2 . Soapy was a homeless man looking for somewhere to stay during the winter. He was thinking about doing something bad, so the police would send him to prison.

First, he planned to eat in a restaurant without paying but the waiter looked at his clothes and would not let him in, then he broke a store window and waited for the police. When a police officer arrived at the store, he did not believe Soapy did it because Soapy did not run away.

Then Soapy passed by a church and heard people singing. Soapy was moved and decided to become a good man. Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” asked a police officer,“Nothing.” replied Soapy.

“Then come along.” said the officer.

“Three months in prison,” said the judge the next morning.

3 . Free time is a good chance for teenagers to have fun. What about free time with parents around? Some teenagers want free play without parent supervision (监管) while parents and experts may think differently.

Lin Tao, a middle school student, thinks teenagers should be free to play. “Last time I played with my parents around, I was nervous and just couldn’t enjoy myself to the fullest.” Lin says. “And my friend Chen Xiaoxin has similar experiences. Once, he went out to play with his classmates. Everyone felt uncomfortable with his mother’s supervision.”

Wang Min, a mother of a 14-year-old boy, thinks playtime needs supervision. She explains, “People usually say I like to control my kid, but that’s not true. I am just worried that he will get into trouble. Some guys may have a bad influence on him and some games like LARP (剧本杀) may mislead him. He might even get indulged in the stories and can’t get back to real life.

Mr. Ma, a doctor of social studies, says it’s understandable for teenagers to wish for freedom. Free play helps them to be independent. Parents can give them more space. They don’t have to supervise them all the time. However, teenagers should find out the exact details about the activities before playtime. Then they can communicate with their parents and decide together whether they can go out to play alone.

6 . 请你“My favourite ________”为题写一篇短文介绍一下自己最喜爱的物品。要求说明材料、用途、产地、及感受。词数：30词左右。

My favourite ________

In China, writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones are called the Four Treasures of the Study. Among the high-quality treasures, the writing brush produced in Huzhou, the ink stick produced in Huizhou, the Xuan paper made in Xuancheng and the inkstone made in Duanxi are the best-known.

The writing brushes are mainly made of the hair of animals. Those made of wool are called yanghao and those made of the weasel’s tail hair are called langhao. Their artistic effects（效果） in writing and painting cannot be copied by any other pens.

The ink stick is the pigment（颜料） used in writing and painting. The ink stick produced in Huizhou is of high quality. A story goes like this: Xi Chao and his son produced a kind of high-quality ink stick. As a result, Emperor Li Yu in the Southern Tang Dynasty agreed to give them the family name “Li”. In the Song Dynasty, its producing area was changed into Huizhou, and it was then called the Hui Ink Stick.

Paper is among the four great inventions in ancient China. The famous Xuan paper appeared in the Sui and Tang dynasties. In Xuanzhou, （now Xuancheng, Anhui）, where the Xuan paper is produced, it’s said that Cai Lun’s pupil Kong Dan happened to see the ebony （黑檀） in a river. It was wet with the water and turned white. Then he used the bark（树皮） to produce the world-famous Xuan paper.

The inkstone was already, very popular in the Han Dynasty. The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the appearance of the Four Famous Inkstones-Duan Inkstone, She Inkstone, Tao Inkstone and Chengni Inkstone. They can be used not only in writing and painting but also for admiration.

The Nile River is called the “Father of African Rivers”. The Nile is about 6 , 670 km long. It is the longest river in Africa and in the world. The river runs from south to north, beginning in the mountains of Burundi and ending in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile played an important role in the development of ancient Egypt. It ran through ancient Egypt, bringing water to plants and a river to ships. The river was full of fish and the river banks were full of good things to eat.

Each spring, snow on the mountain tops would become water. That was a very good thing When the water passed by, it left behind good soil. Plants could grow very well in the black and rich soil. The ancient Egyptians called it “the gift of the Nile”

The Nile provided other gifts for the ancient Egyptians. Papyrus（纸莎草）, used for everything grew along its bank. It provided water for cooking and bathing. There were also many fish and water birds. Wild vegetables could be found, along with bird eggs. Egypt is in the middle of the desert. But life along the Nile was wonderful.

There was once a     1     whose goal was to paint the most beautiful painting in the world. Day and     2     he painted to make his greatest work. He painted many paintings, but every time, he would throw away paintings that he thought were less than perfect.

    3     the same time, another painter who worked in the same studio（工作室）also painted many paintings. He tried his best to paint and     4     threw any paintings away. The first painter would sometimes walk by, looking at the second painter's finished works, and laugh at them. “No one will ever buy these paintings. They are worthless!” he would say.

The second painter would always answer, “We'll see.” And in time, the second painter     5     nearly all of his works. People were happy with them, even if they were less than perfect. The    6     painter never achieved what he wanted and finally gave up on his dream of perfection. He went home, penniless（身无分文的）, having never sold any of his paintings. There is a saying “Practice makes perfect.” It     7     to say that people become better at something if they do it often. For example，     8     you want to be a good writer, you should write every day.

    9     this saying is not always true. No one is perfect and looking for perfection often ends in failure. But if we simply do our     10     and work hard，we can usually succeed in life.

During the Song Dynasty , there was an official（官员） named Zhang Guaiya. He worked in Chongyang county, in today’s Hubei. At that time, theft happened everywhere even in the county’s vault（钱库）.

One day, Zhang saw a low-ranking（低阶的） official come out of the vault in a hurry . Zhang stopped him and asked, 1. “Why are you in such a hurry?” “No reason,” said the official. Zhang thought the official might steal the money. So he asked people to search the official. They found a copper coin（铜钱）in the official’s headband（头巾）.

Zhang asked him how much more money he had stolen. The official said he didn’t steal anything else. Zhang ordered the guards to beat him.

The official didn’t give in. He said, “I only stole a coin. 2. You can’t kill me just because of that!”

Zhang was very angry. He wrote in a red pen, “If you steal a coin every day, there will be a thousand coins after a thousand days. Constant dripping wears away a stone（水滴石穿）.”