Bright Side did some research on many places throughout the world where you can buy a house for $1 or for free!

    Roubaix, France

    If you like France, Roubaix located in the north of France is just for you. The local authorities want it to be populated and attractive. You can buy a small house in the industrial district for just $1 .The buyer is supposed to live in this house for 3 years.

    Buffalo, USA

    Buffalo offers whoever qualifies to buy a house for $1. All you need is to be a lawful citizen of the city and invest amount of money into its decoration. Doing this, the authorities are hoping to make the city beautiful again without spending money.

    Liverpool, Great Britain

    In Liverpool, most of houses were abandoned by the working class during the years of unemployment. The government is trying to sell the houses for just $1. If you want to buy such a house, it has to be your first deal on buying one.

    Candela, Italy

    If you still have any doubts about spending $ 1 on a house, you should know: the government will pay you some money, if you move to Candela. In order to he paid, you need to become a permanent citizen and have an income of $7500 per year. If moving alone, you will get $800, and if you are going with your family, the pay can he four times as much as only one person.

    Raised in a motherless home, my father was extremely tightfisted towards us children. His attitude didn't soften as I grew into adulthood and went to college. I had to ride the bus whenever I came home. Though the bus stopped about two miles from home, Dad never met me, even in severe weather. If I grutnbled, he'd say in his loudest father一voice, "That's what your legs are for!"

    The walk didn't bother me as much as the fear of walking alone along the highway and country roads. I also felt less than valued that my father didn't seem concerned about my safety. But that feeling was canceled one spring evening.

    It had been a particularly difficult week at college after long hours in labs. I longed for home. When the bus reached the stop, I stepped off and dragged my suitcase to begin the long journey home.

    A row of hedge(树篱)edged the driveway that climbed the hill to our house. Once I had turned off the highway to start the last lap of my journey, I always had a sense of relief to see the hedge because it meant that I was almost home. On that particular evening, the hedge had just come into view when I saw something gray moving along the top of the hedge, moving toward the house. Upon closer observation, I realized it was the top of my father's head. Then I knew, each time I'd come home, he had stood behind the hedge, watching, until he knew I had arrived safely. I swallowed hard against the tears. He did care, after all.

    On later visits, that spot of gray became my watchtower. I could hardly wait until I was close enough to watch for its secret movement above the greenery. Upon reaching home, I would find my father sitting innocently in his chair. "So! My son, it's you!" he'd say, his face lengthening into pretended surprise.

    I replied, "Yes, Dad, it's me. I'm home."

    World Book Day falls on April 23^rd every year, but do you know that it is also Shakespeare Day? Everybody may have heard of Shakespeare, but do you know how many plays he wrote?

    Shakespeare's plays have three kinds: tragedies, comedies and histories. His most famous play is the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, which deals with two young lovers who are not allowed to marry by their parents. Other tragedies include Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth.

    Shakespeare's comedies include Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is a play about unclear identities. Two twins are shipwrecked (遭海难)and the sister, Viola, dresses up as her brother, Sebastian, who she thinks is dead. It's funny, because the brother reappears and there's a big love problem going on:Viola is in love with the Duke, who is in love with Olivia, who falls in love with Sebastian except that she doesn't realize that Sebastian is actually Viola dressed up! Everybody falls in love with the wrong person, but it is all made right in the end.

    Some of his history plays, such as Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III and Henry V, are based on the lives of real historical people. In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra becomes Antony's girlfriend and Antony becomes so crazy about her that he loses control of the army. Cleopatra kills herself in the end and Antony kills himself too.

    Shakespeare's plays can be very difficult sometimes. Some of the themes they deal with are heavy, so they almost always include a lighter subplot with characters that are not so important. They are often used in tragedies to lighten the mood of the play and to keep the audience interested in the main plot.

    You can't always predict a heavy rain or remember your umbrella. But designer Mikhail Belyaev doesn't think that forgetting to check the weather forecast before heading out should result in you getting wet. That's why he created Lampbrella, a lamp post with its own rain sensing umbrella.

    The designer says he came up with the idea after watching people get wet on streets in Russia."Once, I was driving on a central Saint Petersburg street and saw the street lamps lighting up people trying to hide from the rain. I thought it would be appropriate to have a canopy(伞蓬)built into a street lamp."he said.

    The Latuphrella is a standard一looking street lamp fitted with an umbrella canopy. It has a built－in electric motor which can open or close the umbrella on demand. Sensors then ensure that the umbrella offers pedestrians shelter whenever it starts raining.

      In addition to the rain sensor, there's also a 360⁰motion sensor on the fiberglass street lamp which detects whether anyone's using the Lamphrella. After three minutes of not being used, the canopy is closed.

    According to the designer, the Larnpbrella would move at a relatively low speed, so as not to cause harm to the pedestrians. Besides, it would be grounded to protect from possible lighting strike. Each Lampbrella would offer enough shelter for several people. Being installed at 2 meters off the ground, it would only be a danger for the tallest of pedestrians.

