I am writing to recommend Mary Black for a Community Service Award.

Mary is 14 years old. She ____ most of her free time helping out at clubs and activities for older people. Last year she organized (组织) a big ____ at our Community Centre. She asked local ____ to donate (捐献) food and drinks and she organized music and games. I don’t think many 14-year olds could have done this.

The Community Centre is used by many ____ people. They all love Mary. She is their favourite volunteer. They asked me to recommend her ____ this award. The following is what the old people said about Mary.

“Last year my dog died. I missed her so much. I was very ____. Mary found out about an organization called Pat a Pet. They brought ____ to the Centre every week. It helped me a lot. She organized it all by ____ . How kind of her!”

“Mary organized a fantastic party. What a great party that was!”

“Mary makes ____ smile. She is an amazing young person. We all ____ she wins a Community Service Award. She deserves (值得) it!”

Yours sincerely,

Clare Brown (Community Centre Manager)

Not long ago, our class went to ski at the Olympic Forest Ski Slope（奥林匹克森林公园四季滑雪场）. When we arrived there, we couldn’t help laughing at what we saw—there was no snow at all!

On the slope, there were only slippery（滑的）little balls. We learned that this was a dry ski slope, or man-made（人造的）ski slope. It lets people ski where there is no natural snow.

Although skiing without snow might sound a little funny, we can have the same feeling on dry slopes. Our teacher first showed us some videos about how to ski and then asked us to give it a try.

Standing on the high slope, I felt quite nervous（紧张的）. After all, it was my first time skiing. But my classmates keptencouragingme and I finally took the first step forward.

As I went down, I felt happy. I could even feel the spring wind blowing as I skied faster. I felt there was little difference between these small balls and real snow—only that the balls would make more noise.

After trying it for the first time, I really enjoyed skiing. Next time I want to try it on real snow.

Rat and Mole are at home all day. Mole is bored. He says, ‘‘I want to visit Badger.” But Rat tells him, “Badger lives in the middle of the Wild Wood. It’s a long way to go in winter.”

But Mole still wants to go. When Rat is asleep, he puts on a coat and goes into the Wild Wood. It is cold and the sky is grey, first it is fun. But then it gets dark. Mole sees strange little faces in the wood. The faces have sharp teeth. He hears strange noises and he is afraid. Poor Mole runs and runs through the wood. Then he sees a hole inside a tree and he hides there.

When Rat wakes up at home, he calls, ‘‘Mole, Mole!” but Mole doesn’t answer. And Mole’s coat isn’t there. Rat thinks, “Mole is visiting Badger. Oh, no! Mole is in the Wild Wood!” he puts on his coat and put a gun in his pocket. He goes along the path to the Wild Wood. He sees the strange faces with sharp teeth. But they see Rat’s gun, and go away. Rat calls and calls, “Mole, where are you? It’s me - Rat.”

At last, Mole answers. “Rat, I’m here! In the tree! I am very frightened!” he says in a little voice.

‘‘Don’t worry, Mole,” says Rat, “Let’s go home now!”

But Mole is very tired. He wants to sleep, so Rat sits and waits. While Mole is sleeping, it begins to snow. The snow is white and it covers all the paths.

Later, Mole wakes up. Then the two friends set off through the white woods. Everything is different with the snow and soon Rat and Mole are lost. They walk for hours but they cannot find the way home. They are tired, and cold, and hungry.

Suddenly, Rat sees a sign in the snow. The sign says, “Mr Badger”.

“It’s Badger’s front door,” says Rat. He is very excited.

They ring the doorbell. “Who is it?” calls Badger.

‘‘Oh, Badger,” cries Rat. “It’s me, Rat, and my friend Mole, and we are lost in the snow.”

I was afraid when a loud noise in my flat woke me in the middle of the night. I rushed to turn on my bedroom light and found it was a cat and her loud meow (猫叫声) woke me up.

Here’s the thing. I do not have a cat. And this was not the first time this cat had caught my attention (注意力). Then, I calmed (平静) down and noticed that I had kept a window open.

Like so many others, I moved from working in an office to working from home. It was around one month ago when I heard a meow outside the window of my ground-floor flat. Sitting outside on the grass was a long-haired, golden-colored cat. I opened the window, and this beautiful cat easily jumped into my home. That short visit brightened my day.

A few days later, I heard a familiar (熟悉的) meow. I opened the window and let in my new best friend. I saw a name on her collar (项圈): Mika. On this second visit, I also noticed Mika was cross-eyed, which only made her more lovely.

Dogs are said to be man’s best friend, and I think a good cat can be everyone’s best friend.