A man was walking through a large city. On a street corner，he saw a boy {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(sell) a number of small birds in a cage(笼子)．

    He looked at the birds flying about in the cage and {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（try）to get out. He stood for some time looking at the birds .At last he said to{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(冠词)boy，“How much do you ask for your birds？” “Fifty cents a bird，sir，” said the boy. “I {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(not) mean how much a bird，” said the man，“{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (连词)how much for all of them? I expect to buy{#blank#}6{#/blank#}（it） all.”

    The boy began to count，and found they came to five dollars. “There is your money，” said the man. The boy took it {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(happy).Then the man opened the cage door as quickly as he could，and let all the birds {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(fly)away.

    The boy，in great surprise，cried，“What did you do that{#blank#}9{#/blank#}（介词），sir？You have lost all your birds.”

    “I will tell you why I did it，” said the man.“ I has been shut up for three years in a prison(监狱), and I{#blank#}10{#/blank#}decide) never to see anything in prison which I can make free.”

Over the past 6 years, Zhang Chaofan has given away 1.35 million yuan and raised 5.2 million yuan from the public to help more than 400 people with health problems—including teachers with cancer (癌症) and disabled children in poor families—learn traditional Chinese culture.

Zhang, 29, was born without a left arm in Changchun, Jilin, but her hard work to become stronger has encouraged many people. She was chosen along with 67 other honorees (领奖人) to receive the Eighth National Ethical Role Model award (第八届全国道德模范提名奖) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 5th, 2021.

In 2015, Zhang set up a handwriting and painting school in Changchun. When she found that some parents were unable to pay for their children's education, she made the lessons free and began providing 300, 000yuan every year to help them.

In early 2020, her school was made to suspend all courses because of COVID-19 (新冠肺炎) but it didn't stop her from helping the poor families. She raised more than 8.9 millionyuan and gave them away to Hubei hospitals.

"Women in the new times should have the courage to create value and also have a sense of social duty," she said. "It is my great honor to be chosen as a model. This will become a driving force for me to move ahead and keep helping the poor and the disabled."

Hello, I'm Selina. I'm very happy to tell you about my family. I have a good and big family. My mother's name is Catherine and she's 38. She works in a clothes shop. My father's name is Ted. He's 40. He works in an office. He's an office worker. I have a sister and a brother. My sister is Sarah and she is in Grade Nine. My brother Paul is seven. He is a very cute boy. 

There is a white dog in my family. His name is Simon and he is my good friend. We also have a brown cat. Her name is Loli. Brown is my sister's favorite color, so she loves Loli. 

This is us, the Smiths. I love my family!

I'm Mary. I've decided to improve my German in the new term. Perhaps some of my advice can help you with your own language learning.

Speak more

 On my way to work or in the supermarket,I try to describe my surroundings(环境) in my head or out loud to remind myself of vocabulary and useful phrases.

Join social groups

 Last term I joined a rock band and learned lots of new vocabulary about music. This term I will join a badminton club and a German conversation group to give myself more chances to practice speaking with people who have common interests.

Change the language settings(设置) on my mobile phone

 To encourage myself to think in German, I changed my mobile phone into German. Every time I send an e-mail, I discover new words.

Watch more films

 It's a good idea to watch familiar (熟悉的) films dubbed (配音) into German. All the voices are strange, but as I already know the story, I can follow what the characters are saying. I don't have to worry about missing anything.

Laugh at myself

I've learned from my first term that I'm very good at making mistakes. There was a time when I went shopping for a scarf and kept using the German word for"sheep". This term, instead of feeling stupid, I will laugh at my silly mistakes and try again.