Walter Dean Myers，born on August 12，1937，was an American writer of children's books．He was known for young adult literature （文学） He wrote more than 100 books，including picture books and non﹣fiction．"I care about writing for young people because I remember how much I needed help and guidance at that time in my life，"Myers said in his book．

    Myers loved writing．He got up at five o'clock every morning．He worked at home in a small office that used to be his son's bedroom．

    Myers would first write an outline for every book．He called this prewriting．He imagined what the story would be and wrote down ideas in a notebook．To make sure there's enough action and dialogue for a good story，he thought of 30scenes．He wrote a short description of each scene in his notebook．

    He also cut out pictures of real people and put them on his office walls．He looked at those pictures and came up with ideas．Once he knew what the story would be and who the characters were，he began to write the book．He wrote five pages a day on his computer．

    Myers usually worked on three books at a time．When he was not prewriting or writing a book，he might be rewriting something he had already completed．Then he would send the story to his agent （经纪人）．He or she made suggestions for the story．After these final changes were made，the book was published and made its way to bookstores and libraries．By that time，Myers would begin to write his next book．"I want to do the best that I can with my writing．"said Myers．

B

    Last summer, Mac Hollan, a primary school teacher, was cycling to Alaska with two friends. On the way, his friends had to stop for a bicycle repair, but they encouraged Mac to ride on, and they would catch up with him soon.

    Mac began to cycle alone. A few minutes later, Mac heard quick and loud breathing behind him. "Man, that's a big dog!" he thought. But when he looked to the side, he saw immediately that it wasn't a dog at all, but a wolf, quickly catching up with him.

    Mac's heart jumped. He searched and took out his can of bear spray（防熊喷雾）. With one hand on the bars, he fired the spray at the wolf. A bright red cloud enveloped the animal. To Mac's relief（宽慰）, it fell back, shaking its head. A minute later, however, it was again by his side. It even attacked the back of Mac's bike, tearing open his tent bag. He fired at the wolf a second time, and again, it fell back, only to quickly restart the chase（追赶）.

    Mac was riding hard now. He waved and shouted at passing cars without slowing down.

    At that moment, Paul and Becky were driving their car on their way to Alaska. They found a dog-like animal running alongside a man on a bike. As they got closer, they realized that the "dog" was a wolf. Mac heard a large car behind him. He kept waving and shouting as the wolf was catching up closer. And the car did stop in front of him at the right time.

    It's Paul's twelfth birthday today. After breakfast, some of his friends come to see him. They give (给) him many nice gifts. Paul is very happy. At about 9:00 in the morning, they play basketball. They have lunch at McDonald's. In the afternoon, they go to the park (公园).

    At about 5:30 in the afternoon they come back home. Paul's mother buys a big birthday cake (蛋糕) for him. Paul's name and the words "Happy Birthday" are on the cake. Paul gets some nice presents from his family, too—a yellow T-shirt from his mother, a pair of sports shoes from his father, a CD from his sister Lucy, a basketball from his grandpa and a book from his grandma.

    How happy Paul is!

Many people do not like to stay at home on holiday. They want to go on a trip to some exciting places. They want to see something different and do something exciting. So people from the country come to the city and people from the city go to the country for their holidays. During the holidays, trains, buses and planes are all very busy. It is very hard to buy train tickets. Many people take cars for a trip. Last week my family went to the country by car for our holidays. There was too much traffic on the road, so we had to drive very slowly. It took us about an hour to get out of the town. Then we came to a hill. It was green and beautiful. We thought this was a good place for a picnic, so we stopped and took the food, fruit and drinks out of the car. We sat down and began to eat. Suddenly a strong wind blew and soon it started to rain. We had to run back to our car and had our picnic in the car. Then we drove back home. What a bad trip!

Sam hates doing chores. But he has to do many chores every day. Last weekend, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#}( take) the dog for a walk. And he had to wash his {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( father) car. He also cleaned his own room and did the {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( dish). Sam felt really terrible. Sometimes he has to look {#blank#}4{#/blank#} his little sister at home. He even has to cook for {#blank#}5{#/blank#}( she) when his parents are busy.

Sam has a foreign friend at school. His name is Peter. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}( do) chores in Peter's family is very different. In his house, only the girls do chores, such as sweeping the floor and taking {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the rubbish. His sisters make all the beds and clean all the rooms. Sam thinks Peter is very {#blank#}8{#/blank#}( luck) because he doesn't need to do the boring chores.

Sam is good at science. He wants to be a {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( science) when he grows up. He wants to make a robot to do the chores in the future. Then everyone will be happy. What {#blank#}10{#/blank#} good idea!