One day, while Mark was walking in Central Park, he saw a UFO. He became afraid of it, and ran to the back of a big tree. The UFO landed in Central Park with a loud noise and bright lights around it. A(n) 1 walked out of the UFO. Mark looked out from behind the tree. Just then, the alien saw him too. They 2 looking at each other. Mark was nervous enough to ask, "Where do you come from?"

    "I'm from another 3 I'm Mel," said the alien. "Let's be friends."

    Mark thought he should make the alien know humans 4and learn how to communicate with humans. So he said, "Follow me."

    Mark began to hang out around with the alien. He 5 that humans had changed Nature to make life easier on Planet Earth. He also said to the alien, "6 gives us more free time to do what we want." Finally, he invited the alien to visit the 7 where he worked. They had a great day.

    As the alien got ready to leave; Mark decided to remember their 8 on Planet Earth on computer in his library. And the alien told Mark, "I'll also 9 the day. When I get back to my planet, I will tell our people 10 humans are very friendly. I believe we will communicate more and get on better with each other in the future."

    Now, almost every family has the television. Television makes people know a lot of things which they don't know before.

    Mike likes watching TV very much. From TV programs, he knows ships. Then Mike loves ships. When he was older, he said, "I'm going to be a soldier (士兵)." But his eyes were not very1, and he didn't get in.

    Then he said, "I'm going to2a small boat and I'm going around the world." But boats were very expensive, and Mike didn't have enough3.

    Last summer Mike found a swimming4near his house. The lessons didn't cost very5, and Mike began going to the school at weekends and having6. Now he is a good swimmer.

    Last week a little boy said to him, "You're a very good swimmer. How do7learn to swim so well?"

    "I'm not good at all," Mike said and he smiled. "8I'm in the water, I say to myself, 'There are9fishes behind me!' Then I'm very afraid, and I10quickly. "

    O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.

   When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.

   He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.

Watermelons are one of the most popular fruits in China. It's said that Chinese people1 nearly 70% of the watermelons on the earth. As we enjoy the sweet (甜的) watermelons, we have to2 a great woman Wu Mingzhu. This 92-year-old3 has devoted (致力) her life to growing melons in China.

Wu grew up in Wuhan. In the eyes of others, Wu should have worked as a teacher after finishing university in 1953, but she4 to go to Xinjiang. She thought Xinjiang was a good place for her to do something5 . In 1955, Wu went to Xinjiang to study melons.6 it was hard to live and work there at the time, she didn't give up (放弃). She spent three years7 Xinjiang and found 44 kinds of melons.

In the 1990s, Wu and her team cultivated (培育) "8424", a great kind of watermelon in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Then Wu brought it to the north of China.8 , Wu went to more places to study melons.

Thanks to her, most places in China grow melons now. The yield (产量) is high and the9 is naturally low (低), so people can eat melons as they wish. Wu's work has made a great difference to the growing of melons in China. "My life is to grow a few melons and10 the sweetness of melons to people," Wu always says.

I'm Lisa. I'm 13 years old and my birthday is  1  January 17th. I am a student in Green Middle School. My favorite  2  is English. Miss Lin, our English teacher, is also my favorite teacher. We all like  3  because she's very kind. I like drawing pictures, and I am in the school  4  club. I have some  5  habits. I get up early every day because I don't want to be  6  for class. I have a nice bike, so I  7  ride the bike to school. But sometimes I walk. It's also good exercise. I  8  lunch at school. For lunch, I usually eat vegetables, such as tomatoes, carrots and broccoli. After school, I usually play basketball  9  my classmates. At 5:00 p. m., I go back home  10  do homework first.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} A. in B. at C. on D. to

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}A. teacher B. subject C. school D. country

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}A. her B. him C. them D. it

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}A. story B. chess C. art D. sports

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}A. funny B. healthy C. bad D. busy

{#blank#}6{#/blank#}A. early B. late C. good D. bad

{#blank#}7{#/blank#}A. always B. usually C. never D. don't

{#blank#}8{#/blank#}A. bring B. take C. have D. cook

{#blank#}9{#/blank#}A. for B. with C. after D. in

{#blank#}10{#/blank#}A. because B. so C. and D. but
 

 What do you think of Lisa's school life? {#blank#}11{#/blank#}

Nina felt nervous this morning. She couldn't believe that she decided to tryout for a talent show. She loved to sing but she disliked singing in front of other people. 

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door of the theater and went inside. 

The room was filled with laughing children. Nina saw Luz, James and others from her class. The bright, sunny room left her no place to hide. A few teachers sat on chairs. They waited for the children to become quiet. 

"Hi, Nina!" Luz called out. "I didn't think you would tryout. You are so timid(胆怯的) in front of people. "

"That's not true, " Nina said. "I'm not shy at all. "

"Yeah, right, " Luz chuckled(轻声地笑) and ran off to find a seat. 

One by one the students got up on the stage(舞台) and did their acts. 

"Nina Martinez!" a voice called out. It was Mrs. Brent, the music teacher. Nina rose from her chair. She felt small as she walked to the huge, empty stage. Her face was hot and her shaking hands were as cold as ice. 

"I-I-" Nina began, and then stopped. "I can't, " she said softly. 

"Close your eyes, " said Mrs. Brent gently. "Forget about everyone else. Just sing. "

Nina felt silly, but she gave it a try. She closed her eyes and raised her voice and sang out. Her hands stopped shaking. 

The song was so nice that everybody enjoyed it. 

Nina heard Mrs. Brent clap (鼓掌) loudly at the end of her song. "That's the first time I have really heard your voice, " she said. "You are in the show!"

Nina let out a big sigh(叹息) and smiled happily.