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    Maria Montessori is a famous Italian educationalist, whose method of teaching has influenced people all over the world.

    Born in Italy in 1870, Montessori became the first woman doctor in her country after she graduated from medical school in 1896. Later, working with poor children, she set up a “Children House” in Rome in 1907. The rooms were bright and colorful. This was the place where she developed the Montessori Method, which was formed during 1908-1913.

    Maria thought that children must be free to learn without being criticized(批评) or limited. She let the children make their own choice of what they wanted to do and work with their own speed, not the rest of the class or the teacher. As a result, children enjoy learning and this gives them confidence and makes them happy. The Montessori Method also teaches children skills to help them become independent. Very young children learn to dress themselves, to cook and to put their toys and clothes away. It's a way of teaching which encourages children to learn by doing and experimenting. Children are encouraged to repeat activities as often as they wish, and they develop their observation(观察) skills by doing different activities. In addition, the Montessori Method thinks that teacher is a guide, not a leader of the classroom, helping to open students' eyes to wonder around them.

    A typical room in a Montessori school has many things children can use. The furniture is light so they can arrange it as they wish. Because the environment offers many activities, children like to work together and they develop a social life based on cooperation(合作)rather than competition.

    Maria Montessori travelled around the world to train teachers to use her method. In 1950, she received the World Peace Education Badges.

A TV programme has become popular in China recently. It has made people all over China become interested in writing Chinese characters （汉字）.

The increasing use of computers and smartphones has left most young people hardly able to write by hand. Many of them are even unable to remember the 1，000 characters used in daily life without the help of electronic equipment.

CCTV started Dictation Assembly of Chinese Characters to improve the population's handwriting skills. Contestants （参与者） on the show were school pupils， but it was found that 70% of the adults in the audience were unable to remember how to write the word "chanchu".

Because computers allow people to type characters simply by entering pinyin ，  they don't need to remember how to write them. "The keyboard age has had a big influence on the handwriting of Chinese characters，" Guan Zhengwen， who designed and directed the show， said. He added that he hoped to encourage people to keep it alive as an art form.

Hao Mingjian， an editor of a magazine， putting his heart into Chinese characters， said： "Learning Chinese characters goes on throughout your life. If you stop using them for a long time， it is very likely that you will forget them."

A six-year-old British girl, Mollie Price, is opening up her third candy store "Mollie's". She is said to be one of Britain's youngest bosses. She sells both British and American candy. The girl would like to open more candy stores in the future. "It might sound crazy, but believe me," Mollie says.

"It was Mollie's idea to open up the shop. It is Mollie who runs the candy stores," her mother Becky, her "business partner" says.

Her mother says all the stores are put together and stocked(进货) by mollie. Mollie works in one of the stores every Saturday, and then gets up early on Sunday to go to the company's product supplier(供应商). She asks her friends to taste the sweets to decide which ones are good. She's good at smart marketing. For example, if the weather is really cold, she sells the Mr. Whippy ice cream more cheaply than when it's hot outside.

"Children have the best ideas. I tell my mom what I think and she always says I have good ideas. It's just because I know what other children like." Mollie says.

Do you like traveling? You always see {#blank#}1{#/blank#} landscapes(风景) on the trip. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, the landscape is so beautiful that you'd like to take it home. Kathleen Vance can help {#blank#}3{#/blank#} make it come true.

Vance lived {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a farm in Maryland when she was young. Later, she moved to New York City. But Vance {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the life there. She loved nature(大自然). So she tried to bring nature {#blank#}6{#/blank#} people's life. She started to put landscapes into suitcases (手提箱).

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} you open Vance's suitenses, you will see small forests. hills and rivers. But you can't find roads or {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. It's Vance's special way of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} nature."I want people to enjoy nature and think about what they can do for it." Vance said

Now, you can see Vance's " Traveling Landscapes" in art shows around the world. But you don't need to{#blank#}10{#/blank#} for them to come to your city. Because Vance of ten shares (分享) them on the Internet(?正联网).

In Africa there is a beautiful river. A little crocodile(鳄鱼) called Mamba lives here with her 1 . Every day, Mamba hunts(捕猎) fish and frogs for food. How 2 she lives!

One day, she is swimming down the river and see a bird. She goes after it and tries to hunt it. "Don't do that, Mamba!" says Mum and Dad Crocodile. "That is the crocodile bird. He can help 3 our teeth. Now open your mouth. "

4 when the bird flies in, Mamba closes her mouth quickly! "Mamba! Open your mouth now. " Mum Crocodile is very angry. Mamba opens her mouth and the crocodile bird flies 5 as fast as it could(尽可能快地). "I don't want clean teeth, " says Mamba, "and I just want to eat something. "

Then one day Mamba's teeth hurt(疼痛) a lot and she can't 6 anything. A monkey advises her to clean them with a stick(棍子). She tries but still feels 7 in her teeth. 

"Oooooh!"She opens her mouth wide and cries, "Can someone help me?"

At this time, the crocodile bird flies down from the tree, and flies in Mamba's mouth. He runs all over 8 teeth and gives them a good clean. "Thank you so much, " says Mamba, "Now I know 9 you are called the crocodile bird. "

From that day on, they start to help each other and become good 10 .