Something unexpected happenedin the summer of my eleventh year. The home I had grown up in burned to the groundin the middle of the night. Thankfully, my mom, dad, grandma, brothers and I escapedalong with my dogs. Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in.I spent the rest of that night with a friend of my family. I tried unsuccessfullyto sleep in the bed in his house. I was too scared.

    The next day my mom brought me a few T-shirtsand pairs of jeans that another friend gave to her. One pair of them was too shortand the other pair was too long, but I didn't care. At least I had some clothesagain. My dad returned to our broken home to see what he could find. The only thinghe could save was my mom's rings.

    To spend the summery dad rented us a big houseon the same road as our old house had been. As we moved in, our friends and ourcommunity continued todonate (捐赠) all they could to help us to get back on our feet. There were moreclothes, furniture, food money, and even some books for me to read. Love was aroundus.

    Looking back now I am thankful for all we wentthrough that summer because it taught me so much about life, love and people. Itshowed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first time you see thatlove is enough.

The erhu is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It is the most popular of the huqin family. In the Song Dynasty, musicians began to use this type of huqin to perform different kinds of music, and it became quite a popular instrument. With the rise of some forms of folk art, the art of the erhu developed quickly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It became an important accompanying (伴奏) instrument in different folk music. Now it is used in both traditional and modern music. It has even become a solo (独奏的) instrument. One of the most famous musical pieces played on the erhu is Erquan Yingyue by Abing.

The erhu used to be mainly played by common people, As the playing skills were passed down by oral (口传) tradition, there are few written records about the erhu that can be found. To study the history and the development of the erhu, historians usually turn to ancient paintings, sculptures and murals (雕塑和璧画). The earliest pictures of this instrument were found in Yulin Caves and Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves in Gansu Province.

Because of so many people's effort, the erhu becomes more and more popular around the world. In fact, we can hear the familiar sound of the erhu in many Hollywood productions, such as Kungfu Panda in 2012 and most recently, the Oscar nominated(提名)film Up in the Air(《在云端》). When people watch these movies, they also enjoy the special music of the erhu. The erhu is also called "Chinese violin" by many westerners, but in many ways, they are quite different.

Last summer I got the chance to spend a month helping out in a hospital in Africa. I had one year left at school, and I was  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(interest) in studying medicine at university.

Working there introduced me to a world that is very different from  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(I) in so many ways. I was shocked(震惊的) that many families over there had such  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}poor and difficult life. But I was also surprised at how positively people spend their daily  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (life). They come together and help each other, and that's something a lot of us here in the UK have forgotten. My work in the hospital  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(be) hard. Not only did I spend a lot of time cleaning floors, but also I got to spend some time looking after the patients (病人)  {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(careful). And I liked  {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(talk) to some doctors and asking them about the job. I saw some truly awful(极坏的) things in the hospital,  {#blank#}8{#/blank#}none of them changed my mind about being a doctor. {#blank#}9{#/blank#}fact, they only made me more determined to learn medicine.

 {#blank#}10{#/blank#}I finished the work, I knew what I'm going to do in the future: I want to work for an international organisation like the Red Cross. I can't wait to get started.

I have a good friend. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (he) name is Mike Brown.Here is a photo {#blank#}2{#/blank#} him. Mike is fat because he likes eating {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(hamburger) and ice-cream. Mike and I are in the same class, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} he is my classmate, too. We always do {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(sport) after school. Mike likes playing soccer. He {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(think) it's interesting. He has a soccer ball, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} I don't have one. I think soccer is too difficult. I like ping-pong. It's easy for {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (I). Sometimes, we play baseball with {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(we) friends. It's fun. We don't play basketball. We only watch basketball games {#blank#}10{#/blank#}TV. It's relaxing.

 Brenda Zhao slowly walked to the center of the stage, in front of hundreds of guests. Dressing {#blank#}1{#/blank#}( she) in a kind of traditional Chinese. clothes called banfu. she completed her coming- of- age celebration. For her, the event on Saturday was the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( special) in her school life, as she celebrated the big day with her family and friends in a traditional Chinese Han- style ceremony (仪式)."I really like being a part of the Chinese culture. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} this is my first time wearing hanfu, it has always been part of our event," the 18- year- old told China Daily {#blank#}4{#/blank#}( happy).

 In Brenda's opinion, it's {#blank#}5{#/blank#} nice idea to wear hanfu for big days like graduation and becoming an adult. " Hanfu is something that not everyone knows {#blank#}6{#/blank#}( good), so we set up the hanfu club to spread our culture. If more and more people join the club, they {#blank#}7{#/blank#}( fall) in love with it," she said.

As a Chinese American, Brenda has been working as a student volunteer {#blank#}8{#/blank#} three years, promoting(促进) Chinese art and culture in New York City. She is also one of the {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( student) who have won the President's Community Service Award this year.

"I really love working with the community and with my volunteers," she said." They also encoura ge me {#blank#}10{#/blank#}( keep) going."

Tim was a {#blank#}1{#/blank#} （作家）who lived in a small village. He liked to write songs. He wasn't{#blank#}2{#/blank#}（富裕的）, but he was happy. He wanted to go to new places, but he couldn't. One day, he wrote a song about the world {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（在...之下）the sky. The song was loud and fun.

People in his town liked the song a lot. It made them feel good. His song{#blank#}4{#/blank#} （赢得）a singing contest. The{#blank#}5{#/blank#} （奖品）was a trip to a faraway place. Tim was excited to go on this trip.

He traveled and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}（看见）many new things. He met people with sad stories and happy stories. Some stories were{#blank#}7{#/blank#}（更糟的）than his, and some were better. Tim wrote more songs about the people he met.

When he came back home, he didn't have more money, but he had many good memories. He knew his songs could take him to different places in his {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（头脑）. He was happy with his life, and he kept writing songs that made people smile. Tim's songs were like a loud and {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（美丽的）voice that told stories from {#blank#}10{#/blank#}（任何地方）in the world.