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           Yesterday was the fifth and last day of Lego Camp, and we built basketball players out of the mindstorms.            For the first part of camp, I built a basketball shooter. The robot shoots balls into a hoop, and makes a sound when the ball enters the hoop. It was really cool, and we could even aim with it. I never made a hoop. It was really hard, even with the aiming system.            I liked the next part of camp - freebuild! I got to build anything I wanted! I built a tank thingy. I could steer with either of the touch sensors, and it was really powerful. It could wheel over bricks of really big sizes, even ones that were bigger than itself!            To sum up, the camp was really interesting!

           I have recently read a book about heroes like Albert Einstein, MLK Jr., Amelia Earhart, and others. I chose to write a book report on John Lennon.            John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England, October 9th, 1940. His parents were separated when he was young, and so he went to live with his Aunt Mimi. He was a troublemaker, and liked to be in trouble. Then he started to play instruments, which his mother had bought for him. He discovered he had a talent for music and found some other people to play with him, like Paul McCartney and some the other members of the Beatles. He died in 1980 when a deranged fan shot him.            John Lennon was a pacifist, and sang songs for peace. He believed in peace, and sang his songs about it. In fact, he became so popular and his ideas were spreading so far that J. Edgar Hoover had to tap his phone and follow him around with armed guard. He knew there was only one way to keep on going.            You just have to keep on singing

           Yesterday was the fourth day of Lego Camp.            The first part of camp was occupied with making a mini golf course. We made a golfer, which hit a ball, and a windmill obstacle to block the ball. I added a flag that would be pushed over if the ball entered the hole. Me and my partner had a lot of fun customizing the golf course, like adding minifigures to the blades of the windmill, making a small house, etc.            Then we got to add our own obstacle! I created an obstacle which I created myself, called the "Worm". It was a machine with treads that moved backwards and forwards all the time. It went in the ball's path , going haywire because of uneven weight. It was really cool. But my partner didn't like it, so I made it into a "Worm Ball Dispenser". It dispensed balls in front of the golfer! We also made an add-on that allowed us to make the golfer swing when we wanted it to swing when we wanted to, control the power we wanted it with

           I have recently read a book called The Call of the Wild . This book was about a Southland dog named Buck who later became a sled dog in the harsh Northland.. There were two main differences from when I first read it and when I read it again.            The first difference was that at first, I didn't really understand how the characters felt, and why, but after I read it again, I understood the characters' personalities more than I had after I first read it. I knew why they did most of what they did. I felt that I could form a picture of the characters, a concise one, after I had read it for the second time. The characters' emotions came to me more, like the dominance of the man in the red sweater, or the love of John Thornton, or any other character. For example, when John Thornton bluffed too big, and told everyone that Buck could pull one thousand pounds one hundred yards, I didn't originally understand what he felt when he realized what he had done.

