When people say"culture", we think of art and history. But one very famous symbol in American culture is a cartoon. We all know and love the black mouse {#blank#}1{#/blank#} two large round ears—Mickey Mouse. Over 80 years ago, he first appeared in the cartoon Steamboat Willie. When this cartoon came out in New York on November 18, 1928, it was the first cartoon with sound and music. The man behind Mickey was Walt Disney. He became very {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (success). In the 1930s, he made 87 cartoons with Mickey. 

Some people might ask how this cartoon animal became so popular. One of the main {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (reason) is that Mickey was like a common man, but he always tried to face any danger. In his early films, Mickey was {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(lucky) and had many problems, such as {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (lose) his house or girlfriend, Minnie. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, he was always ready to try his best. People went to the cinema to see the "little man" win. Most of them wanted to be like Mickey.

On November 18,1978, Mickey became {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（one）cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Today's cartoons are usually not so {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(simple) as little Mickey Mouse, but everyone still {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (know) and loves him. Who has a pair of ears {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(famous) than Mickey's?

A

    Annie is a neighbor's daughter. When her birthday month came around I found out she felt blue and lonely.

    Her family is quite small and kind of poor so there wouldn't be any birthday visitors. I wanted to send her a card and maybe a small gift to make her happy.

    I told some of my friends I would like to have a birthday party for the girl. I asked them for help. Then I bought some small presents, a cake and something else.

    When the day came, my friends and I went to her house. When she got home after school, we gave the presents to her and wished her a happy birthday.

    It was so easy to do something helpful. My friends helped take the party. They still laugh and talk about it. And Annie tells me she likes the birthday very much and she can still remember it!

    Peter wanted to travel, especially to English-speaking countries such as America and Australia. But he knew that he had to improve his English, so he went to Green Language School to take English lessons. Peter worked very hard at his English. At last, he became ill. Every evening he went to bed, closed his eyes but he stayed awake(醒着的).

    Peter was worried so he went to see the doctor." I can't sleep at night. What should I do, Doctor?"

    "I have a piece of advice, "said the doctor. "Try to count(数)numbers. When you count up to 1,000, you'll be asleep."

    The next day Peter returned to the doctor's office." Did you try my advice？And are you better today?" asked the doctor.

    Peter wasn't happy. "Er, I tried counting from one, two...up to four hundred and twenty-one, and I felt sleepy. Then I got up and drank some coffee. Then I went on counting up to 1,000. But I still couldn't be asleep."

    Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890) killed himself by shooting himself in the chest(胸膛).

    This is what van Gogh himself told his brother, the doctors and the police just before he died.

    However, in a new book Van Gogh: The Life, two Pulitzer (普利策奖) Prize-winning authors, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, argue that van Gogh may have been murdered. They believed that the artist was protecting a 16-year-old boy named Rene Secret, who shot him accidentally.

    Van Gogh's statement that he shot himself was accepted because he had been mentally unstable(精神状况不稳的) for two years. He suffered from psychotic(精神病的) attacks and imagined things that were not really happening. Art critics (评论家) believe that his unstable mental state is shown in his work, describing his style of painting as shaken. Some of his most famous paintings, such as The Starry Night, were produced during this period.

    Van Gogh is among a number of creative minds who suffered from mental health problems. In fact, mental illness is so common among famous creative figures that scientists have studied whether there is link between creativity and insanity(精神错乱). Research began in the 1970s, but the idea that an unstable mind could be linked to creative genius(天才) was already around in ancient Greece.

    Some scientists believe mental illness, in its more manageable state, gives artists creativity. Research has found that doing creative activities can also be therapeutic(有疗效的) for people suffering from mental illness. Painting, writing, or making something can be a positive way for people to express their thoughts.

Hello, everyone. My {#blank#}1{#/blank#} ( one) name is Peter, and my last name is Smith. I am 12. Four people are in my family. I don't have a sister. I only have a  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. His name is Bill Smith. Our parents are nice and we like  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( they). Bill and I are in the same(相同的) school, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} we are in different (不同的) {#blank#}5{#/blank#}( class). I am in Class 7. He is in Class 6. I like books. I read them {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the evening. I have a collection(收集) of books. It's great! I have 16 books. Seven C {#blank#}7{#/blank#} books and nine English books{#blank#}8{#/blank#}( be) in the box under my bed. Bill doesn't like books. He likes computer games, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} he likes playing them on {#blank#}10{#/blank#} computer every evening.

I am Alice. My sister and I spent our last summer holidays with our uncle who is a   geologist(地质学家) and loves to collect stones.

 One day he bought us two backpacks and asked us to go to the mountain with him. We walked the whole day. Every now and then he put stones in our backpacks. To our surprise, he also took some stones out from them. But we thought he had just found better stones.

 When we returned to the house, we were very tired. The backpacks were so heavy that we felt relief(轻松) when we took them off. Yet our uncle's backpack was half empty.

" Why did you give us so many stones?" we asked.

"I didn't. You did." he said." You didn't know it, but I gave you a little attitude(态度) test today.I listened to every word you said. Whenever you were complaining(抱怨),I added a stone to your backpacks. Every time you talked about something with positive(积极的) thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks."

 Our backpacks were full of stones.

" Your negative(消极的) thoughts are just like stones. You carry them____in your mind just like those stones in your backpacks. The more negative thoughts you have, the heavier your mind will be." said our uncle.

 With great love, our uncle taught us one of the most important lessons in life— the power(力量) of the attitude.