Dear Teens,

  ①Do you wonder why some kids can stay calm while others get nervous so easily? Why do some kids do everything very quickly while others are verysluggish? Why are some kids always happy while some feel upset all times?

  ②One of the answers to these questions is personality(个性). People were born with different personalities. A baby gets its blood type, genes(基因) and other physical things when it is still inside its mother. These factors(因素) make part of your personality. Besides, family life, school learning and life experiences can also decide what kind of person you are. You may not like your personality. Don’t worry. You can always try to change it and make yourself better.

   ③If you are a selfish person who always thinks of yourself, you can start this way. Try to give others a hand and ask for nothing in return. The happiness you get from giving instead of receiving will help you change your personality.

   ④If you are very shy and don’t know how to make friends, just tell yourself to smile at others and start talking to others with warm greetings. You are sure to have more friends than you used to do.

   ⑤If you are a sluggish person who always does things slowly, you’d better make a plan every day. When you finish something, draw a happy face. If not, draw a crying one. No one would like to see a crying face and you will have the desire to change it into a smiling one.

   ⑥All in all, don’t get too worried about your shortcomings(缺点). No one is perfect. That’s why many people are trying to change. Don’t give yourself a hard time about it all. It’s not easy to change the habits overnight. Remember “ Rome is not built in a day”. Keep working at it. One day you’ll see that you can turn over a new leaf and be a new person.

                                                                          Dr. Olson

 One day, a boy found an eagle's (鹰) egg and put it in the nest (窝) of a prairie (草原) chicken. The eagle hatched (孵化) and thought he was a chicken. He grew up doing what prairie chickens do. It was a boring life.

   Day after day, the eagle grew older. One day, he and his prairie chicken friend saw a beautiful bird soaring (翱翔) in the sky, high above the mountains. "Oh, I wish I could fly like that!" said the eagle. The chicken replied, "Don't give it another thought. That's the strong eagle, and it's the king of all birds. You could never be like him because you are a chicken!" And the eagle never thought about that. He went on living like a chicken. Even when he died, he thought he was a prairie chicken.

   My friend, you too are a small eagle. So try your best to fly upon (在...之上) the sky, and don't listen to the prairie chickens!

My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and said: "Get up, you're going with me to cut the grass in the garden."

   The idea that my father thought f was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunup to sundown, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden. By the end of the day I was too tired to say a word but I felt good. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $6 for my work that day.

   One day my father found some leaves I had missed and pulled me aside. "Take away these leaves!" he said, "and don't make me have to tell you to do it again." The message was clear. Today I value the importance of doing a job well the first time. It will never fail to impress(给……留下印象) the person you are working for.

   After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during my last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same strong wish we had gained while working under our father.

   Looking after the garden Was neither exciting nor high paying, but that didn't matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and that whatever I was paid was more than I had before.

   A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. "If you're only thinking about hard work and money, you probably don't want to do any better than you are doing." I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, I've learned much. I've learned something that helps me in my next job. If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

根据材料内容选择正确答案。

One of the secrets(秘诀)of successful people is that they have good habits. The good habits help them to be successful. What are good habits? How can you get into good habits? Here is some advice for you.

First, everyone has his good points(优点).You should always look for the good points in people and learn from them.

Second, you should try to learn good new things every day. Reading a few pages of a book or newspaper every day also helps you.

Third, tell yourself you are good. When you get up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror(镜子)and tell yourself you can do things well.

I think the last one is the most important. No matter what good habits you want to have, you should try to keep them，work hard everyday. Then you can live a successful and happy life.

A first－grade student whose best friend is fighting against cancer thought that hours of playing and telling jokes was not enough—he wanted to show his buddy just how he understood the hard time he was going through.

Seven－year－old Vincent Butterfield decided the only way was to cut off his hair in support of his best friend Zac who lost his hair through chemotherapy (化疗)．

Zac Gossage is receiving treatment (治疗) but still goes to Union Central Elementary School in Missouri every day, because thatˈs where he gets to play on the swing with Vincent. Vincent found out that Zac might lose his hair because of the chemotherapy treatment. So one day, he showed up in the first grade class wearing a cap. He said to his teacher Mrs. Koester, “I have a surprise for Zac.” And he pulled off his cap and other kids saw that he already had all his hair cut off.

