When Helen Keller was 19 months old, an illness left her deaf, dump （哑巴） and blind. At the age of five, she began to realize that she was different from other people. Her family members could_______with their mouths, but she couldn't talk with her mouth. Sometimes she stood between her parents and touched their _______. She could not understand their words, and she could not make any meaningful sounds _______. She wanted to talk, but no matter how she tried, her family members could not understand her. This made her very angry. Finally, her parents decided to ask Dr Bell for _______.

So just before Helen's seventh birthday, with the help of Dr Bell, her parents hired a private_______Miss Sullivan for her. Miss Sullivan was careful to teach Helen, especially she taught Helen those subjects that she was_______ in.

One morning, Miss Sullivan carried a cup in her hand and she took Helen to the pump house （水泵房）. _______was pumping water（用泵打水）there. Miss Sullivan led Helen to the pump, put the cup in her hand, and let Helen_______ it under the spout （水泵嘴）. Helen's first impulse（冲动）was to throw the cup away. But she liked the feeling when the cool water flowed down over her hand into the_______. So she held it there, smiling a little.

Then Miss Sullivan held Helen's other hand and began to________the word W﹣A﹣T﹣E﹣R on it. Over and over again. ________ at first, then faster. Suddenly Helen dropped the cup. She stood there quietly, hardly________. Inside her mind, a new idea began to spin round and round.

"W-A-T-E-R! W-A-T-E-R! This lovely, cool thing. W-A-T-E-R?" She wildly groped（忙乱地摸索）for Miss Sullivan's hand. Her trembling（颤抖的）________ began to spell the word on Miss Sullivan's hand, W-A-T-? She didn't finish spelling the word W-A-T-E-R, then she felt that Miss Sullivan agreed with her by patting（轻拍）her on the shoulder. Helen was ________! That was "water"! For the first time in Helen's life, she"talked" with another person in this ________ way! Miss Sullivan's eyes were wet as she cried, "Helen, you're right! You've got it!"

Here is the 6﹣day weather report in Suqian， Jiangsu Province．

Day	Description	Temperature	Humidity（湿度）
Monday June 29	Partly Sunny	27°C / 19°C	91%
Tuesday June 30	A． M． Showers	28°C / 21°C	85%
Wednesday July 1	Partly Cloudy	27°C / 23°C	79%
Thursday July 2	Mostly Sunny	25°C / 20°C	89%
Friday July 3	Mostly Cloudy	30°C / 24°C	87%
Saturday July 4	P． M． Showers	31°C/ 22°C	92%

The Chinese kite is a symbol of the Chinese handicraft （手工艺品）. Flying a kite is a very popular activity in China. In spring, large numbers of people gather in the squares or parks and fly beautiful kites there.

A philosopher （哲学家） called Mozi was said to be the inventor of the Chinese kite. His invention had the bird's name of "Yuan", a kind of bird of the hawk （鹰） family with a long tail. He made the kite out of wood. Later, his student Lu Ban improved it and made the kite out of bamboo.

With the development of papermaking, paper was introduced into the kite-making. The kite got the name "Zhi Yuan", as "Zhi" in Chinese means paper. And during the Five Dynasties period, people tied the bamboo whistle （哨子） to the kite. When the kite was flying, the airflow （气流）could make the whistle sound like Guzheng playing. So the kite carried the name "Fengzheng".

From then on, making and playing the kite became very popular in Weifang, Shandong Province. Every year in spring, when the weather became warm, almost every family went out to fly the kite and have a picnic on sunny and windy days. It was an exciting folk activity and a good time to display various beautiful kites. At the same time, they also enjoyed the warm weather and fresh air. The tradition has been well kept until today and has become the world﹣ famous Weifang International Kite Festival, which is held from 20th to 25th in April every year.

Flying a kite in spring does people much good. For example, it is a good way to reduce the backache （背痛）. Besides, when people fly a kite, it can help them forget their stressful （压力重的） situations and reconnect （再连接） them to nature.

