Kate was a poor girl. Her father died when she was very ________. She lived with her aunt.

One day Kate’s aunt sent her into the ________ to pick apples. When Kate was in the forest she found a little toy soldier (士兵) lying on the road. Kate ________ had any toys before. Her aunt didn’t buy her any toys.

So Kate picked up the toy soldier ________. She took it home and put it under her quilt. Every day she would hug the toy and ________ with it.

But as the days passed, Kate started to notice something strange about the toy soldier. Every day it seemed to grow a little ________. “How strange!” she thought. “It must be a magic toy to grow in size.” Soon Kate began to ________ about it because the toy soldier had grown so big that she couldn’t put it any more.

One day her aunt saw the big toy soldier. She got so ________ that she started to beat Kate with a broom (扫帚). Suddenly she ________ a sound from behind. She turned around and saw a real living soldier ________ there. “Stop or I’ll kill you,” the soldier said.

At last the soldier and Kate became good friends. And her aunt couldn’t beat Kate again.

Hello, I’m Xue Haotian, a 15-year-old boy. I am studying in Sydney. I like playing sports with my classmates. I love music, reading and writing. Now let me share my school life with you.

We have an activity called Market Day at school every year. We sell products (产品) at school on this day.

Before the activity this year, my friends and I set up a group and made plans. Each person in the group could spend up to $20 buying things we needed from stores. We also made a logo (标识) for our group. After discussing our ideas, we decided to sell ice-cream sandwiches. We made cookies (饼干), but we bought ice-cream to make the sandwiches.

On Market Day, all the groups went to build stalls (货摊) in the hall before lunchtime. It was noisy but fun in the market. Although we didn’t sell all of our sandwiches, everybody enjoyed it.

We decided to give the money to the poor. It’s great to do such things.

You may have heard of Stephen Curry, a basketball player. Many people think he is the best shooter (射手) that ever played the sport! And he once was the NBA’s MVP and his team won the final match with the help of him.

Although his dad was an NBA player himself. Stephen didn’t start off with much. When he was young, he could only play old basketballs and no one taught him how to play because his father was really busy. As he grew older he had other problems, including his size. He wasn’t tall enough to play basketball.

So how did he make it? With a lot of hard work and his passion to basketball, he played day and night, practicing as hard as he could, year after year.

Now that he’s a star basketball player for the NBA, Stephen Curry is giving back. He starts to offer sleeping nets (蚊帐) to families in Africa. Curry has promised to donate (捐赠) 3 nets for every 3-pointshot (三分球) he makes. From 2012 to 2015, Curry donated almost 2500 nets! And he is calling on his fans to do the same. He believes these donated nets can and do, save many lives.

Stephen Curry is a role model in both basketball and daily life.

Good photographers are like reporters. They record people’s lives with cameras. They are also like artists or writers. Their photos can make people think or feel something.

When people from other countries travel around China, I always advise them to take the train to different cities. Although travelling by plane is faster than by train, flying from airport to airport in China would be no different. However you may experience what the Chinese life is like on the train. If you take the train, you will be in with ordinary (普通的) Chinese people. You can listen what they’re talking. You can watch what they’re doing. Everyone I know who has travelled on a train in China tells me that’s an interesting experience.

Except the wonderful experience, travelling by train is quite comfortable. If you are on the sleeper train (卧铺车), then you have a bed and plenty space to move and relax. If you are on the high speed train then you have a big space for seat. The ride is smooth (平稳的) and the trains usually arrive on time.

Of course money is another reason to choose the train. The price of a train ticket is often less than that of an air plane. Even a first class ticket of the high speed train is much cheaper than a tourist ticket of the plane. The night trains are also good choices. It can save you the money of one night’s hotel room.

High on the top of a hill in the beautiful city of Venice, there lived an old man who was very smart.     41    

Two boring boys wanted to fool(愚弄) the old man. They caught a small bird.     42     One of the boys held the little bird in his hands. Then he asked the old man if the bird was still alive (活着的).     43     He said. “If I say that the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush(挤压) it to death(死亡). If I say that the bird is dead, you will open your hands and it will fly away.     44    ” The two boys didn’t know how to answer the old man, so they let the bird fly away. They felt sorry about what they did and learned that the old man was really clever. So they asked the old man if he could teach them how to be a clever person.

    45     He taught them a lot in their life. A few years later, the two boys could answer other people’s questions and helped them solve problems.