I read yesterday (yes, on a blog) that there are now blogging competitions!! I can’t believe it. A man in England won $2,000 for writing the best blog. There’s even a list of the best Chinese bloggers! I’ve read a few of them- before they were famous, I might add. I suppose that one blog can be better than another. It can be better written, more interesting, funnier, and I suppose that blogs are there to be read and judged (点评) by other people. If they’re not good, they’re not read. And they’re not just personal feelings. If they were, they’d be called diaries. Have locks, and be hidden under beds. So I’m OK with this whole competition thing. I just can’t believe I didn’t win!

This has got me thinking about why I’m writing this blog. I’m not doing it to win a competition (or I wasn’t when I started …) and I’m not doing it to show all my personal feelings – I do that in my diary. So, why am I a blogger?

To tell the truth, the first time I heard the word blog I thought it was a new word for a toilet. But I love learning new words so I used my knowledge and found out that a blog was a personal website and the word blog came from the words web log. Now a log is a type of diary kept by sailors (水手), and web, well, we all know that it has nothing to do with catching flies and everything to do with the Internet. Web log… weblog… blog…. Being a writer I loved the idea of getting my views (观点)onto the Internet where anyone could read them, and no editors (编辑) could get their hands on them!

So my first reason for blogging: I’m a writer. I want people to read what I write (un-edited!). And I love writing about anything I choose. I can write about saving the environment or complain about how the people in front of me in the cinema always seem to have big heads. And sometimes I pour out my heart too.

My second reason is that it’s relaxing. I don’t have to do research and write an article. I can let my thoughts go on as long as I like.

Third reason? To keep in touch.  I’m terrible on the phone and all my friends around the world read my blog (or they say they do …). Every now and then, I even upload a photo so they remember what I look like.

Is there a fourth reason? There probably is but now it’s time for dinner. Tomorrow I might even tell you what I ate.

1. The writer thinks a good blog is one that _____________.

  A. can let his thought go freely

  B. wins a blogging competition

  C. helps people keep in touch

  D. is read by large numbers of people

2. The writer loves writing blogs mainly because __________.

  A. his writing about feeling can be shown anywhere

  B. his writing would never be edited by others

  C. he enjoys writing something about big events

  D. he finds himself terrible on the phone

3. There’re __________reasons in the passage to explain why the writer is a blogger.

  A. 2                     B. 3                      C. 4                     D. 5

4. This passage is _________.

  A. a blog about blogging                     B. a diary about blogging

      C. a view on blogging                        D. a judgement on blogging

Do you know about Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Ma Lin well? Yes, they are famous Chinese Ping-Pong players. Ping-Pong is a very popular sport game in China. People of different ages like playing it. Li Bo is my best friend, his favorite sport is Ping-Pong, But I like baseball best. He knows about many famous Ping-Pong players, but he doesn’t know about any famous baseball stars.

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the USA．Children like playing it very much. They often play baseball in fields or parks. Each team has nine players. The baseball season usually goes from April to September. During that time, there are many baseball matches on TV. Many people will watch them. At the end of the game season, the two top teams play against each other. The winner comes from the greatest team.

So many people love sports in different ways now. They play sports themselves, they watch the games on TV, or they may have sports collections. Sports are an important part of our life. Doing sports is good for our health. Playing ball games can also bring us great pleasure.

Do you like sport? Do you like playing sports? If not, come on, choose one to do from now on. You’ll be happier than before.

1．What sport is very popular in China?

A．Tennis.                                 B．Baseball.                        C．Ping-Pong.

2．Who likes baseball best?

A．Wang Nan.                            B．The writer.                     C．Ma Lin.

3．Where do the children often play baseball?

A．On playgrounds.                    B．In school.                      C．In fields or parks.

4．How many players are there in each baseball team?

A．Nine.                                    B．Two.                             C．Eleven.

5．Playing ball games can       .

A．give us pain                           B．make us happy               C．make us sad

完形填空

　　Daniel's parents were worried 1 him. “He mustn't go through life making excuses all the time,” his father said. “Nobody will believe him. He won't be able to keep a job. No bright girl will marry 2 .”

　　 “I don't know 3 we can do,” said his mother.

　　 “I have a good 4 ,” his father said. “If this doesn't work, nothing will.”

　　The next day was Daniel's birthday. When he thought of gettins exciting presents, he couldn't wait. He woke up expecting his parents to wish him “Happy Birthday”, but all they said was “Good morning, Daniel. Hurry up, 5 you'll be late for school.” There were no presents, not even a card. He was very 6 .

　　 “Never mind”, he thought. “They'll give me a surprise after school.” But. they didn't. Finally, at dinner he said to his parents, “Today is 7 .”

　　 “Oh!” his father said. “So it is. I 8 .”

　　 “So did I.” his mother said.

　　 “How could you forget?” Daniel asked. “There must 9 a reason.

　　 “Well, yes,” his father said. “we have a really good excuse for forgetting your birthday, Daniel. We didn't remember your birthday 10 we were so busy.”

　　Poor Daniel. He never had a silly excuse for not doing something again!