This is the tenth book of the Third-Grade Detectives series. In the book, the young detectives visit an art museum on a field trip and find themselves in another mystery. A priceless statue (雕塑) in the museum has been stolen. There is something strange about Willie, the guard of the museum. And the director of the museum, Dr. Kirk, doesn’t seem to want their help. But these third graders are very good detectives. With the help of their teacher, Mr Merlin, they are sure that they can solve the mystery of the statue. Before they can begin their search, the police discover the statue. It is broken into small pieces in a nearby rubbish bin. Why was the statue stolen and then destroyed (毁坏)? The third graders have to break the coded messages (密码) about the statue first. Finally, they discover the mystery of the stolen statue successfully.

The writer not only provides readers with a mystery to solve, but uses enough clues so that his young readers will find the answers along with the children in the book. He also provides some scientific (科学的) information for his readers, which is a fun way for young children to learn new science facts. Young readers will enjoy solving the mystery and learning new information at the same time.

Most middle school students find it boring to learn English. But students in Yat Sen middle school in New York,US, don’t think so. Why? Because they are in the school of One Program, which asks students to work on their own or in small groups on computers to have math lessons.

“The program gives the students a new learning style. No traditional classroom can compare with it. We give each lesson according to the students’ interest and their strong and weak points,” said JoelⅠ. Klein, the school’s head teacher, “we’re looking for a new way that interest students.”

Students enjoy these math lessons, especially lessons with video games. They must find out the answers to math problems to get through the game. One such game is Dimension M. As students move through mazes(迷宫) with their keyboards, some questions come up.

Caleb Deng had to answer the question: What is 5+ (6×3)? Hecalculated on paper quickly because there was just a minute left to play.

“ I was right,” said Deng,14, as he ended the game with a high score (高分). “This really makes math lessons more exciting, since we are fighting to learn better.”

Every living things goes through changes. Living things go through different stages. Then they will reach the end of their life cycles ad die. There are many kinds of plants. Each kind has its own life cycle.

Many plants start their life cycles as seeds (种子). The seeds need certain things such as enough sunshine and water, or they will not grow into plants. Sometimes the seeds wait under ground until they can get the things they need, they start to grow. A little sprout (芽) will push out of each seed. The sprouts keep on growing until they poke through the earth.

The plants continue to grow when they get enough sunshine and water. The main stems (茎) grow taller and the leaves start to grow. More leaves and stems will grow on the main stems. The mature (成熟的) plants grow flowers. The flowers of many plants make fruit. The fruit will have seeds inside it so that more new plants can grow.

Now plants look like their parent plants. Seeds from a parent plant will grow into the same kind of plant as the parent plant. When a seed begins to grow, it is the beginning of another life cycle.

This dictionary tells you about English words and how to use them in reading, writing and speaking English. It not only gives the meaning of words, it can also help you with spelling, word building, grammar and pronunciation.

To use your dictionary correctly, you need to understand how the dictionary works. At the front of the book, you will find some exercises to help you make the most use of your dictionary.

If you look up the word “colour”, you will find two spellings for this word. “Colour” is used in British English, while “color” is used in American English. When such a thing happens, the dictionary shows it with the word “BrE” for British English and “AmE” for American English.

The dictionary also helps you pronounce words correctly. It uses a special alphabet (特殊字母表) to show pronunciation. If you turn to the inside back face, you will see all the phonetic letters (音标) with some words to show you how they are pronounced. Just have a look this page when you’re not sure how to say a word.

The most important reason for using a dictionary is to find out the meaning of a word—its definition.

In this dictionary, the definitions have been written using only 2000 words. This means that the definitions of even the most difficult words are simply explained (简单解释) and easy to understand.

When a word has more than one meaning, read all the meanings until you find the one that correctly tells the use of the word you are looking for.

Most of the words in this dictionary can be used by people in all parts of the world.

A good way to pass an exam is to work hard every day in the year. You may fail in the exam if you are lazy for most of the year and then work hard only a few days before the exam. If you are taking an English exam, don’t learn only rules of grammar.

Try to read stories in English and speak in English as much as possible. A few days before an exam you should start going to bed early. Do not stay up late at night studying and learning things. Before you start the exam, read carefully over the exam paper. Try to understand the meaning of each question before you pick up your pen to write. When you have at last finished your exam, read your answers, correct any mistakes that you see and make sure that you have not missed anything out.

The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say something too quickly and you can’t understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor, you can always have a good laugh at your mistakes you make. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is:“Don’t be afraid Of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes .”

根据短文内容，回答问题。

We all know the computer is very important(重要的)to people.But what can people use(使用)it to do?

   Students can study on the computer With the computer,they can search for information(搜索信息)about their lessons. And they may find the answers to their questions.Even they may do their homework on it or send e-mails to their teacher for help.

   People in the office use the computcr to work .They may have a meeting(开会)on the computer.Their boss can give them work on the computer,too.Now many people have to work on the computer every day.

   The computer is for shopping. More and more people like online.They buy books,clothes,foods and many other things on the Internet.Shopping online is easy,and quick.It can help people save money(省钱),too.

   People can use the computer for fun.Many of them love playing computer games. And they may listen to music and watch movies,TV shows to relax .Also,people may talk to their friends on the internet.

   The computer really helps people a lot,but it has some problems(问题),too.

Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad toEngland, theUnited Statesand Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument(乐器) or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter. However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.

Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that todayˈs children are short of self-respect and self-confidence.

The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.

Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework. Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking requires patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and finish his job successfully step by step. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.

Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse(激发) his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.