The 14-year-old girl Susan Davis is having a party. At this party, there are neither cakes nor candles. There is only a room full of art supplies(供应品)and many kids she never met. And all the kids are homeless.

 Susan got the idea last year after her school. She worried that kids who could not afford their own supplies would give up drawing. So she started writing letters to big companies to ask for help. Then the girl received lots of donations(赠品)from some of the biggest art supply companies. Susan collected more than $3000 in supplies, enough to make a home for kids to paint their own watercolors.

By far she's held three parties. What she did was encouraged by the White House. Susan received the President's awards(奖赏). Now Susan does it for a different reason— to get the poor kids to enjoy art.

The Special Olympics

    The Olympics are some of the most exciting sports events in the world. But there is another Olympics about which you may not have heard. This is the Special Olympics, for people with mental disabilities.

    The first Special Olympic Games were held in Chicago in 1968. One thousand people competed in many events. Since then Special Olympic programs have been organized in all 50 states and more than 150 countries. Today more than a million people take part in the Special Olympics.

    Mentally disabled persons over the age of eight may take part in the Special Olympics. These people may also have physical disabilities. People have run in races using crutches or walkers. A young girl enter the long jump event with an artificial leg. A blind runner raced around the track with the help of his coach's voice. A deaf basketball team planned their plays using sign language.

    Winning is wonderful for people who may never have had much success. But training for and entering the Special Olympics is also important. The participants become more confident. They learn how to concentrate in order to play well. Then they use that concentration in school to improve their schoolwork. Like anyone else they feel great when they prove they can do something well.

    From the time each of my children started school, I packed their lunches. And in each lunch I packed, I included a note. Often written on a piece of small paper, it might be a thank-you for an unusual moment, a reminder of something we were happily expecting, or a bit of encouragement for the coming test or sporting event.

    In early grade school they loved their notes. But as children grow older they become self-conscious（有自我意识的）, and by the time he reached high school, my older son, Marc, informed me he no longer enjoyed my daily notes. Telling him that he no longer needed to read them but I still needed to write them, I continued until the day he graduated.

    Six years after high school graduation, Marc called and asked if he could move home for a couple of months. He had spent those years well, graduation from college, completing two internship（实习）in Washington, D.C., and finally, becoming a technical assistant in Sacramento. However, he had lived away from home except for short holiday visits. With his younger sister leaving for college, I was especially happy to have Marc back. Since I was still making lunch for his younger brother, I packed one of Marc, too. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from my 24-year-old son, asking about his lunch.

    “Did I do something wrong? Don't you love me any longer, Mom?” he asked.

    “Of course I love you, dear!” I laughingly said. “What's wrong?”

    “My note, Mom,” he answered. “Where's my note?”

    Andy plays basketball for the children's basketball club. He usually gets up at around 5:30 and runs in his school from 5:40 to 6:40.After running，he has breakfast at 7 o'clock. For breakfast，he eats some eggs and vegetables. At around 8：00，he plays basketball with his friends. They play basketball for around four hours. At about 12：00，they have lunch. For lunch，Andy has lots of vegetables，chicken and fruit. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon，Andy goes to the children's basketball club. He is never late for the club. Then Andy has dinner at about 7:00.After dinner，he watches basketball games on TV. Andy usually goes to bed at 10:30.

    Every four years, the best players from all over the world get together in one city to ①________ the world sports meeting the Olympic Games. People carry the holy flame from one place to the nest. On August 6th, 2008, they carried the holy flame to Beijing. All the Chinese people were very happy, excited and proud.

    In Beijing, we built a new Olympic Village with restaurants for players and stadiums for matches.

    The motto of the Olympics is "Faster, higher, stronger". The slogan (标语，口号) of the Beijing Olympics is "②________".

Customs on Eating

    Food in China and western countries is different. China has about 5000 years' old history. They may spend half of their time on food. Chinese people choose food very carefully. They only use. fresh materials (新鲜的材料) to make food. For example, they only eat fresh fish. Chinese have a lot of ideas for cooking. They can cook a chicken in over ten ways.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Western countries, like England or America, don't have fresh food because they buy their food from supermarkets which only sell stored materials (储存的材料).{#blank#}2{#/blank#}They are healthy for man's body. Western people do not have many skills for cooking, and mostly they only boil, steam (蒸) and bake the food. By the way, western people are very good at making desserts and chocolate. They can make very good cakes and chocolate{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    In China, the person who invites other people for meal would pay for the meal, but it's not the same way in western countries.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} They can afford it. They won't be happy if you pay for them. In western countries like America or England, people will always give tips (小费) to the waiter after they finish the meal in a restaurant. If you don't, the waiter will not be happy. In China this only happens in some top restaurants and hotels in large cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

    Another difference in eating is that:{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Chinese people only have three meals during a day. But western people may have more. They usually have afternoon tea when they would have fruit, cakes or biscuits with cheese.