    While there are no plans to take the L.amphrella into production, Belyaev says he recently introduced his creation to one Moscow Department, and insists this creation could be installed on any street where a lot of people walk but there are no canopies to provide shelter.

    Change is scary.It can go hand in hand with the fear that we might hurt someone else if we think about ourselves. The truth is that you're so much more courageous than you give yourself credit for and far stronger than you realize. Here are some ways that you can use to help yourself make the process of creating change more manageable.

    Make change into small bite size pieces.Remember that as long as you attempt to take regular practice towards your goal, such as eating more healthily every day, or walking twenty minutes a day, you're heading in the right direction to make changes.

    From a habit of keeping a diary every day .Writing a journal every night before going to bed can effectively help you cope with the emotional impact of the change process. Go to grab a pen or pencil and remember a journal is not for being neat and tidy with good spelling.

    Rest is necessary to success. Have a rest and take timeout to build your energy.If we don't give ourselves time to rest, we just end up burning out by the constant striving and worry. As we don't have the energy to keep going, we have to give up!

    Just accept it! I'm sorry to say that unless some people are really secure in themselves and truly happy in their own life, they're never going to like your changes. This has nothing to do with whether they love you or not. They are just for self－preservation! Therefore, give them a little time to adjust and get used to it.

A. It is a step into the unknown.

B. It's not being lazy to have timeout.

C. No one else is going to like your changes.

D. Don't try to eat the elephant in one sitting.

E. Creating change is about building your character.

F. Keep repeating your big steps over and over again.

G. It's a private place where you can speak out your inner thoughts.

    He'd spent seven hours climbing up the mountain through ice and snow, and now the exhausted Daniel Mazur1that success was near. Although it was ten degrees2zero near the top of Ever-est, the soft morning light showed clear blue skies for miles around.

    As the men3 out on the snow-overed peaks below, Mazur suddenly saw a4of bright yellow to his left. Was it a tent? No way!No climber would5out at this altitude, he thought. He decided to take a6look. Then Mazur' s jaw dropped in7.On the8of a cliff(悬崖)was a man sitting cross－legged, trying to change his shirt. His thick snowsuit was unzipped to the waist and he had no hat, gloves, or sunglasses. Pulling his9hands out of his shirt, Hall looked up at Mazur. "I imagine you are10to see me here, "he said. Hall had reached the11at nine that morning. Then he started to climb down, hoping to reach the camp before dangerous afternoon storms 12.But at 28, 000 feet, Hall's feet had stopped moving and he was 13by a deep tiredness. He couldn't walk any more.

    Mazur knew there was only one possible 14 to he made. "Luckily, everyone in my team made the15one." "We can't leave the guy, "he said, and they all 16. Though they knew they weren't going to get to the top, theyes 17Hall and eventuallyes 18it to the base.

    Afterwards, Mazur said, "Sure, I wish I could have reached the top. But if we'd done that, he wouldn't be19today, and I would have to live with that for the20of my life.

    For the first time in the history of Peking Opera, four women performed a piece in the China National Peking Opera Company(CNPOC)productionsMay 27^th at Shanghai's Majestic Theater. The Peking Opera performance was one of the 51( produce)showed at the 12^th China Art Festival in Shang-hai. The CNPOC brought together three stories(base)on events (luring the Red Array's Long March."They are stories about the (brave)of the Red Army during the Long March, "says Song Chen, head of the CNPOC."In the play, you can seethese soldiers do to sacrifice themselves to help others. People will he(deep)touched by their faith and devotion."

One of the stories is about three women soldie(stay)for a night at a farmer's home in a village. They sleep in the home of a local woman named Xu Jiexiu, and feel sorry for her poor living conditions. When they leave the next morning, a soldier uses a pair of scissors  (cut)up the only quilt she has, leaving half of it for the village woman.

    Peking Opera styles(develop)over hundreds of years, creates a wide range of roles each featuring distinctive methods of performance and singing styles.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）， 并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线， 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：⒈每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;

⒉只允许修改10处， 多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Last weekend we went mountain－climbing. Even the heavy rain can not stop us. We set off early and went along an extreme narrow road, all in high spirit. On either side of the road was green fields. We could hear the sound of the rain mixing with our laughter. At noon we reached to the top of the mountain there we were amazed by the beauty of the scenes.

    After short rest, we started going down. It rained more harder. We were wet all over, and we still felt happy.

⒈时间和地点;

⒉内容:学习日常汉语、了解中国历史和传统文化、参观博物馆等;

⒊报名方式和截止时间。

注意：⒈词数100词左右;

⒉可以适当增加细节， 使行文连贯;

⒊结束语已为你写好。

Dear Peter,

    Looking forward to your early reply.

Yours,

Li Hua