My name is Bess Curle, but this is not my story. It is the story of my lady Mary, Queen of Scots. She wrote the story, and then she gave it to me. I am going to give it to her son.

    She began the story a week ago. It was January 1587, and we sat here in our cold room in Fotheringhay Castle, in the north of England. We couldn't see much from the window. One or two houses, a river, some trees, some horses, and a road. That's all.

    The road goes to London, the home of Queen Elizabeth of England. Mary sat with her little dog in her hands and watched it, all day long.

    No one came along the road. Nothing happened. I watched Mary, unhappily.

    "Please, Your Majesty, come away from that window," I said. "It doesn't help. No one is going to come. Queen Elizabeth can't do it-Queens don't kill Queens."

    "Don't they, Bess?" Mary said. "Then why are we here, in this prison? Why am I not free?"

    "Why, Your Majesty(陛下)? Because Queen Elizabeth is afraid of you."

    "That's right," Mary said. "She's afraid of me, and she hates me too. She hates me because I am beautiful, and she is not; because I had three husbands, and she never married. And because many people-good Catholic(天主教的)people in England France, Scotland, Spain-say that I, Mary, am the true Queen of England, not Elizabeth. And E}zabeth has no children, so, when she is dead, my son James..."

    She came away from the window and stood in front of me. "James," she said quietly, "my son, does he think about me sometimes? He was only ten months old when I last saw him. It is nearly twenty years..."

    There is a new cartoon movie called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The story happens in a small American town. People there don't have enough food. They only have fish to eat. Luckily, an inventor comes to help people. Who is he? Read what he says: "Hi！I'm Flint. I'm an inventor. I invented a new machine to make food for our town. It changes water into food. It can make meatballs and hamburgers rain down. It can make whatever people want!"

    Flint has a monkey friend. He is very helpful. Read his self－introduction: "Hi, my name is Steve. I'm a monkey. I can talk with an animal translator. Flint invented it. I'm Flint's best friend. When he needs me, I'm a good helper. "

    What's more interesting is that there is a special weather reporter. She tells people when and where the food will fall down. Read what she says: "Hi, my name is Sam. I am a weather reporter. People love Flint's invention. They have a lot to eat. But it's raining bigger and bigger food pieces. The food can smash(砸烂) houses! Flint has to stop it."

    Will Flint stop the food rain? Go to see the movie and find out.

    Bill is a farmer. He can't write or read. One day he goes to the city {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (buy) something. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} noon, he bas lunch in a restaurant. He {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (sit) down at a table and looks around. He {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (see) some old people put glasses on before reading their books. "Oh I {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (know) why I can't read or write. I want to have a pair of glasses," {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (say) to himself. Then he doesn't {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (eat) anything and can't wait {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (go) to the shop. All the glasses {#blank#}9{#/blank#} very expensive. But he still buys a pair. When he puts on the glasses, he still can't read. He is angry and asks the salesman, "Why can't I read with the glasses? {#blank#}10{#/blank#} there anything wrong with your glasses?" "Excuse me, but can you read?" the salesman asks. "No, I can't." The salesman laughs and says nothing again.

Last summer I went through a training program and became a volunteer. When I found out what other people's lives were like because they could not read, I realized the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (important) of reading.

Marie is a 44-year-old mother of three children and she is my first student. In the

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (one) lesson, she told me that she {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (walk) miles to the supermarket twice a week because she didn't know how {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(take) a bus. She said she also had trouble in the supermarket. She bought things just by their pictures {#blank#}5{#/blank#}she didn't know words. If the thing that she wanted to buy had a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (difference) picture, she would not recognize(认出) it.

As we worked together, learning {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to read built Marie's confidence(信心).She started to make great progress. She even took the bus to the supermarket once. After this {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (succeed) trip, she felt very excited.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(help) Marie made me feel so happy. As a volunteer, I learned a lot about teaching and helping others. In fact, I learned {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(much) from the experience than Marie did.

My pen friend is Allison. She is a lovely Australian girl {#blank#}1{#/blank#}big blue eyes. Like me, Allison loves singing and dancing, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}we both like travelling to different places for our holidays. 

Do you want to know {#blank#}3{#/blank#}our friendship started? By travelling! Three years ago, I paid a visit to my {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (uncle)home in Sydney. One Saturday my cousin and I went to the Blue Mountains Scenic World and I met Allison on the bus. She was siting just next to me. At first, we were both a bit shy. We sat {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(silent) all the way until we got near the foot of mountains. I was surprised by the amazing views and opened the window {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(take)photos. That's when Allison turned to {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(I) and said, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Then she began to explain why the mountains looked blue.

For the rest of the day, {#blank#}8{#/blank#}three of us travelled together. We saw many koalas and were happy to see that they {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(protect) well in the forest. What a great experience! Back home, I started writing to Allison and since then we {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(be)friends.