Welcome to Xiangshan City!

    Xiangshan City is an interesting place to visit. (1)It is a beautiful city with many old buildings.

    Take a walk through the center of the city on Main Street. Look first at the Xiangshan City Hotel. It is on the corner of Main Street and Park Avenue. It is about 150 years old and people like to stay there. There is an interesting old building across from the hotel. This is the old post office. Now it is a store for books and videos. There are many places to eat on Main Street. You can have lunch or dinner in one of these places. There is a park between Main Street and Bridge Street. You can sit on a bench(长凳)in the park. (2)It's nice and quiet, nd you can enjoy the clean air and sunshine.

    You can also take a walk down Park Avenue. Look at the old buildings and interesting stores on this street.

    Many of us have ever loved the two toy bears-a brown Teddy bear and a yellow Winnie-the-Pooh bear. The two toy bears come froth real stories in life.

    In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the USA, went on hunting. The hunting dogs found an old bear in the forest near Washington D. C. and the guide asked the president to shoot（射杀）it. But President Roosevelt disagreed. A cartoonist（漫画家）drew a cartoon showing that the president refused to shoot the bear. Soon, the bear began to appear in other newspapers. People named the bear Teddy which was Theodore's nickname（昵称）.

    In 1913, a captain named Harry Colebourn paid 20dollars for a black bear which was born in the Canadian countryside. The captain's hometown, Winnipeg, was the origin（起源）of the bear's name. In Winnipeg, Winnie served as the mascot（吉祥物）. When World War I began, the captain went to France. Winnie was sent to London Zoo which many kids often visited. Because of its lovely look, the bear became popular with children.

    Scientists are trying to turn deserts into usable land again. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, so people can live and grow food. They are learning a lot about deserts. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Scientists may not be able to change these deserts. People are doing bad things to our planet.

    Some places don't get much rain. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. This is because green plants are growing there. Small green plants and grass are very helpful for dry places. Plants don't let the hot sun make the soil too dry. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. When a little bit of rain falls, the plants hold the water. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, land can turn to desert much more easily.

    My father doesn't know how to cook. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If no one cooks for him, he doesn't eat anything.

    Today, my mother doesn't feel well. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} My mother and I are happy. My father says he will go shopping first.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    So my mother writes all the things on a piece of paper(-张纸) like this: ⒈cake; ⒉egg; ⒊tomato; ⒋milk; ⒌chicken.

    Then my father goes out.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} He brings out all the things: one cake, two eggs, three tomatoes, four bags of milk and five chickens!

    Looking at those things, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." These are certainly words that millions of volunteers around the world could agree with.

    In the US, April is National Volunteer Month, to praise and thank volunteers who lend their time, talent, and support to what they care about.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} People who volunteer spend their time doing things they feel strongly about. For example, animal lovers may volunteer at an animal centre to help improve the treatment of animals.

    Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people, try out new skills and explore career choices. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Take Andrew Makhoul, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, as an example. Andrew didn't spend his last spring break relaxing. Instead, the 19-year-old boy decided to do something for people who were less lucky than himself. He travelled to an orphanage (孤儿院) in Guatemala in Central America. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And it depends on volunteers to stay open.

    Andrew doesn't speak much Spanish, but he found communication wasn't a problem, "You communicated with love," according to an article on his university's website. And what he gave out, he got back, "{#blank#}4{#/blank#}" Andrew's first time as a volunteer only lasted a week, but by the end of that week, he knew he'd be back soon — because he saw love and hope.

    US author Sherry Anderson once wrote, "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}" And this is perhaps why volunteers all around the world keep doing what they do — their work is "priceless".
 

A. It is in one of the poorest parts of the country.

B. You could see love when you looked in their eyes.

C. Volunteering means choosing to work without being paid.

D. It's a chance for poor children to get better care and support.

E. Life will be difficult, but I have the confidence to live a happy, full life.

F. For young adults, valuable lessons may also be learned through volunteering.

G. Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless.

Tony is a new member (成员) of the Reading Club. He makes some new friends in the club.