A hobby can be almost anything that a person likes to do in his spare time. Hobbyists raise pets, watch birds, paint pictures, play the piano and grow flowers. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They collect everything from books to butterflies and from boxes to stamps.

    People take up hobbies because these activities offer enjoyment, friendship and relaxation. Hobbies help people relax after a long time of hard work, and provide a balance between work and play. Hobbies offer interesting activities for the old. Some hobbies can make a child grow as a person, develop his interest and help him learn new skills. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Doctors have found that hobbies are useful in helping patients recover from illness. Hobbies give patients who can't move around something to do, and provide interests that keep them from thinking about themselves. Many hospitals treat patients by having them take up interesting hobbies. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    In early times, most people were too busy making a living to have many hobbies. But some persons who had spare time did enjoy hobbies. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} People today have more time than ever before for hobbies. Machines have now reduced much time that people must spend on their jobs.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Those who have developed hobbies never need to worry about what to do with their newly-found free time hours.

    Sir William Osler, a famous Canadian doctor expressed the value of hobbies by saying, “No man is really happy or safe without a hobby.”

A. More people retire(退休) at an earlier age than before.

B. Hobbies can also help a patient to keep healthy.

C. The ancient Egyptians played games with balls made of wood.

D. They also go to concerts, climb mountains, go fishing, skate and swim.

E. Anyone, old or young, sick or well, rich or poor, can follow a good hobby, in spite of his age, health or money

F. As some hobbies have become less popular.

    Look! This is my dog. His name is Cody. He is two years old. He is brown. This is his hair. It is gray. Isn't it beautiful?

    Hi, this is my telephone. It is called Mini. It is yellow. I like it a lot. You can call me at 85567789.

    Have you ever thrown an old mobile phone? And do you know that there's a mobile phone throwing competition in Finland every year?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}This sport has been around since 2000 though the first national championships took place in Norway in 2004.

    In order to recycle old mobile phones, the town of Savonlinna in southeast Finland holds a Mobile Phone Throwing Competition every year.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    While competitors cannot throw their own phones, the competition organizers provide hundreds of mobiles to choose from.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Last year's winner Ere Karjalainen set a world record with his 101.46m throw. As a prize, he got a chance of drinking and practiced again as his preferred training methods.

    Those without a strong throwing arm can enter the freestyle competition.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}A three-person jury (评委) gives scores from one to six, and the thrower with the highest number of points wins.

    Once all the day's phones have been thrown, they are taken to a recycling center. They will not be wasted as rubbish.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Anyone who offers his phone will have a free chance to take part in the competition while those who don't need to pay eleven dollars per person or five dollars for children of 12 and under.

A. So the organizers encourage people to give away their phones that can't work at all.

B. Then people throw as far as possible from the throwing area.

C. During the competition, the style of the throw are judged (判断) rather than the distance.

D. It may sound crazy to you, but it's actually been developed into a sport.

E. And people can have a little fun from the games.

    Recently，a very simple question became widely spread online: What China should be proud of？{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Lanlan, whose real name is Negar Kordi, is from Canada.She came to China five years ago and is a student at Ningbo University．Now she has 120,000 fans on the Internet and the number is still growing.

    Lanlan loves China.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    “It is the easiest country in which to find a job．If you are not too lazy, it is really very simple to find a job in China. I believe there're more job chances here than in any other country in the world.”

    “{#blank#}3{#/blank#}About 400million Chinese are studying English．If they can speak good English in the future, China will have the greatest number of English speakers of any non-English speaking country.”

    “The speed of Chinese trains is fast. From Ningbo to Beijing, the train runs 1, 365kilometers for seven hours and the ticket fare is only 595yuan.”

    “Its public security is great.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} I have travelled in many countries，and I think China really is very safe.”

    “There are much more things China should be proud of. Many Chinese people often complain about China. At first, I believed that they didn't like China or that they loved western countries. But later, I realized that they just set a very high standard for China.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Actually, China must be much better than other countries.”

A．The foreign language level is surprising．

B．This country of 1.4billion people makes me feel safe．

C．A foreign girl living in China gave a very touching answer．

D．They believe that it's not enough to be number one in the world．

E．She believes China will be the strongest country in the world in future．

    Chris is not a traditional explorer(探险者)— he usually works in an office for a large organization. Yet his job can sometimes be just as exciting and dangerous as being an explorer.

    Chris works for MSF, an organization also known as Doctors Without Borders (无国界医生). MSF sends trained doctors all over the world to help people after a war or a disaster. Chris is a doctor from France who has travelled to many places to organize programmes that help people.

At the moment, there are over 27,000 trained doctors and nurses taking part in MSF projects and tasks. The organization received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. All kinds of doctors can volunteer for MSF. They need to be prepared to go almost anywhere in the world and, of course, they should expect difficult conditions. Doctors with experience in tropical(热带的)diseases are especially useful because most of MSF's work is in Africa. When MSF accepts a doctor for a task, he has to go for at least six months. When doctors have completed a few tasks, they might be sent on an emergency task following a disaster, such as an earthquake.

    But why would a doctor leave a comfortable life and a good pay to join MSF? According to Chris, the experience you gain is a great help in your work. Besides, just like the explorers of the past, you need to keep an open mind and learn to get on well with the people you meet. Above all, at the end of each task, you have made a real difference to people's lives.