Kitty is from England. Now she lives in China. She is fourteen. She is at a girls' school in Beijing. She gets up at seven. Then she has a wash and has breakfast at eight o'clock. After that, she goes to school by bus. She has four classes in the morning and two in the afternoon. At school, she studies Chinese, Maths, History and so on. She studies very well. She has lunch at school, but she comes home for supper. After supper, she does the homework. She goes to bed at nine. On Saturdays and Sundays, she usually gets up later and she doesn't do any homework. She usually plays games with her friends. Sometimes she watches TV with her parents. She is a lovely girl.

Northern fur seals

    Northern fur seals spend winter in the warm waters near California. There is lots of food for the seals, but there are also lots of predators. When spring comes, the Northern fur seals go on a long trip to islands near Alaska. These islands are a safe place to breed, as there are not many predators. The male seals arrive at islands first. They fight for the best females to arrive. The females arrive about four weeks later. They each give birth to one seal pup. In the next few days, the seals mate again. When they return to the islands, one year later, the females will give birth to next year's seal pups. After three months, the females and the young seals set off back to the warm waters off the coast of California. Soon after, the males also leave the islands. The fur seals travel about 10,000 kilometers on their trip from California to Alaska and back again.（改编于《七年级新理念第三册》）

    A proverb is a short, well-known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are found in most cultures and are often very old.

    In American history, Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, inventor and writer as well as a leader of the American Revolution. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Franklin wrote a book called "Poor Richard's Almanac". {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Some of them are still used today, like this one: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

    Franklin is also remembered for other proverbs like, "A penny saved is a penny earned." {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Here are other examples of proverbs that Americans use. The first ones are about love. Some people say, "All is fair in love and war." They mean that anything you do in a relationship or in battle is acceptable.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In other words, when you are in love with someone, you may refuse to see anything bad about that person.

    Here is another popular saying about love: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Some people believe that a woman can win a man's love if she prepares his favorite foods.

    "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}" This proverb is true in love and war or other situations. It means that what you do is more important than what you say.

    We have to stop here, so we must say, "All good things must come to an end."

    A great festival for the Chinese takes place on the 15^th day of the 8^th Chinese lunar month. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The Mid-Autumn Festival has its typical food—the mooncake, which is round and delicious. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Long ago there was a king in China who was very cruel(残暴的) to the people and the country didn't go well. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}So they wrote notes telling about the meeting place and time and put them into cakes. On the 15^th of August every person was told to buy the cakes. When they ate them, they discovered the notes. So they got together to make a sudden attack(进攻) on the king. From then on, the Chinese people celebrated on August 15^th. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}When the Mid-Autumn Festival is near, shop owners decorate(装饰) their shop windows beautifully with pictures of ancient Chinese ladies. People go to buy many kinds of mooncakes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} On the evening of the day, people and their family have a big meal. After it, they watch the fullest and brightest moon.

    Nobody likes to do chores, especially kids. How can you make your kids get into a good habit of doing their chores? Try making chores fun for them.

    Play some music: Music makes everything seem like a party, doesn't it? ③Play your kid's favorite music that they can dance to while they are doing their chores.

    Make it a treasure hunt(寻宝): It's a good way when you would like your kids to clean the house. Let them know that you hide(隐藏) a ＄5 bill someplace. If they find it, they can keep it.

    Change often: If your kids keep doing the   ①     chores for months, they may feel    ②   (无聊的，厌烦的). Teaching them a new task(任务) is fun for both you and the kids. They will feel more grown-up when they get a new task.

    Do it together: It's never fun to be the only one working and watch everyone else relaxing. ④If everyone takes part in(参加) doing chores, your kids will finish them faster and have more fun.

    Mr Brown was at the theatre. He had got his ticket at the moment, so he had not been able to choose tis seat. He now found that he was in the middle of a group of American ladies, some of them middle-aged and some of them quite old. They clearly all knew each other well, as before the curtain went up on the play they bad come to see, they all talked and joked a lot together.

    The lady sitting on Mr Brown's left, who was about sixty years old, seemed to be the happiest and the most amusing of the American group, and after the first act(幕)of the play, she apologized to him for the noisiness of her friends. He answered that he was very glad to see American ladies so obviously enjoying their visit to England, and so they had a friendly talk. Mr Brown's neighbour explained what they were doing there.

    "You know, I have known these ladies all my life, "she said. " We all grew up together back in our hometown in the United States. They have all lost their husbands, and call themselves the Merry Widows(寡妇). It is a sort of club, you know. They go abroad every summer for a month or two and have a lot of fun. They always go everywhere together. I have wanted to join their club for a long time, but I didn't qualify(具备……的资格)for membership until the spring of this year. "