It was my first time in the US. I think there is no other country that I have heard so many things about before I visited it. Burgers, big cars, fat people, good wine and fantastic cities. For sure the real experience was quite different. Although you can find all these things there, you will also find many other things to discover.

     In Los Angeles, I stayed at a place where they even produced home-made videos. I always thought in Hollywood only movies with lots of money are produced. But in this place, even parts of the living room were functioned (运作) into a scene. But anyway, this shows what you imagined about a place before arriving might be totally wrong. Now I started to understand the city is not only the place where the big movies are made, it's also where people are crazy about movies, and always try to start a production even if they don't have lots of money. People there just really love movies, they are motivated (调动积极) to give their ideas a try and at least open up a channel online with their home-made stories.

     Of course, there are many other interesting places in Los Angeles. As I stayed only a few days, it was not enough time to see all. But I advise you to have two apps on your smart phone for traveling in America. First is Yelp to find the closest and best restaurant or coffee place. And the other is Uber because especially in Los Angeles, you won't find taxis and everything is so far. You can also drive but it's wise to park your car close to a subway station and go to Hollywood by subway.

    Long long ago, there was a spider. She found a beautiful farm. She liked the farm and decided to live there forever.

    One day, the spider caught a little bug. When the spider ate it，the bug said, "If you let me go, I will tell you an important thing. The thing will save your life." The spider stopped and listened.

    The little bug said," You'd better get out of the farm. The harvest is coming! If you stay here, you will be killed by the farmer's machine."

    But the spider didn't listen to the bug and ate it for lunch. The next day when she was sleeping, the farmer came to have a harvest. The spider was killed by the machine.

Being home to the largest second-hand bookstore in the world, Hay-on-Wye is more than just a small town in Wales — it's a book heaven on the earth.

The history of Hay-on-Wye as the"town of books" began on the April Fool's Day of 1977.A man called Richard Booth jokingly called himself King of Hay and said the town was now a country! Since then, he has succeeded in building a healthy tourism industry about books. Today thousands of visitors come to Hay-on-Wye every year to look for whatever books they need.

Before Booth's great idea, Hay-on-Wye was a slowly dying town having less than 2, 000businesses. The king of Hay-on-Wye opened his first bookstore in 1961, and later encouraged his friends in the trade to come to Hay. After a few. years, he filled almost every building with books. Hay-on-Wye now has over thirty bookshops, many selling second-hand books, which has made the town pleasant for book collectors.

Hay-on-Wye has its special honour with over one million books sold here every year. Unlike other book dealers(交易商), Richard Booth doesn't centre on any one topic. He buys any type of books believing that every book is valuable and someone in the world wants it. Book lovers from all over the world come to Hay-on-Wye because a large number of books here are at low prices.

Since 1988, Hay-on-Wye has also been the place for a famous literary(文学) festival, now supported by The Guardian, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to see and hear big literary names from all over the world.

Once a dying small town, Hay-on-Wye is now a pleasant tourist town, with ten percent of its population working in the book business, and local businesses benefiting(得益于) from the waves of

tourists coming here in search of books.

Zac and I were always best friends. We both started playing football from an early age. Zac was bigger than me and it was difficult to score a goal when he was in front of me. I was faster, though. Once I got past him, he couldn't catch me.

There were two under-17 teams. The first team was the Springtown Stars. They played the most important games. The other was the Springtown Asteroids. They were also a good team but not as good as the Stars. Zac and I were proud to be in the Stars!

It was time for the coach to name the team for the season. Zac's name was called out but mine wasn't. I went to check the list on the board. I could hardly believe my eyes! How could the coach make such a mistake? I was as good as Zac. What pain I felt! I lost my place in the Stars. After that, I had to practise with the Asteroids but I didn't enjoy it. I played so well, yet no one understood this. I began to despise (鄙视) Zac and the coach. However, one Saturday, I watched the Stars play against another team. I thought they wouldn't play well without me, but I was wrong. I began to see that they had great teamwork and skills. Zac was especially good. He had worked harder than me and was much better now. Perhaps I was not as good as I had thought. As he left the field, I gave him a big high five, "Zac, you are great! I will be back to the Stars next season."

When I was in fourth grade, I worked part-time as a paperboy. Mrs.Stanley was one of my customers. She'd watch me coming down her street, and by the time I'd biked up to her doorstep, there'd be a cold drink waiting.

I'd sit and drink while she talked. Mrs. Stanley talked mostly about her dead husband,"Mr.Stanley and I went shopping this morning." she'd say. The first time she said that, cola went up my nose.

I told my father how Mrs. Stanley talked as if Mr.Stanley were still alive. Dad said she was probably lonely(孤独的)， and that I should sit and listen and nod my head and smile, and maybe she'd go out from her sadness. So that's what I did, and it turned out Dad was right. After a while, she seemed to be better then.

I finally stopped delivering newspapers and didn't see Mrs.Stanley for several years. One day, we saw her at a church. She was spooning potatoes and looking happy. Four years before, she had to offer her paperboy a drink to have someone to talk with. Now she had friends. Her husband was gone, but life went on.

I live in the city now, and my newsboy is a lady named Edna with three kids. She asks me how I'm doing. When I don't say "Fine," she sits down and listens to my problems. She's lived in the city most of her life. She knows about the neighborhood. The neighborhood is a state of mind. You find it whenever people ask how you're doing because they care, and not because they're getting paid to do so. Sometimes it's good to Just smile, nod your head and listen.