Thomas Edison was a   (1)  American inventor(发明家).   (2)  he was a child, he was always trying out new things. His mother loved him very much. She called  (3)   Tom. Young Tom was   (4)   school for only three   (5)  . During those three months, he asked his teacher a lot of   (6)  . Most of the questions were not  (7)   his lessons. His teacher thought he wasn’t clever and told his mother to take him out of   (8)  .

Edison’s mother had to   (9)   him herself. Edison learned very quickly. He read a lot, and later he became very interested in Science and invented   (10)   useful things.

 "The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence." Thatˈs an old  saying  in English. It means other places often look  (1)  , more interesting than the place where you live. Some people  (2)  that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring（忽视）Chinese culture and,  (3)  ,  buying Japanese cartoon books,  (4)  Korean soap operas and even celebrating western holidays.

  Foreign books and soap operas are good,   (5)  Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can  (6)  have the meaning for Chinese that Spring Festival has, and the West has  (7)  to compare(比较) with Mid-autumn Festival. And letˈs not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best:  its friendliness. Not all countries are as  (8)  as China.

   Itˈs good to enjoy other cultures and to learn  (9)  them, but they cannot replace（代替) your own culture. Itˈs good to look on the other side of the fence, but  (10)  you take a good long look. You will find that the grass isnˈt always greener on the other side of the fence.

When I was about 12 years old, I really wanted a new bike! I  (1)  my parents my birthday wish, but I knew there was little hope because my family could  (2)  have that money.

     On my birthday my parents told me they had my  (3)  outside in the back yard. At once I  (4)  out to the yard. There was my bike,  (5)  it wasn't the bike that I thought it would be. This one was pink, old and worn with age. It was so disappointing(令人失望的) ! I thought I  (6)  my parents' feelings because I could see the disappointment  (7)  their faces and I was sure they could see it on mine. I  (8)  the old bike and rode it, feeling  (9)  that I had made my parents feel this way. So I put on a smile, rode as fast as I could and didn't  (10)  

     As time went by, I began to understand my parents gave me  (11)  much more than just a rusty(生锈的)old bike. They gave me a life lesson about   (12)  . When you give something out of love, it doesn't matter what it is in fact. What matters is the love that is in it. I like to remember this  (13)  because giving a gift is not about  (14)  . It's about how much love you can feel from it. Do remember, a gift that  (15)  two dollars isn't any less valuable(有价值的)than one that costs one hundred dollars, or even more.

One day a young man named Gary went to see a wise old man. He wanted to know why he wasn’t able to reach all of his dreams in his life.

He found the old man by the river. With a smile, the wise man listened to Gary’s   (1)  and told him, “First, help me boil a kettle（壶） of water!”

Gary saw a big kettle in the corner next to a small stove（火炉）, but he didn’t find any wood. So he went out to  (2)   some.

He came back with some dry wood, and then he  (3)  the kettle with water and put it on the stove. After that, he put some wood in the stove and made a fire. But because the kettle was too  (4)  , when the wood was burned up, the water did not boil. So he ran off to get more wood.       (5)  he returned, the water had nearly turned cold. This time he learned the lesson and prepared     (6)  wood first and the water boiled very quickly.

 “If there is not enough wood,   (7)  will you boil the water?” the wise old man asked. Gary thought for a moment but didn’t know the answer.

 “Well, just pour  (8)  some water from the kettle! ” the wise old man said.“At first, you set so many goals and had so many  (9)  , ” said the wise old man. “It’s just like the large kettle full of water. You didn’t have enough  (10)  ,so you couldn’t boil the water. If you want to make the water boil, you will have to either pour some water out or prepare more wood. ”

Once upon a time, there was a lazy, poor man living in a   (1)   house with spider webs(蜘蛛网) on the walls and mice running around. People   (2)   coming into the dirty place and the poor man was   (3)   and sad every day. He thought it was poverty(贫穷) that   (4)   his unhappy life.

One day, the poor man visited a wise old man and asked him for   (5)   about changing his life. The old man gave him a beautiful vase(花瓶) and said: “This is a magic vase that will bring you

  (6)  .”

The poor man looked at the vase with   (7)  . Why would he need a vase in his poor house? However, he didn’t want to   (8)   the beautiful vase, so he brought it home and put it on the table.

