My hometown is different from what it looked like before. To be honest, it is more beautiful than before. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Ten years ago, it used to be a poor village. There was only one mountain path (小路) to go there. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} People lived in low straw­thatched cottages (破草房). Now my hometown has changed a lot since our government helped us. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} So it's convenient to go in and out of our hometown. Also, we have built some schools so that the children can receive a good education. As people have made more money by working in the cities, or planting more economic crops (经济作物). {#blank#}4{#/blank#} All the villagers are living in new houses, some even in large buildings. There is a beautiful park in our town. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Every day, after dinner people would like to go to the park to enjoy themselves. We are living a happy life now.

    A good book can help you learn more things than you can learn in class. If you want to get into a good reading habit, here are a few ways.

    Plan your time

    You should give yourself at least thirty minutes for reading every day. When time is set, nothing can change it.

    Always carry a book

    Wherever you go, take a book with you. When you leave the house, make sure that you always carry a good book as well as your school things.

    Find a quiet place

    Find a place in your home where you can read a book quietly and no one will trouble you. There should be no television, computer, music or even noisy family members around you.

A. At that time they believed that the girl was really a true princess and they asked the prince to marry(娶)her.

B. One night there was a storm. The guards(警卫)of the palace heard someone knocking at the palace gate. When they opened the door， they found a woman was standing outside the gate. And the woman said that she was really a true princess.

C. The next morning, the queen asked the girl how she slept. "Very badly!" said the girl. "I can't close my eyes all night. I am sure that there's something in the bed. I must lie on something hard so that my body is black and blue."

D. Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess. He travelled the whole world to find one. But he returned sadly. He didn't find one.

E. The queen heard about this. She asked the servants to make the bed for the girl. They put a pea on the bottom of the bed, they also put twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdown(鸭绒被) on the pea.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} →{#blank#}2{#/blank#} →{#blank#}3{#/blank#} →{#blank#}4{#/blank#} →{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

    Australia is the greatest island in the world.  Australia is a little smaller than China.

    Australia is big, but there are fewer people there. The population of Australia is smaller than that of Shanghai, a city of China.

    Australia is in the south of the earth. So when it is hot summer in our country, Australia will be cold winter. The seasons in Australia and in China are just opposite. Summer in Australia is from December to February, and winter is from July to August. When it's spring in China, it will be autumn in Australia.

    Australia is famous for sheep and kangaroos(袋鼠）. They are both popular in Australia. 

    You can see kangaroos not only in zoos but also outside the cities and towns. There are ten sheep for everyone in the country. So people call Australia "The country on the backs of sheep ". After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep are everywhere.

    Have you seen a kangaroo? It has a "bag" on its body. The mother kangaroo keeps its baby kangaroos in the "bag". It's very strange, isn't it?

    Most of us probably dreamed about becoming an astronaut when we were little. But how many of us have actually become one, or are at least working toward it? It's true that the advice" Always follow your dreams" is something that is typically easier said than done.

    But still, this is the one piece of advice that Alyssa Carson wants to share with her peers. This 17-year-old girl from the US has become one of the candidates (候选人) for NASA's 2033 project to go to Mars. If everything goes well, Carson will be one of the first human beings to ever set foot on the red planet.

    Carson began to dream of going to Mars when she was only three years old. After watching an astronaut-themed cartoon and hearing from her father that humans had only been to the moon but not Mars, Carson decided that she wanted to be the first one to do so.

    To realize her dream, she has worked hard toward it. At the age of 12, Carson became the first person to attend all three NASA space camps, and she sat with real astronauts to discuss the future of Mars missions. Now 17, Carson is continuing with her space training while still taking on her high school work like a "normal " teenager, except that she studies all her subjects in four languages - English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

    "I don't think there's anything specific that makes it easier for me or makes it something that others can't do," Carson said in an interview," I've just really focused myself on what I want to accomplish."

    Besides, Carson is willing to make sacrifices (牺性) for her dream, She's fully aware of the danger of the mission and the possibility that she might never be able to come back. She also accepts the fact that she can't get married and start a family because any loved ones left on Earth may be a distraction for her and for the mission, But Carson believes that it's all worth it, summarizing her view with this ancient Greek proverb she once quoted," A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they'll never sit in."

    While some people's dreams may sound out of this world, Carson is on her way.