Prana was a beautiful dog, whose name means “breath of life”. Although he died several years ago, I can still remember the days we spent together and what he has taught me about love.

    I have two apple trees in the garden. Prana loved apples. When he went outside, he'd catch an apple and take it into the house to eat later. The apples had been on the ground and were often dirty so I wasn't always happy that Prana had brought them into the house.

It was an autumn day in America, but it was very cold. A big snow fell and we had not done anything for its coming. On that special day, Prana went outside and I watched him through the window. I noticed that he was madly digging(挖) holes and bringing the apples to the ground so they could be seen above the snow. I did not know why he was doing this. He seemed to want to do something special.

    When I called him back, he had his usual one apple in his mouth. About five minutes later, I looked outside. The garden was completely covered with birds. Prana had dug up all those apples for his bird friends to eat. He knew that they wouldn't have stored enough food for the coming winter!

    “ Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” It's a famous quote from US president John F, Kennedy's inaugural(就职) speech in 1961.

    Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social networking site Facebook, must agree with Kennedy. The 33-year-old American donated $100 million to the public schools in New Jersey, US.

    Who is this young billionaire? How did he make his fortune?

    Thirteen years ago, Zuckerber was a computer geek(怪才) at Harvard University. As a second-year student, he set up a website to put the “face books” --photos of incoming first-year students online. The website, where people were able to share personal information, was a success at once.

    Zuckerberg first opened Facebook to high school students and then to everyone. Greeting such as “Have you checked your Facebook page today?” and “Do your ‘friends' know what you ate for breakfast?” became a part of American life. Now Facebook is the most popular site in the world with 1.7 billion users.” I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started thirteen years ago,” Zuckerberg wrote in a recent blog.

    Zuckerberg's dream is to make the Internet a more connected place. The mission(任务)could become profitable for Facebook. The more people share information about themselves online, the more money Facebook will make selting advertising. Zuckerberg is already worth $34 billion, according to Forbes.

    Yet the billionaire keeps his own life out of the public eye. At the company, it is said that he sits among a sea of desks like hundreds of workers. A visitor to Facebook might not even spot Zuckerberg in T-shirt and jeans. He usually takes one two-week vacation each year with his wife Priscilla Chan, a Chinese American. On the weekends, it is reported that he roasts pig and goat in his backyard for friends and takes Chinese lessons.

    The Social Network, a movie based on Zuckerberg's story, came out in 2010. It became one of the most popular films of that year.

    Hans Christian Andersen was born in Denmark in 1805. He lived with his parents in a town called Odense. They were a very poor family and they couldn't afford to send Hans Christian to school.

    As a little boy, Hans Christian enjoyed making up fairy tales(童话) and puppet(木偶) shows. When he was only eleven years old, his father died and he had to go out to work to make money to help his mother.

    Three years later, Hans Christian left home and went to the city of Copenhagen to be famous and rich. To begin with he didn't do very well there, but at last he was able to go back to school and then on to university to continue his education.

    He wrote fairy tales and stories and soon became famous. At first he wrote the stories that he had heard when he was a child and then began to make up new tales. During his seventy-one year life. Hans Christian wrote over three hundred stories.

    Many of his stories are still enjoyed by children today. Among his best-known stories are: the Emperor's New Clothes, the Ugly Duckling, the Snow Queen, the Princess and the Pea, and the little Mermaid.

    My name is Mike. I live in America now. I am a twelve-year-old junior high school student. I go to school on foot every day because my house is close to my school. We have four classes in the morning.

    Each class lasts 40 minutes. The first class starts at 8:00 a. m. There is a ten-minute break between two classes. I study hard and do well in Maths, English and Science. Of all my subjects, I like Science best. I want to be a scientist in the future.

    Most of my classmates have lunch at school, but I usually eat lunch at home. After lunch, I can rest for half an hour. Afternoon classes begin at 2: 30 p. m., and end at 4: 50 p. m. We usually study PE, Art and Music in the afternoon.

    I like playing the piano very much. I often have an hour's piano practice after school. I always have a good time at school.

    The famous scientist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February 12, 1809.As a boy, Charles liked to go for walks in the fields and forests. He enjoyed watching nature, and comparing what he saw with everything he had read in science books. He also liked collecting very much. He collected many things, such as birds, eggs, stones and leaves.

    At sixteen Darwin was sent to the University of Edinburgh to become a doctor. But he was interested in the history of nature.

    Then he was sent to study in the University of Cambridge. There he studied until 1831.

    Some time later he heard that the ship Beagle was going on a trip to South America and wanted a scientist. His teacher advised him to go. So when the Beagle left England in December, 1831, Darwin was on it.

    The trip lasted almost five years. Darwin saw many new plants and animals. He collected all kinds of plants.

    In 1842 Darwin went to live in Kent, and there he continued his studies of change in nature. Darwin understood that plants and animals are not always the same, and that they really change.

    By 1859 Darwin had finished his famous book The Origin of Species. It made a great hit in the world of science. He was opposed(反对)by the church and even by some scientists. But later, more and more scientists agreed with him.

    In1871 Darwin wrote another important book. Darwin continued his studies in science until he died in 1882.