Wang Shu, a Chinese architect(建筑师), has been working hard at designing buildings with old materials. His buildings are like a history book. Visitors will feel like they are in old times. He was given the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize(普利兹克建筑奖). The award is regarded as the Nobel Prize in architecture. It is given to a living architect, who has made great achievement in this field. Mr. Wang is the first Chinese citizen to win the prize and the fourth-youngest.

    The prize was founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy. It includes a $100, 000 check and a medal. The prize was given to Mr. Wang at a ceremony in Beijing on May 25.

    Mr. Wang's major projects, all in China, include two in Ningbo, a city near the sea. One is the Ningbo Modern Art Museum. It was built up in 2005. The other one is the Ningbo Historic Museum, and it was finished in 2008.

The museums reused materials from the destroyed buildings. They are wonderful to be in photos. You will feel even more exciting if you travel in them. The Ningbo Historic Museum is a city symbol and is like a history book which tells you what life was in the past.   

  “Everywhere you can see, they don't care about the materials, ”  Mr. Wang said in an interview. “They just want new buildings. I think the material is not just about materials. They have people's experience, memory—many things inside. ”

    Some British and American people like to invite friends for a meal at home. You should not be upset if your English friends don't invite you home. It doesn't mean they don't like you.

    Dinner parties usually start between 7 and 8 p.m. and end at about 11 p.m. Ask you hosts(主办人) what time you should arrive. It's polite to bring flowers, chocolates or a bottle of wine(酒) as a gift.

    Usually the evening starts with drinks and snacks. If you want to be very polite, say how much you like the room, or the pictures on the wall. But remember—It's not polite to ask how much things cost.

    In many families, the husband sits at one end of the table and the wife sits at the other end. They eat with their guests(客人).

    You'll probably start the meal with soup or something small, then you'll have meat or fish with vegetables, and then dessert followed by coffee. It's polite to finish everything on your plate and to take more if you want it.

    Did you enjoy the evening? Call your hosts the next day, or write them a short “thank you” letter. British and American people like to say “thank you, thank you, thank you” all the time!

    Nick was born with no arms or legs. There was only a small foot on his hip(臀部). He can't do the easiest things like washing his face or brushing teeth, but he can type, pick things up between his toes (脚趾)and even kick a ball.

    Nick grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He wasn't happy at school because his classmates often laughed at him. At the age of 10, he even wanted to kill himself. But later, he changed. He tried to look at good things around him. When he was 17, a friend encouraged(鼓励) him to give speeches. From then on, he began to travel around the world and give talk about his life. He thinks it can help others. Up to now, he was been invited to more than 50 countries and given thousands of talks.

    Now Nick is 32 years old. He lives in California with his wife, Kanae, and their 2-year-old son.

    When you are sad, think of him. At least you have arms and legs.

    Robert was a greedy（贪婪的）man. One day, he lost 30 gold coins. He went to his friend Mike's house and told him how he lost his gold coins. Mike was kind and decided to help him find them.

    The next day, Mike went to Robert's house and told him he found his 30 gold coins.

    After counting the gold coins, Robert said, "I had 40 gold coins. Ten of them are missing. You must have taken them. And you should pay me back."

    "No, I didn't take them, "said Mike.

    Robert went to court（法庭）and told the judge（法官）what had taken place between him and his friend.

    "How many gold coins did you find?" the judge asked Mike.

    "Thirty, "answered Mike.

    "How many gold coins did you lose?" the judge asked Robert.

    "Forty, "answered Robert.

    "Then those coins are not yours, "said the judge, "for you lost 40, while your friend found 30."

    Then the judge told Mike to take the 30 gold coins home.

    "If anybody reports that they have found 40 gold coins, I will send them to you, "the judge told Robert.

    Then Robert said that he didn't tell the truth and that he lost 30 gold coins, but the judge did not listen to him.

    Always be honest; dishonesty never pays.

    Jim is a young farmer. He was once put into prison(监狱).

    One day, he got a letter from his mother. "I'm so worried about our farm, "she wrote." It's time to plant potatoes. I can't dig(挖)all the fields(田地)by myself."

    Jim read the letter and became sad. "What can I do?" he thought. Then he had a good idea. He wrote to his mother, "Don't dig the fields. There is much money in the earth. Don't plant potatoes until I come home."

    Some days later, Jim got another letter from his mother. It said, "Two days ago, about ten men came to our farm and dug all the fields. I can't understand it. It seemed that they were looking for something. What should I do?"

    Jim smiled when he read his mother's letter. He wrote a letter to his mother at once. It was very short. Guess what it would say.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

    How are you? I am fine. School is out already. On our last day, we went to a museum. It was fun until we all had to run through the rain to get on the bus. Even that was kind of fun, though.

    How was your camping trip? Dad says you're just getting back home this Wednesday. I've been taking good care of Sparky for you. The dog sleeps at the foot of my bed on most nights. He and the cat have even been getting along.

    Dad says to tell you that our yard is looking good this year. We've had lots of rain, especially last Friday— the last day of school

When are you coming to get Sparky? See you soon.

Love,

Kyle

Dear Kyle,

    Our camping trip was wonderful! We've already decided to come here again next year. From Ohio. We drove south to Kentucky. We enjoy looking at rocks, so we had decided to go to Mammoth Cave National Park. I'd never seen so many rocks!

    Each day, we chose a different cave. We saw narrow(狭窄的)places and huge ones. In one cave, we were underground for more than two miles.

    We'll come to get Sparky next weekend, if that's okay.

Love,

Grandma and Grandpa