It was a Friday evening. I was waiting at the bus stop after school when a car stopped and the driver opened the door. It was my 1. “Quick, get in!” he told me. I was very 2, but I did as he said.

    At first, I was worried that something 3 happened. Then, I noticed my mother. She was also 4 the car and on the back seat. There were some bags of clothes and 5 food. My father was driving the car, but he was not driving 6. He was driving out of the town. “Where are we going?” I asked.

    It was a warm evening and lots of people were walking along the road. It was the 7 day of term. Did my parents have a big surprise for me? We were going somewhere special — 8 where? The next thing I can remember is falling 9. When I woke up, I saw the sea. We were at the beach. My father was smiling. “Here we are,” he said, “the summer holiday 10 now!”

    I remember the first time I got on a horse. I was two years old and we were watching a friend of the family ride. My mom agreed to let me take a short ride around the ground with the friend and that was it' I became crazy about having a horse. From then on, I drove my parents mad beg­ging for a horse. Whenever I saw a horse, I would beg even harder.

    When I was four years old, problems appeared in my life. I had Selective Mutism (选择性缄默症). This is an unusual childhood disorder (失调) in which children stop speaking in certain social situations, many times at around the age of four. I spoke to my parents as usual, my brother and certain other people, but was silent at school and in social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might very quietly speak to a friend.

    My parents looked for a cure. One psychologist (心理医生) had an idea. Having discussed his plan with my parents in advance, one day I was asked by the psychologist what I wanted more than anything in the world. He explained that I was going to be given a chance to work for what I wanted. I couldn't believe my good luck, but I could not answer. I just stood there. Finally, I was allowed to whisper (低声说) the answer in my mother's ear. "A horse," was all I could say.

    I was to get a little horse, but before we could even start looking, I had to try to talk. I had a chart of weekly tasks I had to finish. I had to answer the phone five times every week, something I had never done before. I did everything that was asked of me and the day came when my parents found the perfect horse. His name was Sequoia, a strong little chestnut (栗子马). He was perfect, of course, and I fell in love immediately. It truly was a dream come true. When I was with Sequoia, I forgot all about my problems and felt strong and life.

    By connecting with them, I have learned to hug what I was once not able to do and I found my voice back.

My uncle Mike is a music teacher. He always gets up very early. He usually gets up at five o'clock in the morning. After he washes his face, he often plays baseball with my aunt. Then he eats his breakfast. After that, he often plays the violin. At about 7: 50, he takes the Number 6 bus to his school. He has no classes on Thursday or Friday. He usually goes to the violin club. There he helps kids with the violin. Oh, my uncle plays the violin very well. Do you love to play the violin? Do you want to join the violin club? Please call my uncle at 116-3886. 

①Many people think wheat straw（麦秸） is the waste on the farm. However, Wu Cui, a straw plaiting （ 草 编） artist from Helan County, Ningxia, can turn straw into eye-catching artworks.

②Wu, 29, is the sixth-generation inheritor（第六代继承人） of straw plaiting. Learning from her uncle, Wu made things with straw when she was a child. She made the straw-plaiting her job after she finished college three years ago.

③Before plaiting straw, Wu usually spends a long time finding the right straw. Then she ties them up and dries them. Also, Wu needs to put the straw in warm water so that the straw won't break easily. Choosing from materials is the first step. And then Wu needs to sketch（素描） the piece on paper, which requires drawing skills. Next comes the weaving（编织） , shaping and finally the preserving of the work.

④"In the past, we could see straw products（制品） everywhere in the countryside, such as straw hats and straw shoes. But the world has changed. There are so many things for people to choose from. So we need to find other ways to share the art with people," Wu says.

⑤When asked about her plans, Wu says she wants to di g deeper into the traditional culture and make more creative（有创造力的） works.

Do you know about those great friends Harry, Hermione and Ron in the HarryPotter books? JK. Rowling's stories are world-famous, and part of their success is because of the friendship between those three main characters. But there are many examples of great friends in literature (文学). Let's look at some more in the book sharing activity today.

In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers《三剑客》. The story is about a young man. He goes to Paris to join the musketeers. He meets three greatest musketeers in France. They become friends and have many adventures (冒险) together. They often say: One for all and all for one and this shows their strong friendship.

The Lord of the Rings(1937-1949) by J.R.R. Tolkien is a fantastic storybook about Frodo, who gets a ring from his uncle. Frodo lives in the Shire and has a friend, Sam. When Frodo leaves the Shire on a long journey with the ring, Sam goes with him. Sam's friendship is very important for Frodo. When he faces many dangers, Sam is always there to help him.

Another book is My Brilliant Friend (2011) by Elena Ferrante. Elena and Lila are friends at school, but they have a lot of arguments (争吵). As they get older, something happens and brings them together again.

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer in a village.His name was John.The villagers loved him because of his kindness.He 1 helped his neighbours and put others before himself.

One day, a heavy drought(干旱) happened in the village.Without 2 , nearly all the crops died.Most of the villagers had no food to eat.They were really 3 .But they didn't know what to do.

When John saw the hungry villagers, he had a(n) 4 .Firstly, he went back home and gave his crops to the villagers.That helped them a lot.Then, John advised the other rich villagers to 5 the drought together.They could also share their crops.At first, they didn't listen to him at all. 6 John kept telling them the power of kindness in difficult times.A few days later, they followed him.More rich villagers began to share their crops.7 , all the villagers had enough crops to live through the drought.John's kindness 8 the village.It also brought the villagers together.From then on, they worked even harder.Most importantly, no matter what happened, the villagers were ready to 9 those in need.By working together, they all lived a 10 life year by year.

United, we are strong.United, we will win.