If we agree that education is used to prepare us for life, then there is very little time to waste. So, while we can, we should teach children something really useful. Here is what our school should teach.

    Politeness is a mark of civilization(文明). The sooner children learn this, the better. In any case, a lot can be achieved by a smile and good manners.

    Like it or not, our adults work hard for money, but we don't make an effort to teach children how to manage it. So our schools have a duty to teach them this ability from the beginning.

    We're likely to accept something we are told, but that's not what educated people do. Educated people are reasonable(理性的) and they look at facts. If our schools teach nothing else, they should at least teach critical（批判性的）thinking.

    Children should learn to take care of their health. They should know that if they eat junk food（垃圾食品）, they will become fat and unhealthy. They should be very clear about what happens to their bodies when they drink or smoke.

    All of us are part of society. We have rights and duties. We should understand what they are. We have to know a little bit of history and geography, because we need to have an environment in which to communicate with the people around us.

    In a word, our schools should spend every moment they have telling this to our children: “This is life, this is what you are going to face, and this is how you deal with it.”

Teenage life—better now, or in the past?

    Does this situation sound familiar（熟悉）?

    You are complaining（抱怨）to your parents about something. Maybe your computer isn't powerful enough to play the latest games.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.Then you hear…

    “When I was your age, there weren't any computers or video games. And I didn't get a bike until I was sixteen. And it was second-hand.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}”

    So, is it really true that life is better for teenagers now? It is certainly true that many teenagers have got more things nowadays.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}So parents have got more money to spend on each child. And many things are cheaper than they were when our parents were children.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Forty years ago, no one could imagine a world with tiny computers and amazing smartphones. And now these things are necessary—we can't imagine living without them!

    However, technology often means we spend more time at home. And often it's just us, with our computer or television. Teenagers don't do enough exercise.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} And, although young people still get on well with their friends, some people think teenagers today don't have so many social activities as they did in the past.

    What do you think? How is teenage life better these days?

A. And it was too big for me.

B. A typical family is smaller now.

C. Or your friends' bikes are better than yours.

D. So they aren't as healthy as they were in the past.

E. Technology is probably the greatest change in our life.

    One weekend, a wife and a husband(丈夫)went to visit a shop in Tokyo. After they got back home, they couldn't find their camera(照相机). They thought the camera must be in the shop. After a few weeks, they went to that shop again and the boss of the shop gave their camera back to them.

    When their pictures of the camera came out, the husband saw two pictures he did not take. One is a man standing at the door of the shop. In his hand there is a piece of paper(纸) with some words on it "I find your camera. "The other is a boy with a piece of paper in his hand. There are some words on the paper too "I take the pictures".

    I'd just got in a taxi at the railway station when suddenly I found one of my suitcases (手提箱) missing. Just then, I saw a young man, not very far, opening it and taking out valuables. "Stop thief! Stop thief!" I shouted and threw open the car door and rushed out to him, followed by the driver and some passers-by. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} My driver caught him by the neck and took out the valuables from his trouser pocket and put them back into my suitcase.

    Half an hour later, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But as I checked those stolen things, I became very surprised, unable to speak. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And a blood test report of a 58-year-old woman appeared. I suddenly realized that the taxi driver must have mistaken the thief's things and put his into my suitcase.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But this story keeps coming back to me. Was the young man a habitual thief or a dutiful son who had been driven to find money to save his mother's life? {#blank#}5{#/blank#} How I wish I had gone back that afternoon to return the money and the report and say sorry to him. For the first time in my life, I realized that hate and love are very close.

    Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can't talk with words, but they talk with sounds.

    Dolphins travel in a group. We call a group of fish a "school". They are not fish. Instead, they are mammals (哺乳动物), Dolphins talk to other dolphins in the school. They give information. They tell others when they are happy or sad or afraid. They say welcome when a dolphin comes back to school. They talk when they play.

    They make a few sounds above water. They make many more sounds under water. People can't hear these sounds because they are very high. Scientists make tapes of the sounds and study them.