Most children like the summer holiday. It is usually long. During the summer holiday, children like to have a good time outdoors (在户外).

    Jimmy is a 15⁃year⁃old American boy. His summer holiday is coming. It is from July 1st to August 20th. He wants to travel. He usually travels in America, but this summer he wants to do something different. He learns a lot about China on the Internet, so he wants to take a trip to China. He also wants to learn about Chinese history, so he plans to visit Beijing and Xi' an. He is going to leave on August 3rd and take a plane to Beijing first. He plans to stay in the two places for 10 days. During these days, he plans to visit the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors (兵马俑) and Huashan Mountain. He hopes he will have a great time in China. He can't wait!

    Lots of students know what a marathon (马拉松赛跑) is, but perhaps they don't know what a triathlon is. The triathlon is a sport that has three parts - swimming, bicycling and running. It is not an easy sport, but a man named Joe Salter is very good at it. A few months ago, he finished a special triathlon — he juggled (抛起接住) three balls all the time during the triathlon. That is to say, he kept on throwing and catching three balls while he was swimming, riding a bicycle and running.

    31-year-old Joe is from Florida, the USA. He loves juggling and he started at the age of 8. Joe did well in juggling. Later, he got the idea to do a triathlon and juggle at the same time to make it more fun. Many juggling fans laughed at his idea and thought it was just a joke. But Joe didn't give up and he kept practicing it. Because of his hard work, he made it at last.

    Talking about his triathlon, Joe said swimming was the hardest part. “It was difficult and complex(复杂的)," he said. “I basically only used my legs, so it took quite a lot of work. Also, swimming in open water made it a little harder. It was not like in a pool.”

    In 1254, Marco Polo was born in Italy, in the city of Venice. At that time Europeans knew almost nothing about other continents(大洲),except some areas of Asia and Africa(非洲)touching the Mediterranean Sea(地中海).

    In 1271. Marco Polo. His uncle. And his father started a journey to China. For four years they travelled on foot and on camels, across the deserts and through the mountains of Central Asia. Finally they arrived at the city of Kublai Khan(可汗),the Mongol(蒙古)ruler of China at that time.

    In China, Marco Polo found people with a very different culture from his own. He saw a new world with lots of wonders. After leaving China, Marco Polo traveled to Japan, Southeastern Asia, India, and Eastern Africa.

    In 1292-two hundred years before Columbus—Marco travelled back home. The stories of China he brought back quickly spread all over Europe.

    Grandfather always tells Jane stories before she goes to bed at night. Soon, her love for reading grows. She starts borrowing books from the school library.

One day, Grandfather told Jane, "Here, my dear, your birthday is coming. This is a very special book and I want you to have it as your birthday present. I am sure that you will enjoy reading it."

    Jane was excited to get the book. She put down all the other books she had and started reading it day and night. The more she read the book, the more she liked it.

    Soon, she finished the book. She thought it was a great book so she asked Grandfather who the writer was.

    "I wrote the book, my dear," Grandfather said with a smile.

    "This is really a great present!" Jane thought. "I will take good care of it and show it to Baby John when he grows up."