Sam's dad told camping stories all through dinner. "Once I saw a snake outside my tent. Did I tell you about that?" Sam shook his head and tried not to look impatient. In fact, he really wanted to get out to the tent in the backyard (后院). His friend, Kent would go there.

    Finally, everyone finished dinner. Sam asked if he could go out. "I think you should help do the dishes first," said Mom. Sam washed all the dishes and helped clean the kitchen, and then he ran to the tent.

Kent was waiting for him. "Have you been waiting long?" asked Sam.

    "Not long,"said Kent. "Oh, well, we're here now. Let's get ready." "Ready for what?" asked Kent.

    "For anything that is going to happen," answered Sam. They played cards for some time in the tent. Then they read some books. After that, Sam told some of his dad's camping stories. When they got tired, they turned out the light ( 灯) and listened for noises in the dark. But they didn't hear any noises for a very long time ...

    Finally, Sam heard something at the tent flap ( 帐篷门帘). He felt very scared and kept his eyes closed.

    "Hey, get up, boys! Breakfast is ready." It was Sam's mom.

    Sam opened his eyes and looked at Kent. He was still sleeping. Sam sighed (叹息道), "We slept through the night, and nothing happened!"

    Mason has seen the future—and it's fun. Mason likes thinking about how machines can make our life easier by doing the work we hate, such as cleaning. He shows a floor cleaning machine that's built into the wall. It can clean up the floor.

    When it comes to the kitchen, Bruce, an expert at Whirlpool, is sure that in a few years, robots will be doing most of the boring work, freeing us to relax. "More than just fun, future kitchens will be environmentally friendly," he says. A new system will be built in the house which can recycle energy lost from your kitchen to make the whole home warm.

    "The fridge will be the centre of the home," says Daniel, a market expert. The fridge will have a touch screen (触摸屏幕) where you can watch TV, surf the Internet, check your emails, keep a shopping list and order vegetables. "Your fridge is the first place you go to in the morning and the last place at night," says Daniel.

    "I wonder why a 1.9-metre man and 1.6-metre woman have to cook meals on counters (柜台) of the same height," Jane Langmuir, an expert of cooking machines, says. "But times have changed. We have made a new counter where you can press a button and it moves to whatever height you want."

    Ted Selker has made the dish maker which lets you make dishes and bowls out of plastics at home. After each meal, the dishes are changed straight back into plastics.

    Rock climbing(攀岩)did not become a sport until in the late 19^th century. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

While rock climbing may still be necessary for mountain climbing, most people just climb low mountains for fun.

    If you have ever done rock climbing, you will know that it is not a very easy sport. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} What most people don't know is that rock climbing is one of the sports that depend on your body and mind(意志).

    To climb successfully, one must use wonderful skills. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Another important rule is that your arms only hold you close to the rock face while your legs are pushing you up. The closer you are to the rock face, the easier it is to climb.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Once you start to learn how to climb, you'll find more fun. People who like games such as chess playing or problem—solving may love rock climbing, because they are nearly the same in the way of thinking. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Anyone who enjoys a difficult game and loves the outdoors should think of taking rock climbing as a new hobby.

Charles Darwin

Early years

Charles Darwin was one of the six children from a big family. His grandfather and father were doctors and the young Darwin went to Edinburgh University to study medicine. However, he hated to see blood and he soon realized that he couldn't be a doctor. He then went to Cambridge University and discovered that he had a great interest in studying plants, insects and animals. Luckily, one of Darwin's university teachers helped him join the perfect trip for a biologist: a voyage around the world to study nature.

The Beagle

In 1831, Charles Darwin left Plymouth on The Beagle, a ship that took him around the world for five years. While he was travelling, he studied the plants and animals in the countries and on the islands that the ship visited. Darwin also spent his time on The Beagle writing notes about the things he had seen. When he finally arrived back in Britain, Darwin was already starting to create his famous theory that all living things had a common ancestor (祖先).

Down house

At home at Down House, a place that you can still visit today, Darwin wrote many articles and books about his travels, but he didn't want to make anything about his theory known to the public. He worked in his study, where he wrote 250,000 words about his theory of evolution (进化论), but he was frightened about what people might say about his idea that monkeys were the ancestors of humans. He thought the public would be against it and was so frightened that he became ill with worry. However, when another scientist started to write about similar ideas, Darwin decided to print his book, On the Origin of Species.

Most scientists accepted Darwin's theory and people continue to study it today. On 12th February, the day he was born, Darwin Day is celebrated around the world to encourage more people to study the natural world.

This summer, my parents took Amy and me to different parts of China. It was excited for us to experience China Railway High-speed Train. It was the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(safe) and fastest way to travel around. And my parents took us to a lot of {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(city), so I never had to say goodbye to the trains. 

What I like about trains are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} views you can't see on planes. My favourite was Shanghai at night. The tall buildings and bright lights made me think {#blank#}4{#/blank#} New York. 

After {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(arrive) in Beijing, we visited Dad's university, Tsinghua University. It was big and beautiful just like Beijing {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(it). And the food was really fantastic. Sure，the food in America was also delicious but {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(actual ) I liked Chinese food better. Things in Beijing surprised me a lot and I wanted {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(know) why everything was so amazing here. The answer immediately rushed into my mind — hard work. Things {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(develop) rapidly in China now. China has changed for the better. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} everyone is working very hard to create a better future. 

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor Taizong asked the prime minister Feng Deyi to recommend（推荐） talented people.

 1 , several months passed, Feng didn't recommend anyone. "I tried my best, but there are not unusual and 2 people at all, " Feng said.

"People are like utensils (器具). What we need to do is to make good use of their strengths. You cannot excuse yourself for not noticing talented people. How could you say that there are no talented people in our country?" said the emperor.

Indeed, each utensil or tool has its use. A knife is made to cut things while chopsticks are made to 3 food. We can't use a knife as a 4 . Like a utensil, each person has special strength. Nobody is perfect. We can't expect a person to be good at everything.

With this idea in 5 , Emperor Taizong discovered many talented people of different backgrounds. He 6 them important positions, which helped them make the best use of their talents. His talented people helped the society 7 and created a "golden age".

Some people say if a person is talented 8 , we should give them a chance. The same idea can be found in The Analects of Confucius (《论语》). Treating people as utensils shows that we can not only lead people well, but also allow different kinds of people to work well.

Today, the idea still makes 9 . If we become leaders someday, we should help others give full play to their strengths. 10 , Liu Bang let Zhang Liang and Xiao He work as advisors for their wisdom while inviting Han Xin to lead the army for his war strategies. Known as the "three heroes of the early Han Dynasty", they helped Liu build strong dynasty.