This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. As I searched the name, I found that there were two famous people having the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts（花生）, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice: let the coin decide. I flipped(掷) a coin and Ah! Tails (背面)! My report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.

    Weeks later, I stood in front of the classroom and proudly read my homework. But things started to get strange. I looked around the room, only to find my classmates with big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes and my stone-faced teacher. I was completely lost. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”

    Oh well, I dropped the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American War of Independence.” The whole world became quiet! How could I know that my teacher meant that George Washington?

    Of course, my subject result was awful. Sad but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to the headmaster Miss Lancelot, but she said firmly(坚决地): No re-dos; no new score. I felt that it was not fair, and I believed I should have a second chance. So I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, I sat in the headmaster's office again, but this time a completely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the terrible moment at the beginning of the year when the headmaster told me I was good enough to skip(跳过) the 6th grade and started the 7th grade next term.

    Treasure hunts have excited people's imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues found in a book when he wrote a children's story, Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out Williams buried(埋) a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of "red herrings", or false clues, to mislead them.

    Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic(逻辑), not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words: "One of Six to Eight" under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VⅢ's six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in miss leading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea came to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he saw two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been build in her honor in 1773.

    Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that be decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth £3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.

Experiencing China

Li Hua：Lily，welcome to Chengdu!Did you watch the opening ceremony（开幕式） of the 31^st Chengdu FISU World University Games on July 28th？

Lily：Of course. It was so amazing that I was{#blank#}1{#/blank#}surprised at it!When sportsmen and sportswomen from home and{#blank#}2{#/blank#} came to show at the opening ceremony，audiences burst into cheers. 

Li Hua：What's more，they weren't the only ones that appeared in it. Students from many universities in Sichuan {#blank#}3{#/blank#}to work for it without being paid. Most of them{#blank#}4{#/blank#}service and comfortable environment for these sportsmen and sportswomen. 

Lily：I agree with you. They worked and danced tirelessly and excitedly that night. Because of their support ，the opening ceremony was held very{#blank#}5{#/blank#} . 

Li Hua：That's right. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}at the opening ceremony were also wonderful. Many young people danced and sang for it. Sichuan Opera Face changing also appeared. 

Lily：I watched that. It's an{#blank#}7{#/blank#}opera with over hundreds of years' history. However，its history is {#blank#}8{#/blank#}longer than that of the Golden Sun Bird which had been put at the Jinsha museum. 

Lily：You mean the Golden Sun Bird. I know that. When the main torch was lit by torchbearers（火炬手），four golden birds and the sun also{#blank#}9{#/blank#}brightly. 

Li Hua：Because it symbolizes hope and brightness，we{#blank#}10{#/blank#}it as the logo（徽标） of the sports event. Moreover，I hope you can have a good trip in Chengdu!

Li Hua：Thanks!

I want to tell you something about my weekend. 1 Saturday morning, I usually get up very early. It is about 8:00 a.m. I often run with my father around my apartment (公寓). After I 2 my breakfast, I often go shopping with my mother. The shopping centre is far from our home, 3 we go there by bus. We spend about 20 minutes 4 there. The shopping centre has a 5 name. It is called Louis Mall. It doesn't have 6 Chinese name.

There are many things there, such as food, meat, clothes, shoes and so on. There 7 lots of people every day. Do you know 8 so many people come here to buy things? Let 9 tell you. The 10 there always smile. How kind they are! If you come to my home, I can take you there and have a look.