American schools begin in September after a long summer holiday．There are two terms in a school year．The first term is from September to January, and the second is from February to June．Most American children begin to go to school when they are five years old．Most students are seventeen or eighteen years old when they finish high school．

　　High school students take only four or five subjects each term．They usually go to the same classes every day, and they have homework for every class．After class they do many interesting things．

　　After high school, many students go to college．They can go to a small one or a large one．They usually have to give a lot of money．So many college students work after class to get the money for their studies．

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　　When Bill is very young, he loves pictures．His mother often draws some for him on old pieces of paper．She is very bad at drawing, but Bill likes her pictures and always wants more．

　　Then, when he is a little older, Bill’s mother gives him some pencils and a drawing book, and he begins drawing pictures too, but they are never good．When Bill is five years old, his mother gives him a small blackboard and some pieces of chalk．He likes those very much．One day he is trying to draw a picture of a baby on the blackboard．He draws lines and rubs(擦)them out, draws more and rubs those out too for ten minutes, but when he looks at his picture he is not happy．”Well”, he says at last to his mother, “I’ll put a tail(尾巴)on it and make it a monkey．”

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　　Every year between the end of November and the end of December, Jews around the world celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights．

　　Over 2000 years ago in a country called Israel there lived many Jewish people．There also lived a king called Antiochus．The king ordered the Jewish people to reject their God, their customs and their beliefs．Some people did as they were told, but many refused．One of them was Judah Maccabee．

　　Judah and his four brothers formed an army and chose the word “Maccabee” as their name．After three years of fighting, the Maccabees succeeded and reclaimed the Jerusalem Temple．Judah and his followers cleaned the temple, and they wanted to light the endless light．Once lit, the oil lamp should never be put off．

　　Only a little oil was found．It was only enough for one day．The oil lamp was lit．Then a miracle happened．The little oil stayed lit not only for one day, but for eight long days!From then on, people celebrate Chanukah every year to remember the great light．

　　Today, families celebrate Chanukah at home．Kids like Chanukah very much．They may have a big party．They give and receive gifts, decorate the house, entertain friends, eat special foods, and light the holiday candles．

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　　Nasreddin put two big baskets of grapes on his donkey and went to market．At midday it was very hot, so he stopped in the shade of a big tree．There were several other men there, and all of them had donkeys of grapes too．After their lunch they went to sleep．After some time, Nasreddin began to take grapes out of the other men's baskets and to put them in his．

　　Suddenly one of the men woke up and saw him．”What are you doing?” He said angrily．

　　Oh,” said Nasreddin, “don't worry about me．I am half mad, and I do a lot of strange things．”

　　Oh, really?” Said the other man．”Then why don’t you sometimes take grapes out of your baskets and put them in somebody else's baskets?”

　　You did not understand me,” said Nasreddin．”I said that I was half mad, not quite mad．”

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　　An old man died and left his son a lot of money．But the son was a foolish young man, and he quickly spent all the money, so that soon he had nothing left．Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him．When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Nasreddin, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles．

　　My money has finished and my friends have gone,” said the young man．”What will happen to me now?”

　　Don’t worry, young man,” answered Nasreddin．”Everything will soon be all right again．Wait, and you will soon feel much happier．”

　　The young man was very glad．”Am I going to get rich again then?” He asked Nasreddin．

　　No, I didn't mean that,” said the old man．I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends．”

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　　The bicycle is one of the simplest yet most useful inventions(发明)in the world．What is most surprising is that it was not invented earlier, although the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci had drawn pictures for bicycles and also for flying machines and some other things．Those things were not produced(生产)until long after he died．

　　A person riding a bicycle uses little energy(能量)to make the bicycle move, and there is no pollution(污染)at all when you are riding．Even so, in developed countries, most people don’t travel to work by bicycle．It is not because the bicycles are expensive or people feel tired if they ride to work．It’s because the number of cars on the roads becomes larger．It certainly becomes more dangerous to ride a bicycle．As a result, more people put their bicycles away and go to work in their cars and, in this way, the situation(情形)is made more serious．Perhaps the best way to make riding safer and more popular is to create paths(开设通道)only for bicycles, and to make it so difficult and expensive for drivers to take their cars into the city that they will go back to using their bicycles．

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Hello, everyone!I am the tour guide, and you can call me Maggie．Now let me introduce the trip to Tianjin at the weekend．We are going to meet at 5∶30 on Saturday morning in the hall．It will take about two hours by bus to get to county Ji．After breakfast, we are going to ski for about two hours．In the afternoon, we are going to the Dule Temple．There will be a temple fair(庙会)and I’m sure you will enjoy the culture there．We will stay in a farmer’s house for the night, and you can eat fresh vegetables and corns, sweet potatoes, quite different from the food in the restaurant．On Sunday morning we’re going to walk along the Yuyang Old Street．You can buy small things or souvenirs(纪念品)for friends, or enjoy and unique(独特的)culture．In the afternoon, we have one and a half hours’ for picking apples, persimmons in the fruit garden．The persimmons on Mout Pan are quite famous．At around 4 o’clock we are going to return．

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　　Ali, who was working a long way from home wanted to send a letter to his wife, but he could neither read nor write, and he had to work all day, so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night．At last he found the house of a letter writer whose name was Nasreddin．

　　Nasreddin was already in bed．”It is late”, he said．”What do you want?” “I want you to write a letter to my wife,” said Ali, Nasreddin was not pleased．He thought for a few seconds and then said, “Has the letter got to go far?” “What does that matter?” Answered Ali．” Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money．” Ali went away quickly．

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　　Do you want to grow up?If not, then fly to Neverland(梦幻岛)like the kids do in “Peter Pan”!

　　In the film, three kids---Wendy, John and Michael Darling---are enjoying life at home in London, England．

　　But one night, a boy called Peter Pan flies into their room!

　　He comes from an island called Neverland．He lives there with the Lost Boys, a group of boys who don’t want to grow up．

　　Peter Pan wants the kids to go with him to Neverland．He also wants Wendy to look after the Lost Boys．

　　The kids decide to fly with him to Neverland．

　　But when they get there, they find out the Lost Boys are at war with Captain Cook, a pirate(海盗)．

　　Will they beat him, or will Captain Cook win?You have to watch the film to find out!

　　The film is based on the book, “Peter Pan, or The boy Who Just Wouldn’t Grow Up”, by James Barrie．Children have loved the story for over 100 years．

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　　Another year is coming!Time to forget the past, have a new start and party!

　　People started celebrating the New Year about 4,000 years ago in Egypt．But New Year’s Day wasn’t on January 1 until 46 BC!

　　During that year, Julius Caesar, the leader of the Roman Empire, made a new calendar．It made January1 become New Year’s Day．

　　Today, people celebrate the day in many different ways．

　　In the US, people have parties on December 31, New Year’s Eve．The biggest party is in Times Square, New York．

　　There, at 11∶59pm, a ball drops slowly down one of the buildings．It hits the ground at 12am, lighting a sign reading “Happy New Year”．It also sets off fireworks．

　　Denmark has the strangest celebrations．There, on New Year’s Eve, people throw plates at their friends’ homes as a sign of friendship!

　　The Spanish also celebrate the New Year strangely．At 12am everybody eats 12 grapes!Why?Because they think the grapes will bring them good luck．

　　Why don’t you try eating some this New Year’s Eve?

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