Once upon a time, there was a young man who liked puppets (木偶) so much that he became an apprentice(学徒) to a master puppet-maker. Sadly, the young man was not so clever, and his teacher and the other apprentices were always telling him he had no talent for making puppets, and that he would achieve nothing in making puppets.

    Even so, he was fond of it so much that he worked day after day to improve himself. Though he made every effort, they would always find something wrong with his puppets, and the poor puppets ended up being thrown out of the workshop.

    The young man wasn't going to give up, so he decided that from then on he would spend all his time making just one kind of puppet. Whenever he found a fault in his puppet he would throw it away and start again. Years passed, and with each new attempt his puppet became a little bit better. By that time, his puppet was much better than anything that the other apprentices could make, but he kept making improvements. Living like that, the man wasn't making any money, and many people laughed at how poor he was.

    By the time he was an old man, his puppet was truly wonderful. Finally, after so many years of work, he finished work on his puppet, and said, "I can't find anything wrong with it. This time it is perfect." And for the first time in all those years, instead of throwing his puppet away, he put it up on the shelf, feeling truly satisfied and cheerful.

    It is well-known that the perfect puppet, Pinocchio, came to life after that, had a thousand adventures, and gave that old man –whose name was Geppetto—more joy than any other famous puppet—maker had ever got from any of their creations.

From this autumn, primary and middle schools have labor education(劳动教育). 

Duan Jiayang is a 12-year-old student in Yinchuan. One of the subjects in his school is welcome. It is the life skill(生活技能) class. He learns to plant fruit and vegetables in class. He says, "It's not easy. "

In China, many parents do everything for their children. Lots of students don't have life skills. Because of this, Duan's school gives the class. "We want students to really enjoy life by taking the class. We hope students can know it's not easy to get food. And we also want students to thank their parents, "a teacher says.

At the same time, in another middle school in Yinchuan, students learn how to make steamed buns(馒头) in class. A girl named Lian Yan says, "I really love our life skill class. It's my favourite class, "

"Children often just study but don't want to do housework(家务) at home, "says a mother. "The life skill class makes it interesting And the class can even make it become students'hobby or life skill, "she says.

Taking Root.

How many kinds of plants are there in the world? Lucy Braun wondered that as a child. She showed great interest in plants at a young age. She often had energetic walks with her family through the nearby woods. Some plants and wildflowers seemed to shout at her with their wildcolours. Others hid behind rocks.

Lucy looked at the shapes of leaves as she walked in the woods. She kept a record of what she saw. She also learnt to draw what she saw. Then she could compare all kinds of plants. Later, Lucy grew more and more interested in botany, the study of plants.

Branching Out

At university, Lucy took classes in geology, or the study of rocks and minerals. Her work with geologists changed how she looked at the natural world. She continued her studies in botany as well. Lucy also took classes in ecology (生态学). Lucy believed that plant life in some areas was able to move to other places over time.

In Full Bloom

In 1917, Lucy began to teach botany at a university. She lived in a house near the woods. Lucy collected plants from all around the country. She took many photos of them, too. Colour photography was still new then. Because of that, people enjoyed her lessons and photos a lot.

The    ▲     of Labour (劳动)

Later in her life, Lucy wrote many field guides. In 1950, she published her most important guide. It describes the plants in the forests across the country. Ecologists still use it to study changes in the forests over time.

Today, Lucy has a few plants named after her. One of them is Lucy Braun's snakeroot, which is now in danger. Lucy's work in the protection of nature may help prevent its disappearance.

Lucy Braun lived to be 81. In her years as a botanist, Lucy collected nearly 12,000 plants!

My name is Jessica Meir. I am a flight engineer on the International Space Station(ISS)(国际空间站). Today, I will tell you something about what life is like on the ISS.

The ISS has over 425 cubic meters(立方) of living space. I work here with astronauts from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and some other countries.

When we are on the ISS, we have to follow an everyday schedule. It tells us when to get up, eat, exercise, work, relax and go to sleep. We spend about two hours each day exercising. Without enough exercise, we would lose an amount of muscle(肌肉) because of the microgravity(微重力) environment in space.

When we are on the ISS, we eat food that is specially made. We eat some foods, such as cakes, in space in the same way as we do on the Earth. But some other foods are real challenges. For example, when we' re in space, we can't shake salt onto food, because the salt would float away(飘走). As a result, we have to use special salt.

When we are not busy working on the ISS, we can relax and have fun in different ways. We also love to listen to music, read books, play cards, watch movies and talk with our family members.

As you can see, the microgravity environment in space brings many challenges that you don't face on the Earth. Would you like to live for some time on the ISS.

Did you know that humans aren't the only species (物种) that use language? Bees communicate by dancing. Whales talk to each other by singing. And some apes talk to humans by using American Sign Language. 

A female gorilla(大猩猩), Koko, was born at the San Francisco Zoo on July 4th, 1971. Koko learned sign language from her trainer, Dr. Penny Patterson. Patterson began teaching sign language to Koko in 1972, when Koko was one year old. Koko must have been a good student, because two years later she moved onto the Stanford University campus with Dr. Patterson. Koko continued to learn on the campus until 1976. That's when she began living full﹣time with Patterson's group, the Gorilla Foundation. Patterson and Koko's relationship has been very close ever since. 

Dr. Patterson says that Koko has mastered sign language and known over 1,000 words, and that Koko makes up new words. For example, Koko didn't know the sign for ring, so she signed the words finger and bracelet(手镯). Dr. Patterson thinks that this shows meaningful and constructive use of language. 

Not everyone agrees with Dr. Patterson. Some argue that apes(类人猿) like Koko do not understand the meaning of what they are doing. Some people who don't believe that say that these apes are just performing complex tricks (戏法). For example, if Koko points to an apple and signs red or apple, Dr. Patterson will give her an apple. They argue that Koko does not really know what the sign apple means. She only knows that that if she makes the right movement, one which Dr. Patterson has shown her, then she gets an apple. The argument is not solved, but one thing is for certain: Koko is an extraordinary ape. 

It seems like Patterson and Koko have a good relationship, but not everyone agrees with it. Some people believe that Patterson is humanizing the ape. They think that apes should be left in the most natural state possible. Even Dr. Patterson struggles with these feelings. When she was asked if her findings could be duplicated by another group of scientists, she said, "We don't think that it would be ethical (道德的) to do again. " She went on to argue that animals should not be kept in such unnatural environment. 

As for the future, Dr. Patterson and the Gorilla Foundation would love to get Koko to an ape preserve (保护区) in Maui, but they are having trouble getting the land. So unless you have a few million dollars to give, Koko's going to be spending her time in Woodland, California with Dr. Patterson. Koko probably doesn't mind that. If she moved to Hawaii, she'd have to give up her Facebook page and Twitter feed, and she's got like 50 thousand "likes". Some may deny (否认) that she knows sign language, but nobody says that she doesn't know social networking.

Hello, I'm Lily. I am a student of No.6 Middle School. I like singing and dancing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I like eating meat, because I think it's very delicious. I am good at English, because I like it very much.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} She likes listening to Zhang Xueyou's songs. She always goes shopping with me. She's good at English. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} My father is a manager. He always goes to the park with me. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} My sister is a student of fourteen years old. She's a famous child singer in the city. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} She can sing very well.