Once upon a time, there was a young man who liked puppets (木偶) so much that he became an apprentice(学徒) to a master puppet-maker. Sadly, the young man was not so clever, and his teacher and the other apprentices were always telling him he had no talent for making puppets, and that he would achieve nothing in making puppets.

    Even so, he was fond of it so much that he worked day after day to improve himself. Though he made every effort, they would always find something wrong with his puppets, and the poor puppets ended up being thrown out of the workshop.

    The young man wasn't going to give up, so he decided that from then on he would spend all his time making just one kind of puppet. Whenever he found a fault in his puppet he would throw it away and start again. Years passed, and with each new attempt his puppet became a little bit better. By that time, his puppet was much better than anything that the other apprentices could make, but he kept making improvements. Living like that, the man wasn't making any money, and many people laughed at how poor he was.

    By the time he was an old man, his puppet was truly wonderful. Finally, after so many years of work, he finished work on his puppet, and said, "I can't find anything wrong with it. This time it is perfect." And for the first time in all those years, instead of throwing his puppet away, he put it up on the shelf, feeling truly satisfied and cheerful.

    It is well-known that the perfect puppet, Pinocchio, came to life after that, had a thousand adventures, and gave that old man –whose name was Geppetto—more joy than any other famous puppet—maker had ever got from any of their creations.

Yuju Opera, also called Henan Bangzi, is one of the most popular local operas all over the country.

Its earliest written record can be dated back more than 200 years. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the opera became widely spread across Henan Province. After 1949, it experienced rapid growth. At first, small performances were held in tea houses in the city of Kaifeng. Then it spread not only in the villages and cities of Henan Province but also all over the country. It became the third most popular style of Chinese opera in the country, just behind Peking Opera and Yue Opera.

Yuju Opera is well received by people because it is full of local flavor (风味) of life. At the beginning, it was loved by its simple folk stories and powerful arias (唱腔), without the use of make-up, costumes, or even instruments. As the art spread to other cities, new styles began to develop. Nowadays Yuju Opera is generally divided into four different styles: Xiangfu, Yudong, Yuxi, and Shahe.

There are over 600 pieces of Yuju Opera. The most popular of which are The Command MuGuiying and HuaMulan. While The Command MuGuiying is a folk tale that is not well-known outside of China, the story of Hua Mulan became the classic Disney film Mulan. It tells the tale of a young woman. She defies tradition and takes her elderly father's place in the army by dressing herself as a man. After 12 years of war, she is honored for her service and is able to return home. Mulan was the brave warrior (战士)!

With the popularity of Liyuan Spring and other programs, Yuju Opera also shows its new power and catches more young people's eyes.

Hello, everyone. My {#blank#}1{#/blank#} ( one) name is Peter, and my last name is Smith. I am 12. Four people are in my family. I don't have a sister. I only have a  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. His name is Bill Smith. Our parents are nice and we like  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( they). Bill and I are in the same(相同的) school, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} we are in different (不同的) {#blank#}5{#/blank#}( class). I am in Class 7. He is in Class 6. I like books. I read them {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the evening. I have a collection(收集) of books. It's great! I have 16 books. Seven C {#blank#}7{#/blank#} books and nine English books{#blank#}8{#/blank#}( be) in the box under my bed. Bill doesn't like books. He likes computer games, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} he likes playing them on {#blank#}10{#/blank#} computer every evening.

Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that family members, and particularly(尤其是)their parents, don't know them as well as their friends do. In large families, it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for advice. It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a circle of friends. Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone. This communication is very important in children's growing up, because friends can discuss something difficult to say to their family members. However, parents often try to choose their children's friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends.

My hobby is reading. I read storybooks, magazines, newspapers and many {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(kind) of things that I find interesting. 

I started this hobby {#blank#}2{#/blank#}I was a little boy. At that time, I always wanted my parents {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(read) stories to me. At first, they read stories to me every night. Soon they got{#blank#}4{#/blank#}  (bore) with reading to me. So when I could, I learned to read. I started {#blank#}5{#/blank#}some simple ABC books. Soon I could read some simple stories. Now I read any- thing that I can get. 

Reading is a good way for {#blank#}6{#/blank#}  (I) to learn about many things. I learned about how people  {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(live) in the past. I learned about the space travel, big animals like whales, and many other things in the world. 

The wonderful thing about reading is that I do not have to learn about things in the hard way. 

For example, I do not have to go to the forest to learn about wild tigers. I can read all about them in{#blank#}8{#/blank#} book. 

Books provide {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(read) with a lot of information and facts. They have certainly helped me in my {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(day) life. 

My name is Jack. I'm from England. There is a blue and white building on New Street. Its name is Big Day. My home is in this building. 

In front of the building is a park. Many people are in the park with their dogs. My grandmother is there too. Her dog is brown and white. Behind the building is a hotel. And on the right of the hotel is a theatre. It is not very big. I go there with my parents on Sundays. 

From the building, I can see many shops on New Street. There is a big bookshop on the right. It's my aunt's shop. There is a flower shop on the left. I like flowers. The flowers in my room are all from that shop. 

And there is a bus station near the building. Many buses come every day. My parents take the bus to their offices and I take the bus to school too. It's very convenient to live here.