Christopher Columbus is famous because he found something he wasn't looking for.

    In 1492, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in order to reach India. What he found was something far different. He found the New World. How did this come about? It all started in Italy.

    Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His family didn't have a lot of money, and Christopher wasn't an only child. He didn't have much of an education until he was much older. Instead, he went to sea. He sailed around the Mediterranean(地中海) and as far north as England and Ireland.

    During his travels, Columbus heard the reports of land to the west of the Madeira and Azores Islands. They were in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. He wanted to know more and got maps and books on geography.

    Marco Polo said that Japan was only 1,500 miles east of China. As a result, Columbus thought that Japan was only 3,000 miles west of Portugal. And 3,000 miles was a distance that ships could travel in those days.

So, Columbus decided that he wanted to get to the East by going west. He thought that if he sailed far enough west, he would sail around the world enough to reach the East. Based on his calculations(计算), Japan was only 3,000 miles away, after all.

    Do you know the boy in the picture? He is Yi Yangqianxi. His English name is Jackson. Yi is 15 years old. He is a student in a school in Beijing. And he is also a boy in the group (组合) TFBOYS.

    TFBOYS has three boys — Wang Yuan, Wang Junkai and Yi Yangqianxi. All of them are tall and have good looks. They are good at dancing and singing.

    Wang Yuan and Wang Junkai are Yi's friends. And Yi has another (另一个) friend. He is a toy bear. He lives in Yi's schoolbag. Yi goes to school with him every day. He talks and plays with him. “He can't talk, but he can listen to me. He is very nice. I like him very much,” Yi says. “I don't want to be away from him.”

James Dyson is a famous British inventor. One of his well - known inventions is the bagless vacuum cleaner（真空吸尘器）. It {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (invent ) in 1978. Today, Dyson still remembers that day. " I felt very {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( excite ) at that time because I was the only man in the world with a bagless vacuum cleaner, " he said. 

Dyson is over seventy years old now. At first, he wasn't {#blank#}3{#/blank#}inventor. Later, he {#blank#}4{#/blank#} ( discover ) his talent. When he studied art at the Royal College of Art in London, he did well{#blank#}5{#/blank#}making new things. In 1975, he invented his own {#blank#}6{#/blank#}( produce )- the Sea Truck. It was a boat for carrying things between islands. 

Then he set up a company with his partners to make and sell another invention, the Bllbarrow, a kind of vehicle. But later, Dyson left his company {#blank#}7{#/blank#}he didn't agree with his partners. After that, Dyson began to improve on the vacuum cleaner. In 1985, Dyson took his invention to Japan to{#blank#}8{#/blank#}( sell ) it. However, few people paid money for this. And he didn't mike much money. Several years later, Dyson decided to produce and sell the machine by {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( he ). By 2005, Dyson controlled both the European and American markets. Along the way, Dyson discovered the secret to success, "People{#blank#}10{#/blank#}( buy ) your products if they're better. " 

James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name.

"J. C.," he replied.

She thought he had said "Jesse", and he had a new name.

Owens ran his first race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time so as to pay for his education. As a second-year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later.

A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down the stairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try, event by event. He did try, and the results are in the record book.

The stage was set for Owens' victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate any of the African-American winners.

"It was all right with me," he said years later. "I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway."

Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.

Owens' Olympic victories made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles, and dogs.

"Sure, it bothered me," he said later. "But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat."

In time, however, his gold medals changed his life. "They have kept me alive over the years," he once said. "Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard."

I don't have much time to do sports now. Too much homework makes me feel very{#blank#}1{#/blank#} sometimes. 

In fact, I love sports, especially skateboarding.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} I think of my first skateboarding competition, I feel very excited. I can still remember the day when I was in Grade Seven, we had a competition in our school. Many students took part in it, but I got more{#blank#}3{#/blank#} than others. I felt very proud. And I took a picture to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} that day. 

Doing sports can make us relaxed. But many people always have many {#blank#}5{#/blank#} not to do sports. What a pity!

I was in the classroom. This was 1 first lesson in junior high school. It was 2 . I used to feel bored in Chinese classes, so I hoped my new Chinese teacher would be 3 . 

Here came a woman teacher. She 4 " Li" on the blackboard. "This is my family name, " she 5 . "You can call me Ms Li. Now tell me what you want me to do in my lessons. " We were surprised. 6 could a student ask a teacher to do things? Everyone was in silence(沉默). 

Ms Li smiled and said, "Don't be 7 . Just tell me what you really want to say about our Chinese 8 . I will try my best to meet all the needs of 9 . " Hearing what she said, we were excited and started to say our needs 10 worries. "Not too much 11 ";"Finish class on time";"Make the class fun". We talked a lot and Ms Li didn't stop us. 

When we finished, Ms Li said, "First, you will not have much homework, but you should 12 it on time. Second, my classes will be fun, 13 you can't play too much. Third, I will finish class on time. But you must 14 me carefully(认真地) in class. All right?""OK!" all of us answered happily. 

I think Chinese is very useful in our life, so it is really 15 to learn Chinese well. I'm sure our Chinese classes will have a lot of fun because of this interesting teacher. I may never get bored with Chinese classes.