Things didn't go well for Henry, the village pancake maker. The Great Pancake Contest(比赛) was today. People from different places would try to win the contest .The villagers wanted Henry to win, but Henry had problems. There was not enough wood in the oven to make a pancake. Mice ate half the flour(面粉) during the night.

    The villagers saw that Henry was having problems. The woodsman brought wood for the oven. The farmer gave Henry more flour. This was all very good but he was still missing one more important thing. There was hardly enough time for Henry to make his pancake and take it to the contest. But Henry decided to have a try.

    As fast as he could, Henry put the wood in the oven. When he made the pancake, he thought, "When I had no wood, the woodsman brought me wood; when I had no flour, the farmer brought me flour. My good friends helped me."

    After Henry finished making the pancake, he ran as fast as he could to the contest. "I'm sorry, Henry," one of the judges(评判员) said. "You are too late." Henry's friends were sad for him, but Henry just laughed. "I' m not sad! In fact，I'm happy!" he shouted. "I have good friends who helped me. Now, I have a wonderful pancake to share with them."

    The Clark family just finished Sunday dinner.

    "What's for dessert（甜点）, Mom? "Johnny asked.

    "How about an apple pie?" Mrs. Clark said.

    "Yummy!" said Johnny's two sisters Amy and Molly.

    "Well, I would like fifteen minutes of pie please." Johnny said with a big grin（露齿而笑）.

    "Fifteen minutes of pie, what does that mean（意思）?" Asked his younger brother Paul.

    "Mr. Dean is teaching us about time in school." Johnny answered. He was in second grade and they were just starting to learn how to tell the time on a clock. " He told us that the clock can be divided（分成）into four fifteen minute sections, like the pieces of a pie. Fifteen times four is sixty and there are sixty minutes in an hour. "

    "Very good son!" Mr. Clark said smiling.

    "So then may I have fifteen minutes of pie please?"

    Johnny asked again when his mother put the dessert on the table.

    Mrs. Clark looked at her son. "How about you have ten minutes of pie and give the rest（剩余）for us!" She answered.

    Everybody has different hobbies that they like to do for fun or just to relax. There are many kinds of activities like volleyball, basketball, swimming, or baseball. It all depends on each personality. For me, basketball is a part of my life and it means a lot to me.

    Since I was a little girl, I started to play basketball in the school team and also with my friends in the neighborhood. My mother told me that I liked kicking the ball around and had so much fun with it when I was only about two years old. Since then, playing basketball is my favorite sport. It is my hobby whenever I have free time.

    Playing basketball also helps me to relax and be confident. I often play basketball with my classmates in the playground. After doing my homework or when I come home from school, I play a little bit with my friends outside of my house or we go to the park to play it.

    Whenever I play basketball, I feel healthier and stronger. Besides, I meet new friends from the neighborhood. I not only like playing basketball, but I also enjoy watching basketball games on television.

Many years ago, there was a family named Franklin. They lived in Boston. There were five girls and six boys in the family. On a January day in 1706, another baby boy was born. The boy's parents gave the boy a name—Benjamin.

Benjamin was the 1 of all the children. He could read when he was five and he could write when he was seven. The next year his parents sent him to school.

At school Benjamin was good at reading and writing, but not good at Maths. He read all of his father's books. And when he had money, he always went to buy 2 . He liked books because they told him how to do something. The boy liked to use his head and tried to 3 ways to help people enjoy life more. For example, he tried to know if there were some ways to swim farther, maybe with something on his hands or 4 . Slowly a picture of swimming shoes grew in his 5 . They must be neither too big nor too small. And they must be neither too heavy nor too light. At last, he 6 the flippers（脚蹼）for swimming.

Electricity was one of the things Benjamin experimented with when he stopped working. He discovered that lightning（闪电）and electricity were the same thing. The lightning rod（避雷针）was a(n) 7 invention that we still use today. It can 8 buildings and ships from lightning damage.

Franklin preferred to have his inventions used 9 for everyone. He was not only an inventor, but also a writer, an educator, a politician and so on. He made great achievement in different areas. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of America, called Benjamin Franklin "the 10 man of the age and country in which he lived".