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.

Animals United is a 3-D German cartoon by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe. It is  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}story about animals that get together to find water. Along  {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (they) journey, lots of funny things happen, and of course, they have a lot of adventures.

The animals in the grasslands in Africa are waiting  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the coming flood(洪水).However, this year's flood seems to come later than in other. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(year). The animals become upset and worried.

At the same time, some animals from other places come to the grasslands  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (look)for peace. However, the situation seems  {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (bad) because the water is becoming less and less.  {#blank#}7{#/blank#} they decide to look for the river.

 {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (final), they find the reason why they don't have enough water to drink. Humans(人)  {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (set) up a dam(水坝) already so that they can have a better life. After  {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(fight) with humans for a long time, they let the world know that animals are in danger.

I like the cartoon story. It tells that humans should know animals have their own world.

Last summer, I went to Yunnan on vacation with my family. We 1 four days there.

Our first stop was Lugu lake. I wonder why there was so beautiful a lake in the world. I enjoyed 2 there. We went boating and took quite a few photos. Then we went up to a hill. On the top of the 3 . we got to see something beautiful. I felt like I was in a painting. I thought l would 4 forget the beautiful scenery there.

The next morning we went to Lijiang by bus. It was a long 5 from Lugu lake to Lijiang. We6 in the afternoon. After a short break, we went to walk around the town and bought some gifts. Then we decided to try the famous Guoqiao Rice. Noodles for dinner. They were very 7 and delicious. After dinner, we took a walk and enjoyed the old streets and buildings 8 the moon. The summer evening was cool.

Our 9 stop was the" spring city" Kunming. We visited Dianchi, watched the birds and went to the flower market. We had a really wonderful day.

The four— day trip came to a(n) 10 soon. We had to go home. Everything in Yunnan was great. It isa very beautiful and interesting place. I'm sure you' ll never regret going on a trip there.

This summer, my parents took Amy and me to different parts of China. It was excited for us to experience China Railway High-speed Train. It was the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(safe) and fastest way to travel around. And my parents took us to a lot of {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(city), so I never had to say goodbye to the trains. 

What I like about trains are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} views you can't see on planes. My favourite was Shanghai at night. The tall buildings and bright lights made me think {#blank#}4{#/blank#} New York. 

After {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(arrive) in Beijing, we visited Dad's university, Tsinghua University. It was big and beautiful just like Beijing {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(it). And the food was really fantastic. Sure，the food in America was also delicious but {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(actual ) I liked Chinese food better. Things in Beijing surprised me a lot and I wanted {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(know) why everything was so amazing here. The answer immediately rushed into my mind — hard work. Things {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(develop) rapidly in China now. China has changed for the better. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} everyone is working very hard to create a better future. 

Mo Yan was born in 

1955. Since childhood, he has showed a great interest in literature (文学). However, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to leave school to work at a young age. Although he had no chance to return to school for his study, he made a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to learn to write by himself. In 76, he began to write. His first novel came out successfully in 

1981. Most of his novels have a series of stories. Later Zhang Yimou made one of the novels into a film. It got a lot of praise from the audience.

Mo Yan has written many great novels. He has been invited to give lectures to the students in many universities. He often makes the listeners laugh and feel {#blank#}3{#/blank#} with his sense of humour in his lectures. In 2009, his new novel Frog made him famous around the world again.

 Many of his works have been translated into different languages. They are very popular not only at home but also {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . He became one of the greatest writers of Chinese modern literature {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the first Chinese that won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.

 An aquanaut(潜水员) called Fabien Cousteau drew many people's eyes. He helps to build the world's {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(large) underwater research(研究) station. He wants the building {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(be) an underwater form of the international Space Station (ISS). And it can be used by astronauts from different countries. It's not {#blank#}3{#/blank#} easy thing to do, but the idea receives much support(支持).

 The station, named Proteus, will be at the bottom(底部) of the sea. It will be a place for{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(scientist) to study the ocean.

 Inside the station, there will be bedrooms, laboratories, medical facilities(设施) and the{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(one) underwater greenhouse for growing food. Cousteau says that it will {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(take) three years to build.

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} he is short of money to develop the project, he is trying to raise money.

 Cousteau says that underwater research is even {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(important) than doing research in space, So far, people have known only about one fifth of the ocean floor {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(clear). There are still many possible things waiting {#blank#}10{#/blank#} people to find out. So Cousteau hopes the base will lead to many exciting discoveries.