—That's why everyone likes him.

—Home alone is not always perfect.

—For better grades, my friend, I'm afraid you'll have to.

—Yes. He's had a bad cold. He _______ at home and won't be back until next Tuesday.

—So you see, nothing is impossible. But most people just _________ the half way.

—They can be reused many times. In this way, we can help make the earth greener.

—______. I will put one in my bag.

    Seven years ago, our daughter, Alle, was born. After she was given to me by a 1 from the delivery room, I held her carefully, wondering2magical life was. All of our family were excited with the new arrival.

    However, our joy3 for only several seconds. We noticed she was

4 crying weakly and refused to sleep. We went to have the doctor check on her health. After the 5, the doctors told us seriously that our daughter was born with the rare bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). At birth Alle's skull looked like a cracked* egg on the X-rays. She6 had many fractures* in her arms, her ribs, her legs, and her wrist.

Watching my daughter suffering was the greatest pain. In the following days, we tried to work out a way to reduce her pain. 7, we were told by the doctor that there was no hope of her being cured a few days later. Finally, my wife and I had to make the 8 and most painful decision of our life—take our five-week-old daughter off life support. The day Alle was leaving us, we took her outside on the hospital deck and held her in our arms9 she passed away.

    We had two choices that day: Let the sadness overtake us, or it could be10a positive. Since that day, my wife and I have worked tirelessly volunteering our time hosting special events, and talking to students and the media11OI. We even contacted hospitals to try to get them to join in12cause and this is the battle we are still fighting. Over the seven years, we 13 thousands of hours.

    In February of 2015 we started OI Care for you program. We send toy animals to children with OI who are receiving 14 in the hospital. Each one brings a smile and comfort to a child with OI.

    Now there are often OI families from neighboring cities and towns coming to thank us for what we do and15them another way to show support for a family member with OI.

    People are always curious to know what things on Earth can be seen from space. Some of geographical features and man-made things are huge enough to be seen from hundreds of kilometers above. Here we list some huge things on Earth that can be seen from space.

    If you've been studying for a while, you'll notice that there is more than one type of "English". The website, Big Seven Travel, made their list of the world's 50 most attractive accents, and many different kinds of English made the list.

    The main reasons that affect the way people speak a language are geographical – where they are in the world, and social – the way their communities speak. As a result, English has many differences in vocabulary and slang*.

    Located in two different places, the United States and the UK provide great examples. They often have different words for the same things. US people call the back part of a car, used for carrying big and heavy things or suitcases, the "trunk"; but in the UK, they call it the "boot". In the US, the word "boot" means a wheel clamp that police put on your car.

    Slang also causes confusion*. US slang is hugely different thanks to many kinds of people who have moved in the country. African-American slang is especially confusing for foreign language learners. It uses its own grammar. For example, "a person who is awake to reality" would be called "a woke person". Southern American slang also can be confusing. "I'm fixing to fix it," means, "I'm getting ready to fix it."

    Australian slang, meanwhile, is all about abbreviations. They say "sanga" for "sandwich", "brekkie" for breakfast, and "arvo" for "afternoon". It can make you wonder if either of these countries is actually speaking English.

English writer Virginia Woolf once wrote, "Language is wine upon the lips*." The next time you're speaking English with someone, check the accent on the bottle!

    Tablets are really useful devices, but their big screens always make them as a burden to carry around without a bag. Wouldn't it be great if there were a phone with the powers of a tablet that could be folded up and fit into the hand?

Now something like a tablet-shaped but foldable phone is about to become available. In February, South Korean electronics company Samsung and China's Huawei both showed foldable phones, The Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X respectively. Mobile phone use has entered the "foldable future", The Verge noted.

    The technology could change our lives in unusual ways. These devices, due to their foldable screens, give us the larger screens we want. At the same time, they still fit easily into the pocket. As USA Today noted, they're "the combination of a small tablet and smartphone, all in a single device".

    The technology could change other devices too. For example, we could make TVs that stick to walls like posters, or fold up easily to hide away in drawers. In crowded modern cities, they will help us to make full use of available space.

    In a keynote speech, Samsung's senior vice president of mobile product marketing, Justin Denison, called the foldable screen "the foundation for the smartphone of tomorrow". "It's a piece of white paper for us to paint something beautiful on together," he said.

    So is there nothing to stand in the way of the foldable future?

According to technology news website Android Authority, the necessary displays* were difficult to produce. At present, these foldable devices cost too much. For example, the price of Huawei Mate X is 17,500 RMB. That's a price that few people will be able to afford.

    But if the foldable device isn't going to change the world overnight, there is no doubt that it is coming.

    Patrick Moorhead, an industry expert told The Verge, "Few are debating if foldable mobile displays are the future of smartphones; the only question is when and by whom."

    When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground.

    It was a hot afternoon and my best friend Stephanie and I decided to have an adventure in his basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs and spotted a red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

    "Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are going to paint." She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes of colors across the pavement. Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

    The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn't wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother's face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

    My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, "What on earth were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors' trees, but this! Come inside right now!" I stood there glaring back at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted my art.

    "Now go clean it up!" Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.

    Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

    ZHUperb!

    A US-based blog website recently created the word "ZHUperb", which put "Zhu" and "superb" together, to describe the 24-year-old player — Zhu Ting.

    At a young(年龄), Zhu is the captain of China women's national volleyball team. But it isn't easy for her to get to where she is today.

    Zhu Ting was born into a poor family in (十一月)1994. She got a chance to attend a(当地的) sports school when she was 13. Although she got homesick(在……期间) the first few months of training, with her father's encouragement, she made(进步) week on week. Soon she quickly moved to the national youth team. In 2013, after(赢得) the 2013 FIVB U20 World Championship, Zhu was noticed by the famous coach Lang Ping.

    What's more, Zhu (认为) to be the national hero after she got gold(奖牌) at the 2015 FIVB World Cup, 2016 Rio Olympic Games and 2018 FIVB Women's Club World Championship.

    With her(优秀的；极好的) performance in the past three years, the 24-year-old is getting more popular off the court.

    Zhu Ting believes "Hard work and talent are equally important. I'll move(向前) step by step. I'll try my best to fight until the last minute."