When Mr. David retired（退休）, he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said, "If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, come in and look around. Price twenty dollars. "Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. "I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）, "he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    Boom! A clap of thunder (一声霹雳) made the old house shake. Ramon stayed under his bed. A flash of lightning (一道闪电) lit up the room."I hate this house,"Ramon thought. It was his first night in his new home.

    The house had belonged to his grandma. It was very, very old. It looked really scary at night. The trees outside his windows looked like monsters (怪物) in the dark. Their branches (树枝) looked like long arms. They waved when the wind blew. The storm made everything even scarier. Ramon hated storms, and it seemed worse in the old house.

    Later the thunder became quieter. Ramon climbed into bed and fell asleep. When he woke up, the sun was shining through his windows. Ramon climbed out of bed.

    The trees outside didn't look like monsters anymore. The branches had nice green leaves growing on them. Ramon could see a bird sitting on one of the branches. It was singing a happy song. The yard looked pretty nice in the daylight. A stream (溪) ran across the yard. A swing hung from one of the trees. Many flowers grew next to the  tree.  Butterflies  flew  around  the flowers.

    "Maybe living here won't be so bad after all," Ramon thought.

One day, Jack and Sharon were going for a walk in the snow. 

"Oh Jack,1 that wonderful view ( 景 色 ) of our garden! We're so lucky to live somewhere so beautiful!" said Sharon. 

"Yes, I think so, but it could be even better …"answered Jack. "What do you mean?" asked Sharon. 

"Well, look at those little2 . I'm not so sure they like the3 when it's covered in snow. The poor little things can't find anything to4 . We're enjoying the view, but the birds are so cold and hungry!"said Jack. 

"You're right, Jack. We should do something to5 those hungry birds," said Sharon. Jack thought for a while and said,"Why don't we make some delicious bird food and put it outside so the birds can6 it?"

Then both of them got busy in the kitchen7 food for the birds. The food was good enough to keep the birds going when the garden was covered in snow. Sure enough, the birds came flying to Jack and Sharon's home-made8 . They hung( 悬 挂 )from the trees in Jack's garden. And all winter long, the birds all lived9 . So Jack and Sharon were10 again!

Michelle Wie, from America, was like a lot of other young girls in many ways. She was a good student, and she liked reading, drawing, and computers. However, in some other ways, she was very different. She didn't spend much time going out with friends or shopping or going to parties. She was very busy practising golf.

Now Michelle Wie is the best woman golfer for her age in the world, She was born in 1989. In 1999, at the age of 10, she began to win games against the women twice her age. At 13, she could hit the ball further than most of the women in the Ladies Professional Golf Association(LPGA). At 14, she showed she could hit the ball further than most men.

Wie began playing golf at the age of four. When she grew older, she practised it for about four hours a day on weekdays and about seven hours a day on weekends. Another thing that helped her was that she was tall. By the time she as 13, Wie was six feet tall. She's a joy to watch. She has the flexibility of a dancer and is also very strong. And it's clear that she loves the game.

One day, a running race started in the forest. Each of the first twelve winners could name a year after themselves.

The mouse thought he was the smallest one so he got up as the sun rose. However, the horse, the tiger, and the ox (牛) all caught up with him. They met at the Great River. It moved so fast that the little mouse could not swim across, so he asked other bigger animals for help. The kind-hearted ox agreed. As they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox and won first place.

The ox came in second, with the tiger right behind him. Jumping across stones, the rabbit came in fourth. The dangerous river was not a big deal for the dragon because he could fly across it. But he stopped to help other animals in need. Just as he arrived, the snake suddenly and quietly appeared, which startled (使受惊吓) the horse, letting the snake arrive in the sixth place.

Different from other animals, the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster (公鸡) crossed the river with the help of a raft (木筏) .They worked together and made a success. The three agreed to give eighth place to the sheep, who had been the friendliest of them. The dog was a good swimmer but he played in the water for so long that he only came in eleventh. The last one was the pig, who got hungry easily and liked sleeping.

This is how each Chinese year is connected with animals in this order.

Hello, everybody!I am Kevin. I am a student of Nanhai Middle School. My school is very beautiful. I study in Class Two, Grade Seven. 

Look, there is a map of our school on the wall. There are four buildings and five gardens in our school. In the gardens, there are a lot of beautiful flowers, grass and trees. 

There is a big playground in my school. It is in the middle of the school. 

On the left of the playground, there is a building. It's the library. On the first floor, there are two big reading rooms. I like reading there very much. I often borrow books from the library too. 

There is a teaching building behind the library. We study in that building. My classroom is on the second floor in it. The science room, the computer room and the music room are all on the fifth floor. The teachers' offices are in that building too. 

Where is the sports hall? Oh, it's on the right of the playground. We often have PE lessons in the sports hall. The canteen is a building behind the sports hall. We have lunch and dinner in the canteen. 

I like my school because my school is very beautiful. In the school, I feel very happy.