Q: Family traditions were important in our house, and one was more appreciated than our annual trip to the woods for the perfect Christmas tree.

"Dad, can we watch when you trim it?" my eldest son ,John ,asked on the way home.

"I won't be cutting this year," my husband said." You and your brother Dan are old enough to measure things, fit the tree to the stand and do it by yourselves. Think you boys can handle it?"

They seemed to _ in their chairs at the thought of such an amazing responsibility. "We can handle it," Dan promised. We won't let you down."

A few days before Christmas, Dan and John rushed in after school. They gathered the tools they'd need and brought them out of yard, where the tree waited. I left the older boys to their work and brought David inside for his early supper. A moment later I heard the happy sounds as the boys carried the trees into the living room. Then I heard the sound become dead silence. I hurried out to them. The tree was too short. John crossed his arm tight across his chest. His eyes were filled with angry tears.

The tree was central to our holiday, but it was not what I worried about. I didn't want the boys to feel ashamed every time they looked at it. We had a terrible problem on our hands. I couldn't lower the ceiling, and I couldn't raise the floor either. There was no way to repair the damage. If I couldn't fix the problem, maybe I could get creative with it. A thought came to my mind, which turned to the solution.

I followed them back into the living room.. "We can't make the tree taller," I said. "But we can put it on a higher position." Dan turned his head sideways, measuring the distance with his eyes . "We can put it on the coffee table and put the lights and decorations on before we lift it up . Thus, we won't need a ladder. It just might work! Let's try it!"

When my husband got home and looked at the big tree on top of the coffee table, Dan and John held their breath.

"What a good idea!" he declared, as if the boys had gone beyond all his expectations. "Why didn't I ever think of such a thing ?"

John broke into a grin. Dan's chest swelled with pride. David squealed.

Answer the following questions:
1. What was one of the traditions?
2. What did they do with the tree after they got it?
3. Who usually trims the tree?
4. Is he going to this year?
5. Who is doing the job this year?
6. Are they the only children?
7. What did the mom do while they were trimming the tree?
8. How did the boys do on the job?
9. What problem did they have?
10. How did they fix the tree being cut too short?
A: 1. annual trip to the woods for the perfect Christmas tree
2. unknown
3. Dad
4. No
5. Jon and Dan
6. Yes
7. unknown
8. Good
9. they couldn't lower the ceiling, and I couldn't raise the floor either
10. they put it on the coffee table and put the lights and decorations on before we lift it up
Q: CHAPTER XIX.

VITTORIA.

General Clausel fell back as Wellington advanced to Burgos, and the British laid siege to the castle of that place. Like all Wellington's sieges this was commenced with a wholly insufficient train of artillery, and without the time necessary to carry out regular siege operations. A considerable portion of the army were posted so as to watch Clausel. The place was badly fortified, but the French under Governor Dubreton defended themselves with immense skill and courage, the English assaults were repulsed, successful sorties were made by the garrison, and at last, after the failure of the fourth assault, the siege was given up, and the allied armies turned their faces once more towards Portugal.

It was time; the operations in the south upon which Wellington had relied to keep at least a portion of the French forces engaged, had failed signally, and the French generals were bringing up their troops from all parts of Spain, and General Souham, having under him Generals Clausel, Maucune, and Foy, with a force far superior to that of the British, advanced to give battle. Then Wellington, whose Anglo-Portuguese troops were much weakened by sickness, fell back rapidly, sending orders to General Hill, who commanded the troops left behind in Madrid, to evacuate that city, and to fall back and unite with him on the Tormes.

It was only by some masterly maneuvering and some stiff fighting at Venta de Pozo, on the Carrion, and on the Huebra, that Wellington drew off his army to Ciudad Rodrigo.

Answer the following questions:
1. What two countries were fighting?
2. Who laid siege to a place?
3. And who commanded?
4. Where?
5. Who was defending the castle?
6. Led by who?
7. Was the siege successful for the English?
8. Did the French have a larger army?
9. Who had sick soldiers?
10. What ethnicity were they?
A: 1. The French and the English
2. the British
3. General Clausel
4. Burgos
5. the French
6. Governor Dubreton
7. no
8. no
9. Wellington
10. Anglo-Portuguese
Q: What is the hottest topic at your school? In Hangzhou Yongjin Middle School, it's money. The school had an activity called "making a living" recently. About 800 Junior 1 and Junior 2 students were divided into 112 teams. They went out to make money by selling things. What did they choose to sell? Some sold newspapers; some chose bottled water; some sold environmentally friendly shopping bags and bamboo baskets. Huqi's team decided to sell educational books in front of the Children Activity Centre. They thought parents would like to buy books for their children. But unfortunately , they came across urban management officers . The officers asked them to leave. "We played hide-and-seek with the officers for the whole morning," said Hu. "Finally we gave up and moved to other place. Wang Yongyi and her team sold ice cream in a square. They didn't meet any officers. But few people were interested in what they were selling. The team then put up a board saying the money was to help the "Project Hope" for country kids. It worked. More people came to their stall. A foreigner even gave them 100 yuan. Meng Zhaoxiang and his team were luckier. They sold all their cakes in four hours, spending 39.5 yuan and getting back 80 yuan. "It was not easy to make the money," said Meng. "Some people just looked. Others just tasted but didn't buy. Now I know how hard it is for our parents to earn the money we need to lead happy lives."

Answer the following questions:
1. Where were books sold?
2. Where?
3. Who sold them?
4. Where did they go to school?
5. Were there 100 students?
6. How many?
7. Were they all in one group?
8. How many were they divided in to?
9. Who gave them trouble?
10. how?
11. Did they stay anyhow?
12. Doing what?
13. With whom?
14. Who sold ice cream?
15. Were they doing well?
16. What did they do about that?
17. Did that help?
18. Were foreigners greedy?
19. How much did they give?
20. What was a popular item that day?
21. Did they take long to get rid of?
22. How many were sold?
23. Did they make a good amount?
A:
1. educational
2. Children Activity Centre
3. Huqi's team
4. Hangzhou Yongjin Middle School
5. No
6. About 800
7. No
8. 112 teams
9. urban management officers
10. asked them to leave
11. During the morning they stayed.
12. played hide-and-seek
13. urban management officers
14. Wang Yongyi and her team
15. No
16. put up a board saying the money was to help the "Project Hope"
17. Yes
18. No
19. 100 yuan
20. cakes
21. four hours
22. all their cakes
23. Yes