One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said. “Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn't worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the pennies he bought some grapes.

    It was very hot, and there wasn't a house or a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time. his father dropped a grape on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another grape and once again. His son picked it up and put it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the grapes and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the grapes, his father said to him. “My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe. It would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the grapes, always remember the lesson(教训):  A person who does not worry about the little things

    will find that he can not do the great things.”

    I'm Wang Kai, a student in Hefei No. 5 Junior High School. At school, I learn many subjects. My favorite subject is science. My science teacher, Ms. Lee, is my fiend Li Ming's mother. She teaches us very well.

I also like math because it's so interesting. I am good at (擅长) it. My friends say I am clever, but I don't think so. I just work very hard.

I like geography, too. I like learning something about people and places of different countries. I also like maps very much.

    I don't like English      the class is very boring. We read a lot, sometimes write, but don't often speak or listen. I hope my English teacher can change his way of teaching English.

When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs(细枝) from school to plant. None of them looked very strong and lively. But with hope for the future, I planted them somewhere in our backyard which could give them enough sunlight. Over the years, because of the poor soil(土壤), three of them died. Only one lived at last.

It grew crooked(不直的) and very slowly. In fact, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. Later, I noticed that it was starting to die. The branches(树枝) were becoming bare. Only the top third of the tree was still green. I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it didn't work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was thinking if it would be better to just cut it down. It would make the yard look cleaner. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving within the leaves. It was a bird patiently building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree let me know that all of our lives have a purpose. It doesn't matter if we are young and strong or old and sickly. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.

I spent an hour writing out all the invitations to my daughter's classmates. She told me who said they were coming. We spent so much time and money making gifts. "Tina would love the sunglasses, and Mike would love this pencil…" Jenny said. She helped me to make cupcakes, 60 of them with different colors and tastes. 

Everything was ready. At four, it started to rain. However, it didn't seem to stop soon. "Will they come at five?" Jenny asked me. She looked worried. I was not sure, either. We sat on the sofa and waited. At 4: 50, Lisa, Jenny's best friend, arrived. We were both happy and welcomed her. Until 5: 20, seven of thirty classmates came. 

I thought Jenny would be sad. "I'm happy today, Mom," Jenny told me after the party was over. "It was rainy, but some of my classmates still came. I know who are my real friends."

"Yes, it's the most important thing," I said.

① What's the weather like in different cities around China? What's the weather like in your city? Today we'll travel to some cities that have their own special weather. 

② Turpan (吐鲁番) is a city in Xinjiang. In Turpan, the sun shines for a long time every day and there is little rain. It is like a desert. The highest temperature in summer can be 49℃. You can even boil (煮) an egg on the ground. 

③Lhasa (拉萨) is the capital city of Tibet. The city is at a high altitude (海拔). It's sunny most of the time. The sun is so strong that the rain in summer does not last long. If you travel to Lhasa, you need to drink a lot of water because you often feel thirsty. 

④ The coldest city in China is Genhe in Inner Mongolia. It is very cold in winter. The coldest temperature is -58℃. The water- vapor you breathe out turns into ice at once. It is dangerous to stay outside for a long time. 

⑤ Ya'an is a city in Sichuan. It rains nearly 300 days a year and it's always very warm. The plen- tiful (大量的) rain not only brings fresh air, but also makes the city beautiful, as the rain helps green plants grow. It is a wonderful place to live in. 

When I was young, I liked to do voluntary (志愿) work. Once I offered {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (give) out water to the runners in a competition in our city. I was happy to see them passing by and taking a bottle of water. Seeing them, I thought maybe I could play a role in the competition, too! Then the next year I joined in the competition with a few {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (friend). I hoped I could finish the race as {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (quick) as I can.

It was very hot on {#blank#}4{#/blank#} day of the competition. After running for about 5 miles, I was so tired {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I decided I would never do this again. The first 5 miles was pretty hard to me. I jogged (慢跑）and walked. At times, I didn't know if I could {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (finish).

Near the end, a 70-year-old man appeared. He ran very fast. I {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (feel) a little embarrassed (尴尬的). I was about 50 years {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (young) than him, but I couldn't even keep up with him. At that time, I knew that I should never give up. Then I tried my best to run faster. Finally, as I reached the end, I was happy that I am successful and my father bought a gift {#blank#}9{#/blank#} me. The old man set a good example to me. I didn't regret (后悔) having this experience {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I learned a lot from that competition.