Burl Ives was born in June, 1909 in Illinois, the USA. He began learning songs when he was very young. He loved making music and wanted other people to get pleasure from the music he made.

As a young man, Burl wanted to teach history. So, he began attending Eastern Illinois Teachers’ College in 1927. But he was not a very good student. The president of his college told him he would never be a very good teacher. Then, he took his guitar and began travelling around the United States.

Burl Ives went to New York City in the early nineteen-thirties. He went to the famous Julliard School of Music to study. He also got jobs in New York. He sang in small eating and drinking places. He sang the songs he had learned. In 1938 he began performing in theatres. He also sang on the radio. He began recording the folk songs he had learned.   His songs like Big Rock Candy Mountain could be heard on the Burl Ives program each week. The radio program was first broadcast in 1940. His song It’s Just My Funny Way of Laughing earned him a Grammy Award. He also did lots of movie work. Burl Ives won an Oscar in 1958 for the movie The Big Country.

Burl Ives also recorded many songs for children. His most famous songs are two Christmas songs, Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer and Frosty the Snowman. These songs were used in cartoon movies first shown on American television in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. Burl Ives provided the voice of some of the animals and people. He also sang most of the songs.

Burl Ives was a large, friendly man who loved to make people happy with his acting and especially with his music. Burl died of cancer (癌) on April 14, 1995.

People usually call chess the game of kings. It has been around for a long time. People play it for over 500 years. Chess is from an older game in India. The chess we play today is from Europe(欧洲).

Chess is a two-player game. One player uses the white pieces. The other uses the black pieces. Each piece moves in a special way. One piece is called the king. Each player has one. The players take turns to move their pieces. If a player lands on a piece, he or she takes it. The game ends when a player loses his or her king. There are a few more rules, but those are the important rules.

Some people think that chess is more than a game. They think that it makes the mind stronger. Good chess players use their brains (大脑). They take their time. They think about what will happen next. These skills are useful in life and in chess. Chess is kind of like exercise for the mind.

Recently, many people have begun to try a new way of shopping through the Internet. They are very interested in it. Why is it becoming more and more popular now? There are some reasons. First, more and more people have their own computers and it is possible for them to do the shopping through the Internet. Second, shopping through the Internet can save some money and a lot of time. Third, they don’t need to go to the shop themselves. Because of these good facts, few people refuse it.

However, some people don’t like this new way of shopping. They are worried about the safety of shopping online. Customers（顾客）can only see the pictures of a product on the Internet. And they can’t enjoy the pleasure of buying things in a large supermarket or a wonderful shopping center. These are the reasons why they do not like it.

But I think more and more people will like this new way of shopping in the future.