Mary is an American girl. She is now in Beijing with her parents. She doesn‘t know Chinese, but she is trying to study and speak it .She often tries to speak Chinese to her Chinese friends. Sometimes they don't understand (理解 )her, because she can't speak Chinese well.

    It's Saturday morning. Mary goes out. She is on her way to the park. She is going there to see a flower show But she doesn't know how to get there. She asks a Chinese boy. The boy can't understand her. Then she takes out a pen and some paper. She draws some flowers on it, gives the picture to the boy and says something about it. The boy smiles and then shows ( 指 ) Mary the way to the park.

    John gets up early from Monday to Saturday, because he must go to school before 7:30 on weekdays and go to the Drawing Club at 8:00 on Saturday mornings. He usually goes to the bookshop on Saturday afternoons, and after supper he watches TV until(直到) midnight.

    He doesn't get up early on Sundays. John's parents both work on Sundays. John always watches TV after he gets up. Then he usually goes to KFC to have a hamburger and some juice for lunch. After that, he goes back home and starts to play computer games until his parents come back. He does his homework after supper. He usually has lots of weekend homework, so he must spend three hours on it. He usually goes to bed at about 11:00 p.m. on Sundays. He often complains(抱怨) he has too much homework to do.

    Once upon a time in Greece, there lived a young man called Narcissus. He lived in a small village on the sea and was famous in the land because he was quite handsome. Villagers would turn up on the streets to stare at the beautiful child.   

    When he grew up, people always said "How handsome Narcissus is!" Villagers thought that Narcissus could not be any more handsome than he already was. But as years passed Narcissus became a teenager. His beauty grew and became so great that he was known all over country of Greece.

    As he grew, Narcissus was very proud of his good-looking face.

    "Oh! You are so handsome, Narcissus!" Narcissus said one day as he looked into a pool. "There's nobody more handsome in the whole world! I'd love to kiss you. And that's just what I'll do!"

    He leaned closer to the water. Suddenly he lost his balance and fell into the pool.

    Narcissus tried to reach the bank of the pool, but he could not swim and he drowned.

    There was a time when no one knew the name Harry Potter. Now the adventures of this extraordinary student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are read in over 45 languages, including Russian, Thai, and even ancient Greek. No one can explain the Harry Potter phenomenon (现象) – not even J.K. Rowling, his creator.

    J.K. Rowling was born in England in 1965. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a writer. When she was 6, she wrote her first story—about a rabbit that gets sick. At school, she used to make up stories to tell her friends.

    After graduation from college, she worked as a secretary. But she didn't give up her dream.She spent her lunch hour writing stories, mainly for adults. Then in 1990, on a train trip to London,she got the idea from the boy wizard. She says he just appeared in her head. She soon created many other characters to help Harry fight the forces of darkness.

    She kept working on the story while she was teaching English in Portugal, where she married, had her first child, and divorced (与……离婚) a year later. When she returned to England, she brought back a box of Harry Potter stories.

    After returning home, she was broke and living in a small house. She continued writing, and in 1995, finished the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was published (出版) in 1997 and became an unexpected bestseller.

    Rowling's life has changed a lot. She has become internationally famous and now earns around $40 million a year. She remarried, had a second child and lives in Scotland now.

Li Hua and Wang Tao are two students of Class 4, Grade 7. They both like sports. Li Hua is a basketball fan. His favorite sport is playing basketball. Yao Ming is his favorite basketball player. He wants to be a basketball player like Yao Ming when he grows up. Li Hua is on the school basketball team now. Every Friday afternoon, Li Hua plays basketball with his classmates after class.

Li Hua's friend Wang Tao isn't good at basketball, but he is very good at soccer. Ronaldo is his favorite soccer player. Wang Tao is on the soccer team. He plays soccer with his teammates (队友) every Tuesday afternoon.