1 . Now in different places of the world, people are doing different things.

In Beijing, it’s early morning. People are sleeping.

In London, people are leaving work to go home. They are waiting for buses or trains. Some people are driving their cars. Some are having afternoon tea at home or walking to the pubs(酒吧) to have a drink.

In Moscow, it’s evening and people are having supper at home or in restaurants. Some are going to watch a ballet(芭蕾舞) . Some are drinking in the pubs.

In Los Angeles(洛杉矶) , it’s morning. People are working in their offices. Children are starting their lessons.

New York is noon now. People aren’t working but having lunch. They are eating hamburgers or hot dogs and drinking coffee or Coke. Some people are seeing friends or shopping.

4 . There are a lot of interesting things in the world. If someone tells you that they can fish in the desert, you must think they are joking. But this is true. In some places of Africa, people can fish in the desert. It must be very interesting to get some fish from the sand. And in the woods of Asia there is a kind of bird. To our surprise, this kind of bird doesn’t eat anything but iron. I think the bird’s teeth must be harder than the iron. We all know that snakes can eat mice, but in a place in Africa, a kind of big mouse can eat snakes. Isn’t it interesting? Have you ever heard of “brush trees”? They are different from trees we know. People use branches to brush teeth, and they are good for people’s teeth.

You must be very surprised to hear these interesting things. But they are all true. In fact there are a lot of interesting things in our world. If you are careful enough, you can find them easily around you.

Now they are in Bill’s bedroom. We can see some Chinese books on the desk and on the bed there’s a shirt. It’s Bill’s. His trousers are on it, under his shirt, too.

Now let’s look at the other picture. You can see a woman and a girl in it. The woman is Bill’s mother and she’s in her daughter, Ann’s room. You can see a photo of the Whites on the wall. Between the windows is a desk. A clock is on the desk. It’s eleven. What’s that on the floor? Oh, it’s Ann’s hat. It looks like a brown hat.

The Spring Festival is the biggest festival for Chinese people all around the world. On the Eve of the Spring Festival, people gather together and have a big meal. Their favourite dish on this day is dumplings.

Days before the Spring Festival, families will clean their houses. People think cleaning sweeps away(清扫掉) bad luck. It makes the house ready for good luck.

The color red is everything during the Spring Festival. People think red is a happy color and will bring them a bright future. People wear red, too. They decorate their homes with pieces of red paper. Kids get a lot of “hong bao”. They think it brings good luck.

The Spring Festival is the time to make everybody happy. So don’t say any bad words or do any bad things. It will bring unhappiness to other people. Also, don’t borrow or lend money on these days. If you have borrowed money, return it before the Spring Festival.

Halloween is an autumn holiday that Americans celebrate every year. It means “holy (神圣的) evening”, and it comes every October 31, the evening before All Saints’ Day. However, it’s not really a church holiday, it’s a holiday for children.

Every autumn, when the vegetables are ready to eat, children pick large orange pumpkins. Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put candles inside. It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!

Some children put on strange masks (面具) and frightening clothes on Halloween. Some children paint their faces to look like monsters (怪物). They carry boxes for UNICEF (联合国儿童基金会). They ask for money to help poor children all around the world. Of course, every time they help UNICEF, they usually receive a treat (款待) for themselves, too.

9 . People are often killed while they are crossing the road. Most of these people are old people and children. Old people are often killed because they usually can’t see or hear very well. Children are killed because they are not careful. They forget to look and listen before they cross the road.

A moving car, truck or bus cannot stop quickly. If a car is going very fast, it will travel a few metres before it stops. People don’t always understand this. The faster a car is travelling, the longer it takes to stop. It is very hard for a person to know how fast a car is travelling.

The only safe way to cross the road is to look right and then left. It’s not safe to run on the road. We must walk across the roads quickly.

We live in the computer age. People like scientists, teachers, writers and students use computers to do all kinds of work. But 30 years ago, computers couldn’t do many things. They were very big and expensive then. Today computers are smaller and cheaper. Because they can do a lot of work, many people like to use them. Some people have them at home. Computers have become very important because they can work faster than people. Writers now use computers to write. Teachers use them to help teach. Students use them to study and children use them to play games. Computers can also remember what you put into them. Computers are very useful and helpful. They are our good friends. Do you want to have a computer?