Jason Weiner is a cook in New York For the past four years, he has offered a "Meatless Monday" menu at his restaurant. The idea is to encourage people to eat more vegetables. To do this, he relies heavily on a vegetable everyone is familiar with: cauliflower.

    Over the years, his cauliflower dishes have enjoyed huge popularity.

    Weiner, in fact, isn't the only cook experimenting with the vegetable. Cauliflower used to be boring. It was something to buy only when there was nothing else on the shelf. Now, however, it's "taking on a starring role," says food writer Elena North-Kelly. Across the United States, sales of cauliflower have grown rapidly for two years. On the Internet, DIY cauliflower recipes(烹饪法) have been viewed thousands of times each.

    Cauliflower can be cooked in many different ways. It can be roasted-like a steak. It can be sliced into a sandwich along with other vegetables. The hottest recipe is cauliflower "rice.” The dish is made by mixing the flower part of cauliflower and then lightly cooking the pieces in oil. The "rice" is rich in vitamins C, K and B6, and very low in calories(卡路里). No doubt it has become very popular.

    Unlike other healthy foods, cauliflower is almost always in season. That's because it can be grown everywhere, throughout the year. The vegetable also sells at a low price.

    Friends are very important in everyone's life because friends are always there when we need them. It's great to have many friends, and I can't think about my life without my friends.

    My best friend is Lisa. When I first met her, I was five. She is one year older than me. Now she is in the same class with me, in the 8th grade. She is tall and quite thin. She has long curly blond hair and blue eyes. Lisa and I like doing a lot of things together and talking about different things. She always helps me with my math and I sometimes help her with her English and history, I had to do a report(报告)on science once, but I didn't understand(理解) what the teacher said. The next day, I read it in front of the class. But the teacher told me that my report was wrong and my classmates laughed at me. I felt very bad about myself. Lisa was the only one who didn't laugh at me. She tried to be nicer than anybody else and made me happy.

    Lisa is friendly and everybody loves her. I am happy to have a friend like her.

Information Card

    Friends are very important in people's live.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} I think it's very easy to make friends with other people and build a friendship between each other. However,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} So what is true friendship? In my opinion, true friendship includes:

    First of all, true friendship must treat their friends loyally and help each other. In other words, you must not take advantage of your friends,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, some unfriendly people make friends in order to cheat money and feelings, or get a certain secret and so I don't think these are true friendships.

    Second, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}For example, if a friend is really in need of money to escape from some troubles, true friends might lend it and help him or her.

    Third,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}One of the greatest men once said:" If you tell your happiness to your friend, you will get double happiness. If you tell your sadness to your friend, you will get half.

    My mom hates to cook. She'd rather ride her motorcycle or practice rock climbing. She also spends a lot of time with me. Every morning Mom takes me to school by motorcycle. Occasionally I'll come home to find her scaling(攀爬)the side of the house.

As her daughter, I used to feel embarrassed that my mom was so different. But now________.

    It all started with a cooking project. Every student in Mrs. Maitland's home-economics class was supposed to create an original dish, then present it at school the following Tuesday morning. Mom and I spent hours in the kitchen. We tried jelly-filled hot dogs, baked ham with chocolate sauce, and hard-boiled eggs rolled in coconut. We eventually agreed on chocolate cakes with bright green pepper mint frosting. I was satisfied. It beat hot dogs, anyway.

    The big day came. Our parents appeared, bringing many tasty dishes. Finally, I saw Mom, empty handed! I met her at the door. "You forgot it, didn't you?"

    Mom's eyes opened wide. "I'm sor--" She couldn't finish her apology. A loud alarm cut her off. Mrs. Maitland yelled, "Fire! This is not a drill! Everyone out of the building!"

    We all headed for the stairs and gathered at the parking lot. Smoke started to curl out of one of the third-floor windows. Mom held my hand tightly. I forgot about my cake.

    Suddenly, we heard a scream. We looked up and found Danny Patterson was trapped in the burning building! Mom disappeared. She grabbed her climbing tools from her motorcycle and walked quickly toward the building.

    She scaled the huge pine tree next to the school. At the top, she started to throw her weight back and forth. The tree swung toward the window, and she hopped onto the ledge and into the building.

    Mom's ropes flew as she created a harness. She secured one end, and then lowered Danny safely to the ground. Everyone cheered!

    Who cares if my mom hates to cook?

    People spend almost a third of their lives doing one thing- sleeping. Every year, there is a special day for people around the world to celebrate the importance of good and healthy sleep—World Sleep Day.

    Sleep is like food for the brain. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    People of different ages need different amounts (数量) of sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation (国家睡眠基金会) in the US, adults should get seven to eight hours of sleep a night. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And school-aged children may need more than ten hours of sleep.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The China Youth and Children Research Center said that about 80 percent of middle school students don't get enough sleep. It has influenced on students ' school life. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They can't pay attention in class or do well in sports.

    To solve this problem, scientists advise that students should get less schoolwork and more time to sleep.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Good sleep habits help a lot. For example, try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends and during holidays.