My summer holiday began on July 5th. I didn't want to stay at home and did nothing in the hot summer. I called my grandma, and she asked me to go to her village. I was very happy with it. After four hours, I got to my grandma's house by bus. There are many trees around her house. I liked to play games with other children during the day. At night, people in the neighborhood often came and sat together to chat. My grandma liked telling stories. My new friends and I enjoyed her stories very much.

    There is a pool in the village. My friends and I often went there with some food and caught fish in the pool. Then we cooked the fish and had dinner there. It was not easy to catch fish, but it was interesting and exciting. I stayed there for about a month, and then I went back home.

Washing the Apples

    Mrs. Smith has a shop in the town. There are all kinds of fruit in her shop. She's friendly to the customers and never fools^① anyone. So the customers like to buy fruit in her shop, and she gets more and more money.

    One day, the apples she sold were all fresh and nice. She remembered her son Steve liked them best, so she brought some home for her son. After lunch, she went out and left the apples on the table. That afternoon Steve came back from school, he felt very hungry. He looked for something to eat and found some apples on the table. “Great! They are my favorite.” he cried and ate a lot. Mrs. Smith got home after she closed her fruit shop. When she saw Steve, she asked him, “Did you have the apples? ” Her son answered, “Yes. And I ate lots of them.” “Did you wash them? “Oh, I forgot. I was too hungry^②. What should I do? ”

    A few minutes later, Mrs. Smith found her son kept on drinking water.

    “Are you thirsty? Why are you drinking so much water?” asked the mother.

    “No, Mom.” answered the boy, “I want to wash the apples in my stomach with the water.”

B

    Shu-How Lin was born on August 23,1988 in California in the USA．He's the newest well-known NBA professional basketball player. His ancestors lived in Fujian Province in China．In 1977,his parents moved to America．Although they live in the USA, they know they are Chinese. And they love their motherland. They try their best to earn more honor（争光）for China.

    When Shu-How was at high school, he showed a great interest in playing basketball. He practiced basketball much harder than any other student in his school. Because of him, the school team became the champion of all the high schools in America, which had never got a champion before. Meanwhile（同时）,he studied particularly hard during high school. He always got "A" in most of his subjects.

    After high school, his dream was to join a university, which was famous for basketball, to major in basketball. But none of these universities in America accepted him. They thought that he was just a Chinese and a Chinese could hardly become an excellent professional basketball player. He felt so sad and he had to attend Harvard University by his good grades, where professional basketball players are not wanted. But before long, he became the first man in Harvard who entered NBA after 1954.

    Shu-How never gave up his basketball dream. He joined several NBA teams, but he was never given a chance to show himself in each game. One day, two players of his team were badly hurt. There were no more players who could play the game. The coach had to let Shu-How go for it. This was a great chance for him. He showed his talent in this game. He got 25 scores!

    After that, Shu-How became one of the most outstanding basketball players around the world. He set a great example to all of us. According to him, we know nothing is impossible if we try our best.

    Mr. Black decided to know more about the different jobs of his students' parents. But some of students were laughing as he talked with Mary. Betty shouted, "Mary's father is a garbageman!"Then everybody in the class laughed out loud. Mary felt her face tum red.

    "Be quiet! Stop laughing!"Mr. Black said," It is difficult but useful to be a garbageman. We should all be thankful to Mary's father."

    Mary's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Mary went to her room and cried for a long time. Her father came into her room, "What happened? Why are you so sad?"

    Mary told her father what happened and looked at him sadly. He didn't seem angry or hurt, "Well." He said," They are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Mary."

    Mary wrinkled her nose because of the bad smell. "Don't worry. In five minutes you won't smell a thing." said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Mary's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. At last, no more garbage was left and Mary felt very proud and happy.

    "Garbage makes us uncomfortable and unhealthy but when we clear it away, everything is nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making others happy."

    Mary gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss because she regarded him as an unselfish man. Now whenever someone asks Mary what her daddy does, she says, "He is a garbageman! Everyone makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!"