One day, Daniel got lost when he and his mom went shopping in the store. He had thought he was right beside Mom, ________ when he looked up, Mom was gone.

“Mom! Mom!” Daniel called. Many people hurried by, however, nobody ________ for Daniel. The store seemed very large, and Daniel felt himself very ________.

Then Daniel remembered something. Mom once told him what he should do if he got lost. She said that he should find someone who was ________ at the store first. Daniel looked around and saw a saleswoman（女售货员）hanging sweaters, so he ran to her for ________. “I’m lost. I can’t find my mom.” he said.

________ she could answer, a customer（顾客）hurried over, holding a black sweater. “How much is this?” she asked.

Now Daniel was ________. Would the saleswoman help him?

“Just a moment, please,” the saleswoman said to the customer. “We have a lost boy here.” She turned to Daniel, “Don’t worry.” she said, “I will ________ Mr. Henson, our store security guard（保安）. He will help find your mom.”

The customer smiled at Daniel. “I strongly believe your mom is looking for you, too.” she said. Daniel hadn’t thought of that! Mom must be looking for him, too. And now she knew ________ to find him. He felt better.

When they were waiting for Mr. Henson, the saleswoman gave Daniel a green lollipop（棒棒糖）. Although green was Daniel’s ________, he did not feel like eating at the moment.

Soon here came Mr. Henson. He put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “What’s your name, little boy?” he asked, Daniel told him. Then Mr. Henson asked. “What’s your mom’s name?” “Mom,” but he knew that Mr. Henson wanted to know Mom’s ________ name. “Her name is Amy Wilkerson.” he said.

“Good job!” Mr. Henson said. The saleswoman smiled.

Mr. Henson said he would make a notice so that everybody could ________ all through the store. He pushed buttons on a special telephone, then said, “Will Ms. Amy Wilkerson please come to ladies’ ________ on the second floor? Your son is waiting for you here.”

Mr. Henson’s voice was strong, and the store’s music ________ stopped playing when he made the notice. Mom must have heard him. And she really had. Soon Daniel saw her running toward him.

Mom held Daniel close. “I was worried.” she said. “Me too.” Daniel said. “But I ________ what you taught me.” He told Mom about Mr. Henson and the saleswoman.

Then he gave Mom the lollipop, because green was her favorite, too.

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When I was little, I was really little. But my dream was big. I dreamed of being a basketball player. I wanted to join the school team, but I was never given a chance.

As I got older, I did grow a little bigger, but not a lot bigger. On my 12th birthday, I decided to try a new sport: running. I told Grandpa. “I’m going to be a player.”

“Dave.” Grandpa began gently, “if you can’t be big, you can do something big.”

I ran 12 miles on my 12th birthday. On my 13th birthday, I did it again, but I added an extra mile. On my 14th birthday, I ran 14 miles. 15 on my 15th, 16 on my 16th, and you guessed it — 17 miles on my 17th birthday.

All this running inspired (激发) another big dream. Someday, I’d run the Boston Marathon (波士顿马拉松赛). I told Grandpa about my decision.

“But, Dave, you haven’t trained for the marathon. Are you sure you’re ready?” Grandpa asked. But he still promised to walk over and cheer me on.

I ran fast that day, But I fell at Mile 18 and was driven to the hospital. Later that night, I called Grandpa and told him I failed.

“No,” he said calmly, “you didn’t fail. You learned something.”

“I did?” I asked.

“Yes, you learned that ▲ . If you train and work hard, I promise to wait for you next year and cheer you on.”

I trained every day, running miles and miles. Sadly, just two months into my training, Grandpa died. He wouldn’t be waiting for my second Boston Marathon. I decided I’d run for him.

That day, I ran fast. “Keep going! You can do it!” His words filled my head as I made each painful step. As I crossed the finish line, I threw my arms in the air and cried, “Grandpa, we did it!”

Owls are active mainly at night. They hunt when it’s dark. Most of us go for our work and study in the daytime. We almost never see owls, but many of us like these night birds very much. Our love for owls has a long history, and it’s in all cultures. No matter how far you go back, there is always some type of art work or story that includes an owl. These days, we can find owls on company logos, in children’s books, etc. So what makes owls so popular?

