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Bonjour China！

　　Do you ever think about taking a holiday in France? What about taking a tour of China? To save your time and money this National Day holiday, France has come to you．

　　On October 10, 2004, French President Jacques Chirac will come to Beijing to open the Year of France．From October to next July, China will play host to many displays of French culture．

　　Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and other big cities will hold French events．They will cover science, technology, education, construction, literature(文學(xué)), music, dance and drama(戲劇)．

　　“The art, music and food of France always make me think French are romantic and good at mixing art with life, ” said Qing Pei, a Senior 2 from Shanghai Qibao High School．

　　“I know that Chinese people describe France as romantic．It is true, but France is far more than that．”said Alain Lombard, the general director of Year of France in China．“Hopefully we can show people more about France, beyond romance, fashion and impression paintings(印象派繪畫), ” he added．

　　For boys interested in planes the aerial display team of the French Air Force, the Patrouille de France(法蘭西輕騎兵特技飛行隊(duì)), will perform a show in Beijing Nanyuan Airport on October 7．As one of the top aerial acrobatic(特技飛行)teams in the world, they plan to perform a stunt(絕活)by drawing a huge French flag above the Tian’anmen Square with colorful smoke．

　　Fans of fashion, design and art from the romantic country, should get to the “Design of France” exhibition．Opening on October 10 in Beijing, the exhibition will show 2, 220 works, including architecture, decoration, transportation, daily necessities, furniture and clothes．It will tell how design in art and industry has influenced French people’s lives in the 20th century．

　　If you are a traveler, go and see the exhibit “Getting Close to France”, which will run in Beijing and Shanghai．It provides an hour-long visual(視覺的)computer tour around France．

　　Take action right now boys and girls, and you could have a wonderful holiday with a French flavor．

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　　Going on a road trip? The St．Louis Arch, Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Bridge are great tourist sites．But if you prefer offbeat destinations(目的地), check out the following roadside attractions．

　　In 1977, Michael Carmichael set out to create the biggest ball of paint anywhere．Starting with a baseball as center, he painted layer after layer of paint day after day, year after year．The ball weighs more than 1,300 pounds, with more than 20,000 coats of paint,” which is recognized by Guinness World Records．Visitors can paint the ball themselves and become part of history．

　　The museum is the idea of Glenn Johnson．Labeled(貼有標(biāo)簽的)glass bottles contain such treasures as dirt from the Great Wall of China, as well as sand from a desert in Saudi Arabia and Omaha Beach in France．Best of all, the cost of seeing this museum is dirt cheap：It's free．

　　It's heaven for hotdog lovers! This museum claims to have the world's largest collection of prepared mustard(芥末)．Its more than 4,100 bottles of spices come from 60 nations, including Turkey and China．Visitors learn the history of mustard, from how it's made to how it's advertised and sold．The museum's creator, Barry Levenson, loves mustard so much that he even puts it on ice cream!

　　Swedish immigrant(移民)Ellis Stenman was much ahead of his time in 1922, when he started to build a two-room house almost entirely out of newspaper．At the time, people didn't give much –if any--thought to recycling paper．The house is framed with wood, but the walls are made of 215 layers(層)of newspaper．

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　　World Reading Day was set up by the UNESCO in 1995 to encourage people, especially teenagers, to discover the pleasure of reading．It is also the day to honor great writers, for example, William Shakespeare, born or dead on that day．

　　Many countries celebrated World Reading Day．Take the UK as an example, on that day, millions of schoolchildren can buy book of special price, a much lower price than usual, in any bookstore．It has been done every year since 1998．world Reading Day 2010 in the UK will take place on Thursady 4 th March．Please note that this date applies to the UK and Ireland only．The initiative is so well established in schools there that they want to make sure that the Day happens in term time to really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading．Most other countries hold World Reading Day on 23 rd April every year．

　　World Reading Day is also celebrated in China．Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, an avid reader, does lots of reading every day though he is very busy．On World Reading Day 2009 he encouraged citizens to do more reading．Wen suggested that young people should spend more time reading．“Books cannot change the world, but people can change the world by changing, themselves through reading．”

　　Reading can benefit people in many ways．Reading helps us to follow the latest developments of science and technology．Reading gives us information about other cultures and places of the world．Reading is also one of the most important ways to learn a foreign language like English．

　　“Reading makes a full man”(Bacon, 1597)．Books, magazines, newspapers and other kinds of reading materials can help us to know more about the out side world and perfect us．Therefore, it is necessary for us to spend time on reading every day．

閱讀理解

　　World Reading Day was set up by the UNESCO in 1995 ti encourage people, especially teenagers, to discover the pleasure of reading．It is also the day to honor great writers, for example, William Shakespeare, born or dead on that day．

　　Many countries celebrated World Reading Day．Take the UK as an example, on that day, millions of schoolchildren can buy books of special price, a much lower price than usual, in any bookstore．It has been done every year since 1998．World Reading Day 2010 in the UK will take place on Thursday 4th March．Please note that this date applies to the UK and Ireland only．The initiative is so well established in schools there that they want to make sure that the Day happens in term time to really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading．Most other countries hold World Reading Day on 23 rd April every year．

　　World Reading Day is also celebrated in China．Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, an avid reader, does lots of reading every day though he is very busy．On World Reading Day 2009 he encouraged citizens to do more reading．Wen suggested that young people should spend more time reading．“Books cannot change the world, but people can change the world by changing themselves through reading．”

　　Reading can benefit people in many ways．Reading helps us to follow the latest developments of science and technology．Reading gives us information about other cultures and places of the world．Reading is also one of the most important ways to learn a foreign language like English．

　　“Reading makes a full man”(Bacon, 1597)．Books, magazines, newspapers and other kinds of reading materials can help us to know more about the out side world and perfect us．Therefore, it is necessary for us to spend time on reading every day．