Hi, I'm Gina. In February, 2018 my mother had a yard sale. During the sale, she had a conversation with a young girl called Nancy, for they had a common interest in some books she had for sale. They enjoyed their conversation so much that they exchanged their phone numbers. Later they became friends and got together a few times. When my mom moved into her new house, she had a family dinner and invited Nancy and introduced her to my brother. Five months later Nancy married (结婚) my brother.

In 2018, there was another special "yard sale" that I'll never forget. One day, after work from school, I found one of my neighbors had a lot of things out in their front yard with cars and people everywhere. I ran to the yard at once and wanted to find some good cheap things too before everything good was gone. But then I found out it wasn't a yard sale. In fact, policemen were taking the stolen (被偷的) things out of the house. My neighbor was a thief! Luckily, I didn't ask how much the TV was.

Li Ting is a good girl. She is ten years old. Her parents are very busy. So her grandfather, Mr. Li, cooks(烹饪) breakfast for her. Li Ting loves her grandfather and wants to thank him.

It's Sunday morning. Mr. Li can't find Li Ting in her room. "Li Ting, where are you?" he asks. "I'm here, in the kitchen(厨房)." Then, Mr. Li sees nice noodles(面) with eggs on the table. Sally says to her grandfather, "Dear Grandfather, thank you for your breakfast every day. This is my breakfast for you. I know you like noodles for breakfast very much."

Some volunteers in Egypt（埃及） are teaching the children of refugee(难民 ){#blank#}1{#/blank#} from many African countries.

Chris Rupke teaches at the African Hope School in Ma'adi,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} town near Cairo. Rupke says that some of the children he teaches{#blank#}3{#/blank#}one or both of their parents. Rupke adds that one boy was so badly influenced {#blank#}4{#/blank#}his experience that he was unable to speak. Then, a psychologist（心理学家） at the school got him to draw pictures of everything that had happened before.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}, after {#blank#}6{#/blank#}the pictures and working with the psychologist, the boy started to talk. Now, the boy is much {#blank#}7{#/blank#} than before.

Teacher Jean-Pie has worked at the African Hope School {#blank#}8{#/blank#} 2003.

Jean-Pie said that when he began, he met 6 refugee children under Cairo's bridges and in its public gardens. He tried his best{#blank#}9{#/blank#} them to come to school. At the refugee schools, most classesare taught in English. The students learn Maths, Arabic, Science, etc.

All the teachers there are nice and responsible（有责任感的）. They hope what they have done can really make a big{#blank#}10{#/blank#}to those refugee children.

In old times, people didn't have smartphones or computers to use for fun. Still they had interesting games to play. Let's take a look.

Kites

Kites have quite a long history. In the old story, Mo Di made the first kite. People first used kites to send messages. In the Song Dynasty, kites got very popular with people. Now, Beijing, Tianjin, Nantong and Weifang are the four most important places of kite making.

Cuju

This is old Chinese soccer. The name" Cuju" first came out in the book Records of the Historian by Sima Qian. At first, soldiers played the game as training. In the Song Dynasty the game was all the rage at the time. People across the country loved playing it. Women also played the game.

 Chuiwan

Chuiwan is a ball game. It is a bit like golf(高尔夫). The game got popular in the Song Dynasty, It was still popular in the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. Someone in the Yuan Dynasty even wrote a book called Wan Jing for the game. However, the game got less popular in the Qing Dynasty.

Go

Go, or Weiqi, is a game for two players. It has a history of more than 4,000 years. In the old story, Yao made the game to teach his son. People in old times thought it was a game for gentlemen(绅士).

John is the son of a farm owner. Last New Year's Day, when he was 15 years old, his 1 asked him to work on the farm for one year at his free time. John was 2 with his father's idea. "That isn't my job. I have too much schoolwork to do. "Hearing this, his father said, "I promise to give you the best 3 if you can finish one year's work. " John thought for a while and 4 .

Starting one Saturday, the boy got up early and worked hard until evening, just like any other 5

Time passed quickly. John's crops(庄稼)grew very well. On the 6 day of the year, the father 7 his son to him. "I'm happy to see that you have worked very hard the whole 8 , "said the father. "Now, tell me what you want. "

The boy 9 and showed his father a big piece of bread made from his 10 . "I've already got the best present. No pains, no gains. I think this is what you wanted me to know. "His father was very pleased to hear that. 

On a summer day in 1948, a Swiss man named George de Mestral took his dog for a walk in the mountains. When they came home, George discovered that he and his dog were both covered with burrs (带芒刺的小果实). 

As an engineer, George naturally began to wonder how the burrs stuck (刺入) to his dog and his clothes. Then he looked at them carefully. He found that the burrs had little hooks (钩子), which allowed them to catch on to things like clothes. George realized that he could use this finding to create a new way to fasten (扣紧) things. 

It is a very long journey from the first idea to the final product. It was easy to find materials that could stick together, but finding materials that would continue to do so after years of use was difficult. George tested a very large number of different materials and production methods. After years of research and work, he invented what is known today as Velcro. In 1955, George started Velcro Industries to turn his idea into a product. In a few years, the product became popular around the world. 

Today Velcro is used everywhere. It's used in backpacks, jackets, wallets, children's toys, etc. It even turns up in places you wouldn't expect. For example, Velcro has been used by NASA for astronauts' space suits. The product was also used to hold the heart together during the very first artificial heart transplant (人工心脏移植).