When you finish high school or university, is learning done? The answer is “no”. In many countries, people continue learning all their lives. Why is lifelong(终身的) learning important? How can it help you? Let’s look at one example of lifelong learning in Japan.

Why is lifelong learning important?

   You go to school and learn. You take tests. But learning doesn’t only happen in school. And learning doesn’t stop when you graduate from high school or college. You are learning all the time. For example, learning can happen when you go to a museum. It can also happen when you get a job. You learn when you play a sport or when you take a trip. Learning is life! We never stop learning. Every day, you can improve yourself by learning something new.

Lifelong learning in Japan

   In Japan, lifelong learning is very important. People in Japan like to try new learning activities. Music calligraphy（书法）, flower arranging（插花）, and foreign languages are some of their favorite classes. The Japanese take classes to improve their skills and learn new things.

Conclusion

   When we graduate from school, we can continue to learn. Make lifelong learning one of your goals!

Everyone needs friends. There is an old saying: Friends are God’s way of looking after us. But how do you find real friendship and keep it?

The Care and keeping of Friends by American writer Sally Seamans tells young students some smart ways to find friends.

Sally says finding friendship is just like planting a tree. You plant the seed(种子) and look after it to make it grow.

First, you should choose a friend. What makes a good friend? It is not because a person has money or good looks. A good friend should be kind and patient（耐心）. For example, if you have a bad day, a good friend should listen to your complains( 抱怨) and do their best to help. To make a friend, you can’t be too shy. You should make each other happy and share your lives.

But things can’t always be happy. Even the best friends have fights（吵架）. What should you do when you have a fight with your friend? You have to talk to them. When there is no one around, have an honest （真诚的） talk. If he or she doesn’t want to talk, you could write a letter.Sally says there are three steps of being friends again: Tell him or her how you are feeling; say what your friend has done wrong, and say why you did this or that . The book also has advice on some small but important things like celebrating your friends’ success. Even if you haven’t had a real friend before, you will start to think of having one if you read this book. Because the book tells that friendship is the most important thing in your life.

On March 14, one of science’s brightest stars went dark. Stephen Hawking, the world-famous British   (1)  , died at 76 in Cambridge, UK. Hawking is considered by many to be the   (2)   

scientist in history since Albert Einstein. He   (3)   the theory that the universe (宇宙) began with the Big Bang (大爆炸) and will end in black holes. His theories became the base for a lot of later research.

He also wrote books to help   (4)   people understand the universe. His most famous   (5)   is A Brief History of Time (《时间简史》), which has sold more than 10 million copies around the world, according to CNN.

Besides his scientific achievements, Hawking was   (6)   someone who had a strong will (意志) and optimistic (乐观的) attitude. When Hawking was 21, he was diagnosed (诊断) with a serious illness that   (7)   him from walking and talking. Later in life, he had to sit in a wheelchair and “speak” using a computerized voice. But this didn’t stop him from living a meaningful and colorful life. Hawking traveled the globe to attend science conferences,   (8)   every continent, including Antarctica (南极洲). He was also a   (9)   of pop culture and appeared on TV shows.

He celebrated his 60th birthday by going up in a hot-air balloon. He   (10)   to travel into space one day. In 2013, Hawking spoke about how he felt life was unfair when he was first diagnosed with his illness. “But now, 50 years later, I can be quietly satisfied with my life,” he said. 

  These days, many people wonder if children should do chores.

    People  (1)  that children as young as 18 months can help with chores. When people say to those kids, “Look at the paper,”   (2)   will pick it up. Some parents think childhood(童年)is just for playing,  (3)   they don’t ask their kids to do chores. Other parents have a different idea, but they still give no chores to their kids. They usually say,” I know it’s wrong, but it’s   (4)  to do it by myself!”

   Most parents are sure that chores are a way to   (5)  kids responsibility(责任),anyway. Children learn to help, share and care about others by doing housework. Things like taking care of pets or a baby and help make meals are some  (6)  of helping others. 

   Oh, I believe there are some other very good  (7)  for children to do chores.

※To feel good: Doing chores can help kids  (8)  that they’re part of the team. They feel happier when they do something meaningful for their family.

※To learn skills(技巧): Children will learn  (9)   to cook, clean and do other things in the house. These life skills will serve them well throughout(贯穿整个时期) their lives.

All in all, it’s good  (10)  children to grow up doing chores. So start to help your parents with the chores. Come on! Let’s go now!

  These years, we can see more and more people like dancing in public. We call this kind of dance" Guangchangwu". It seemed to    (1)   into being in the 1990s. Later in 2005, it became popular   (2)  the elderly in China.

    Nowadays, about the dancing, people have different ideas. Some people think it is a kind of entertainment and physical exercise. It gives the elderly a good way to   (3)  , keep fit and make their lives   (4)   . It is better for them to go out to dance with their friends than to play cards or watch TV at home, because they need to keep   (5)  and active.

    But not all people have the same idea. You may have the following experience: you want to sleep late into noon   (6)  a weekend morning but find it impossible because the elderly are dancing, making a lot of noise. Sometimes you are having a rest or   (7)  for a while with your friends in a park. But the music from the dancing is   (8)   loud that you have to stop. So quite a few people are worried about the dancing places. At times, they choose to   (9)   away from those places.

