Some birthday customs are quite similar in many parts of the world—- birthday candles(蜡烛), birthday games, and birthday cakes. But some customs are more specific to certain countries. Here are some children talking about their customs.

Linda: I am fourteen. I come from Aruba阿鲁巴岛（拉丁美洲）（荷属安的列斯群岛中的大岛）. In our country, Children take something special to school for their classmates and all teachers. Each teacher gives the birthday child a small gift like a pencil, an eraser or a postcard. The birthday child is also allowed to wear special clothes instead of the school uniform.

Lucy: I am one year older than Linda. Denmark（丹麦） is my country. A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in that house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child's bed while they are sleeping so they will see them at once when they wake up.

Tom: I am as old as Linda. I am from Brazil. The birthday child receives a pull on the earlobe(耳垂) for each year in my country. The birthday person also gives the first slice of cake to his/her most special friend or relative, usually mom or dad.

    There is a little boy named Mark. He hopes he could fly like a bird. His parents tell him, “Dear, you can't fly.” “Why can't I? Some birds in the zoo are very big, but they can fly.” The boy can't understand.

    There is another little boy named Barry. He is crippled(跛脚的). He wishes he could walk and run like other children.

    “Why can't I walk or run like other children?” Barry asks his father. His father doesn't know what to say.

    One day, the two boys meet in a park.

    “Do you want to fly like a bird?” Mark asks Barry.

    “No,” Barry says. “ I just wish I could walk and run like you.”

    Mark thinks for a minute, walks to Barry's father and says something into his ear.

    “That's OK,” says the father.

    Mark goes to Barry and says, “Get onto my back. Let's run together.” Then Mark carries Barry and begins to run. He runs faster and faster. He runs across the park with Barry on his back. The crippled boy flaps(拍打) his arms up and down in the wind. He shouts at the top of his voice, “We're flying, Mark! We're flying!”

回答下面5个问题, 每题答案不超过7个词。

    Bethany Hamilton is a professional surfer (职业冲浪手) in America. Her parents are both surfing lovers. As a baby, Bethany liked to play in the water. She started surfing at the age of five. By thirteen, she had been one of the best teenage surfers in the world. Then the shark attack (鲨鱼袭击) happened.

    On the morning of October 31, 2003, Bethany and some friends decided to go surfing. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining. The 13-year-old surfing star was lying on her surfboard (躺在她的冲浪板上) with her left arm in the clear, blue water. Suddenly a five-meter shark appeared and attacked her. Bethany saw the water around her tum red. She held on to her board and the shark swam away -- but it took her left arm with it. Luckily, the shark attacked only once. It all happened so fast that she didn't even shout.

    In her mind, Bethany thought, "Get to the beach. Get to the beach." She started to swim with one arm. She shouted for help. Her friends didn't know about the shark attack -- they thought at first that she was joking. Then they saw the red water and quickly came to help. It took her about fifteen minutes to reach the beach. They called 911 and. Bethany got to hospital at last. Surprisingly, she was surfing again in a competition only ten weeks later. And less than a year after the shark attack, she won first place in a surfing competition in Hawaii.

C

    There is an old Spanish saying which goes, “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}I would say, too many. We have to go for them now!

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Nobody likes to talk about death, but everybody is going to die at one point. None of us knows the hour, or the day. Therefore, today is all we have. Don^'t go to your tomb with unrealized dreams. Make the decision to go after every dream, big or small right now.

You will be much happier if you go for it. Imagine how happy you will be if you^'re living the life you always dreamed about.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Take control of your own happiness. Don't keep your dreams waiting. Go after them today!

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}When I was nine, I found an ad for selling greeting cards in a children's magazine. I asked my mother to let me send for the cards. Two weeks later when the cards arrived, I rushed from the house. Three hours later, returned home with no card but a lot of money. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Take me for example.

B. Tomorrow is not promised.

C. How many times have we put off our dreams until tomorrow?

D. A salesperson was born.

E. The only thing that is stopping you is yourself.

    You may think that inventions are far away from your everyday life. But in fact, almost everyone can invent things. It's just that they do not realize that their ideas could be the start of an invention. Once inventors see their ideas have some practical value, they don't let them slip way.

    For example, the inventor of the dishwasher, American Josephine Cochrane, loved to give dinner parties. But she found it took long to wash her dishes by hand. She decided that a machine could do the job faster and with fewer mistakes. So, in 1886, she set out to make one for herself.

    Here are the steps to create inventions. The first and most important step is to find the problem. You can start by looking at what is wrong with things you use now. You can ask grandparents or neighbors if they remember ever saying: "I wish someone would invent something for…" Or you can look at people in different areas--such as on the street, or at school. Then you might notice situations or things in need of improvement. Remember to record you ideas and work. This will help you develop your invention and protect it when it is completed. The next step is to think about possible solutions (解决方法). An invention is a new way of solving a problem. So think of many, varied and unusual ways. You can often come up with a solution to a problem by looking at it from a different side.

    The hardest part of inventing, even for a lot of inventors, is coming up with a problem and finding a solution. Once you have an idea, you can always get help building your invention. This problem-solving technique can also work in your everyday life. So, why not try it in your studies, in your relationship with others, or even in the way you look at the world?