Ted, my little brother, is in Grade One. Last Friday he came back from school with a letter. The letter was from his teacher. “I got a red flower today. Could you please sign this note?” he said to mum. The note showed that he had been talking in class.

    Ted hardly gets top scores in his school work. The best he gets is “OK”, but he often gets “You can do better than this.” Mum knows what it means. She tells me “You can do better than this” means “Extremely bad” in China.

    In the USA, teachers never say anything too bad about their students, even if the students are making trouble in class or not working hard enough. The worst they might say is “Please be nicer tomorrow”. Many parents are satisfied with a B-grade for each subject.

    But things in Chinese schools are quite different. Parents have high expectations for their children. I sometimes felt that my second-grade cousin spend more time on homework than I did when I was 6^th grade in the US! Yet his parents and teachers didn't think he worked hard enough.

    Is it too strict in China? Or is it not strict enough in the USA? Maybe both are true.

文中共有5处语言错误'每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(Λ)'并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下画一横线'并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;

2．只允许修改5处，多者(从第6处起)不计分

A Talk to Myself

    How time flies! I have been a 16-years-old girl now. I'm leaving school soon. I really have a lot to talk to myself.

    Lucky, my teachers are very friendly. They not only give me knowledge but also tell me how to be a man and my classmates are helpful. We share happiness and sadness in our school life.

    However, I'm also upset sometime. I don't take part in outdoor activities quite often because too much homework. I know it's not good for me. I'll try my best to join in more.

    I believe that my life in the future will be more beautiful and more beautiful..

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One time in the middle of the night, an old lady in her 80s1 my taxi. She gave me an address, and then asked: "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't2 ," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice (临终关怀医院).

I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long."

I  3  shut off the meter (里程表).

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She  4  me the building where she had worked, the neighborhood where she and her husband had once lived, the place where she danced as

a girl. As the sun was rising, we got to the hospice.

"How much should I pay you?" she asked, reaching into her purse (钱包).

"5 ," I said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other6 ."

"You gave an old woman a little moment of7 ," she said. "Thank you."

I drove into the fine morning light. 8  me, a door shut. It was the sound of the9  of a life. I drove aimlessly (漫无目的地), lost in thought. For the rest of the day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had got a(n) 10  driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift (换班)? What if I had refused to take the run?

Everyone was happy on Saturday morning, but not Tom. He sat in front of a high fence(围栏). "Too bad! It's a nice Saturday morning but I must paint the fence. My friends are playing, but I'm sitting here. " He got up slowly and started to paint. Then he had a great idea. 

His friend Ben was walking down the street and he was eating a big red apple. He saw Tom and said, "Tom, I'm going swimming, but you can't come with me. You're working. "

Tom said, "I like it! I can go swimming every day, but I can't paint a fence every day. "

Ben was surprised and he watched Tom. He painted slowly and carefully, and he often smiled. He looked happy. At this time, Ben wanted to paint too. 

"Listen, Tom, let me paint a little, " said Ben. "I want to try. "

 Tom looked at Ben and said, "I'm really sorry, Ben, but Aunt Polly wants me to do it. You know, I'm very good at painting. My brother Sid wants to do it, but he's not good at painting. "

"Oh, Tom, let me try, please!" said Ben. "Here, you can have my apple. "

Tom was happy but he didn't smile. "OK, Ben, you can paint for a short time. "

Then Tom's other friends came by. They watched Tom paint and they all wanted to try. They gave Tom a new kite, a cat, an old knife, a key and some other things. 

Tom's friends painted the big fence, and Tom just sat under the big tree and watched them. He thought, "When something is difficult to get, everyone wants it. "

(Adapted from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)

There was a famous scientist who made several important discoveries. One day he {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (ask) how he was able to be so creative. He{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(reply) that it all came from an experience he had with his mother when he was 2 years old. He was trying to make a bottle of milk out of the fridge. But {#blank#}3{#/blank#} bottle was too slippery (滑的) and he dropped it. The kitchen floor was covered with milk. 

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (shout) at him or punishing him, she said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have never seen such a huge puddle of milk. Would you like to play in the milk {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a few minutes before we clean it up?"

{#blank#}6{#/blank#} he did. A few minutes later, they cleaned it up together. Then his mother said, "This was a failed experiment on how to carry a big bottle of milk with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the backyard and practise with the bottle full of water to make sure the floor wouldn't {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (cover) with milk next time. "

The little boy learned that if he held the bottle at the top near the lip(边沿) with both hands, he could carry it {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (success). What a wonderful lesson!

The scientist then added that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be afraid to make {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(mistake). He learned that they are just opportunities (机 会) to learn something in a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(good) and faster way, which is, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment doesn't work, we can still learn something valuable from it.