    It is all right for the elderly to get exercise and have fun. But when they choose a kind of entertainment, they should  (10)  other people's life.

Look around when you're on the subway. What is the most popular time-killing activity? In China, many people play on their smartphones. But in other countries, many people enjoy ____  (1)  ____.

    On average(平均), each Chinese person read less than eight books a year, according to a survey in 2016. But Chinese people __  (2)  ___ an average of 26 minutes on WeChat reading every day.

    In many foreign countries, people read at ___  (3)  ____ time. Even backpackers (背包客) enjoy reading books when they are on a break at the beach or ____  (4)  ____ from a hike. Reading books builds a bridge between our lives ____  (5)  ____ the unknown world.

    Many hotels abroad also offer book exchanges(交换) for visitors. Simply ____  (6)  ____ your finished books and take different books that ____  (7)  ____ left behind.

    In most US middle schools, teachers give students a reading list every few weeks. Most books are easy to read like youth novels(青少年小说), so students won't ____  (8)  ____ their confidence(自信).

    Good reading habits can lead you to a lifelong love of books. In order to encourage people to read ____  (9)  ____, China is planning to foster (培养) the habit of reading in its law(法律).

 ____  (10)  ____ this has both good and bad sides, it can be seen as a way to develop one's reading habits.

 In the world, there are thousands of people who want to help out. Many join organizations run(管理) by their governments, for example, the Peace Corps in the United States and Voluntary Service Overseas in Britain. Since the terrible earthquake took place in Sichuan, more than 200 thousand volunteers across China have been helping there! They do all kinds of work or come up with ways to help improve life. Some offer their professional skills for free. Others have no qualifications(资历), but they love to work hard to help.

One of the most famous volunteers in the world was Mother Teresa. She could be the best volunteer because she gave her life to helping the poorest people of Calcutta. She helped the homeless, cared for the sick, gave out food, and became the mother of those without families.

Now more and more teenagers actively look for volunteering chances, too. They volunteer because they think it will be fun or they will learn something. They also like the idea of being helpful to others, although it is just handing out books for the teacher. As they get older, these reasons are still the same, but there are other important reasons for volunteering such as learning on-the-job, getting work experience, and improving their social life.

All volunteers bring joy to the people they help in so many ways. They might read books to the blind, fix up broken homes, find ways to get water for villages, Could you be a volunteer? What kind of volunteer work could you do? There is someone in the world who needs you.

Many people have the wrong ideas about pigs．Pigs are actually（买际上） very clean animals．On farms，they live in dirty places，so they become very dirty．But in the wild，pigs keep themselves very clean．

They are also very smart．They may he smarter than dogs．So pigs can learn things from people．

Pigs are very friendly animals．Some people raise （饲养） them as pets．Of course，people raise the smart kind，not the big kind．Small pigs are very cute．And they donˈt break things in the house．Big pigs usually live outside on the farms，not in peopleˈs houses．

“I’m really thankful to our government, for it provides us with such a good training program. The training greatly helps us live   (1)  . I will certainly study hard and learn the skills. Then I can help with my family difficulties and do good to other people.” a learner on the job training program said, feeling   (2)  

The learner’s grandfather is nearly 80 years old, and his mother is in bed. So his father, who is a farmer, is the main support（支持）of the family. The family is poor. The learner finished high school. The job training program helps him learn skills that he’ll   (3)  in the work place.

The story makes me think of another   (4)  . It goes like this: Long ago there was man who liked fishing very much, and was   (5)  to catch lots of fish every day. The man was kind, so he always shared his fish with his neighbours who did not know how to fish. One day, he thought that it would be   (6)   if he told them how to fish. So he called his neighbours together and showed them   (7)  to fish. Everybody was very happy that they could   (8)  the fish they themselves caught.

At present, there are still a lot of poor people in the world. But it’s not good if we give only _food to them.   (9)  , we should give them a chance to learn new skills. So, a training is very important to people in need, and they will learn the ability to   (10)  money. People can a lot of useful things in the training program and what they learn can help them on the way to find jobs.

 In China, many people are leaving the countryside to find jobs in the cities, because the countryside is much poorer than the city, and often there isn't much work there. Services such as hospital and transport are usually much better in the city than in the countryside. They hope that their lives will improve when they move to the city.

    But in the big cities of Europe like London or Paris, people are moving out of the city. These rich families want to live a quieter life. They are tired of the noise and the dirt of the city, and they are tired of the crowded streets, crowded trains and buses. They don't want to live in the cities any more. They want a house with a garden in the countryside, and breathe the fresh air there.

    So they move out of the cities. Some don't go very far, just a little way out of the city, to the towns near the cities, other people move to the real countryside with sheep, cows and green fields. There, they start new lives and try to make new friends.

    Not all those who move from the city to the countryside are happy. After two or three years, many people who have done this feel that it was a big mistake. They don't make so much money and there isn't much work to do. People in the countryside are very different and aren't always very friendly.

     As a result, quite a lot of people who have moved to the countryside move back to the city. "It's wonderful to see crowds in the streets and cinema lights," they say.

Because ______________