Many people like to collect things. For example, they like1stamps, books, pictures and so on. But my friend Mr. Green likes to collect clocks. He 2 five hundred clocks. The clocks are3in his house. You can see shelves in4room. All the shelves are5of clocks. Mr. Green is glad to do this,6 his wife doesn't enjoy it at all. She has a lot of7to do every day. It's not 8for her to clean hundreds of clocks. She is also angry at the noise. Each clock keeps its own time, so she can hear the clocks strike almost9time day and night. She says, “There is something even worse. I really don't know what10it is with so many clocks in my house.”

    Everyone has a place which he remembers most from his childhood (童年), and so do I. One of the places I remember from my childhood is a 1 in the country. It belonged to my parents. I spent my summers in that place 2 I was a teenager(青少年), and now I begin to miss the farm again.

    It was lovely to 3 there. There were a lot of lot of 4— cows, sheep, hens, dogs and cats. My sister and I 5 helped to work on the farm. We helped people graze(放牧) sheep or make bread or cheese. I can still remember that on Tuesdays we 6 the bread and on Thursdays, the cheese.

    I love that farm because I 7 to love animals and not to be afraid of them there. We saw a sheep give birth to its baby there, and we enjoyed staying there to see how lovely the 8 sheep was.

    Now my sister and her son are 9 this place. My nephew is 10 with the place. I hope that he has a good time there and when he is older, he will remember the place as I do.

    John and Tina come from different countries. They are interested in Chinese food. They usually eat Chinese food in restaurants and often talk about it.

It's Saturday today and it's sunny. John asks Tina to have dinner at Ms. Brown's House. It's the first time that Tina goes there for dinner.

    "Hi, John. Are there different kinds of food at Ms. Brown's House?" Tina asks.

"Of course. There're all kinds of noodles  such as chicken and cabbage noodles, mutton and potato noodles, tomato and egg noodles and beef and carrot noodles," John says.

    "Sounds great! I like tomato and egg noodles very much," said Tina.

"Me, too. There are also delicious dumplings and specials. After dinner, we can have ice- cream and fruit. They are on sale."

    "Ice-cream? I know a new kind of ice-cream. It is delicious. And you can keep it for an hour."

    "Great! But there isn't any at Ms. Brown's House."

    "I know where to buy it. Let's go after dinner."

    "OK."

I sat on the steps next to Peter and watched him play his new guitar. His left hand worked the strings(弦)1 his right hand played.

" Just in time for the school talent show next   2 ,"I said.

" Are you doing anything for the talent show, Jeremy?" Peter asked.

" No,"I said." If I were a little   3 , like you, 14 years old, maybe I could, too. I believe you' ll win the first prize this year."

" Maybe," said Peter,"I'm playing a song I4 myself."

" You write your own song?"

" It's not   5 ," he said." My song is called ' Two for One'. I got the   6 easily from a two- for- one sale at the store. And I liked the sound of ' Two for One'.7 song goes like this: ' Two for one, two for one, that's the way to have some fun.'I haven't written all the words yet."

The next morning, I saw Peter was so 8 . His right arm was broken.

"I got   9 when playing baseball yesterday," he said," Now I can't be in the talent show next week."

Peter and I10 each other worriedly. Then I had an idea.

" We could sit next to each other on the stage," I said," You could play the left- hand parts, and I' ll play with my right hand."

Peter's eyes were11 and lively." It might work," he said.

I sat   12 him on the top step.

" Where can I put my right hand while we   13 ?"

" Put it on my shoulder," I told him," We' re14 aren't we?"

Our song answered that question. We finished writing the words together15

" Two for one, one for two, see what two good friends can do!"

In 1937, my father, who was almost 20 years old, started a long journey. He traveled a thousand miles across China with his university, Zhejiang University, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression(抗日战争). The Chinese government wanted to keep the university students safe because they were important for the country's future. As the university planned for the journey, the Head Librarian of Zhejiang Library, asked the university to take a valuable collection of books with them.

The books were called" Siku Quanshu". Created in the 18th century, this was a huge encyclopedia(百科全书) with 2.3 million pages and about 997 million words. It was so important that plans were made to protect it at any cost, even though it added another 230 boxes to the students' cargo.

The journey was not easy. Students and teachers were facing the dangers from air attacks.(空袭). They were always tired and hungry. They had to sleep on the ground in old temples(寺庙) but they continued their classes whenever they could. To protect the books, they tried to move by boat or truck whenever possible; at other times, they would put the boxes into carts(手推车). Sometimes the students had to carry some of the books in their backpacks. One scary moment was when a box of the Siku Quanshu books fell into a river. They quickly saved the books and dried them in a local temple.

After 1,400 miles and 28 months on the road, the university group finally reached a small town called Zunyi in Guizhou province. They stayed there in simple classrooms and dorms, until the war moved deeper into China. To further protect the Siku Quanshu, the books were hidden in a nearby cave, guarded by university staff. The books made it through the war in surprisingly good condition and were sent back to Zhejiang Library.

This amazing story shows how a group of young students and their teachers did everything they could to protect their culture's treasures. They faced many dangers and hardships, but they never gave up. They worked together to keep their knowledge safe.

On my 35th birthday, I gave myself my first skateboard (滑板). Most of my friends and family thought the girl was crazy, but only I knew why.

Two years ago, I accidentally fell down a 12-meter waterfall and broke the pelvis (骨盆). I used to be thought of using the wheelchair for good, but one year's professional training made it possible for me to walk miles. Therefore, physical activities became even more important in my life. So why not make it enjoyable? I've wanted to learn to skateboard since I was a kid, but all of my time went into dancing. 

One day, I met some of the members of GRLSWIRL, a skateboarding club. This club was amazing. Even though everyone there was better than me, they were happy to help and excited to see me overcome (克服) challenges. For me, the biggest challenge was overcoming my PTSD (创伤后应激障碍). Falling is a huge part of skateboarding, but because of that accident, it was really hard for me to make it. However, when I tried again and again, I was not afraid of falling any more. The more I skateboarded, the better my body and mind felt. Although I started it for treatment, I never imagined it would open up a new world for me.