Michael Jackson is one of the world's best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of the city of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. They started singing in 1965, and became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record with the name of “I Want You Back”. It was very popular. One of their hit records was “Never Say Goodbye”.

Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, and in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒) when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records(吉尼斯世界记录) in 2006. He died on June 25^th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.

    I'm Sam. My hobby is playing chess（棋）—one of the greatest games in the world. My mom taught me how to play when I was 7. She beat (打败) me every time for the first year. But then on my eighth birthday, I won for the first time. I nearly always beat her from then on.

    It takes about a day to learn the rules (规则). But if you want to be good, you have to practice for years. You don't need much to play chess—just a chess set (棋具) and someone to play with.

    Chess sets can be quite cheap, or very expensive. Some people collect chess sets as a hobby, but some prefers playing.

    There is a chess club in our school, and we meet every week to play with each other. I'm the best player in the club, and the captain of the school chess team. This year we won the All English Schools' Championship (锦标赛), and I had to go up on stage (台子) in front of the whole school to accept the trophy (奖品).

    I'm saving up my money to buy a chess computer. It's very expensive, but very good for practice. In that way, I'll always have someone to play with. One day I will be the world chess champion (冠军).

    In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up with the Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.The expressoion was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it "Keeping up with the Joneses" because "Jones" is a very common name in the United States."Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers throughout the country for over 28 years. People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are "Joneses" in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one  does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

    "I am going to the store, Uncle Moti, "Mina said. "Do you want to come along? You have not seen much of the neighborhood yet."

    Uncle shook his head. "No, thank you," he said. "It is just too loud and crowded for me. Everyone is always on the go, while I am used to the peace and quiet of our village. I feel afraid out there, like a frightened (害怕的) child. "Mina sat on the sofa next to her uncle. "Tell me about the village, Uncle Moti," she said. "Would I like it there?"

    Uncle laughed. "Without a doubt, you would find it dull at first-the loudest sound is usually birdsong. The people I meet on the street are all people I know, and we stop and talk or go to the tea shop and have tea. There are not many shops, but the shopkeepers know all their customers. Everyone is friendly and has a smile for everyone else."

    "Sounds really nice," Mina said. "But I think maybe it is not different in every way. I really wish you would come with me, and I could show you why I say that. "Uncle sighed and got up, saying, "All right, Mina, I will go."

    Out on the street, cars zoomed by, some of them honking. Uncle looked very nervous at all the noise and activities, and Mina took his hand.

    "Look," she said, "there is my friend Nate, and coming down the street is my teacher, Ms. Sanchez." Mina waved to Nate, who waved back, and called hello to her teacher. Then she led her uncle down the street to the store, where she greeted the shopkeeper. "Hi, Ms. Franklin, this is my uncle Moti, who has come here to live."

    "Over here," Mina took her uncle's arm and led him across the street. A sign over a door read "Navid's Tea Shop." Uncle smiled. They went in and sat at a table. They ordered tea, and Uncle sighed happily.

    "Well, I see what you were trying to show me," he said. "This neighborhood is your village. Now it will be mine to. It has friends, kind shopkeepers, birds, and even a tea shop…"

    A ship was sailing on the sea. A black boy who worked at the end of the ship fell into the sea and the boy shouted for help. But the wind was too strong, so the people in the boat couldn't hear the sound.

    The boy tried his best to swim in the cold water. He used his power to wave his arms, keep the head out of the water. The boat sailed further and further, and the ship became smaller and smaller. In the end, he could see nothing except for the endless sea.

    His power was used up, he felt he was going to sink. "Maybe I need to give up." He said to himself. At this time, he recalled the memory of the kind and friendly sight of the old captain. "No! The captain must search for me!" he thought. When he thought of that, he was full of power and began to swim.

    Finally the captain found the black child had disappeared. He felt the boy must fall into the sea, so he ordered his ship to return to look for the boy. At this moment, someone said to the captain: "it has passed a long time, he must have been drowned or have been eaten by shark…" and someone else said: "Is it worth to save a black boy like this?" the captain yelled: "shut up…!"At that moment of drowning, the ship arrived and the captain saved the kid. When the boy woke up, the captain asked: "How can you insist on so long time?" the boy answered: "I knew you would save me! I am very sure."

    It is the best lucky thing to believe a person. In this society, maybe we are unwilling to believe something, just because someone ever hurts us badly. Actually, you can believe many things in this world. I still believe that there are more kind people than the indifferent people. To believe or not to believe, it depends on you.

    About twenty of us had been fortunate enough to receive invitations to a film-studio(影棚) to take part in a crowd- scene. Although our "act" would last only for a short time, we could see quite a number of interesting things.

    We all stood at the far end of the studio as workmen prepared the scene, setting up trees at the edge of a winding path. Very soon, bright lights were turned on and the big movie-camera was wheeled into position. The director shouted something to the camera operator and then went to speak to the two famous actors nearby. Since it was hot in the studio, it came as a surprise to us to see one of the actors put on a heavy overcoat and start walking along the path. A big fan began blowing tiny white feathers down on him, and soon the trees were covered in "snow". Two more fans were turned on, and a "strong wind" blew through the trees. The picture looked so real that it made us feel cold.

    The next scene was a complete contrast(对比). The way it was filmed was quite unusual. Pictures taken on an island in the Pacific were shown on a glass screen. An actor and actress stood in front of the scene so that they looked as if they were at the water's edge on an island. By a simple trick like this, palm trees, sandy beaches, and blue, clear skies had been brought into the studio!

    Since it was our turn next, we were left wondering what scene would be prepared for us. For a full three minutes in our lives we would be experiencing the excitement of being film "stars"!