Chinese students work hard to learn English. Do you know American kids are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to learn Chinese? About 50,000 American students now study Chinese .“Because of china's fast growth, Chinese is more useful than{#blank#}2{#/blank#}languages,” said Scott McGinnis, a Washington language expert.

    For example, in 1999,only three Chicago schools had Chinese classes. This year more than 20 do. In many US cities , students take Chinese lessons during holidays{#blank#}3{#/blank#}on the weekends. But Chicago schools teach Chinese during the regular day. Last year China gave them 3,000 textbooks because they had done a good job.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Chinese classes are becoming popular, it is one of the most difficult languages. It totally takes an English speaker about 1,320 hours to become good at Chinese , but it only takes 480 hours to learn French, Spanish or Italian.

    Jess really felt very happy. When he arrived at his seat in the classroom that morning, he found an invitation on his desk. It was from several of his classmates asking him to{#blank#}1{#/blank#}them on a camping trip. This was the first time he was asked to take part in an out-of-school activity. Why were they asking him now? Jess thought{#blank#}2{#/blank#}seemed to like him. In fact, he had been so lonely that he drowned his feeling with food. As a result, he had put on a lot of weight, and this gave the kids something more to make fun of him.

    Cindy, who was standing near Jess when he read the invitation, went out quickly to tell the others that the trick had worked. Everyone was pleased that Jess thought that was{#blank#}3{#/blank#}a，But there was no camping trip. The whole thing was made up.

At first Cindy thought it was fun, but later, when Jess told her that he was going to buy a sleeping bag with his savings, Cindy had a second idea. She knew that Jess's family had little money, and she hated to see him{#blank#}4{#/blank#}his savings on something he would never use, but her close friends also hated her to tell Jess the truth. They would be angry with her. What could she do now?

    When most teenagers are learning how to work out maths problems, Kelvin Doe is teaching himself to make batteries and generators(发电机)for his neighborhoods in Africa.

    Kelvin is only 15 years old, but he has already created batteries and generators {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. He used the things he picked up around the house or from litter bins to create them.

    "In my hometown, we don't have much electricity and batteries are{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, "Kelvin said. So he decided to make batteries to light up people's homes

    Kelvin also{#blank#}3{#/blank#}a radio station. He broadcasts news and plays music for the local people. The station gets its electricity from a generator also made by him.

    His next project will be a windmill(风车)for electricity supply. He wants to help more families in his hometown live a happy and{#blank#}4{#/blank#}life.