            我读了三国演义的第13-17章。第十三章讲了诸葛亮用诈降之计火攻曹操。他让有个将军降给了曹操，然后那个将军告诉了曹操应该用木板和铁链把船都连起来。周瑜他们在山上看着，都很高兴，但时突然有了个镇西北风，周瑜突然倒了下去，也没起来。鲁肃问诸葛亮是什么事，诸葛亮看透了周瑜的心意，写了十六个字，说要借东风。周瑜很惊讶，因为诸葛亮看到了他的心意，所以他装笑问诸葛亮什么事。诸葛亮说要个七星坛，周瑜做了，然后诸葛亮预报了会有个东南风。然后果然有个东南风，周瑜又嫉妒又恨诸葛亮。但是他派人去杀诸葛亮的时候，诸葛亮早就跑了。第十四章讲了黄盖用火船来烧了曹操的船。黄盖装投降来到曹操那儿，然后接近曹操的船的时候，把他的二十艘船都点上火。火被引到了曹操的船上，但是曹操的船都联在一起了，逃不掉，全都被烧掉了。很多曹兵被烧了，演了，或杀了。曹操逃掉了，但是被关羽埋伏了几次，被抓住了。关羽放了曹操，因为曹操也放过他。第十五章讲了周瑜听说刘备的夫人死后的一个计策。他给孙权写了一分信，说要孙权派人去刘备那里说亲，假称要把孙权的妹妹许配给刘备，当刘备去东吴的时候，把他扣下，换取回荆州。孙权觉得是个好主意，然后开始行动。刘备到东吴，就有很多人来说皇帝的妹妹要嫁给刘备。全城都知道刘备要嫁给皇帝的妹妹了，所以孙权也就不能杀他了-要不然皇帝的妹妹怎么办？嫁了后，刘备逃回到了荆州。第十六章讲了周瑜想要用西川换荆州，然后诸葛亮答应了。但是周瑜来换的时候，却被埋伏了，他气死了，然后逃了。周瑜赔了夫人又折兵。他逃回去就被诸葛亮的一个信气病了，然后死了。第十七章讲了刘备去占领益州。益州土地肥沃，物产丰富，是好地方。益州守得很严密，但是张飞看出来了可以从树林小路进城。所以他高声地说要从树林里走，被严颜的密探听到了。所以严颜准备了埋伏，但是张飞也准备了，所以张飞进了城，占领了益州。张非要严颜投降，但是严颜不肯。所以张飞叩头赔罪，严颜才肯投降。第十八章讲了张飞和马超作战，但他们俩都没赢，因为他们都战得很好。都到晚上了，他们点起了火把，继续战。最后，张飞退了兵。但是后来，诸葛亮用了“离间计”逼了马超投降。诸葛亮给了人钱，让他们散发谣言，要说马超要自己占领雒城，然后张鲁（马超的领导）的谋士听见，本来就不喜欢马超，然后就在张鲁前面说马超的坏话。张鲁不让马超进城了，马超就投降给了刘备。第十九章讲了孙权想要把荆州

            Today I went to Lego camp. It was interesting, building windmills and all, but my partner really wasn't good. His name was Isaac.             I wanted to have him help build. But he was slow and clumsy, and didn't build very well. He thought he was really funny, saying that the next step was only something or the other, and he kept dropping things and fiddling around with the Lego program, messing things up. And he kept breaking things too.             I then wanted to have him program. But he didn't know how to do anything, even though the instructor explained it all during his talk. He randomly selected and dropped things, and then thought that he only should have to do simple parts, and just tried his hardest to find loopholes in the instructions instead of following them.             In the end, I had him clean up and take apart things. In a 100-piece set, he split them into 10 groups of 10, or something like that. Then he said the parts were "physic

           Yesterday I went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit. They contained the works of Dan Chihuly, a famous glassblower.            One of my favorite works was the "Chandeliers". There were 5 multicolored chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and they were made up of many small modules put together, and it looked really cool. The biggest one, I would say, was the white one in the middle of the exhibit, which was around 15 feet tall! There were four others, blue green, red and orange. I liked orange the best, but Grandma said it looked like a bunch of bugs.            Another of my favorite works was the "Sun". The "Sun" would light up at night, looking like a real sun. It was outdoors, on a small hill. The hill was dark green with a circle of light green around the bottom, for a very good contrast. The sun was humongous, and, like the chandeliers, it was made of many small glass pieces fused together. There were red pieces, orange ones, yello

