Many people like to travel by plane, but I don't. The airport is usually far from the city. You have to get there early and wait for hours before the plane takes off and it is often late. You can't open the window. You can't choose the food. Planes are fast but it still takes hours to get out of the airport and into the city.

    I like traveling by train. I think trains are safe. Railway stations are usually in downtown. When you are late for a train, you can catch another. You can walk around in the train and open the windows. You can see many interesting things on your way. I know it takes a little more time. I also like cars. You can start your journey when you want to, and you don't need to get to a railway station or a bus stop. Also you can carry many things with you in a car. But sometimes there are too many cars on the roads.

①{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Helen likes to read. She likes reading to the children.

②{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Lily loves animals and likes being with them.

③{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Alan likes singing. He wants to be a singer.

④{#blank#}4{#/blank#} John likes talking with other people. He is very good at making others happy.

⑤{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Jim thinks sports are interesting. He does well in basketball, and in his school his friends call him the second Jordan.

    Every week, Julia would go to visit her grandparents. ①The grandfather would give each child a few coins and tell them to buy something they like. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}They would buy toys and candy. After they grew a little bit older, their parents thought that it was time for them to learn how to manage（管理）money. So the parents asked the children to think of ways to manage money.

Ruben is the cleverest boy. He decided to earn money by buying and selling things. ②他得到了来自全家的支持。{#blank#}2{#/blank#}But Nico, the smallest child, still spent the money as usual. Ruben thought ③it was unfair and he stopped saving his money, too.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    For little Julia, she had a wonderful, secret plan. But ④她的父母对她感到非常失望. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}They thought Julia wasn't doing anything.

    One day, Julia came with a violin and played it for the family. Everyone was surprised. They knew that Julia liked the violin. ⑤but her family was too poor to afford the violin classes for her. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}So, Julia found a street violinist and asked his to teach her. In return, she gave his all her money. The violinist was deeply moved by Julia. He taught her for months and rent a violin to her. Then, Julia gave performances with the violinist in the street. By doing this, she earned enough money to pay for the violin.

Secrets of top students

⒈ Example One: "If I don't understand what my teacher is explaining in the science, I ask him to say it again," says Anna Lee. "also asking more helped a lot."  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

⒉ Example Two: "When a teacher asks us to do a lot of homework," says Dave Roman " I will draw up a timetable and plan to do it little by little, so it isn't so tiring. "  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

⒊ Example Three: One student put a vocabulary list on the wall of the bathroom. He learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth. Another student used the time to remember biology terms while practicing running.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

⒋ Example Four: In high school, Mike played football, painted and was in the band. "I was so busy that I couldn't waste time looking for a pencil or missing paper. I kept everything in order." He says.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

⒌ Example Five: Christi is an excellent student at the university. If her math teacher asks her to do five problems, she does ten. If the history teacher asks her to read five pages, she reads ten. "Part of learning is practicing," she says, "and the more you practice, the more you learn."  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    March 20th is World Water Day every year. According to a report from the United Nations, more than half of the world's major rivers have serious water loss and are polluted.

    The Yellow River, the world's fifth longest river, watered some of the oldest farms on earth. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Its source（源头）on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is drying up. In most of the past 35 years, it didn't reach the sea.

The Nile in Egypt, running 6, 650 km, is the longest river in the world. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Now it is down to 2 billion m³ or so. Australia's Murray River reaches the sea only every other year. One fifth of America's Rio Grande has no water, either.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Mostly it's damming（筑坝）and global warming that make rivers dry. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Now about 45, 000 of them lie across the world's rivers. They hold back around 15% of the world's fresh water from running to the sea.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Warmer weather takes water away. The glacier（冰川）are becoming smaller. The source of the Yellow River is drying up because of it. Global warming has had certain effects on water sources. Droughts happening around the world make people pay more attention to this fact.