Monday, May 7, Sunny

    I had a pretty good time in Beijing last weekend with my parents and my brother.

    We went to Beijing by train on Friday night and got there on the morning of Saturday. We went to Tian'anmen Square first. There were many people there. We watched the national flag(国旗)go up. Then we went to the Palace Museum. My parents liked it very much, but I thought it was kind of boring. After lunch, we visited the Great Wall. When we got to the Great Wall, it started to rain. The rain made the mountains look very beautiful. We played on the Great Wall and took some photos. On Sunday morning, we visited a Beijing Hutong. Then after buying some things in Wangfujing Street in the afternoon, we went back home. We really enjoyed ourselves.

⑴题完成句子；(2)～(3)题简略回答问题；(4)题找出并写下全文的主题句；(5)题将文中画线句子译成汉语。

    Should friends be different or the same? Different people have different ideas. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I am outgoing. I like to have friends who are similar to me. Both my best friend Linda and I like traveling. We went to Italy with our families last summer vacation. We stayed there for two weeks.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

My name is Mary. I like to have friends who are different from me. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. I am quiet and I like reading very much. Betty likes sports and she plays ping-pong well.

    I'm Peter. I like to have friends who are like me. It can be very helpful. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}and my good friend Rick is quiet, too. Sometimes I don't know what to do with my problems and he can tell me what I should do.

    I'm Bill. I have both kinds of friends. I think it is important. That makes my life more interesting.

    If your children are learning to read, it's wonderful! Whatever they're reading, they're probably super-excited readers! But the fact is, reading is skill.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    ◆Create a comfortable reading space.

    Choose a special place with right furnishings(装饰), blankets and pillows for your children and put a bookcase for your children's books.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}If your children feel like they have got their own special place for reading, they will probably spend time in their little space with all their new favorite books.

    ◆{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    If you want your children to learn to love reading, set aside a few minutes every day to read together, no matter how busy you are.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Plan to go to bed a few minutes earlier each night so your children have the time to choose a book to read. Besides, reading aloud to your children can make them more willing to read on their own.

    ◆Make the library and bookstore a special treat.

    Whether your kids are big readers or not, they are only children. They may be excited about new clothes and toys, but not books! Try to use that excitement to help your children love to read. Making a special treat of spending some time at the library or bookstore can be the perfect way to get your children excited about reading.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    France is well known for its fine art, tasty food and romantic scenery. About 75 million visitors come here every year.

    France is the largest country in Western Europe. It has a population of over 66 million. The country is home to many famous places of interest, like the River Seine as well as the Eiffel Tower.

    Many visitors also come for the country's art. Sculptor Auguste Rodin and painter Claude Monet once created their great works here. If you visit France today, it is not a surprise to meet street artists in the city or come across a singer in the subway.

    No visit to Paris is complete without a trip to Louvre, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. Inside, there are 35, 000 works of art, such as the painting Mona Lisa by Da Vinci and the statue David by Michelangelo. It would take nine months to enjoy all the pieces.

    Besides, French food is world-famous. Bread is very important in France. The best known French bread is called a baguette. They are long, delicious and taste salty. Snails are also a must have here. French people eat 40, 000 tons of snails every year!

    But France is not always good. Paris, the city of light, may also show its dark side to visitors. Chinese visitors feel sorry about the crowded subway in Paris.

    The Duanwu Festival in China, also called Dragon Boat Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month every year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. For thousands of years, this festival has been marked by people's eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats. (A) To hold the dragon boat races is in memory of Qu Yuan. He was one of the greatest poets in ancient China.

    Qu Yuan was born in Zigui of Hubei Province over 2,200 years ago. Qu Yuan was an honest minister (大臣) of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475—22l BC) . He was upright, patriotic (爱国的) and wise. (B) 屈原想给自己的祖国带来和平并让它变得更强大。But the country was in the hands of bad officials, he could do nothing to change it. (C) He was very discouraged. At last, Qu Yuan ended his life by throwing himself into the Miluo River. It is said that people tried to save him by jumping into the river. But it was too late and all their efforts were in vain. Also, they were so sad and they threw rice into the water to feed Qu Yuan's spirit.

    Now we read his poem Li Sao which is filled with deep love for his country. We can see the dragon boat races and have a kind of Chinese food named Zongzi to eat during the Dragon boat Festival.