Farming in the USA today is very different from that 100 years ago. In those days, farmers did not have many machines to help them. They had animals. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}This meant that farms were smaller than they are now. Farmers also worked in a different way in the past. In those days, farmers grew fruits and vegetables and kept cows, pigs and chickens to feed their families. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Farmers have a very special life in many ways. First of all, they can't leave the job at the end of the day. They live on the farm and there is always work to do. Second, a lot of farm work is outdoors, so the weather is very important for farmers. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} A lot of bad weather means farmers will lose money. Finally, farmers work with plants and animals. They understand nature better than other people do.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Spring is a time for planting. Farmers are busy getting the fields ready and then planting the seeds(种子). In summer, farmers must take good care of the plants. Some may need water. Other plants may have problems with insects or diseases. Then in fall, the fruits or plants are ready for picking. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Winter is a time for rest or for work on the farm machines.

A. Farm work changes with the seasons.

B. That is a very busy time for farmers.

C. But animals work slowly compared to machines.

D. It is also important for the success of their farms.

E. Today farmers grow things on the farms so they can sell them.

    In a school, you may hear a student saying in Chinese,“我对汉语很感兴趣。“ but you're not in China. You're in a foreign country. Like the student, many foreigners are learning Chinese. But it's not easy. The Chinese use a different character(汉字) for each word. People have to memorize about 600 characters before they can do even basic reading and writing. For foreigners, it's hard to memorize them. And the following chart shows the top 3 difficulties for foreigners while learning Chinese.

    However, Chinese is more popular around the world today. The long history and colorful culture of China attract many foreigners to learn Chinese. With the rapid development, China is staying ahead in many fields and is playing its role in the world.

    Chinese is becoming a global (全球的) language and its popularity has risen around the world. Many countries set up Chinese courses in their schools.

    For example, in the UK, students used to choose between Spanish, Latin, French and other foreign languages. But now schools encourage their students to study Chinese. The increase in popularity of Chinese has been surprising. 1031 people took Chinese language exams in 2001, and the number was 2062 last year, while 2561 people chose Spanish. It's predicted that studying Chinese in the UK could overtake (超过) Spanish in less than five years.

    Just like the foreigners do, we also learn foreign languages. Different languages carry different cultures. So exchanges are necessary. By learning a foreign language, we not only have a useful tool of communicating, but experience a new culture, what's more important, learning a foreign language well will help us tell our own stories to the world.

What are you going to be when you grow up? Maybe a teacher, a doctor or a scientist? How about an ice- cream taster? There is really a job where you can get paid by tasting ice- cream. And this is what Feng Yuanyuan now does.

Feng Yuanyuan, born in 1995, has worked at an ice- cream company for two years. Her main role is to taste and test ice cream products(产品). Usually she tastes more than ten ice- creams a day, but sometimes she has to taste over twenty ice- creams. After eating one, she needs to wash her mouth with lots of warm water so as to comfort her tongue. Through this taste- testing, Feng makes more than 10,000 yuan a month, more than most of her college classmates. However, a by- product of eating so much ice- cream is that she is getting fat." I need to take exercise every day to keep in shape," said Feng.

" To be an ice- cream taster, a person needs to have a sensitive(敏感的) tongue and he must really like ice- cream. Many people may become tired of ice- cream easily if they have to eat it every day, so a good ice- cream taster isn't easy to find," said Feng.

This cool job keeps Feng Yuanyuan busy but happy. She's also very happy that the company's products sell well." After more than a year's hard work, I can tell if an ice- cream has additives(添加剂) just by tasting it.I hope that in the future I can find out what a product is made from with only one bite," Feng said.

I used to spend my free time doing boring things. For example, I enjoyed playing with my phone, using the Internet and watching TV. Even worse, I played and played u{#blank#}1{#/blank#} it was very late at night. At last, I {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(意识到) it was not good for me. So this summer, I decided to go through a whole holiday without my phone or the Internet. And I went to my grandparents' home in the countryside.

 As soon as I arrived at my grandparents' home, I felt great. How a{#blank#}3{#/blank#}! How lovely and peaceful the village was! The {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(小溪) was clean. All kinds of plants were more beautiful than you could imagine. The following three days, I did {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (无论什么) I could to help my grandparents. I helped them harvest (收割) corns, feed the chickens and milk the cow. On the{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(第四) day,I made some new friends there. We went fishing, and rode bicycles everywhere. Sometimes when I woke up at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (午夜),I could even hear frogs. We really enjoyed o{#blank#}8{#/blank#} and had fun running after each other every day. T{#blank#}9{#/blank#} there was no phone or the Internet in the countryside, I felt so happy.

 Happy time is always short, especially for children. Soon my holiday was o{#blank#}10{#/blank#}. I had to leave the village and go back to the city. I really didn't feel like leaving. I believe the memory will stay in my mind for a long time.

Alexa and Brittany are best friends. They first met each other when Brittany moved next door in the 2nd grade. They play together 1 every day after school.

But they are different in many ways. Alexa is a shy girl. She is better at schoolwork than any other 2 in her class and reads a lot of books.

However, Brittany is 3 . She loves talking with other kids loudly.

Playing soccer is her favorite activity. Often, Alexa and Brittany play together in the park across the street. If it rains outside, they will go home and play computer games.

Some days they can spend hours playing together happily, but other days they just can't 4 what to do.

Last Wednesday, Alexa said, "Come on, Brittany. Let's read books." "They just cut the grass. I love playing soccer when the grass is nice and short," Brittany 5 .

"We always do what you want to do, Brittany! You should at least 6 me once," Alexa shouted.

"It's not true. We just read books yesterday. Now, read by yourself. I will go out to play soccer," Brittany said 7 .

Alexa felt sad and didn't know what to do. The next day, she asked her teacher, Mrs. Stone for help. Mrs. Stone said, "Best friends should understand each other. This is the most 8 thing. Maybe you don't have to play together all the time. You can just play together a few times a week. And you can also take turns (轮流) to 9 the activity." Alexa thought this was a good idea and went to talk with Brittany. The two girls said sorry to each other and decided to have a 10