Antarctica（南极洲）is at the southern end of the Earth. It is the coldest, driest and windiest place on our planet. What would it be like to live and work there?

On Oct 15, 50 Chinese researchers took a ship named Xuelong 2 from Shenzhen to Antarctica. Xuelong 2 is the first icebreaker（破冰船）made in China. It took two years to build Xuelong 2. It is reported that Xuelong 2 is one of the world's best research icebreakers.

Chinese researchers have been to Antarctica 35 times. Because of its unusual environment, researchers from around the world have been going there to do study（研究）for many years. Some studies can only be done in Antarctica. For example, there is little air pollution there. This makes it easier for scientists to study the weather, atmosphere（大气）and stars.

The study of Antarctica's geology（地质）is also important. Rocks in Antarctica can tell us what the weather was like long time ago, and help us understand how the Earth has changed over time. There are also many wild animals, such as penguins（企鹅）, seals（海豹）and birds. Scientists can learn how animals live in cold places by studying them.

Xie Zhouqing is a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China. He was part of China's 15th research trip to Antarctica. He said, "Life in Antarctica is not easy. It is tiring and sometimes dangerous, but it is still quite fun. "He also said," I studied how penguins walk, what they eat, and why they move from one place to another. I was excited to see the cute animals playing around. I hope my studies can help protect them."

"Well, I'll eat the cake," Alice said. "If I get taller, I can reach the key on the table. And if get smaller, I can go under the door into the garden. "Then she finished the cake very soon.

"I shall be as tall as a house in a minute," she said. She tried to look down at her feet, and could only just see them.

Just then her head hit the ceiling （天花板） of the room. She was now about three meters tall quickly, she took the key from the table and hurried to the garden door. But she was too tall to go through the door. She began to cry. The tears （泪水） ran down her face, and soon there was   large pool of salt water all around her on the floor. Suddenly she heard a voice, and she stopped crying to listen.

"Oh, the Duchess （公爵夫人）, the Duchess! She'll be very angry! I'm late, and she's waiting for me. Oh dear, oh dear!"

It was the White Rabbit again. He was hurrying down the long room, with a pair of white gloves in one hand and a fan in the other hand.

Alice was afraid, but she needed help. So she said in a low voice, "Oh, please, sir."

Her voice frightened （使惊恐） the Rabbit. He dropped the gloves and the fan, and ran away quickly.

Alice picked up the gloves and the fan. The room was very hot, so she cooled down with the fan. She said, "Oh dear! How strange everything is today! Shall I get smaller during the night?"

She began to feel very unhappy again, but then she looked down at her hand. She was wearing one of the Rabbit's white gloves. "How did I get it on my hand?" she thought." Oh, I'm getting smaller again! I'm already less than a meter tall and getting smaller every second! How can I stop it?" She saw the fan in her other hand. "It must be the fan!" she thought, and quickly she dropped it.

She was now very, very small, and the key was still lying on the table.

"Things are worse than ever," thought poor Alice. She turned away from the door, and fell into salt water, right up to her neck. At first, she thought it was the sea, but then she saw it was the pool of her own tears.

"Oh, why did I cry so much?" said Alice. She swam around and looked for a way out, but the pool was very big. Just then she saw an animal in the water near her. It looked like a large animal to Alice, but it was only a mouse.

"Shall I speak to it?" thought Alice. "Everything is very strange here, so perhaps a mouse can speak."

Then she began, "Oh, mouse, do you know the way out of this pool? I am very tired of swimming."

But the mouse looked at her with its little eyes and said nothing.

"Perhaps it doesn't understand English," thought Alice. "Perhaps it's a French mouse." So she began again, and said in French, "Where is my cat?" （This was first sentence in her French book.）

The mouse jumped half out of the water and looked at her angrily.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" cried Alice quickly. "Of course, you don't like cats, do you?"

"No. I don't like cats," the mouse replied.

（Adapted from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland）