Xiao Qiang, a 12-year-old Chinese boy, has too many activities. His father __(1)__him away from school four afternoons a week and drives him across town to practice. “I do most of my  __(2)__ in the car when we are __(3)__to practice, and I have to do the rest when I get home. I am too tired，and I just want to sleep.” he said.

   “More and more kids become unhappy ___(4)__they have too many activities to do,” said Mr Wang，an expert of Children Development, 41% of the children aged 9—13 said they felt ___(5)_most of the time, and more than 75% of them said that they wished they had more ___(6)__ to play.

“Over-scheduling (过量的课程安排）is a growing problem for Chinese families，”said Mr Wang. It is not good for both kids and their parents. More families eat dinner ___(7)__ or often eat fast food ___(8)__ their way to drawing or music lessons. We all know it is important for kids to learn how to relax. If they don’t learn that now，it will be more difficult to learn when they get ___(9)__. Kids need time to relax. Parents should ___(10)_ about what is right for kids.

  What do you think of your Chinese? Is it good or bad? If you think you are good at Chinese, you can   (1)   the competition named The Chinese Characters Dictation Competition(汉子听写大赛). The competition became popular   (2)   the young people. Let's know something about it.

   More and more computers and smart phones are used by young people. They spend   (3)   time on the Internet playing or chatting(聊天). They are used to sending messages by computers and smart phones, but some of them forget   (4)   Chinese Characters by hand. The teachers and parents are very   (5)   it. What can they do? Not long ago, they found an interesting game called The Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. Over two hundred   (6)   from forty-six schools stand on the stage and write down Chinese by dictation. The audience (观众) are   (7)   in this   (8)   kind of competition, too. they would like to write down the characters   (9)   the students were writing them. But they found it was also   (10)   for them to write down all the characters.

The teachers are worried that young children are becoming “addicted(沉溺)” to tablets(平板电脑). They can’t make easy things   (1)   hands as they use computers. They can’t make toys themselves or help   (2)   dinner with mom.

“Many children can play with tablets or phones   (3)   they can’t make things. Many children can’t talk with otherchildren but   (4)   parents are proud of(以……而自豪)them because they are good at using a tablets or a   (5)  ,” said Colin Kinney, a teacher.

Many children spend too much time   (6)   at home and quietly play on a tablet. If children do not learn to stay with others, it can become   (7)   for them to learn how to make friends when they get together.

It is important to know   (8)   to use tablets or telephones in today’s world, but it is still very important for children to learn to make   (9)   with others. If they do, they can live  (10)   when they grow up. Teachers should help their students know how to live happily.

An exchange visit is educational and interesting!

A group of British students fromWoodpark SchoolinLondonare visitingXinhua Junior High Schoolin Beijing  (1)  an educational exchange.

“I was very nervous  (2)   ,” says Sarah. “However, my host family are really friendly. I'm glad to be a   (3)   in their home. I've learnt to use chopsticks, and they're teaching me  (4)  Chinese!”

The students spend the weekdays   (5)   with Chinese students. At the weekend, they tour around Beijing and visit   (6)   with their host families.

 “It's been a fantastic experience   (7)  ” says Eric. “I've learnt a bit of t'ai chi, and I really enjoy it. We've already learnt a lot about  (8)   culture and history. The teachers have introduced us to Chinese painting   (9)  . We've also tried to paint some pictures  (10)  ! I haven't had much success yet,   (11)    I'll keep trying.”

 “I've made many new friends,” says Sarah. “I plan to   (12)  with them when I return home. We'll see one   (13)  soon because they'll come over to   (14)  for the second part of the exchange next month. I  (15)   wait!”

Many college students are afraid of graduating from their colleges. They would like to   (1)   some excuses to delay their graduation. First, since they are over twenty years old and they have graduated from colleges, their   (2)  will think they should make a living by themselves. However, the fact is not like that.

Because the economy has   (3)  worse and worse, it’s not  (4)   for them to find a satisfying job. Second, they are taken care of by their parents so well that they don’t have   (5)   living abilities to live on their own.   (6)   they never have such a chance to face anything by themselves. Therefore, they would rather   (7)   longer at school.

We always say that a mother will never love her children too much. However, if giving too much love keeps children from   (8)   some lessons, parents should stop it. Young men will learn something by   (9)   through hard time. Let children do what they should do. Parents shouldn’t do too much for children, and then they will be glad to graduate with   (10)   abilities.