“It’s not right for something so beautiful to be   (9)  .” The poor man looked at the vase and thought. Then he picked some wild flowers and put them into it, making it even more beautiful.

  (10)   he was still not happy. “It’s not good for   (11)   a beautiful thing to stand next to a spider web.” Then he started to do some   (12)   in the house and painted the walls.

His house quickly turned into a   (13)   place. The poor man   (14)  . He suddenly realized that in the past it was his laziness that made him poor and unhappy. From then on, he worked hard and his   (15)   got better and better.

Have you learned about table manners in China？Here I will introduce some.

It is a traditional __  (1)  __ for Chinese people to eat with chopsticks. Each person at table will have a pair of chopsticks，and there is also an extra pair which is for__  (2)  __ use.

You should remember that you're __  (3)  __ to let the elders in the family sit and eat first. If they don't start，everyone else shouldn't start，either. And then you should make a __  (4)  __ to them.

While eating，it is impolite to eat with a loud __  (5)  __ ．And you'd better not speak while food is still in your __  (6)  __ ．Do not only eat one dish even if that is your favorite.

    People usually go out of their way to cook delicious food to make you __  (7)  __  at home，but when they say，“The dishes aren't delicious. I__  (8)  __  you don't mind，”you must not say，“Yeah，that's true，but I don't mind.”__  (9)  __ ，it is a typical word which can show one of the Chinese qualities—__  (10)  __ ．You should answer，“Really？I don't think so. It is the best taste of any dish that is new to me.”

These days , more and more Chinese teenagers find   (1)   more difficult to live without their parents. They don’t know how to do   (2)   . Because their parents do almost everything for them at home. This is a big problem.

Alice is a 14-year-old girl. One day her parents went out for work , so she had to stay at home   (3)   . At first she thought she would be happy   (4)   her parents were not in. She could do   (5)  she liked to. But it was six o’clock in the afternoon , she felt   (6)   . “Oh, it’s time   (7)  dinner. Where can I get my food?” She said to   (8)   . Later she found some food in the fridge, but she   (9)   know how to cook. At that moment , she missed her   (10)   very much. At last she could only go to the supermarket and   (11)   some food to eat.

Many of teenagers are   (12)   as Alice . So I think they should learn some normal life   (13)   ,like cooking , cleaning up their rooms or taking   (14)   care of themselves. Do you   (15)   me?

  It was a cold snowy morning after the winter vacation. And it was my first   (1)   at my new school. I was walking alone slowly and   (2)  about lots of things. It was early and there weren’t many people on the road. Suddenly a girl who was   (3)   a bike on ice fell down. She was trying hard to get up but fell again.   (4)   thinking, I went over and helped her. She said “  (5)  ” with a smile and then rode away. Her words warmed me a lot.

  Finally, I got to school. The teacher led me to the   (6)   and introduced me to the class. Then he asked me to sit down beside a girl. I felt so   (7)   that I didn’t dare to look at her. Soon the first class,   (8)  , started. Their textbooks were different from those in my old school. As I was wondering   (9)   to do, an English book appeared in front of me. “Let’s share,” the girl beside me said, “Hi, I’m Carrie.” I  (10)  . It was the girl I helped this morning. Later on, we became good friends.

  From that I learned: to help others is actually to help ourselves!

Growing up is not always easy.Courage and independence can be more useful than crying for help.That’s what a man’s story   (1)   me.

    The young man was born in a poor family in a small   (2)   .When he was only 11, his father becameMentally(精神上地) ill and one day he came back with an abandoned baby(弃婴) girl.A year   (3)   his mother left home with his younger brother, because she couldn’t stand the hard life and her mad husband. The 12-year-old boy had to support the whole family only by   (4)  . He took care of not only his sick father, but also the little girl.  (5)  , he didn’t give up studying. Later he went to collage. To care for the little girl, he rented a room near his college and   (6)   studying in college while doing part—time jobs. People from his town were deeply moved by his behaviors.

    Although his life was hard, he didn’t abandon(抛弃) his father and sister, because they need his help very much.And he refused donations(捐助) from   (7)   .With his own money, he even helped some students in   (8)   .

     Today when many young people care more about their own happiness, this young man’s behaviors reminds us of what we don’t usually   (9)  : love people around us . It is love that makes us   (10)  . Nobody could live without love.