I am 13. It's my first time to go to New York. I go there with my friend Emma. We get to New York at about 10pm, and we want to do some sightseeing(观光). So we go to the Empire State Building. But the 86^th floor(层) is cold. A long time later, we go to the hotel(酒店).

    On the second day, we go shopping in the morning, visit the Statue of Liberty at noon, and go shopping again in the afternoon.

    It is rainy on the third day, but we get up early in the morning. We have some bread and go to Rockefeller Center. We see the whole city there. I feel like I am on top(顶部) of the world. In the evening, we walk around Times Square, watch all the people and the street performers(街头艺人). At 11pm, Emma and I go back to the hotel. We go back home the next day. New York is really a good place.

Curt von Badinski is an engineer of a company in San Francisco. He is a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(西方人), and his home is in Los Angeles,which is 770 miles away from his workplace, so he has to take a plane to work and back. And he tries his {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(最好) to avoid being late.

Every workday morning, Badinski gets up at 5 am for the 15-minute drive to the airport.After parking his car, he goes to take the plane {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(径直地;直接地). After all, the plane won't wait for him to {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(赶上)up. After a 90-minute flight, he {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(降落到地面) at Oakland Airport and drives to his company. The {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(全部的;整个的)trip takes him about 3 hours.

Badinski can fly freely at any time to and from San Francisco, thanks to his payment on the airline, 2,300 dollars monthly.

Flying to work every day is not {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(容易的) for Badinski because he can only sleep five hours every night. But he believes {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (没有什么) could be more important for him than his family. He had thought about several ways to solve the problem, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(包括;包含) moving his family to San Francisco, but none of them worked.

"The six-hour round trip shows that I have the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(能力) to have all the things I want," he explains. "I am always excited to start a new day. And I hope in the future my life and my work can be balanced."

I grew up in a small town in Washington, US, and I want to be like my brother, Tim. He and his friends were in a gang. They often beat up people, and they didn't go to school much. I thought they were cool. 

On my thirteenth birthday, I told my brother I wanted to be in the gang with him. He said 'no', but I didn't listen. I went to ask his friends. Tim's friends took me into the back yard. They told me that if I joined the gang, I was in for life. Then, someone hit me in the face. I fell down. But I didn't cry. Each time I got up, they hit me again. Finally, they said I could be one of them. 

Tim was angry when he heard about it. But I stayed with the gang. After a few months, I began to beat up other people with the gang. Sometimes I wouldn't go home at night, and my mother would be worried. This went on for two years. I knew it was bad, but there nothing I could do. I was in for life.

One day, someone hit me in the head. I spent a day in the hospital. For the first time, I wanted out of the gang. One night after my fifteenth birthday, I went home. My mother was in the hospital. She had a nervous breakdown (精神崩溃) because she was so worried about me. That made me very sad. The next day, I told the gang that I wanted out. They began to beat me up, and my brother stopped them. I got up off the floor, smiled and said goodbye. But they didn't just stop there. Every time they saw me, they beat me up. This went on for about two months. But in the end, it stopped. I'm glad I'm out of the gang now. I don't have to be afraid all the time. I can talk to anyone I want. And most of all, I made my mum happy again.

I found it hard to communicate with my mother. Relations between us became difficult. 

One day I ran away from home and stayed outside for a few hours. When I returned home at night, I saw all the pain, anger and disappointment on my mother's face. We knew that we were in great need of talk. We agreed to havebreakfast together the next morning. In the end, we decided to go to a restaurant.

On our way to the restaurant, I noticed my mother had two notebooks in her hands. I asked her what they were used for. She explained to me that sometimes it was easier to write our own feelings than talking about them. We should write down our feelings.

Our first topic was"Why am I so angry?" I wrote a half page, and my mom filled up nearly three pages. I saw the tears run down her face while she was writing. I never realized anyone could hide so much anger. After we finished writing, we exchanged our notebooks. As soon as I started reading my mother's words. I began to cry and so did she. When we finished reading, we discussed our feelings. Finally, it felt like all the anger inside me went away from my body. Our talk helped me realize so many things I had never thought of before, not only about my mother but also about other people.

My mother and I continue using our notebooks as a way of communicating. We know that no matter how we feel about each other, our notebooks are a safe place to express our feelings. We have come to an agreement that we write"I love you" at the end of each other.

A group of American high school students built a bus stop shelter(遮蔽物) for a 5- year- old boy Ryder Killam.

There is something {#blank#}1{#/blank#} with Ryder's legs. Every morning, he has to wait for the school bus outside in his wheelchair(轮椅). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it's only about 20 meters from his house to the bus stop, it is quite a long way for Ryder.

At first, Ryder's family {#blank#}3{#/blank#} up a big umbrella, so Ryder could sit under it when he waited. But it didn't {#blank#}4{#/blank#} when the weather was bad. They tried {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a few other ways but they hardly ever worked, either. They decided to ask the community for {#blank#}6{#/blank#}.

Some high school {#blank#}7{#/blank#} heard about the news and wanted to give the little boy a hand. They worked for weeks and built a nice shelter for Ryder. It is just like {#blank#}8{#/blank#} small house. Now, Ryder can stay in it when he waits for his school bus without (不用) worrying {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the bad weather.

" We are really happy to work for our community," one of the students said." And {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is pretty cool to help someone in need."