Saturday morning was bright and fresh. There was a song in every heart, cheer on every face, and a spring in every step.
Tom appeared with a bucket（桶）of white paint in one hand and a brush in the other. His Aunt Polly told him to paint the fence（篱笆）around the garden. It was ninety feet long and nine feet high. He felt very blue.
Then he had a wonderful idea. He picked up his brush and started to work.
Soon Ben came along the road. He was happily eating an apple. He stopped to look at Tom. Tom went on painting and pretended（假装）not to see Ben.
“I’m going swimming,” said Ben. “Do you want to go swimming, Tom? But I guess you can’t. You have to stay and work, don’t you?”
“Work?” Tom said. “This isn’t work. I’m enjoying myself. Does a boy get a chance to paint a fence like this every day?”
Ben thought about this. Tom continued painting carefully. Sometimes he stopped, stood back to look at the fence like an artist, and then added（增加）a bit more paint in just the right place. Ben was watching Tom paint with great interest. He was getting more and more eager（渴望的）to have a try himself.
After a while, Ben asked Tom if he would let him paint a little. Tom thought about it, and said, “No, Ben, I can’t. You see. Aunt Polly wants it to be done well. Aunt Polly said that I must paint it with great care.”
“Oh, please, Tom,” begged Ben. “I can do it. I’ll be really careful. Just let me try. I’ll give you half of my apple. Well, I’ll give you all of it!”
“Well, all right, Ben,” said Tom. “You must be very careful.”
He gave Ben his brush with worry on his face but joy in his heart. He sat down under the tree, and started to eat Ben’s apple. All day, boys came to make fun of Tom, but they ended up staying to paint. When Ben got tired, Billy was waiting. He gave Tom a kite for a chance to paint. Then Johnny offered him a basketball, and so on.
By late afternoon Tom had got all kinds of toys, and the fence had got three coats of paint. Later Aunt Polly came to look at the painted fence. She was so pleased with Tom’s work that she gave Tom a large cake!
【小题1】Why did Tom pretend not to see Ben when he came and watched him painting?

Mary can’t understand such sentences as “She is blue today.” “You are yellow.” “He has a green thumb (大拇指).” “He tells a white lie.” and so on. And she goes to her teacher for help.
Mary: Mrs. Smith, there is a colour in each of these sentence. What do they mean?
Mrs. Smith: In everyday English, blue sometimes means sad. Yellow, afraid. A person with a green thumb grows plants well. And a white lie is not a bad one. 
Mary: Would you please give me an example of a white lie?
Mrs. Smith: Certainly. Now I give you some cake. In fact, you don’t like it. But you won’t say it. Instead, you say, “ No, thanks. I’m not hungry.” That’s a white lie.
Mary: Oh, I see. Thank you very much.
【小题1】 Blue sometimes means sad in ________ English.

Today is Sunday, March 20. We, sixteen boys and seventeen girls, go to school early, but we have no lessons. Our teacher takes us to the zoo. We are very excited about the trip. We get on a bus, it goes fast and at half past nine we get there. How beautiful the zoo is! There're a lot of trees, some hills, and a big lake. The sun is shining and the flowers are coming out. There are all kinds of animals in it, elephants, monkeys, birds, fishes and many other animals. The birds are singing in the trees and the fishes are swimming in the lake. We like to watch monkeys. They are playing on the hill or having oranges, apples and bananas. There are many rules in the zoo. We mustn't do this and we mustn't do that. But we all have a good time. At one in the afternoon we leave the zoo. 
【小题1】 The weather is ______ today

Jane White is an American girl．She is a student．She is fifteen．Her father is Mr. White．Her mother is Mrs. White．Bob is her brother．He is a student, too．He is in a black jacket．Jane is in a green jacket. She is a nice girl
【小题1】Jane White is an English student.               
【小题2】Jane is fourteen years old．
【小题3】Jane is Mrs. White’s daughter(女儿)．            
【小题4】Bob is Jane’s brother．
【小题5】Jane is in red and Bob is in black. 

Dear Zhou Lan,
Thank you very much for your mail. I want to go to China. I know something about China from your e-mail. Your English is very good. But I don’t know much Chinese. Now I’m learning it from my parents. They know much about China. They tell me many things about China.
I’m happy to know that you like your school and your family. Do you want to know my family and my school? I have a big family. My grandparents and my parents are all very fine. My father has a brother. He is my uncle, John. He and my aunt have their children. They’re Bill, Linda, Mary and Lily. My brother Dick is a boy of eighteen. I like my family very much. I’ll go to China next year with my mother. She is going to teach English in a middle school in Beijing.
Yours,
Annie
【小题1】Who will come to China?

Hi, I’m Sam from New York. I have a brother called Tim. We are twins. We are both eleven this year. I am ten minutes older than him. In some ways, we look the same and in some ways, we look different. However, he is taller than me. I am shy, but he is outgoing. We both like playing sports and we often play football together after class. We are in the same school but we are not in the same class. I am in Class One and he is in Class Three.
Last Monday, Tim was ill and couldn’t go to school. The next day, when I was in the hallway, his English teacher, Miss White saw me and asked, “Tim, are you feeling better now?” Haha…she made a mistake and she couldn’t tell Tim from me.
【小题1】Same and Tim are ________ years old this year.

Are you sorry for not traveling during the National Day ? If you stay at home at that time, I think you are very lucky. Why? Because there are too many people everywhere. In many places of interest in China, it’s too crowded to do anything.
Look at the picture. It was too crowded on the Great Wall on October 1st, 2012. You even couldn’t take photos for you or your friends. All what we could see were people. It was reported that there were about twenty people per meter on the Great Wall. My friends told me they could see nothing but many people on the Great Wall. “We couldn’t walk if the people in front of us didn’t walk,” he said. He showed us a photo on the Great Wall. In the photo, we hardly found him out, there were too many people.
So some people give the advice that we should not have the gold week (黄金周) any more. But other people say no about this advice. What’s your idea of it? Are you sorry now for not traveling during the gold week? I love staying at home more than traveling next National Day.
【小题1】How did the writer feel about staying at home on National Day?

The following charts show the different usages (用途) of pocket money（压岁钱） in Class 4, Grade 3. Read carefully and answer the questions below.

【小题1】 How many students are there in Class 4, Grade 3 ?

My name is Mary Green. I live in a new house with my parents. There is a beautiful and a small room for me. I like it very much.
Now let me tell you something about my new house. My new house is on a busy street. There is a big, new and clean park across from my house. I can see the flowers in it from my room. We often take a walk in the park after dinner every evening. There is a big supermarket near my house. It is between a hospital and a cinema. We can buy fruits, vegetables and food in the supermarket. They are good but cheap. My school is near my house. So I always go to school on foot. I like my new house. Do you like it?
【小题1】How is the park?