Our new neighbours are the Browns. They have two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is Jack and the girl is Alice. Jack is 11, and he is one year older than me. Alice and my sister Nancy are 8 years old.

    At weekends, Nancy and I like to go to play with Alice and Jack. Both Jack and I really enjoy playing computer games. Sometimes the girls join us, but the games they enjoy are different from the ones we like.

    There is a big park near our houses. Sometimes, when the weather is fine, the four of us go for bike rides there. We often stop at the huge playground to have some fun. Jack and I like to play basketball, but the girls prefer to sing and dance.

    Our families often have dinner together. On some days, they come over to our house and on other days, we go over to theirs. Mr Brown and his wife cook really well.

    Nancy and I are very glad to have the Browns next door. It's great to have friends living so near.

    Our dog Abbey died last month. My 4-year-old daughter Lucy missed her a lot and asked if we could write a (A) __________to God to make sure he could (B) look after Abbey well. I told Lucy that I thought we could, and she dictated (口述) these words:

Dear God,

    Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got (C) sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love,

Lucy

    We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Lucy and addressed it to God/Heaven. Yesterday, we received a package addressed "To Lucy" with this note:

Dear Lucy,

    Abbey has arrived in heaven.

    (D) 她不再生病。Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. You don't need to worry about (E) her. She's being looked after very well here. Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. You have a wonderful mother. I send my blessings every day and remember that I (F) __________you very much. (G) By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

    A rabbit is running into its hole. You may ask, "What happened?"

    Well, when a rabbit sees something dangerous, it runs away. Its tail moves up and down as it runs. When other rabbits see this tail moving up and down, they run too. They know that there is a danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has given them a signal.

    Many other animals use this kind of language too. When a bee found some food, it goes back to its home. It cannot tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does a little dance in the air. This tells the other bees to go with it to find food.

    Some animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for example, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs (发出呼噜呼噜的声音) when it is pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning.

    But human beings have something that no animals have—a large number of words about things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other information and to tell or inform other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By writing words down we can remind ourselves of the things that have happened, or send messages to people far away. No animal can do this. No animal has the wonderful power of language.

    No one knows how man learned to make words. As centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

    People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. A very large English dictionary, for example, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not know all of them. The words we know are called vocabulary. We should try to make our vocabulary larger. Read as many books as possible. When we meet a new word, look it up in the dictionary. A dictionary is the most useful book.

Every year the students at Harry's school put on a concert. Their friends and parents go to the concert. Some students sing and dance. Others act in plays.

Harry likes to act. He also likes to write plays. For one concert he wrote a play about a spaceman. He called it Lost in Space. He acted in his play. He was the spaceman.

Harry made his own costume. It was a spacesuit. He used plastic bags to make the pants. He wore a shirt that belonged to his mother. It was an old shirt. It was made of silk. She did not want it anymore.

His shoes were an old pair of his father's. He didn't want them anymore either. They were made of leather.

Harry's helmet was an old motorcycle helmet. 

Harry painted his costume with silver paint. He looked like a spaceman. 

There was only one problem. No one could hear what he said! 

Have you ever heard of Zhang Guimei? She is not only an excellent teacher, but also a great woman in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} heart. Because of her efforts, a lot of girls in the mountains have got a good education and achieved a better {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Zhang Guimei was born in 1957 in Heilongjiang. She went to Yunnan to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} build the less developed area in China in 1975. Eight {#blank#}4{#/blank#} later, Zhang became a teacher. She found that some girls there couldn't get a good education because of their {#blank#}5{#/blank#} families and wrong ideas. She was so {#blank#}6{#/blank#} about them that she wanted to try her best to change their ideas. Unfortunately, Zhang was {#blank#}7{#/blank#} ill in1997. However, she never gave up and then set up Huaping High School for Girls in 2008. Thanks to Ms. Zhang's help, thousands of girl students have been brave enough to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} out of the mountain s in the past14 years.

As we know, Zhang Guimei has devoted her {#blank#}9{#/blank#} life to her educational work. Also, her experiences have {#blank#}10{#/blank#} many people and made them pay more attention to education for the girls in poor areas. What a great woman she is! She is the very person that I admire most.