Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.

Only mother's love is true love. It gives everybody everything in all his/her life.

When you are still a baby, mother {#blank#}1{#/blank#} good care of you as much as possible. When you are ill, she stops her work to look after you day and night and forgets about {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. When you are growing up day by day, she feels very {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. When you are old {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to go to school, mother still looks after you all the time. On cold winter {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, she always tells you to put on more clothes. She always stands in the wind waiting {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you back from school. When you leave home for school without breakfast, she feels {#blank#}7{#/blank#} about you at home. She {#blank#}8{#/blank#} knows about your study and spends much money on your school things. When you do {#blank#}9{#/blank#} at school, you will see the smile on her face.

Mother {#blank#}10{#/blank#} always ready to give everything she has to her children, not to receive. What true love that is! Mother's love is the warmest love in the world. We will remember it forever.

They eat wild animals, plants, berries, nuts, and insects. They hunt with bows and arrows. There are lots of dangerous snakes and spiders. It's one of southern Africa's {#blank#}1{#/blank#}places, and there is often no water. Then they have to get water from plants. When they are ill, there {#blank#}2{#/blank#} no hospitals. The people have to get medicine from plants too. 

They are the San, the last people {#blank#}3{#/blank#} in the Kalahari. The San people have another name "bush people". {#blank#}4{#/blank#} lifestyle is very simple, but they know more about animals and plants than most people do. The San people live in small groups of 25-50. They live in huts little "houses". These {#blank#}5{#/blank#} are made of wood and grass. There are no schools for children. Children learn from the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} people in the group. There are lots of things they have to learn so that they can live in a dangerous place like the Kalahari. In the evenings, the group of people often sit around a fire and tell stories. 

The Kalahari is a big area of bushland in the southern Africa. It {#blank#}7{#/blank#} two parts. There is less rain in the southern part than in the northern part, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the south is drier. There are fewer plants and animals there, and it's {#blank#}9{#/blank#} for people to live. But when it rains at the end of the summer, the land becomes greener and more beautiful. For a few weeks, there are {#blank#}10{#/blank#} of little flowers and even butterflies(蝴蝶)!

Hello! My name is Liu Yu. I am thirteen years old. I am from Sichuan and I'm studying in Chengdu, China. My favorite animal is the panda. I like hot pot very much. What is my favorite color? Maybe green. I'm in Grade 7 and I know many new classmates. This is one of my new classmates. Her name is Sally Wood. She is one year older than me. She is an international（国际的）student and she comes from Sydney, Australia. Now she lives in Chengdu with her parents because her parents work here. She likes Chinese food a lot. Her favorite food is Mapo tofu. She likes brown best. Sally and I are good friends. Do you want to make friends with us?