“I did it just to make Zac feel heˈs not the only one without any hair，”said Vincent.Vincent has also been raising money for his best friend after learning how expensive his chemotherapy treatments are. He asked his mother to make more than 20 scarves and gloves. He and his mother sold them at the price of 10 dollars each, raising over $200 for Zac. The encouragement from Vincent seems to be working. Though Zac is receiving treatments, he has hardly missed any days of school. He knows that Vincent is out on the playground, waiting for him at the break.

When asked what friendship was, Vincent looked at his friend Zac, thought for a moment and responded, “Itˈs a beautiful thing.”

Clearly, wisdom doesnˈt always come with age.

  Mr. Brown is a driver. He has two cute dogs. The black dog is big and the white dog is small. He likes them a lot. Mr. Brown has a good friend, Mr. Jones. He is a driver, too. They work in the same hospital. One Sunday morning, they would like to go fishing on a farm. Mr. Jones comes to Mr. Brown's home. He finds there are two holes（洞）in the door（门），a big hole and a small one. He says to Mr. Brown, "My friend, why are there two holes in your door?" "I want the two dogs to come in and go out. " Mr. Brown says. " But why are there two holes?"asks Mr. Jones. " How can the big dog gothroughthe small hole?" Mr. Brown says.

I know my brother better than anyone else in the world. Since the moment of his birth, I’ve been part of his life. I had spent seven happy years in the world with the attention of those around me. But when Rohan was born, life changed. All of a sudden, I had to share my toys and there were no more bedtime stories or my own choice of food.

Finally, I hated this small boy. The poor baby had no idea what had made me so unhappy. Maybe he found me strange, the only person in this house who did not like him. Whatever the reason was, he loved following me around. However, I seldom talked to him and always asked him to leave me alone.

Then all that changed. I hardly remember everything of that day six years ago, but I do remember that I was feeling very angry. Then I found myself in my brother’s room. I couldn’t help reaching my hand through the bars(栏杆) of his bed. At once, he reached his small hand and softly touched mine. And that was all I needed. Through all the unhappiness of the day,that one momentchanged everything. How could I hate someone who made me feel so important? For the first time, I saw my brother through the eyes of a sister. Suddenly I realized love from my family was always with me.

To this day, I can’t imagine life without my brother. It is unbelievable(难以置信的) how much I have learned about life from a seven-year-old boy. Above all, Rohan has taught me that one should not care only for himself.

The day she won the lottery (彩票) was the greatest day of her life. As she took the check for one million dollars, Jenny, started making plans. A new house, a new car, a vacation in the sun. And of course, she could stop working--- give her life a big change.

   Eight years later, Jenny was out of money. The money was all gone. So were her friends. The new life was over, but how could she go back to her old one?

   Winners of sudden wealth often give up their jobs, and they don’t know what to do with the time. They may find that close friends are far away and that it’s difficult to make new ones. The new house often only leads to more loneliness. What seemed to be wonderful luck turns out to be the opposite. It seems that winning a lot of money doesn’t mean happiness. Just ask Jenny. She has got a new job and new friends now, but she would probably say, “Money isn’t everything…”

  Like many people, I have no clear idea about heroes. Maybe sometimes we all wonder if we need a hero and what a hero really is.

   Although there are a lot of differences in cultures, heroes around the world have much in common. They all give us courage and make us want to learn from them.

   A hero has a special story to tell and people are interested in it. But a hero is not just the person with great fame (声誉).

   A hero has to experience life with new and further meaning. So if you want to live like a hero, you have to know what or whom you serve. If you serve only your own fame, you may be just famous persons instead of heroes.

   A hero considers more than common people. He is able to make people moved and create new chances.

   Without Gandhi, India might still be part of Britain, Without Martin Luther King. Americans might take different buses, eat in different restaurants, go for walks in different parks, and shop in different stores because of the different colors of their skin.

   There might be changes in society without a hero, but the speed of change would be quite slow. Thanks to heroes in history, they make the society develop so fast.

Iˈve loved my motherˈs desk since I was just tall enough to sit above the top of it. Mother sat writing letters. Standing by her chair , looking at the ink bottle , pens , and white paper, I decided that the action of writing must be a most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. " But the desk . " she said again. "is for Elizabeth. "

  I never saw her angry , and never saw her cry. I knew she loved me ; she just did it. But as a young girl. I wanted to have heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And a gulf   opened between us. I was " too emotional（易感动的) " . But she lived " on the surface（表面) ".

As years passed, I had my own family. l loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive（愿谅）me.

My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace— it seemed that nothing happened. I couldnˈt be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

   But the present of her desk told me. as sheˈd never been able to. that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside— a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded and refolded many times. It was my letter.

 "In any way you chose, Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words. "