“USA? Britain? Which country is better to study in?” We often hear such discussion. As China opens its door, studying abroad has become a dream for many Chinese students. They want to learn about the world. It's true that studying abroad can help students develop themselves. Language skills will improve and it may be easier to find a job.
But there are problems that should be considered. Language is the first. Students must spend a lot of time learning another language and getting used to a different culture.
Students must also learn to live without parents' care and deal with all kinds of things they haven't had to do before, like looking after themselves. There are reports about Chinese students abroad sinking in an ocean of difficulties and giving up easily. When they have to take care of themselves, it is hard for the students to study well.
Finally, studying abroad brings a heavy burden (负担) to the family. For most Chinese parents, the cost of studying abroad is very high. But is it worth it?
We know that there are many famous people who succeed in great things through their hard work in China. Liu Xiang is a good example. Once an American teacher invited him there but he refused. He kept training hard with his Chinese teacher. He surprised the world when he won a gold medal at Athens Olympics. So when you wonder which country is better to study in, consider whether studying abroad is the right choice.

    When I was about 6 years old, I lived in Kenya. On the roads, there were always street children asking for money. There was such a big difference between those children and me. At least I didn't have to worry about my living.

    My family had a wonderful driver, John, who had been working for us for years. He took me to and from school. One day, when we stopped in busy traffic (交通), a young street child went to us and called, "Hi, John!"

    John then gave him a little money and said goodbye to him with a smile before we went on to school. I was quite surprised. I knew that John worked hard to make money. He had a large family himself. We always sent food and clothes to his family. I couldn't understand why he gave money to the child.

    "Who was that?" I asked.

    "My friend," he replied. "Sometimes I see him on my way to work and I give him a little money."

    I was still unable to understand, so I asked, "Why do you give him money?"

    John replied, "So he can use it to buy some food."

    At that moment (瞬间q) I understood what kindness really was.

    Every Friday my grandfather gave me chocolates. I would save (保留) some so I could give them to John' s friend on the weekend.

根据材料内容完成下列任务。

    Basketball players are usually very tall. Because they need to put the ball into the basket. Other sports players may be shorter than them.

    Short people often have better balance (平衡) than tall people, so they don't fall over very often. In some sports the players must have good balance, for example, table tennis, they don't need to have long legs to run fast! Some of the fast runners in the world are not very tall. Some people are tall and some are short. The tallest man in the world is 2.41 meters tall. Today young people in many countries grow taller than their parents. This is because they eat better than their parents. Good food can help children grow.

根据短文内容，回答下列问题。

    Bangkok（曼谷）is the capital of Thailand, it is very different from Guangzhou. There are a lot of temples in Bangkok. It is hot all year round, so there are a lot of fruits, the most famous fruit is durian（榴莲）. There are many rivers in the city, so the market on the water is very famous, you can buy flowers, vegetables, fruits and other things on the boats.

    The best time to visit Thailand is at the end of March or the beginning of April, because it has the biggest festival in Thailand– Water Festival. It is the beginning of their New Year. Before the festival, people clean their house and cook nice food. During the festival, people sing, dance and throw water on each other. They think that water can clean away bad things and bring good luck. How interesting it is!

请阅读一篇有关中国人与西方人不同的饮食习惯的短文，根据所提供的信息，完成信息卡。

Customs on Eating

    Food in China and western countries is different. China has about five thousand years' history. Chinese people may spend half of their time on food. They choose food very carefully. They only use fresh materials to make food. For example, they only eat fresh fish. Chinese people have a lot of ideas for cooking. They can cook a chicken in over ten ways. So Chinese food is very popular around the world. Western countries, like England or America, don't have fresh food because they buy their food from supermarkets. -They only sell stored materials. Western people also prefer fast food like hamburgers and chips. They are unhealthy for people's body. Western people are very good at making desserts and chocolates. They can make very good cakes and chocolates. These food are very sweet and can make people become fat quickly.

    In China, when people invite others for a meal, they would pay for the meal, but it's not the same way in western countries. In western countries, people will think you only invite them but don't need to pay for them. They won't be happy if you pay for them.

Another difference in eating is that: Chinese people use chopsticks but western people use knives and forks.

    Chinese people only have three meals in a day. But western people may have more. They usually have afternoon tea when they would have fruit or cakes with cheese.

Information Card

    Reading is fun! Besides for fun, we can also analyze (分析) texts to learn more from the texts and more about the texts. One way we can do this is by finding out the theme of the texts.

    The theme of a text is the "big idea" that runs through the text, connecting the characters and events. It is what the writer wants to tell us through the story. Usually the theme of a text isn't told directly, you have to use clues (线索) in the text to find it out. 83 Themes can be ideas like family, friendship, love and so on. The theme might not be just one word, but it might be an idea such as "Friendship is important." There may also be more than one theme in a story. How can we find out the theme of a text? The following steps may help you.

    Read through the whole text, usually characters change as the story goes on, so the theme you get at the beginning might not be true at the end! For this reason, you need to read through the whole text first.

    Find out the clue after reading the whole text, try to answer the following questions. What important events happened during the story? What was the problem? How did the problem get solved? How did the character(s) change? What did the character(s) learn? The answers may help you to get the clues.

    Get the big idea Read again for the writer's purpose of the text by answering the following questions. Was most of the plot(情节) around friendship? Did the characters solve problems with their families? Did the main character learn the importance of friendship? If one of the answers is "yes", you may get the big idea.

    Check the big idea out If you've found a "big idea", go through the text to find the evidence( 证 据 ) that supports this idea in the text. For example, if there was only one small problem with a character's family, then "family" might not be the theme of the text. You might find more evidence for other themes.

    Have you got the way to find out the theme of a text? 84 Get your favorite book quickly and see if you can find the theme out!