My Family Is Very Poor
    A little boy comes to a new city. His name is Peter. Of course（当然）, he lives with his mother and father. His family is very rich（富裕的）. They have a driver（司机） and a lot of servants（仆人）.
    Peter is going to a new school. On the first day his parents say to him, "peter, be modest（谦虚的）at your new school. Don't say we are rich. "And Peter says, "Yes, Dad, mom. ”
    So Peter goes to school. He sees his new teacher. And he sits down with the other children. The teacher says. “Good morning，children. The first exercise today is a composition（作文）. The topic（题目） of the composition is "My Family".So every child writes a composition. This is Peter's composition:
  “My name is Peter. My family is very poor（贫穷）. Both my father and my mother are very poor. Our driver is very poor and all the servants are poor…”

    Bob is an artist. He owns a house in New York. One afternoon when he drives home from work, his three children are playing in the garden. Some of his flowers are broken. The door of his wife's car is open, and the front door of the house is open, too.

    When he walks in the house, his house is messy. In the living room, the TV is on. Toys and clothes are everywhere. In the kitchen, dirty plates and bowls are in the sink(水槽). Breakfast food and dog food are everywhere. A broken glass is under the table.

    Bob runs fast and looks for his wife. He worries about her. Is she sick? He finds her in the bedroom. She is staying in the bed and reading a book. She looks at him and smiles.

    Bob ask, “What's up today?”

    She again smiles and answers, “You always ask me what I do today when you come home.”

    “Yes.” Says Bob.

    “Today I don't do it.” She smiles again.

    Mo Yan was born in 1955 in Gaomi, Shandong. His real name is Guan Moye. Mo Yan is his pen name. It means “no speaking”. Mo Yan's parents are farmers.

    When he was young, Mo Yan had to leave school and start to work, first as a farmer and then in a factory. In 1979 he married Du Qinlan. Two years later, their only daughter Guan Xiaoxiao was born. Xiaoxiao likes literature (文学) very much. She is a famous writer like her father.

    In 1981, Mo Yan's first novel (小说) Falling Rain on a Spring Night came out. His works — Red Sorghum Clan, The Republic of Wine, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and Frog are very famous. Mo Yan won many prizes (奖). In 2012, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    Kate, Jack and Sam are good friends. They are in the same school.Kate and Jack are classmates. But Sam is in a different grade－Grade Three. They often do sports or play games after school.

    This evening Jack is going to Sam's birthday party and he is going to give him a new book for his birthday because he likes reading very much. Kate wants to go to the party, too. But she has to stay at home because her mother isn't feeling well. She asks Jack to take a present to Sam for his birthday. She wants to give Sam a different present, so she gives him a very mice new pen.

    Jack walked up to Sue and said, “Hello, how are you? May I sit and talk with you for a moment?” “Of course, please sit down,” Sue said. Jack sat down next to Sue on the bench (板凳), and they talked quietly together. The dog continued to look up at Sue, as if（似乎) waiting to be given some food.

    “That's a nice dog, isn't he?” Jack said, pointing at the animal.

    “Yes, he is. He's handsome. He's strong and healthy.”

    “And hungry,” Jack said. “He hasn't taken his eyes off you. He thinks you've got some food for him.”

    “That's true,” Sue said. “But I haven't.”

    They both laughed and then Jack said, “Does your dog bite（咬）anyone?”

    “No, ”Sue said, “ He's never bitten（咬）anyone. He's always gentle and friendly.”

    Hearing this, Jack decided to hold out his hand and touched the animal's head. Suddenly it jumped up and bit him.

    “Hey!” Jack shouted. “You said your dog didn't bite.”

    Sue answered in surprise, “Yeah, I did. But this is not my dog. My dog is at home.”

    Zheng He, the Columbus of the East, was an amazing man.

    He was born in 1371 and, 11 years later, was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his new government.

    The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships may have even reached South America and Australia.

    Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50 000 kms during the years of his travels. With 28 000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses, Zheng He led a fleet whose size would not be equaled by Europeans for over 500 years.

    On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and jewellery, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

    It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He's travels. After he died in 1433, the new king, who believed these trips were unlucky and too expensive, had them stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of the great Zheng He.