1 . One morning, a little mouse went out to find something to eat. He was careless and met a fierce (凶猛的) lion. The lion caught the mouse. The lion wanted to eat him.

“Please let me go, Mr. Lion,” said the mouse. “One day, I will help you.”

The lion laughed and thought, “How could a little mouse help a big lion?” “Well,” he said, “I will let you go. But you must walk more carefully.” The mouse was very thankful. “Thank you, Mr. Lion. You are very kind. I will repay (回报) you one day.” the little mouse said.

The next week, the mouse was looking for something to eat again. He saw the lion under a tree. But the lion was tied (绑) tightly in a strong rope (绳子). He could not get out.

“I will help you,” said the mouse. His teeth were sharp. Then he bit one rope, and then another. Soon the lion was free. He was very happy. “Thank you, Mr. Mouse,” he said. Later, they became good friends.

Mr. Read works hard and always gets to the office on time.

One evening, he got home tired. After supper, he put his watch on the table and went to bed. Little Mable, one of his daughters, came in and looked for something there. Suddenly, the watch fell to the floor. She quickly picked it up, then left the room.

The next morning, Mr. Read got up early. After breakfast, he had a look at his watch and began to read newspapers. When he got to his office, it was half past eight. He was late for the first time. At that moment, he found something was wrong with his watch. He had to ask someone to repair it.

This morning, Mr. Read was late again. He felt very surprised when he found the watch was slow again. After work, he complained to his wife about this, “It was all right yesterday, but why was it wrong today?”

Little Mable heard the word “watch”, then cried excitedly, “Last night I found it was dirty. So I washed it for you!”

3 . Hi, my good friend! My name is Alice. I’m very ________ today, because it’s the first day of my new term. From 7:30 to 8:15 is my first class, Chinese. It is my favourite ________. Then at 8:25, I have history. I don’t like it because it is ________ for me. At 9:20, I have ________. It is very useful. I like it. I have P.E. at 10:15. We ________ soccer with our P.E. teacher. Lunch is from 11: 30 to 12: 30. I have a ________ eating habit. I always have rice, meat (肉) and vegetables ________ lunch. In the afternoon, I have three classes. School ________ at 4:00.

I have two new friends. They are Mike and Tom. They are nice to ________. Next week is Tom’s twelfth ________. We must think about his party.

4 . Jim is from London, England. He comes to China with his father and mother. His parents come here to work. Jim comes here to study.

He is in No. 5 Middle School. He gets up early every day. He isn’t late for school. He studies hard. He often helps us with our English and we help him with his Chinese. After class, he likes playing football, swimming, running, jumping and riding. He makes many friends here. We are glad to stay with him.

On Sundays he often helps his mother clean the house, mend (修理) something or do the shopping. He likes Chinese food very much. His favourite food is beef noodles. He likes living here. He likes Chinese students very much. We all like him, too.

5 . I always love watching cartoons and connect myself with the cartoon heroes. Here are some of my favourite ones.

Cartoons not only bring me pleasure but also teach me a lot of lessons.

7 . In September, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio returned from spending over a year in space. His record and his efforts were celebrated. But questions remained about a tomato that had gone missing while he was in space. Now, the mystery tomato has been found.

In his time on the International Space Station (ISS), Mr. Rubio, along with other astronauts, worked on several experiments, one of which aimed to grow tomatoes in a soil-free environment using only air and water. The goal of the experiment was to learn how to grow fruits and vegetables to help feed astronauts on long trips through space. When the plant finally produced tomatoes, all of the astronauts on board the ISS got to taste them. Except Mr. Rubio. He had lost his tomato.

Mr. Rubio had put the tomato in a plastic bag, and had brought it out to show to some students who were on a video call. Mr. Rubio believed that he had used Velcro (魔术贴) to attach the bag to part of the ISS. But when he came back afterward, he found that the bag was gone.

Because there is so little gravity on the ISS, things, that are not attached can simply float away. Mr. Rubio always believed that was what had happened to the tomato. But the other members of the ISS crew enjoyed teasing Mr. Rubio about the missing tomato. They claimed that he ate it, but just didn’t want to admit it. It became a joke among the astronauts.

Mr, Rubio says he spent many hours looking for the tomato. But his search came up empty. He believed that the tomato had dried out, and someone else had found it and threw it away. But the joking about the tomato continued even after Mr. Rubio returned to Earth. Reporters asked him about it. One of P NASA’s leaders even jokingly asked Mr. Rubio if he’d eaten the tomato. “I wish I had at this point,” he replied, “because I think everybody thinks I did.”

Last week, the mystery was solved, in a video call with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. She said she could now clear Mr, Rubio’s name: “We found the tomato,” she announced. NASA has not said where the crew found the tomato or what it looked like when it was finally discovered.

9 . Jack is from the UK. One day, he went to a small town in South Africa for his holiday. Few people go there because it is far away from the cities.   

During the trip, Jack fell ill and wanted to find a good doctor. He asked the people there and a man told him, “That’s very easy. If a doctor can’t make a person get well from his or her illness, he has to put a balloon (气球) over his clinic (诊所).”

Jack thought, “The fewer (越少的) balloons there are, the better the doctor is.” He began to look for the best doctor along the street. First, he found a clinic. There were 20 balloons over it. Then he kept walking and found another one with 10 balloons. He thought they weren’t good.

At last he found a clinic. Only 5 balloons were there. He was very happy and went in.

“Wait a minute,” said the doctor, “I am very busy now because my clinic just opened yesterday.” Jack was very surprised and said to himself, “Where can I find a good doctor?”

In fact, Jack needed to judge (判断) a good doctor by many things instead of the number of balloons only. And most of us also judge a person in the same way just as Jack did.

10 . The women in the Watsons all like ballet. These days, Alice Watson gives ballet lessons, but for many years, she was a dancer (舞蹈演员) with the National Ballet Company (国家芭蕾舞团). Her mother Hannah made clothes for the dancers there.

Alice’s daughter Demi started learning ballet not long after she could walk. “I never taught her,” said Alice, “because she never let me.” Now at the age of 16, Demi dances at the National Ballet Company.

“When Demi started dancing, the house was too small for her and Alice to practice, so I turned the garage (车库) into a dance room. Now the living room is nice and quiet when I am watching TV!” said Jack, Demi’s father.

Last month, Demi danced in the ballet Swan Lake. Of course, Alice, Jack, and Hannah all went to watch her. That was very special for Demi. Jack said, “I’m not that interested in ballet but it is wonderful to see Demi taking her first steps (舞步) with Alice’s old company!” Demi was wearing a dress. Hannah made it for Alice many years before.

“It was very exciting for all of us,” said Hannah. “Demi’s way of dancing is like Alice’s. I know I’m her grandmother, but I think she’ll be a star one day!”