Long long time ago, the Jade Emperor, organized an animal race. He told all the animals that the first 12 animals to win could get a place in the Chinese Zodiac (十二生肖), and have a year named after them.

    The cat and the mouse both asked the ox to wake them up early on the day of the race. That day, the ox tried to wake them up, but without success. So the kind ox carried them on his back and started running when the race began. The mouse woke up just when the ox was going to across the last river. He knew that he could never beat the cat. So he pushed the cat off the ox's back. When the ox reached the other side of the river, the mouse jumped off and ran to the finishing line, just before the ox.

    So the 12-year cycle（循环） begins with the mouse. The ox comes after him. The tiger follows the ox. The rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig come after them. The cat didn't get a place in the Zodiac. That's why the cat hates the mouse and always wants to kill it.

    Pablo's room was never tidy．He liked to put his things everywhere．Nico's room was always tidy and clean．He liked to organize(整理)everything．

    Pablo and Nico had a baby sister one Sunday． ⑴

    "I don't want to stay in one room with Pablo．"said Nico．

    "How can I do anything fun when everything is so clean?"asked Pablo．

    "Find a way to work it out．"said their mother．

    ⑵"It's too clean out there．"he said．But the closet(壁橱)was too dark at night，so Pablo moved back into their room．

    In the second week，Nico put some tape(胶条)on the floor(地板)．"You, stay on your side，"said Nico．But Nico had to cross the tape every day to leave the room，so he took the tape away．

    In the third week，they thought they needed some rules．

    "The first rule is that you can't use my things，”said Pablo.

    "The second rule is that you can't use my things," said Nico．

      ⑶  And at last they thought there was one more thing to do．"We need to paint(用颜料画)in our room!"Lucky for them．they had the same idea about what to paint．

根据材料内容完成下列任务。

    Do you have a vegetable garden? Have you ever watched a seed sprout(发芽) and grow fruit until it became the tomato on your plate? If you go to school in the USA, there is a good chance you have.

    At the moment, nearly 20 percent of schools in the USA have their own vegetable gardens that are planted and cared for by students. Next year, even more schools will have gardens and more USA kids will know the pleasure of growing their own food.

    Much of the growing interest in planting comes from the First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" project, which started in 2010. The First Lady wants to improve children's nutrition(营养) in the USA--and she began her project by planting a garden at the White House with the help of some local kids. The kids were more interested in eating the vegetables from their garden than in eating fast food. This gave the First Lady an idea.

    Because so many USA kids eat breakfast and lunch at school, the food should be healthy and good. Why not let kids grow the food for their own cafeterias (自助食堂)? Mrs Obama's project gives money to schools to start their own gardens, and more school gardens are sprouting up every day.

    Students also use the information from their gardens to study science and math, and they paint pictures of their gardens in art class. Many students choose to work in the garden instead of playing on the playground during their noon break. Sound like fun? Ask your teacher if there's room for a garden at your school, too.

    Jack is in Grade Three now. He is a polite boy and studies hard. He is good at his lessons and can answer all the questions in class. His teachers and classmates like him except Henry. They're deskmates. Henry likes playing and often fails the exams. His father is a dentist (牙医) and makes a lot of money. The boy thinks he lives in the richest family in the town. So he looks down upon (瞧不起) others and laughs at them. Of course he has few friends.

    Jack is busy all the time. His father is a shoemaker. The man works hard but he still can't buy enough food for the family. He tells Jack to help him after school, so Jack has to do all his homework at school.

    One summer afternoon, on his way home, Jack met his sister Lily.

    The girl carried a heavy box in her arms without wearing shoes. Jack carried it for her. Henry saw them and said to Jack, "You father is a shoemaker, but your sister has no shoes!"

    "I don't think it's strange," replied Jack. "Your father is dentist, but your little sister has no teeth!"