2 . Tomorrow is Garfield’s birthday. He first appeared in a comic strip on June 19,1978. Garfield is famous all over the world. You can read lots of Garfield books in many languages. People sell Garfield products in lots of countries.

Jim Davis is Garfield’s creator. Jim was born on July 28,1945 in Indiana. He grew up on a farm. Jim and his brother Dave helped with the farm work. They had 25 cats. They always made sure there was plenty of food for the cats.

As a boy, Jim was not very well. When he had to spend time resting, he drew pictures. He added words to his pictures to make them funny.

After college Jim worked for a few years at an advertising company. In 1969, he got a job to help a cartoonist. Jim noticed that there were many comic strips about dogs but few about cats. He thought that was strange because there were many cat lovers in the world.

He remembered the 25 farm cats. They gave him ideas for a cat comic strip. In the comic strip, Garfield became the central character in daily difficult experiences with Jon, his owner, and other characters. He is lazy, funny and hungry.

Jim Davis has received many awards for his work. Twice he was given the Best Humor Strip Cartoonist of the Year Award. He has won two Emmys（艾美奖）and other honors.

3 . New York City isn’t the biggest city in the world, but it is the biggest city in the USA. Most American live in much smaller cities and towns, but almost 8 million people live in New York. Why did so many people come to live in one place?

A look at the city shows us that New York City has a very good port (港口). The Dutch (荷兰) settlers (new comers.) wanted to use it for business. In 1926, the Dutch paid (付钱) the Indians twenty-four dollars for the island of Manhattan. Its Dutch name was New Amsterdam. Then the British took the land in 1664 and changed its name to New York.

The United States became an independent (独立的) country in 1776, and New York was its capital for a short time. The city became so crowded that some people moved out to other areas (places). But more people from everywhere went on coming into the city every day.

4 . No one knows when the first kite was made. The first record of a kite was more than 2,000 years ago in China. Han Xin, the leader of an army, wanted to bring down a king. He decided to dig a tunnel (隧道）into the king’s palace. He flew a kite over the wall of the palace to make sure the length (长度）of its string (线).In this way, he coulddeterminehow long the tunnel should be.His men in the tunnel took the kite string with them. When they reached the end of the string, they knew to dig up.

Kites have been flown in Japan for hundreds of years. In the 1700s, kites were flown in autumn to give thanks for a good harvest. They were also flown to send good wishes to couples who had their first son. Today in Japan, kites are often flown as part of a celebration, such as the beginning of a new year. And kite festivals are held each year in many parts of the country.

“Where is the university?” This is a question that many visitors to Cambridge ask. But no one can give them a _______ answer, for there is no wall to be found _______ the university. The university is the city. You can find classroom buildings, _______, museums and offices of the university all over the city. And most of its members are the students and ________ of the thirty-one colleges.

Cambridge was already a _______ town long before the first students and teachers arrived 800 years ago. It grew up by the river Granta, and the river was once ______ the Cam. A ______ was built over the river as early as 875. So the town got its name “Cambridge”.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more and more land was used for college buildings. The town grew much________ in the nineteenth century after the opening of the railway in 1845. Cambridge became a _______ in 1951 and now it has a population of over 100,000. Many young students in other countries ________ to study at Cambridge. Thousands of people from all over the world come to visit the university town. It has become a famous place all around the world.