I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.
Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she’d said again, “it’s for Elizabeth.”
I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter
They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface”.
As years passed I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.
I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came.
My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace—it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.
Now the present of her desk told, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside--- a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠) and refolded many times.
Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.
【小题1】The writer began to love her mother’s desk____________.

Look at the paper in the picture carefully. Is there anything different from your notebook paper? This kind of paper feels as soft as your notebook paper. It’s also easy to write on. But do you know, this kind of paper is made from stone?
As we know, stone is easy to get on the earth, so it’s cheap. And the stone paper is about 20% to 30% cheaper than ordinary paper. The stone paper causes little pollution and helps protect the environment, because it makes tree and water free. The following table shows what is needed to make one ton of stone paper and one ton of ordinary paper. 

The first telephone cards, produced in 1976, were Italian. Five years later the first British card appeared, and now you can buy cards in more than a hundred countries. People usually start collecting cards because they are small and light and you do not need much space for them. It is also a cheap hobby for beginners, although for some people it becomes a serious business. In Paris, for example, there is a market where you can only buy telephone cards, and some cards cost up to ￡4,000.The first Japanese card has a value of about ￡28,000. Most people only see cards with prices like these in their collectors’ magazine.
【小题1】 When were the first Italian telephone cards produced?
【小题2】How many countries can produce telephone cards now?
【小题3】Where can we find a market to buy telephone cards?
【小题4】What is the price of the first Japanese telephone card?
【小题5】In which magazine do most people see cards with prices?

As young students, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize; they can also be small, such as becoming one of the best students in your class.
Once you find a dream, what do you do with it? Do you ever try to make your dream real?
Follow Your Heart by Andrew Matthews, an Australian writer, tells us that making our dreams real is life’s biggest challenge. You may think you’re not very good at some school subjects, or that it is impossible for you to become a writer. Those kinds of ideas stop you from realizing your dream, the books says.
In fact, everyone can realize his dream. The first thing you must do is to remember what your dream is. Don’t let it leave your heart. Keep telling yourself what you want every day and then your dream will come true faster. You should know that a big dream is, in fact, made up of many small dreams.
You must also never give up your dream. There will be difficulties on the road to your dreams. But the biggest difficulty comes from yourself. You need to decide what is the most important. Studying instead of watching TV will help you to get better exam results, while saving five yuan instead of buying an ice cream means you can buy a new book.
As you get closer to your dream, it may change a little. This is good as you have the chance to learn something more useful and find new hobbies.
【小题1】Your dreams can be very ____, such as becoming one of the best students in your class.

Snooker(台球)is a big sport in China．It is said that there are 300 million snooker players in China, so it's not surprised that some of the world's best players come from China．Ding Junhui is one of them．
When Ding Junhui was eight years old, there were not many snooker clubs．His father often played with his friends on a table in the street，and one day Ding Junhui played with one of his father friends and beat him．His father，a shoe salesman，discovered that his son was talented at snooker．He then took Ding Junhui to China's nation snooker training center in Dongguan，Guangdong Province．There．they lived in a room of five square meters．When they ran out of money．Ding's father phoned his wife and told her to sell their house．
After years of hard training，Ding turned professional in 2003 and became China's No．1．In 2005．more than 100 million people watched Ding Junhui win the 2005 World Snooker China Open．Since then, snooker has become more and more popular in China．
“When I was a small boy, snooker was not in the top 10 favorite sports in China，”Ding says．“Table tennis was top, followed by soccer, basketball and badminton．Now，basketball is top，but snooker is surely in the top five．”
【小题1】Ding Junhui’s father usually played snooker  ---When Ding Junhui was young．