It's Jim's birthday today. He is five years old. He gets many nice birthday presents(礼物) from his family and one of them is a big drum (鼓). “Who gives him the drum?” his father asks. “His grandfather does,” answers Jim's mother. Jim likes his drum very much. He makes a noise(噪音) with it, but his mother doesn't say anything about it. His father is not at home. He is working in a school. So he doesn't hear the noise. But one of the neighbours (邻居) doesn't like the noise at all. So one morning she takes a knife and goes into Jim's room. Jim is making a noise with the drum. She says to him, “Hello, Jim. Do you know there is something nice in your drum? Here's a knife. Open the drum and let's find it.”

    After returning from her round trip, the angry woman stood outside the ticket office of the station. "The railway owes me 12 pounds," she said to Harry Jenks, the young man working at the office. "You sold me a ticket for May 22nd, but there was no ship from Jersey that night. So my daughter and I had to stay in a hotel. It cost me 12 pounds. "

    Harry was worried. He remembered selling the woman a return ticket. "Come into the office, Madam," he said politely. "' I'll just check the Jersey timetable for May 22nd." The woman and her little girl followed him inside. She was quite right, as Harry soon discovered. There was no sailing on May 22nd. How could he have made such a careless mistake? He shouldn't have sold her a ticket for that day. Wondering what to do, he smiled at the child. "You look sunburnt(晒黑的) , "he said to her. "Did you have a nice holiday in Jersey?"

    "Yes," she answered, shyly. "The beach was lovely. And I can swim too!"

    "That's fine," said Harry. '" My little girl can't swim a bit yet. Of course, she's only three…"

    "I'm four," the child said proudly. "I'll be four and a half."

    Harry turned to the mother. "I remember your ticket, Madam," he said. "But you didn't get one for your daughter, did you?"

    "Er, well..." the woman looked at the child. "I mean...she hasn't started school yet, she's only four. "

    "A four- year- old child must have a ticket, Madam. A child's return ticket to Jersey costs...let me see.13.50 pounds. The law is the law, but since the mistake is mine."

    The woman stood up, took the child's hand and left the office.

    Mrs Brown lives in a small town in Australia. There is a big farm near the town.

    On Saturday morning, she goes to her small shop. She opens the window of the shop and looks at the Farm. It's very beautiful. There are many cows, horses and small animals on the farm. Suddenly she sees a Kangaroo with her baby. It's interesting to see them! The mother kangaroo is wearing an old jacket. They stand there and look hungry. Mrs. Brown gives some bread to them. The kangaroos get it. They become happy and jump away. Suddenly a wallet drops on the floor from the jacket pocket. She picks it up and finds $300 and a photo in it. That is a man's photo with his name "John" on it. "John? I have a brother. His name is also John," Mrs Brown says. "Is this man my lost brother?" she thinks.

    She takes the wallet with her and begins to look for the man. She asks many people in the town, and then she comes to the farm and asks the farmer. Hey! It is John, her lost brother. They are very happy to see each other.

Hello! My name is Zhao Junhui. I'm 14 years old. I live in Xiaogan, China. Xiaogan is1 beautiful city and I love it. I study in a middle school. I2 four friends, Lily, Allen, Jack and Alice. They are all very3 to me. So I often play games with4 after school. We are all happy. 

I like the food here. In the morning, I have5 at home. I usually have some noodles (面条) and eggs. And I also have a cup of milk. I like milk very much. But my father6 like it. I have lunch at school with my friends7 12 o'clock. There are many kinds (种) of food. We can eat rice, noodles, jiaozi, vegetables and fruit. In the8 , I have dinner with my parents at home. I can make (制作) tomato and egg rice for my family. I think it's9 for me. 

Do you10 I can be your friend? Please e-mail me @gfimail.com. 

Studying too much?

Most people work or study from Monday to Friday. The weekend is usually a time of rest. But today's Chinese teenagers can hardly rest during the weekends. 

According to a survey, 24% of the Grade 8 students in Beijing have classes at the weekend. Over 40% of the middle school students have less than eight hours' sleep each night because of study. 

And this doesn't happen only in Beijing. Ji Chunying is a Grade 9 student in Guangzhou. The 14-year-old girl has to get up at 6:45am on Saturday. Then she has classes all the day. On Sunday, she goes to extra(额外)classes for math and physics. But Ji doesn't complain. She says her classmates all work very hard. 

Finding time to have fun

Zhao Ming, 13, is from Zhenjiang, Guangdong. Zhao's weekend is less busy. But he still spends Saturday in school. On Sunday, after finishing homework, he plays basketball. "I feel happy because I still have time to do the things I like. " he said. Some students are much luckier. Ding Yi, a grade 8 student from Laiwu, Shandong, is one of them. During the weekend, Ding usually gets up at 8:00a. m. . Then she spends some time doing homework. After that she is free to go shopping or watch TV. "My teacher says I don't need to push myself too much. " Learning well at school is enough, " Ding said. "I feel pretty lucky. "

I arrived in Penang in Malaysia this morning with my {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. It was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} and hot, so we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to go to the beach near our hotel. My sister and I tried paragliding. I felt like I was a bird. It was so exciting! For lunch, we had something very {#blank#}4{#/blank#}— Malaysian yellow noodles They were delicious! In the afternoon, we {#blank#}5{#/blank#} bicycles to Georgetown. There {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a lot of new buildings now, but many of the old buildings are still there. In Weld Quay, a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} old place in Georgetown, we{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the houses of the Chinese traders from 100 years ago. I{#blank#}9{#/blank#} what life was like here in the past. I really enjoyed {#blank#}10{#/blank#} around the town.