Many expressions that we use in American English come from novels. Today we will look at some of them from Lewis Carroll's famous novel "Alice in Wonderland" in detail.

    The story is about a young girl falling down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world and meets some strange characters.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit, who runs past her and says some strange words. Alice chases（追赶）him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, chasing a white rabbit means chasing an impossible clue and finding yourself in a misleading situation.

    Then, as she runs after the rabbit, she falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

    To fall down the rabbit hole can mean to enter a confusing（令人困惑的）situation. However, usually we use this expression to mean we get interested in something to the point of distraction（分神）.It often happens by accident and is about something not that meaningful.

    Later in the story, Alice meets the March Hare and the Hatter at a crazy tea party. Hares（野兔）have long been thought to behave excitedly in March, which is their mating（交配）season. Scientifically, this may not be true. But to be mad as a March Hare means that someone is completely mad, or crazy. The expression mad as a Hatter also means to be completely crazy. Of the two, mad as a Hatter is more common. But don't tell the March Hare. Who knows how he will react（反应）！

    Near the end of the story, Alice meets the Queen of Hearts. A woman who is called a Queen of Hearts likes controlling others and always tries to control everything and everyone around her.

    The Notting Hill is only a small area in west London, but the Notting Hill Carnival (诺丁山狂欢节) attracts millions of people from all over the world to have fun. The carnival is at the end of August each year, and the main days are Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

    The festival started as a local West Indian event, but from a small procession (游行) through the streets of Notting Hill, it's a huge multi-cultural arts festival now. In fact, it is the largest street carnival (嘉年华会; 狂欢节) in Europe. Only the Rio Carnival in Brazil is bigger.

    At the heart of the festival is a spectacular (壮观的) parade (游行). The carnival route (路线) is three miles long and hundreds of groups move along it. There's music, decorated floats, elaborated costumes and dancing. There are also live stages where artists from all over the world perform, but there is a lot more to the festival than just music. There are 300 food stalls selling international food so you can't get hungry. There's theatre, arts and crafts, too.

    You can sing and dance or you can just watch. But there's no need to be quiet.

    You can buy whistles and blow them to make lots of noise! The Notting Hill Carnival welcomes visitors and tourists.

Anna's coat is too small. She goes shopping with her mother on Sunday. They go into a clothing shop first (首先). She wants to buy a new coat. Anna finds a green coat in the clothing shop. She likes it very much. She tries it on, but it's too small for her. She wants a big one, but the big one is not green. She isn't happy. Then she wants to go to another (另外的) shop to have a look. Then they find a new shop. The shop is big. There they see many kinds of coats in different colors and sizes (尺码). Anna tries on a green one. It looks nice on her. Anna is very happy. She takes it for fifty yuan.

This is Xu Kexin. 1 English name is Lisa. She is thirteen years old. She2 from Shanghai. She is a student in No. 1 Middle School. She is in Class Five, Grade Seven. She likes reading . Look, she is 3 a book in the library. Her father's job is at a police station. He is a 4 . Her mother teaches English. She is 5 English teacher in the school. 

A man in Shanwei in eastern Guangdong Province rented 12 trucks to protect his restaurant against typhoon Saola, which became a piece of hot news.

The restaurant is just over 100 {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(metre) away from the sea,but it did not experience any loss from Saola, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. "The tall, huge and strong trucks can protect the restaurant from the typhoon,"said the restaurant owner, Mr Lin. Lin even loaded mud（装载泥浆）onto the trucks to make {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(they) heavy enough to keep strong when the typhoon came. Typhoon Saola resulted in a rainstorm in Shanwei. 68{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lucky),it did not do any harm to his restaurant.

These trucks cost Lin {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(much) than 20,000 yuan. Some people thought it was unnecessary to protect the restaurant by {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(spend) so much money on the trucks. However, Lin {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(believe) it was valuable. This was not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}first time for Lin to use trucks to protect his restaurant. Lin also saved his restaurant with 12 trucks during the earlier typhoon Doksuri {#blank#}8{#/blank#}August. He said he would do the same {#blank#}9{#/blank#}next typhoon comes.

After learning that Saola was gradually leaving, Lin decided to return the trucks {#blank#}10{#/blank#} reopen the restaurant.

What makes a true friend? I think a true friend {#blank#}1{#/blank#} always be ready to help others. I didn't believe it until (直到……才) one thing happened to me when I was eight years old.

My friend Wang Zhenhui always listened to his mother, and he never {#blank#}2{#/blank#} his mother's rules. But I was different. I didn't think it was {#blank#}3{#/blank#} for my mother to teach me everything. Wang Zhenhui knew all about that, but he said {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to me.

One day, Wang Zhenhui invited me to watch a movie. I liked it very much, so I went to the cinema with him happily. The movie was about the love {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a mother and a son. It really touched my{#blank#}6{#/blank#}. After watching it, I started to knowhow great the love of the mother was. I fel sorry for no listening to my mother before decided to think more about my mother {#blank#}7{#/blank#} about myself. After I told him my plan, Wang Zhenhui smiled and said, "This movie is really great. That's a good choice for {#blank#}8{#/blank#} you and me."

Suddenly, I knew{#blank#}9{#/blank#} we were at the cinema. I realized (意识到) a true friend is helpful. It's {#blank#}10{#/blank#} good to have a friend like Wang Zhenhui.