（外公葛伟亮写的派派故事） 我的童节往事之一：城堡             我三岁的时候，我们全家（我，爸爸，妈妈）住在新泽西。有一天，我 家买了一个大彩电，装彩电的箱子很大，我聪明的妈妈极富想象力，她在纸箱 的前面开了一扇门，在后面又开了一扇门，还专门开了一扇可开关的窗子，整 个纸箱一下子变成了一“城堡”。我用纸作了两面旗子插在“城堡”的两角，我就 成为“城堡”的主人—一个无冕的国王。每天吃完晚饭，爸爸妈妈总会到“城堡 ”访问我，我和妈妈在“城堡”里有说有笑。有一天，我一不小心将电视机前保护 屏撞坏了，吃完晚饭，我趁爸爸，妈妈还没有发现，就悄悄地躲进了“城堡”。 但事情终究暴露了，妈妈从“城堡”前门来找我，我一看不妙，就想“城堡”后门 蹓走，但不幸的是，爸爸在“城堡”后方等着我，终于没逃脱父母的一顿责备。 想起我的“城堡”，虽然十分简陋，但它比我所有的玩具都好玩，让我充满想 象。 我的童节往事之二：盼             小的时候外公外婆和奶奶都带过我。有一段时间是外公一个人看我的。 我的爸爸，妈妈在金融公司上班，很辛苦。每天一早就离家去上班，中午也不 回来，晚上回来的时间很晚，也是不定的，一天中大都份时间我和外公在一 起，每天晚上7点钟，外公将晚上吃的饭菜都做好后，就陪我玩，一直等到爸 爸，妈妈回来。一天没见到爸爸，妈妈了，我很想他们。这时我总缠着外公到 外面去等。车站就在我们住的房子对面马路上，我们就在这边等。眼看着一辆 辆公共汽车开来，带来了希望，但是当公共汽车离开，下车的乘客里面没有爸 爸妈妈的身影，就真又失望。又一辆公共汽车到站了，我心里默默的念叨着， 这回该见到爸爸，妈妈了，公共汽车开走，露出爸爸，妈妈的身影。我一眼望 去，跑过去，激动的喊“爸爸，妈妈”。爸爸，妈妈也听到了我的喊声，向我招 手，高声呼喊我的名字，匆匆地走过马路向我走来，这是我最幸福的一刻，终 于盼到了。             每天中午吃完改后，外公洗完碗，该是我午睡的时间。外公带我上楼， 给我上睡觉的衣服，准备睡觉。我的床头挂着一个圆盘，下面拴着很多小玩 偶

           I have recently read a book titled "Artemis Fowl #3: The Eternity Code". The main character, Artemis Fowl, was a very clever teenager.            For example, in North Russia, his plan to save his dad suddenly went wrong, and he had to alter the plan immediately. This wasn't easy, as it always isn't easy to think of a new plan in the middle of the old one. Also, because he had a family member at stake, it couldn't have been easy. But he did it anyway, and so he was very clever.            Also, while he was being held captive by the businessman Jon Spiro, he also came up with a plan to save himself and the technology the businessman had stolen. He did this while in a cell, and even got away with it. This proves he was very clever because the building had security systems unlike ones ever seen before, and so it must have been very hard to get out.            All in all, Artemis Fowl was a very clever teenager because he drastically altered a plan in t

           我读了三国演义的第8-12章。第8章讲了刘备去请诸葛亮。刘备听说了一个叫诸葛亮的人，首先没干什么，但是又有个人来推荐了诸葛亮，他就觉得应该去南阳看一看。他去了一次，但是诸葛亮不在。他又在冰冷的冬天里去看了一次，但是诸葛亮还是不在。他留了一个信，然后走了。最后，刘备又去了一次，诸葛亮，终于回来了。我觉得这说明刘备真的是很想见到诸葛亮，因为他来了三次，有次还在冰冷的冬天里呢！第九章讲了曹操和刘备在长坂坡战斗的事情。刘备从新野跑到了江陵。然后他又逃到了长坂坡。在战里，刘备的一个将军为了救刘备的男孩阿斗，自己差点儿死了。刘备骂他孩子，说因为他，刘备差点儿丢了一个叫赵云的将军。在第十章，孙权不知道应该不应该和刘备共抗曹。诸葛亮来了，把孙权劝了一下，孙权就决定跟刘备抗曹。这叫舌战群儒。在第十一章里，曹操派了蒋干去周瑜那儿探听一下。蒋干是周瑜的老朋友，蒋干说他不是曹操那儿来的，周瑜也就不怀疑他了。他们喝了一挥而就，然后周瑜去睡觉了。因为周瑜想要和蒋干一起睡，蒋干也进了周瑜的帐篷。他看到了一个“蔡瑁，张允谨封”的信，拿了就往曹营跑。蔡，张，两将军都被杀了。这叫“借刀杀人”或“离间计”。在第十二章里，诸葛亮用了船上的一些稻草人借了一些箭。周瑜要他十天里拿到十万个箭。诸葛亮说三天就能完成，然后在一些船上建了稻草人，过到了曹营那儿。曹操要他的射手乱射箭来把他们赶跑，但是都射到了稻草人生上了。诸葛亮命令士兵把船开回到河另一边，从草人上拔下了箭，然后给了鲁肃。这是“草船借箭”。

