Have you ever read stories of Sherlock Holmes—a famous detective? Here is one of his cases.

Stapleton, Charles' younger brother, found that he would inherit (继承) the Baskerville lands if Charles and his nephew(侄子) —Henry both died.

    Charles who had a weak heart believed super natural stories. After knowing this, Stapleton had the idea of buying a huge hound, and of using the phosphorus(磷) to make it shine like the hound in one story.

    Then Stapleton asked his friend Laura to write a letter to bring Charles to the moor gate on that sad night. The hound, which was shining with phosphorus, chased Charles down the Yew Alley. Charles' fear was so great that his weak heart stopped, and he died but the animal did not touch the dead body. There was no sign of murder. It was difficult for Holmes to find the murderer.

    Two weeks later, Stapleton learned that Henry had reached England. He took his wife and the hound with him. He wore a false beard and followed Henry in London. He wanted to use the same way to murder Henry there. He needed something to give the hound Henry's smell, so he paid a woman at Henry's hotel to steal one of his shoes. The first one was a new one, which was no use for the hound, so it was put back. And then another older shoe was stolen. Before he was ready to murder Henry, he wasn't sure if his wife would keep his secret, so he did not tell her the truth. He locked her up in their hotel. She knew that he must have some evil plans. She sent Henry a letter which was made of words cut from a newspaper.

    After receiving the letter, Henry realized he was in great danger and it must have something to do with his uncle Charles' death. So he asked Holmes for help.

    Last weekend, Jake had a lot of homework to do. He finished listening, spelling and reading exercises in the morning. In the afternoon, he added fifteen and twenty—two, and then he got thirty—seven. He added and subtracted until his hand got tired of writing.

    After supper, Jake's dad reminded Jake to do his job. Jake went from room to room unloading baskets and cans into a large plastic bag.

    Then he took the bag out to the dustbin.

    Then Jake could have some free time. He decided to play "Star Monsters". He turned on the monsters fighting on the TV screen while his fingers pushed buttons to make them move.

    Jake was tired. He put on his pajamas, brushed his teeth and crawled under the covers.

    This year the US will honour(纪念)one of the country's most famous writers-Mark Twain(1835-1910).Most readers know that his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but how many know where the pen name "Mark Twain" came from?

    The answer shows Clemens' colourful early life before he became a writer. "Mark Twain" was the cry shouted on a ship when the ship entered a part of a river that was two fathoms(6 feet) deep. "Twain" is an old-fashioned way of saying "two". Twain trained as a ship pilot on the Mississippi river for two years, a time that he wrote about in the humorous Life on the Mississippi(1883).

    The famous river would become an important theme in many of his works-who could forget the journey of Huck and Jim along it in his most famous book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884).

    With little education, he had to teach himself how to write stories. Whenever possible, he would go to public libraries. There he spent much time reading and thinking, which greatly helped him with his writing.

    On the other hand, his life experiences gave him wonderful material to write about and attract readers. Twain wrote in a style that has been called "local colour" because it shows great knowledge of local people and their customs.

    The gift is very clear in the two books for which Twain is still celebrated today: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) and its follow-up The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which many people call "The Great American Novel".

    The most amazing invention in his book is the voice of Huck himself. Huck did not enjoy schooling. It shows in the way he uses language, in a spoken style. Only a master like Twain could copy the way a young southern boy talked so well.

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life." These words come from my favorite movie, Daydreamer. They are always kept in my mind. The movie, directed by Brahman Turner, taught me to live my own life and to do something 1 . Inspired by the movie, I started to learn skateboarding last summer vacation.

The first 2 are always the hardest. I still remember the first day. The 3 was not great. I fell over again and again. I found skateboarding was a(n) 4 sport for beginners because you may fall over many times like I did. But falling cannot be 5 for anyone. I wore a helmet and protective gear(装备) to help keep safe. I practiced all day until sunset that day. For the next few days, I practiced hard every day. I knew that practice makes perfect. And 6 , I could skateboard. I was so proud of that.

However, as I 7 with my hobby, I met quite a few challenges. I still practiced hard for the rest of that 8 , though made little progress. Unluckily, I hurt my knee. When the summer vacation was over, I had to return to school. But I knew I would 9 skateboarding again later because it is fun and brings me joy.

It is important that we do what we love and keep doing it throughout our life. As a song goes, "One day you'll leave this world behind, so live a life you will not 10 ."

John and Robert Taylor are brothers. They are always close to each other. They just {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(完成) the school bike {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(比赛). Though(即使) they didn't win, they smiled happily. To John and Robert, winning is not the most important thing. 

Robert cannot move at all and has to stay at home because of a {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(严重的) {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(疾病). So he often feels lonely. He wants to play with other kids. 

One day, after seeing Robert's sad face, John found a way to {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(解决) this problem. He put Robert in a trailer. Then he {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(拉；扯) it along with his bike. 

The brothers often take part in races together. John {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(拒绝) to race without his brother. They enjoy the time together. "We are family,"John says. 

The {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(结果) doesn't really {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(重要) for the Taylor brothers. The love between them is the most important and it {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(给……提供动力) their bike. 

The 144-hour visa-free transit policy(144小时过境免签政策) helps foreign(外国的) visitors see the real China.Because of the policy, it becomes much 1 for foreigners to travel to China.As a result, more and more visitors come to China.

Jerry was one of them.Last month, he 2 his first trip to China.He heard a lot about China, but he 3 came to this country.Before this trip, he was quite 4 , because he thought China  might be less open.But when he arrived in Chongqing, all his worries went away.

5 here was excellent for him.Chongqing was much larger and better than he thought.The tall 6 made him feel like he was in a movie.The local people were so friendly and warm.7 they could not speak English well, they greeted(问候) him with smiles and tried to help him.

During his stay, one of his favourite activities was 8 the local dishes, such as hot pot.It was so delicious that he could never forget it.Also, he walked 9 the night markets(夜市) and bought quite a few gifts for his family and friends.He wanted to share the happiness and excitement with them.

He felt he was happy and lucky to see how wonderful China is through his own eyes.The trip was short, but he 10 a lot about this country.Now he decides to visit China again.