When Mr. David retired（退休）, he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said, "If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, come in and look around. Price twenty dollars. "Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. "I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）, "he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    Emma and Hannah are 13-year-old school girls from Minnesota, USA. They are good at making new things both of them are also good at sales. They are selling charms (小装饰物) made out of bottle caps.

    The girls came up with the idea last summer when they saw charms were popular with kids. They talked with their parents about the idea. Since then they have sold enough charms to buy a bike for Hannah.

    The girls collect bottle caps and then clean them. They find some interesting pictures on the Internet or on paper, and then glue them onto the inside of the caps. There are different kinds of pictures, "Peace signs are popular with girls, and single-letter charms are popular with boys whose names start with those letters," Emma and Hannah said.

    Now, charms can be found everywhere at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan. "Students put charms on purses, backpacks, and their lunch boxes," said Emma. Emma and Hannah also have a shop on the Internet. They hope they can sell their charms to more kids. They're thinking about selling their charms at the Eagan Market Festival next summer.

    Their business is not only for getting money. At their Valentine's sale, 20% of the income (收入) went to charity.

"I don't like my school, and I want to go home!" Do you have that idea that? A lot of children do. Now let's talk about it.

If you don't like your school, the first thing is to know why. You may not like your teachers. You may not have many friends at school. You may have problems with your subject s or homework

But what can you do with it? You can make some new friends. Going to school can be very interesting if you have many friends at school. You can make friends after school or when doing sports, then you can talk with them and do the same thing with them. You can also make school easy. If you don't like your teachers, you can talk with them. If you think your subjects are boring and difficult, you can ask others for help.

School is not a prison (监狱). You can learn to make your school life easy and interesting.

The oil-paper umbrella has a history of over 100 years in China. It used to be a tool for daily use. 

There are different {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (story) about the origin of the umbrella in China. The most popular one is related to Lu Ban. It is said that once he and his younger sister visited the West Lake. It started raining suddenly. The sister said, "Let's have a competition. Before sunrise tomorrow, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} one who comes up with a way for people to visit the West Lake on rainy days will be the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (win)." Lu Ban thought it was easy. He collected tools and materials and spent the whole night {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (build) pavilions (凉亭) around the lake. He was quite confident about his efforts. 

The next morning, when Lu Ban was talking proudly about his achievements, his sister held something {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (usual) in her hand. Lu Ban was surprised. He found that the object {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (make) of silk and bamboo could be opened and closed {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (easy). It was light, beautiful and easy to carry. Lu Ban said "You win. Your 'pavilion' can protect us {#blank#}8{#/blank#} rain." And the umbrella was invented. 

Later, when paper was invented, people used much {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (cheap) paper to replace silk, cutting the cost of umbrellas. To make the umbrella waterproof, people brushed tung oil (桐油) across the surface. That was {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the oil-paper umbrella was invented. 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO联合国教科文组织) has added China's Spring festival to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity（非物质文化遗产). {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.   

 {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Chinese people value and love their families. This love extends(延伸) to their communities, their nation, and beyond. That's why millions of people travel home for the festival. Celebrations for the Spring Festival last for 15 days and end with the Lantern Festival. During this time, families gather, enjoy festivals, and take part in in various cultural activities.

 {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. From dumplings to niangao, and from tangyuan to fish, all dishes carry good wishes for people's loved ones. Whether you are in China, from north to south, you can find special foods for the festival.

The Spring Festival also includes(包含) many traditions and stories. For example, people once used fireworks and red decorations(装饰) to drive a beast(野兽) called "nian" that hurt people and animals at the beginning of the new year. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. 

What do your families usually do during the Spring Festival?  (no more than 10 words){#blank#}5{#/blank#}