           Yesterday I went white water rafting on the Wenatchee river.            The first part was very calm. We glided along, blasting each other with water guns and splashing people with paddles. We had to row quite a lot, and we got pretty wet from the water guns. I enjoyed blasting people with a water gun, as it provided immense satisfaction, and they were always really surprised when they were hit with 45-50 F water.            The next part was rough. We crashed through a few big waves, jumped a rock or two, got stuck on a rock, and looked in a cave. We also saw E.T. on somebody's back porch. That was creepy. Our raft also floated under bridges, and past tiny islands. At one point, we even saw a dam. We had to portage, or walk our raft onto the ground and then past the dam. The guide explained the dam's workings to us. And finally, we crashed through the biggest wave we had ever done, and everybody was soaked.             The ride was really exhilarating!

     我读了《三国演义》里的第五，六，和七章。第五章讲了曹操请刘备去喝酒，因为他的青梅熟了。他们刚开始高兴得吃起来，天边出现了龙卷风，天也黑了。曹操开始说起英雄的事情，问刘备知道不知道有什么英雄。刘备说他知道袁术，袁绍，刘表，孙策等人是英雄，然后曹操说英雄要胸怀大志，腹有谋略。第六章里，曹操抓住了关羽，请他投降。曹操派了张辽，关羽的朋友，来劝他投降。张辽问如果关羽死的话，那刘备妻小怎么办呢？关羽没办法，只好投了降。关羽后来逃掉了，去了洛阳。张飞占领了那个城市，然后放关羽进来了。第七章里，袁绍派兵去打刘备，但最后改了一下，让兵去官渡打曹操。曹操大败。曹操用“声东击西”的计策烧了袁绍的粮草，最后他赢了。袁绍后来病死了。

           Yesterday I watched the 4th of July fireworks. They were really cool. My two favorites were the rapid fire one and the humongous one.             The rapid fire one shot out about 30 fireworks, one at a time, from side to side. The fireworks made mini explosions and had large trails of sparks. Then the firework shot out long lines of golden light from all directions, and then short ones, and then long ones, and then short ones, for quite a long time.             The humongous one was really cool too. It blew gigantic pinwheels of red, blue, green, and gold. It was a normal firework until it exploded into curving streaks of sparks that whistled. They fell towards the earth and then dissipated.             To sum up, the fireworks display yesterday was awesome!

           Yesterday I returned from the YMCA Camp Colman, an overnight camp with a lot of activities.            One of the things I did there was ride the Giant Swing. The Giant Swing is a swing that is 72 feet tall. It has cables that support up to 1500 pounds, and the seat is around 10 feet off the ground. To go up, a group of people on the ground pull on a rope to raise you higher and higher until you get to the place you want to. Then, you tell "STOP!" and everybody drops the rope. You pull a cord hanging in front of your face, which releases a carabiner clip, which releases the swing. Gravity pulls you down, and you go flying over the forest. You also get a nice view of the Puget Sound. I went to around 30 feet. I love this activity because it is really thrilling, pulling a cord, dropping down and flying up again.            Another thing I did there was Ga-ga ball. This game is like dodgeball, except it is played in a octagonal pen. The ball is tossed in while the p