Q: What's your favorite cartoon? It may be difficult for you to decide. But for pianist Lang Lang, Tom and Jerry is the best one. When Lang was two years old, he saw Tom play the piano. This was his first time to enjoy western music and this experience encouraged him to learn to play the piano. His talent at the keyboard has taken him from Shenyang to the world. Lang became a good piano student at three. Ever since, the boy has been doing better and better. In 1997, the 15-year-old boy studied at a famous American music college. Lang's performances are energetic. He is well-known for making facial expressions and moving around while playing the piano. The road to success has never been easy. Lang's father stopped his job to look after him, while his mother stayed in Shenyang to make money. But Lang thinks himself lucky and believes he should give something back. He has helped the children in poor areas a lot.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who likes Tom and Jerry best?
2. Where was he from?
3. When did he become talented at piano?
4. Are his shows slow?
5. What are they like?
6. What happens with his face?
7. What did his dad do?
8. What did his mom do?
9. Why?
10. Why does Lang like that cartoon?
A: 1. Lang Lang
2. Shenyang
3. three
4. no
5. energetic
6. expressions
7. stopped his job
8. stayed in Shenyang
9. to make money
10. to enjoy western music
Q: Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Cromwell was born into the middle gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his personal letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a religious conversion in the 1630s, taking a generally tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period. He was an intensely religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses, and he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short (1640) and Long (16401649) parliaments. He entered the English Civil War on the side of the "Roundheads" or Parliamentarians. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides", he demonstrated his ability as a commander and was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to being one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army, playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces.

Answer the following questions:
1. who is this article about?
2. was he American?
3. then what?
4. was he religious?
5. when was he born?
6. did he ever go to war?
7. which war?
8. on whose side?
9. was he ever promoted?
10. to what?
11. did they defeat anyone?
12. who?
13. did he get into politics?
14. was he elected?
15. as?
16. for?
17. when?
18. were there others?
19. name one please.
20. do we know a lot about his early life?
A: 1. Oliver Cromwell
2. No
3. English
4. Yes
5. unknown
6. Yes
7. the English Civil War
8. the "Roundheads"
9. Yes
10. one of the principal commanders
11. Yes
12. the royalist forces
13. Yes
14. Yes
15. a Member of Parliament
16. for Huntingdon
17. in 1628
18. Yes
19. Long
20. No
Q: What would you do if you were a fifth grader facing a huge homework load every night, and you found out that there was a machine that would do all the work for you? That's the situation presented to Sam, Kelsey, Judy and Brenton in Dan Gutman's entertaining new book for young readers, The Home Machine.

The four children, all fifth graders in Miss Rasmussen's Grand Canyon School, are as different as any other 11-year-old child could be, but they have one thing in common -- all are somewhat separated from their classmates. Sam is a newcomer and has had his share of school trouble before; Kelsey quietly carries her pain at losing her father; Judy's sense of justice always annoys others; Brenton is the smartest child in the school, so smart that even his parents and teachers have trouble keeping up with him. When Brenton and his three classmates are put into the same study group by their teacher, the others discover that Brenton has made a time-saving gadget to do homework for him. While the boy is perfectly able to do his homework himself, Sam, Kelsey and Judy can use the help.

Having perfect grades is something new for these three, and as they meet every day to "do homework", they find that they're learning a lot about each other. Such a good thing can't last though, and when a secret man starts trying to get in touch with them, they begin to get nervous. Soon there's an even more frightening problem -- why can't the Homework Machine be turned off?

Told in different voices as all the children make statements to the Grand Canyon Police, the story develops in an interesting fashion. Gutman is a gifted writer who has written dozens of children's books, each with a funny and impressing table that should be equally liked by boys and girls.

Answer the following questions:
1. Which character's father has died?
2. Which one has a sense of justice?
3. Do her classmates like it?
4. Who is the smartest kid in school?
5. Which character is new to the school?
6. What grade are the kids in?
7. At what school?
8. Besides being in the same grade, what do the kids have in common?
9. Does Brenton need help doing his homework?
10. Why not?
11. Do the other kids need help with their homework?
12. Do they have a lot of it?
13. How many kids are in the study group?
14. Who created the homework tool?
15. Can they turn it off?
16. What is the title of the book?
17. Who wrote it?
18. How many other books has he written?
19. For adults?
20. Does he cater to one gender?
A:
1. Kelsey
2. Judy
3. no
4. Brenton
5. Sam
6. fifth
7. Miss Rasmussen's Grand Canyon School
8. all are somewhat separated from their classmates
9. No
10. because made a time-saving gadget to do homework for him
11. Yes
12. Yes
13. Four
14. Brenton
15. No
16. The Home Machine
17. Dan Gutman
18. dozens
19. no, for children
20. No