Some bird researchers believe owls’ popularity lies largely in their “cool” looks. In order to see clearly in the dark, owls have evolved (进化) to have large eyes. Unlike human eyes, their eyes are cylindrical (圆筒状的). So owls cannot roll (翻转) their eyes. Their heads have to do most of the rolling-around work. It’s also for this reason that owls can turn their heads almost around on their necks.

Owls also use sound to hunt. Their ears are lopsided (不平衡)—the left ear is a little higher than the right ear. A noise goes in one ear before it arrives in the other. This helps owls tell which direction a sound is coming from. To make their sense of hearing even better, the owl’s whole face acts like a satellite dish (圆盘式卫星接收器) for sound waves. Their beaks (鸟喙) are very small so that they won’t get in the way.

Thanks to such unusual looks and abilities, owls became known as strange and wonderful animals. For a long time, people made up lots of myths (神话) about them. Some have described owls as the goddess of wisdom. Some say owls are witches (女巫) in disguise (伪装). These stories have made more people become interested in owls and made them become more popular!

My name is Lucy. I am in Year 9 in a B    56     school. It is a mixed school in London. Boys and girls have lessons together. My favorite subject is F    57    . Learning new languages is fun.

Our school has a Reading Week every year. In the week, we can borrow more books from the school library. We can also bring in books and m    58     from home. I often read more books than my classmates. Near the end of the week, We d    59     the books with my classmates in class. Time seems to go much f    60     when we are reading interesting books.

“Keep your eyes on your own paper” is one of the rules that Mrs. Archer taught us. It is a simple rule, but not everybody c    61     to follow it.

This morning, I had an experience with a “rule breaker” d    62     an English test. I felt somebody was watching me a little too closely. I turned my head quickly and saw James, who sat right behind me. My eyes caught his and he said in a low v    63    , “I hope you have prepared for the test well!” I gave him a smile and r    64     to my test. This time, I leaned (倾身) a little more closely towards my paper.

“I can’t see!” James said.

“What am I going to do?” I thought to m    65    . Cheating (作弊) was not right.

“He’s your friend, and what are friends for?” “You know it’s wrong.”

I knocked on my desk softly, hoping for a w    66     out of this matter. No easy answer came. I just knew I had to do something c    67     even if it may make James angry. So I didn’t let James see my answers, i    68    , I covered my paper with my arms.

When the test e    69    , I stood there for a moment, searching for the right words to say to James. “Sorry, James, but I think you know how I feel about cheating,” I said slowly and softly. “But maybe I could help you study before the next test.” “OK, Brian,” he smiled, “It might be not easy, but I will give it a t    70    .”

I felt happy that my friendship with James hadn’t been destroyed (破坏).

You might have heard of Bear Grylls. He is a famous traveller from the UK. He likes to travel to beautiful and dangerous places around the world. But more than 400 years ago in China, there was a traveller even cooler than Bear Grylls. He spent about 30 years travelling across China. His name was Xu Xiake.

Where did Xu go?

Xu travelled to 21 provinces and over 100 cities in China. He climbed thousands of mountains and found more than 350 caves. He was the first person to find the highest peak of Huangshan Mountain. He was also the first to find lots of karst caves (咯斯特溶洞). What’s more, he first found out the Yangtze River’s headwater.

Xu travelled mostly on foot. He often slept and ate in the wild. On his way, he was robbed (被抢劫) four times. Sometimes he fell into rivers or ran into dangerous animals. But he never gave up and enjoyed his journey.

How did Xu start his journey?

Xu Xiake was born in Jiangsu province in 1587. When he was a child, Xu enjoyed reading books about Chinese mountains and rivers. He decided to see them when he grew up.

At that time, many kids were studying hard to become officials (官员). However, Xu’s father encouraged (鼓励) his son to go outside and find out the new world. Xu began his journey when he was about 20 years old.

Xu’s travel notes

Xu always kept a diary while travelling. The Travel Diary of Xu Xiake is still popular among people today.