Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kms during the years of his travels.Zheng He led a fleet with 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.

On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He' s travels. The Columbus of the east, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new king, had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.

    It is nice to hike with kids, but you must know something about hiking if you want to take a happy, relaxing trip.

    Start early, know what to do in a heavy rain and carry sunglasses. Take snacks, toilet paper and a bag with you. Take a whistle(口哨) for kids. You may use it if children run away.

    Find a partner. Kids are naturally competitive, and you can use this to your hike. They will try to do better than each other when they go hiking. They also will keep each other interested in something new.

    Do something easy. It's good to play easy games. You can say "Does anybody see anything red that matches my shirt?" Kids will be easy and happy to answer this kind of questions.

    If you aren't excited, they won't be either. When your kids find something they are interested in, you must show your interest in it, too.

Dear Sir or Madam.

    One of the teachers at my school in New York tells me that your school has summer course. I am planning to go to Beijing next summer and would like to take a short one-month course.

    I am 18 years old and have been studying Chinese for six years. I was born in the USA and have never been to China before. I am going to study Chinese at the university. I think the course will help me improve my Chinese.

    Could you send me a catalogue(目录) and application form (申请表)? I would also like information about Beijing and other places nearby. I hope to do some travelling when the course is over.

    Thank you! I am looking forward to your reply

Very truly yours,

Jim Green

    Money makes the world go round. But money isn't anything when people don't know how to use it. And no one is better at using money than American investor（投资者）Warren Buffet. He is one of the richest men in the world.

    Buffet was born in Nebraska in the US in 1930. As a child, he loved making and saving money. He used to go door-to-door selling his own products（产品）.

    After university, Buffet went on buying and selling shares（股票）. Shares are small part of a company. He is good at predicting changes in companies. By 1962, he became a rich man. In 1990, he went one step further and became a billionaire（亿万富翁）.

    In 2008, Warren Buffet became the richest man in the world. He has promised to give 99% of his wealth to charity（慈善）after he dies.

    Jenny Miller was a strange little girl. She liked to spend her time alone eating chocolate. Her parents were worried, so they took all the chocolate away.

    Jenny left her house to look for some chocolate. She found a small house full of glasses.

    Among all the glasses, a blue glass caught Jenny's attention. It was full of chocolate. There was also a card in it, saying," Change tears into chocolate. "

    Jenny was very excited. She took the blue glass and ran out of the house to look for someone crying. First, she met a little boy crying hard, and she collected his tears. The tears were quickly changed into chocolate. While Jenny was collecting the tears, she comforted(安慰)the boy. Finally, the boy stopped crying and they had a fun time together.

    Later, Jenny met a woman who had broken some plates and an old man who couldn't find his dog. They were so sad that their tears could not help falling down. Jenny collected their tears and made them happy again.

    Soon, Jenny realized that making people happy was even more important than finding chocolate. So she stopped collecting tears and began to help sad people. As a result, she became friend with them and lived a much happier life than before.