Everyone is good at   46  , but some people are truly talented.   47   always interesting   48   other people show their talents. Talent shows are getting   49   popular. First, there were shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent. Now, there are similar shows   50  the world, such as China’s Got Talent.

 All these shows have one thing   51  common. They try   52 the best singers, the most talented dancers. The most exciting magicians, the   53  actors and so on. All kinds of people join these shows. But who can play the piano the best or sing   54   beautifully? That’s up to you   55  . When people watch the show, they usually play a role in deciding the winner. And the winner always gets a very good prize.

Do you often watch TV?Many middle school students like   41   TV very much.But   42   Monday to Friday，they must go to school.So on Saturday and Sunday they   43   at home and watch TV day and night.They don’t know it’s   44   for their eyes.Usually，children like to eat fish，meat and chicken，but they don’t like vegetables   45   fruit.They don’t know   46   more vegetables and fruit is  47   than eating meat.At school the children only do a few   48   of sports or never do any sport.They don’t know it isn’t good for their health.We always   49  of ways to keep healthy.We should eat   50   vegetables and fruits and do enough sports every day.And we should watch TV and read books in right ways.

Whenever（任何时候）we hear about “the homeless”, most of us think of the developing world. But in fact, the truth is that homelessness is everywhere. For example, how many of us would expect to see people living on the streets of a wealthy, developed country like Germany?

Kurt Muller and his  (1)   Rita have spent eleven years making meals for the homeless of Berlin,Germany’s capital. They first began to do that in a hot summer when most Germans were away and enjoyed themselves on holiday. Kurt and his wife stayed at  (2)  , made sandwiches and some delicious food by themselves, set up a table in the street and gave the  (3)   to the homeless.

The Mullers soon realized that food wasn’t enough. Most of the homeless people are lonely, they have no friends or relatives. “  (4)   these people also need is warmth and caring,” says Rita. The Mullers gave their phone number to the street people  (5)   thinking and told them to phone anytime. Rita made sure there was  (6)   at home to answer the phone and their home was always open to anyone who couldn’t face another night on the street.

The couple were soon  (7)   all their time and money, so Kurt visited food and clothing companies to ask for donations. Today, over thirty companies donate food and other goods and volunteers  (8)   to give them away to the homeless. The public also give clothes and money and a backpack producer donates new backpacks.

Kurt and Rita put their love to good use by helping homeless people in Berlin, they didn’t receive any payment for their hard work. “ We feel like parents,” says Rita, “and parents shouldn’texpect money for helping their children. The love  (9)   we get on the streets is our salary.”  (10)   Rita says she often gets tired, she feels good about helping other people.

They will go on with their work because they like the feeling of having made a difference in the world.

In recent years, we’ve seen more and more people like dancing in public. We call this kind of     (1)   “Guangchangwu”.   (2)   dancing, people have different views.

Some people think it is a form of entertainment (娱乐) and physical exercise. It gave the elderly a good way to   (3)   , keep fit and enrich(使充实) their lives. It’s a   (4)   better choice for the elderly to go out to dance with their neighbors, friends than to play cards or watch TV at home, because the elderly need to keep   (5)   and social.

However, not all people have the same view. You may have the following   (6)  : you want to sleep late into noon on a weekend morning   (7)  find it impossible because the elderly are dancing, making a lot of noise. Sometimes you want to chat for a   (8)   with your friends in a quiet park, but you   (9)   stop because of the loud music from the dancing.

It is all right for the elderly to get exercise and have fun. But   (10)  entertainment they choose should not affect (影响) other people’s life.

Have you ever seen groups of people, mostly the elderly (老人), dance in public (公共的) places? In our country, this kind of dance is known as “Guang Changwu”.   (1)   the elderly dance“Guangchangwu”? For a long time, people have had different opinions   (2)   it.

Some people say yes and they think it   (3)   the elderly to live a healthy lifestyle. It offers the elderly a good   (4)   to relax, keep healthy and make friends. They feel that it’s better for the elderly to go out to   (5)   with their neighbors, friends than to play cards or watch TV at home.

However,   (6)   people are against it. They complain (抱怨) that the elderly who dance “Guangchangwu” take up (占据) too much public space and make too much noise. You may have the following   (7)  : you want to sleep late on a weekend morning but find it   (8)   because the elderly are dancing out, making a lot of noise. Sometimes you want to have a rest or talk for a while with your friends in a park, but you can’t because of the   (9)   music from the dancing.

What do you   (10)   the elderly dancing “Guangchangwu”? You are welcome to share your opinion with us. Please write us by Friday.