In many western schools, sports day is a big event. Children take part in competitive (竞争性的)sports and try to break school records and take the first place.

    Sports days, or sports meetings, are usually held in the warmer seasons, either at the beginning or the end of the school year. They are also called field days. Primary school sports days are fun. They usually have activities such as the egg and the spoon race and the sack race. Other events include the skipping race (跳绳) and the three-legged race. In middle and high schools, sports days include many of the common track and field events (田径项目).  They are more serious and competitive than primary school ones.

    Students' parents and other relatives also come to the  school on sports days. They watch children play. Many schools in the West have "mothers and fathers" races for parents to take part in!

    Although sports days are exciting, they also have some problems. According to some reports in the USA, sports days have become too competitive to be good for students. Some parents put too much pressure on the children. Some schools don't have "mothers and fathers" races any more as there is much fighting and cheating.

    Hollywood is a shiny, bright place. It is the movie capital of the world. And it is also one of the tourist destinations (目的地) in America. In 1911 the small, peaceful village of Hollywood in California was voted to become part of Los Angeles (洛杉矶). Today, over 100 years later, this village has grown into the home of one of the most well-known industries in the world — the American film industry.

    With this growth came many well-known symbols. There is the famous Hollywood sign which stands above the hills of the town. The first sign was built in 1923. Then there is the Hollywood Hall of Fame (名人堂), where great actresses, actors and directors leave their footprints or handprints. Norma Talmadge was the first actress to do this in 1927. But the most famous of all is the Oscar Academy Awards. Every spring, a large number of actresses, actors and directors wait excitedly and nervously to find out if they have won an "Oscar". This year was the 85th Oscar Academy Awards. It was held on February 25 in Los Angeles. Ang Lee, a Chinese director, won the Award for Best Director again. It was the second time he had won the Award.

    Nowadays it is the home of films, and thousands of hopeful young actresses, actors, writers and directors still come to "the Dream Factory" every year. But not all Hollywood dreams have been happy ones — as one actress, who later died tragically (悲惨地), said, "Hollywood is a place where they will pay you 500 dollars for a kiss, and 50 cents for your soul (灵魂)."

Hollywood

    Welcome to a day of my life in 2037．I am Li Ming．I work in an office．I don't need to work in the afternoon．At 8：00 in the morning．my robot servant Smart will wake me up．He will cook me a nice breakfast and then drive me to my office．After 10 minutes, I arrive my office．Then a big screen will show me what to do the day．At lunch time，I will have my lunch with some of my good friends in a restaurant．The robots there will make all of the dishes．They are delicious!

    There will be a concert in the center(音乐会)music hall at 14：00．The singers are from all over the world．I will go there with my friends to enjoy many kinds of music．I think we will have a good time．

    At 17：00，we will take the spaceship to the moon．It will take us about half all hour to get there．We will enjoy the hot spring(温泉)on the moon and watch Earth TV News on the dome(穹顶)screen over our head．Then we will go back to the earth at 20：00．About half an hour later，I arrive at my house and say goodbye to my friends．After a shower and a glass of milk，I will go to bed and have a nice dream．

Information Card

    Have you ever ridden a Ferris wheel lately? Can you imagine the flying feeling as you are pulled up to the top and then moved down to the bottom quickly again?

    Today a Ferris wheel is usually 40 to 60 feet tall. That seems very high when you are on the top looking down. But the first Ferris wheel was 264 feet high- taller than a twenty-story building! Can you imagine the view from the top of that?

    The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago. George Ferris handed a drawing of a giant wheel that people could ride on. At first everyone laughed at his strange idea. But Mr Ferris did not give up, and finally the idea was accepted. The ride opened in June of 1893.

    Today's Ferris wheels have 12 to 16 seats, which each carry 2 or 3 people. But that first one had 36 enclosed cars, each holding 60 passengers. When filled, it carried 2,160 people. During that summer in Chicago, about 1.5 million people rode the Ferris wheel.

After the fair, the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel. In 1904, it was moved again一to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the fair there, the wheel stood unused. In 1906, it was finally sold to a company for scrap metal(废金属).

    Luckily a Chicago bridge builder, W.E. Sullivan, figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together. In 1906, he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today.

    But, whenever you ride one, remember that it all began with George Ferris's strange idea!