Different people have different skin（皮肤）. Some have black skin. Some have yellow skin, and some have white skin. There was a woman in Alaska. Her skin was orange. It was almost the color of orange juice.

    How did her skin become orange? She ate lots of tomatoes, carrots, and squashes (南瓜). She ate too many orange things. That's why her skin turned orange.

    The woman didn't want her skin to be orange, so she went to see the doctor. The doctor said. “Stop eating orange things. Eat some green things.” The woman did so, and her skin wasn't orange any more.

    On May 12, a big earthquake in China hit Wenchuan, Sichuan. Buildings fell down and the city was destroyed. A lot of people lost their lives.

    Premier Wen Jiabao got on a plane to Chengdu 尽快地. He was leading rescue (救援) work there.

    During the earthquake, many school buildings fell down. Students were buried. But they didn't give up hope. Many got out with help. Here are some stories about the brave students.

    Jiang Dejia and Liao Li are both students from Shifang Yinghua Middle School in Deyang. They were buried in the school rubble(碎砖) for two days. Jiang and Liao didn't know each other before the earthquake. But they kept each other going during the two scary days. They were both rescued later.

    A Junior 1 girl called Deng Qingqing from Shifang Yinghua Middle School was buried under the rubble. She was cold and hungry. But the brave girl had a flashlight (手电筒). She used it to help her read books.

    Li Anning, 16, is from Beichuan Middle School. She and her classmates sang songs under the rubble to comfort each other. The PLA soldiers and policemen were trying to find people alive in the rubble.Helicopters (直升机) airdropped food, water and medicine. Medical teams went to the quake­ hit areas. People outside Sichuan were also offering money, blood and other things to help.

    Ann wanted to play in the city orchestra (管弦乐队), but she was nervous (紧张的). She thought it might be too difficult. The first day she was so nervous, and she could hardly breathe. After a few rehearsals (排练), she could comfortably play along with everyone else. She found that there was no reason to be nervous and began to enjoy herself.

    In rehearsals, Ann became friends with Danny. Danny sat next to her and always helped her. Ann often asked him questions about music. Danny's parents were musicians. They started teaching Danny music when he was only five years old. Ann couldn't imagine playing the violin at that age.

    Ann's another friend in the orchestra was Marie. After rehearsal, Marie would tell Ann funny stories. Though Marie was much older than Ann, the two became good friends.

    The orchestra was rehearsing music for a concert. Ann invited some of her friends at school to come. Though they didn't understand music, they promised to come. They all liked Ann and wanted to cheer her. Ann's family also planned to go to the concert. Ann looked forward to the event, and she hoped it would not rain on the night of the concert.

    On the night of the concert, Ann was excited. Danny and Marie both told her that the concert would be fun. Ann knew that she would enjoy it. The conductor (指挥) Mike was nervous. Ann was surprised because she knew that he conducted many big concerts all over the world. After the concert was over, the conductor seemed happy. He said the orchestra gave a fine performance.

    Peter felt  very sorry because he forgot  to say “Happy Birthday” to his uncle yesterday. So he wrote   a letter to his uncle : “My dear uncle, I'm very sorry because I forgot your birthday. But to teach me a lesson, you'd better forget my birthday on Tuesday, tomorrow.”

    Years ago, Tareq and his family left their home in Bangladesh to New York City, US. Tareq was only 12 years old then.

    In Bangladesh, Tareq's dad was a farmer. He worked hard for little pay. Every day, Tareq walked 6 kilometres to school. After school, he had to work on the farm.

    But Tareq had fun. He loved singing and playing cricket (板球) with his friends. One day Tareq's dad told him they would move to New York City. Tareq's dad found a new job there, and he thought life would be better there.

    In his new school, Tateq tried his best to understand his teachers, but it was quite hard. Also, he had few friends.

    Things changed when he started high school. His high school had students from 30 countries and a cricket team. Tareq was excited to join the cricket team. He was happy to be with kids who loved the game as much as he did. He practised before and after school. "Playing with the cricket team was the first time I felt accepted in America," he said. "When you play, it doesn't matter what grade you' re in or what language you speak."

    During his second year in high school, Tareq was named the cricket team' s most valuable player(最有价值球员).

    Tareq will go to university next year. He said, "Most universities don't have a cricket team. But that's OK, because cricket was there for me when I needed it most."