I often 10 football in it.

    You can always see some park workers dressed as movie or cartoon characters(角色) in some theme parks(主题公园）like Disneyland. We call them costumed characters. What is it like to be a costumed character at a theme park?

    Dave Jackson has this interesting job. He works as a costumed character in Disneyland. There are always so many visitors in this park. Every day Dave puts on a Mickey Mouse suit and plays with the visitors to make them happy. Many visitors, especially the young children, take photos with him.

    Some people may think his job is quite easy. But in fact, it's sometimes a little difficult. First of all, the costumes are very heavy. And it's difficult to go to the washing room with a heavy costume. Second, the space he works is very small, so he usually gets tired after standing there for a long time. What's more, the most difficult part is working in hot weather! He alwayssweats a lot, and the sweat can run into his eyes.

    "My job is not easy, but it is also great fun." says Dave. "Looking back, I must be in quite a lot of people's family photos. It is really cool.

Today I turned eight. Today whatever I say goes. 

My grandma is cooler than most grandmas and laughs a lot,1 is the exact opposite. He's that old and serious. "Kids are impolite these days, and have no 2 ." he always says. "All they do is playing video games all the time." But I 3 play video games on weekends!

Anyway, the minute we park on the driveway, I get out and run straight to Grandma 4 Dad, who's still on the phone dealing with his business in the car as usual. "Happy birthday, honey!" Grandma holds me into her arms and says 5 that she's made my favorite chocolate cake.

And then I 6 Grandpa, who is asleep in a rocking chair, snoring （打鼾） like thunder. Can you believe it? On his only grandson's birthday! 

"7 , sleepyhead!" I call out. But more snores followed. An angry storm is coming up inside me.

"Oh, it's Parker's 8 !" Grandma calls out to Grandpa. He coughs. It seems to be ages for him to get to his feet and say, "boy, come here." But I don't 9 . 

"You and I," says Grandpa，rising slowly, "are going on a walk." 

"All right." I know what he's about to say: respect the elders, blah blah blah. But to my 10 , he says in a soft voice, "your parents are always very 11 , aren't they?"

"Hold my arms and help me into that chair. "For a second, I stood still. 12 when I see his legs shaking as he bends his knees, I rush over to hold his arms, I set him down nice and slow. "13 ," he says. He's breathing hard, like he's just climbed a mountain.

I sit down next to him. He covers my hand with his warm one. "Tell 14 all about the video game you like," he says. "Then I'll tell you some stories of my own. And we'll both listen to each other and ask good questions. Deal?"

I 15 in disbelief. And for some strange reason, it feels more like my birthday than ever.

It was the last day of school and I planned to travel to my 1  home town. I hadn't seen him for years and this was a good 2  to meet him again.

I was busy at school 3  it was rather late when I came back home. It was already o'clock at night. 4  was running out. After a hurried meal, I left. 5  , I found a taxi very soon. Asking the driver to drive me 6  to the station, I relaxed for a while, imagining what my friend 7 now. I was soon at the station and was sure that I would be able to 8 the train. However, I fell on the way and lost some time. To my complete 9  , when I reached the platform, I saw that the train had just left! It was the last train, so I had to 10  home. How terrible my day was! I even wanted to cry.

My mother was glad to see me back as she had a bad feeling about my 11  . But I was unhappy. I tried to relax 12  and went to bed, but I had a bad night's sleep. The next morning I was very tired. As I was having some bread 13  breakfast, the newspaper arrived. I read over the pages and was shocked to 14  that the train I missed had an accident. How 15  I was that I missed the train!

People can hardly believe that Fred Carey is one of the best students in his class. He used 1 a trouble maker and often drove his teacher mad.

Fred's father died when he was just a 2 boy. Life became 3 for him. His mother had to work to pay for his education. As a result, she was seldom at home. She tried to look 4 him well, but Fred caused a lot of problems for himself and his family. He had no 5 in studying and often got into trouble with the police. Luckily, his mother was very patient and didn't give up 6 him. 7 the end, she made a difficult decision 8 him to a boys' boarding school. Fred hated it at first and caused even 9 trouble. He told his teacher he wanted to leave the school. Even the teacher agreed that Fred was wasting his time.

The headmaster suggested that Fred should have a talk with his mother. "It was exactly 10 I needed." he said. "My mother helped me understand how much she had given to me. She also told me that 11 my father was no longer with us, he was watching me and would always be proud of everything good I had done. That's the time when I decided to change. I realized that since my father 12 , I had been afraid of being alone, and had tried to make my mother 13 more about me."

Now Fred has 14 changed. He has been working hard. How was he able to change? His mother's love helped him to feel good about himself, and as Fred himself says, "15 very important for parents to be there for their children."