With only one yuan, could you live in a city for one day? It may sound impossible.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

On April 10th, more than 60 students from a middle school took part in the One Yuan Metropolis Survival(一元城市生存). A charity organization(慈善组织) for teenagers held this activity.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And it is going to four others, including Beijing.

In the activity, students had to live and deal with difficult tasks. To make money, many students looked for part-time jobs and saw how hard life was. A 14-year-old girl asked more than 10 restaurants for a job and finally got one. "{#blank#}3{#/blank#} But gradually, we got used to it," she said. After being a waiter for an hour, she got 25 yuan.

Living was hard, but finishing the tasks wasn't any easier. The students went to different places to finish tasks in a short time. The most amazing one was when they had to exchange things worth a thousand yuan with only a piece of paper in half an hour. "{#blank#}4{#/blank#} From a balloon to a cake to a bottle of yogurt...after almost 20 tries, we got an expensive ring," a student said. "We will give all of the money we have raised to poor schools in Tibet."

Do You Want to Be a Writer?

Here are some tips on becoming a writer.

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Most writers read whatever books they can find because they love to lose themselves in them. They like the sounds of language and the way that reading a good description can feel as satisfying as a baseball game or eating a banana split.

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It's easy to forget a good idea if you do not write it down immediately. If you get in the habit of carrying a notebook with you everywhere you go, you can write down anything you want to remember. When you are talking to friends in the cafe or waiting for the bus, something might spark an idea for a character or scene in a story.

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Nearly all writers agree that writers must write. It doesn't matter if you feel like you have nothing to say; the important thing is that you write every single day. Sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to write things which won't be your best work.

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Do you have any friends who enjoy writing? Think about starting a writing group with other people who have similar interests. It helps to have the support of other writers. You will also receive valuable feedback, or suggestions, about how to make you work better.

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If you decide that you would like to send your work for publication, make sure to do your research. If you are sending your writing to a magazine, look through old ones. Does it seem like your writing fits in with the other stories or articles? That's the homework for you after writing.

 Cooking is supposed to be the most basic living skill for humans. However, there are many kids who are used to being fed and taken care of everywhere like" little emperors and little princesses". They can't tell the differences between food materials like leeks (韭菜) and shallots (大葱).

 In order to stress (加强) the importance of hard- working spirit education among students, the Communist Party of China Central Committee recently released (发布) the guidelines (方针). The guidelines call for students to respool labor work. Students should learn basic life skills and develop good working habits through such education.

 Students will be required to understand and master the basics of home cooking from preparing vegetables to finally being able to complete the whole process of home cooking independently. These will be lifelong skills for kids, helping them develop into well-rounded persons instead of those who are just able to take exams.

 As children's first teachers, parents should also encourage children to learn how to do chores at home. Students should master one or two life skills every year. These skills can include cooking, washing their own clothes and tidying their rooms.

 It's really important for students to take labor education both at school and at home.

When children read to Danny, he never stops them or corrects them. He just sits quietly and listens patiently. Danny is a "listening1 ". He is part óf a reading program for children. The name of the program is R.E.A.D.

This program helps2 children's reading and communication skills in a special way -' reading to dogs, but not any dog. R.E.A.D. dogs are therapy animals (治疗动物). " We all know that learning to read well is very3 . Teachers always ask children to read aloud.4 reading aloud in class is very difficult for some children. They are afraid that other children will5 them," says Danny' S trainer, Tony Nevett. But a listening dog like Danny won't make fun of them. The children will feel safe.It's also fun for them. They even start to6 reading aloud. As a result, their reading gets better.

This program7 helps the dogs. Many of them live in dog shelters and need a home. After some8 , the dogs learn to be comfortable with people they don' t know. This helps them to be9 for adoption (收养）.

The R. E.A.D. program started in the USA."We have many success stories," says Tony. He hopes the program will spread to more places. Children who10 the program learn to love reading. This helps them succeed in school.

Chinese people are very generous (大方的) about the education on their children. Some parents 1 a lot of money sending their children to the best schools or even abroad. Many also want their children to take interest classes to learn 2 useful or to get better grades. Why do parents do this? Because they believe that the more expensive the education is, the 3 their children will be. So parents hardly say no when they have to spend money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer 4 their son or daughter.

However, what most parents don't see is that the best education their children can get is usually very cheap. Most parents 5 realize that today's children often don't feel confident. Because they only teach their children how to take tests and how to get high grades. They forget to teach children the most important skills. Children need to be confident, hard-working, happy and clever. Parents can build up children's confidence by teaching life skills 6 cooking, washing and doing other housework.

7 a child to cook will improve many skills that he will need later in life. It's a must for children to take care of 8 . Cooking needs patience (耐心) and time. It is an enjoyable 9 difficult experience. A good cook always tries to 10 his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and finish his job well. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him 11 satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.

An old machine, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child as a toy may make him 12 . If he spends hours looking at it, and trying to repair it, your child 13 become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but 14 to think, to use his mind. This is much 15 important.