Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors (家庭教师), cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic (天主教的) school.

After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread (铺开) out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity (好奇心). She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns (修女)?”

Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”

“Well then,” she asked again. “WHAT was it?”

Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed (钉) to the plus sign (加号), I knew they weren’t joking. ”

(      )

We live in a world that is filled with problems and challenges(挑战). As a student, you may feel that there is little you can do to change something in our life. For example, we can do nothing to help the people in a war. But you can make a difference in the life of other people. You can make the world a better and happier place.

    Just ask Yuan Ke, a college student from Lanzhou, Gansu, and he knows how to bring a smile to a stranger. Yuan Ke was moved by a small thing after his grandmother died. During the sad time, his family searched for alt photos of his beloved grandmother and were surprised to find that there was only one photo--the one Yuan Ke took with his phone.

    This experience got Yuan Ke to think about all of the old people. They probably have very few pictures of themselves. In China's villages, it's impossible for many people to have a digital camera. This fact gave him a chance to make a difference. He started taking pictures for old people of these remote(偏远的) villages. He offered them their own photos for free.

    Yuan Ke has done a small thing, but it means a lot to those old people. Many people may notice a thing like this and think how sad it is, but they just do nothing and then move on with their day. Yuan Ke was different. He thought of what he could do to make a small difference. He then followed that idea and one picture at a time, has brought many smiles to thousands of families as a result.

    As Yuan Ke said, "It's really a simple thing to do. We just need to start."

I hid the long black bag in the garage (车库) two days ago. Tonight, in the dark, I would finally take it away. If everything went OK, it would be done by morning. But I had to be sure no one, not even my wife, saw me.

It was more difficult to get away from the party than I expected. I said that the children were tired and needed to get to bed. It was partly true. But the main reason for leaving was that I wanted to complete my plan.

First I had to get the kids to sleep. That was never easy at any time and tonight it was even more difficult. The eldest one wanted to know why we left the party early. I told him 10:30 pm was not early. As usual, I read them a bed time story, but I had to stop myself reading too quickly or they would learn my secret.

Silence finally came, and feeling like a thief (小偷) in the night, I went out of the house and into the garage. Taking one end, I pulled the bag out from its hiding place and took it into the garden. I was worried that my neighbours might see me and call the police.

It was already eleven o’clock. By the light of the moon I started working, trying to make as little noise as possible. And that was not easy with a saw (锯子) and a hammer (锤子).

After much hard work, I finally completed my work. I looked down at my watch. It was exactly 4:00 am. Then I went inside to have a shower and get a few hours of sleep. It wouldn’t be long now before the kids would rush into my room and wake me up to tell me about the new tree-house Father Christmas brought them this year.

a. Read the kids a story.                     b. Had a shower.                 c. Worked in the moonlight.  

d. Pulled the bag from the garage.      e. Went to a party.

       
I'm Sophia. On Sunday morning, I usually get up very late. I wash my face and then go out to do morning exercises. After I have breakfast, I often go to a shopping centre(中心). It's not far from my home.

        I like shopping there very much, but I don't like shopping with my son. He likes running around. It's difficult to look after him in the shopping centre. I don't like shopping with my friends, either(也). It usually takes too much time to buy things with them because they never buy the first thing they see. They always go to other shops to find the same thing cheaper(更便宜的).

        I like going shopping with my husband. When I don't know which one to choose, he will help me. I don't like buying food in small shops or markets. I like buying it in supermarkets, because it is fresh and cheap.

　Long long ago, there was a snail(蜗牛)and a tortoise(乌龟)under a tree. They were neighbors. One day, the tortoise had a fever(发烧)and the snail wanted to help him to get some medicine(药) He said goodbye to the tortoise and left the house．Three hours passed, but the snail didnˈt come back．The tortoise said to himself, “Why doesnˈt he get back? I feel so terrible(极坏的).” Just at that time, the snail answered, “Take it easy．I am running as fast as I can．Please wait for some time.” Six hours later, the snail didnˈt come back yet. But the tortoise was well and he went out to look for the snail．

　　In front of the door, the snail was running and running as quickly as he could．

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is the color of most growing plants, too.

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet finished or plants that are not ripe.

For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in war (战争). By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today--a person who is new in a job.

About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describea man who had just arrived from one of the big cities in the e ast. The greenhorn didn’t have the skills that he would need to live in the hard,roughcountry.

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.

A person with agreen thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

The Green Revolution (革命) is the name which was given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural (农业的) scientistswho hadgreen thumbs.

Today, we may see all kinds of high-technology products in our lives. Wearable technology is nothing new. Google Project Glass (谷歌眼镜) and smart watches are now as common as shoes and glasses. In the not too distant future, it’s likely that our clothes will be almost as smart as our phones. But what’s the advantage of Internet-connected clothing?

Imagine when you put a jacket in the washing machine, a chip (芯片) in the jacket puts the machine on the right laundry setting, making life just that a little bit easier. The clothes have the ability to help us find out more information about the product, such as how it was designed, where it was made. And it isn’t just a dream. Internet-connected clothes are already being made but they need time to be popular.

 Two leading companies in clothing making hav created a jacket with two-bar-code(二维码). The code in the chip gives the user a number of special droits such as going to some clubs, special menus at certain restaurants and tickets to some fashion shows.

But Internet-connected clothing isn’t the only way combining with technology. It will also change the way we buy clothes. Through smart computers in our homes, our shopping needs will be known in advance and taken care of. For example, before you realize you’ve run out of dresses, your favorite online sellers have already recordered some new ones for you based on your repurchasing (再次购买) patterns.

 With Internet-connected clothing, it may soon be taht when we buy clothes, we hardly have to think about anything at all.

At my primary school, I was one of the smartest kids there. I never studied, but always got perfect scores. I thought I was born clever. At least I believed so. I was alsoa prodigyin music according to myself. I could sing better than almost everyone else in my school. I was pretty sure that once I got to sixth grade, everyone would be surprised by me.

  But actually, they weren’t.

  When I arrived at my new class, I couldn’t wait to show everyone what I could do. However, there was always someone else who could do better. My grades began to suffer. More talented girls often sang solo (独唱). I believed I wasn’t smart. I believed I wasn’t talented. I believed I was a failure.

Over the next two years, I had to work very hard. Every prize for the singing competition was given to me for hard work and effort. Grades were still very low but improving little by little. I worked really hard. However, I was never the best at everything.

I haven’t realized until recently that I really don’t have to be the best at everything. I was too hard on myself. In fact, when I did badly in a test, my classmates never laughed at me.

   No one is perfect. There will probably always be someone better than me at something. Anyway, there are about seven billion people in this world. I will never be the number one at everything, and that’s really okay.

"Cool" is a word with many meanings. Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold. As the world changes, the word has many different meanings.

　"Cool" can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything. When you see a famous car in the street, maybe you will say "Itˈs cool." You may think, "Heˈs so cool," when you see your favorite footballer.

　We all maximize (扩大) the meaning of "cool". You can use it instead of many words such as "new" or "surprising". Hereˈs an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used. A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall. On one studentˈs paper was just the one sentence, "Itˈs so cool". Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt.

　But the story also shows a scarcity (缺乏) of words, it seems that some people have no words to show the same meaning without "cool" . Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word "cool"?  Yes, I can. And I think they are also very cool .