Chores weren't popular at my house. My children didn't like to do chores. They always saw me do chores, but they hardly ever helped me dothem.

    A year ago, I made a game called "The Endless ChoreGame". It's really great. Here's how the game works.

    I make a card with forty squares(方框), and I write adifferent chore on each square. These chores can be easy and interesting likemaking dessert. Then my family roll the dice(骰子)to decidewhat chores we have to do. The card also has a few squares with fun things, like watching TV and singing. If you're lucky, you can watchTV when the others are doing the chores.

    My son likes the game very much. He goes to the kitchen happily every morning to do the game. It's really a good way to make my children do chores. You can have a try if you have the same problemas me.

Mr and Mrs Albina, with 64 children, have the world's largest family. Not one of their children is adopted（领养）.
When people hear about the Albinas' large family, the first question they ask is, "How is it possible? How can one woman give birth to 64 children in her lifetime?" The answer is simple: Every time Mrs Albina gave birth, she had twins or triplets.
Soon after the Albinas got married the children came quickly, in twos and threes. The first 21 children were boys. Mrs Albina loved her sons, but she wanted a daughter very much.
The Albinas spent the early years in Argentina. Then they decided to move to Chile. To travel from Argentina to Chile, they had to cross the Andes Mountains. Mr and Mrs Albina and their 21 sons made the difficult, two-week joumey on mules. One night there was a terrible snowstorm in the mountains. During the snowstorm, Mrs Albina gave birth to triplets, a boy and-two girls!
The oldest Albina children are in their thirties and forties. They are on their own now, but 18 of the Albina children still live with their parents The family lives in a two-room shack in Colina Chile. The shack has electricity but no toilet or running water. The children wash in a small bowl in the dusty backyard.
At times there is very little food in the Albinas' small house. When there is not enough food for everyone, Mrs Albina makes sure the youngest children do not go hungry. "The smallest eat first, and then the bigger ones. We've always done it that way," she says. Obviously, the Albinas do not have enough money for their big family. Why, then, do they continue to have children?
The Albinas do not use birth control because it is against their religion (宗教）.They could let other people take care of their children, but Mrs. Albina will not allow it. "When my two brothers and I were babies," she says，"our mother left us at an orphanage（孤儿院）and never returned. We lived there together until we were five. Then a couple adopted my brothers, and I was left behind. I was heartbroken. I promised myself that when I became a mother, I would never give my children away. Even if I didn't have much money, I would always take care of my children myself." Mrs Albina has kept her promise.

    Several days ago, Brenda had a car accident that led to one of her legs being cut off. Since then she didn't talk to anyone.

     “I wish I could bring her friends to visit her,” said Brenda's mother. “But it's a long bus trip.” The nurse smiled, “Don't worry. We have a plan.”

    Later that day, the nurse had taken Brenda to another room. “Here's your new roommate, Annie Wiggle-Do,” the nurse introduced a dark-hair teenager on the other bed.

    As soon as the nurse left, she jumped out of her bed with her only foot and sat at the other end of Brenda's bed, “I lost my leg from bone cancer,” she said. “What happened to yours?” Brenda was so shocked that she couldn't say a word. “You're lucky.” Annie continued. “You've still got your knee. They had to take mine.”

     “I'd like to have a chat with you, but my friends are coming any time now, so I have to get ready.” Annie said when she took off her hair! Her head was completely bald(秃头的).

     “Oh, I forgot to tell you, the medicine they gave me to kill the cancer also killed my hair.” Annie looked out her wigs(假发), brown and yellow, short and long, straight and curly.

     “That's why I thought up ‘Annie Wiggle-Do'.” Annie smiled. “Get it? Any wig will do? Annie Wiggle-Do?” “When Annie's friends came, she introduced Brenda to them all. Before long, Brenda started chatting with Annie and her friends. They didn't make her feel like a strange person at all!

    The girls shared their names with each other. When it was time to go to bed, Brenda said, “Good night, Annie-Wiggle-Do. Can't wait till morning.”

    There are many kinds of ants in America. One kind is very strong. People are afraid of it and the other animals are afraid of it, too.

    These ants are often in big groups, they eat all the animals on their way. They can kill and eat elephants. And they can eat horses, too. Sometimes they can even kill people and eat them.

    When the ants come near, people leave their homes. But people are sometimes happy after the ants pass by. Because they can see no insects(昆虫)or snakes.

Sara walked slowly home from school kicking stones along the sidewalk and thinking about the assignment（作业）. Mrs. Peters, her teacher, gave the 1 in class right before school finished so that students could think about the assignment over the weekend. "This assignment will be a 2 one!" she said. "Each of you will find something that you are good at and write a report for the class. I'm sure you'll be happy to do it!"

As she had expected, students immediately began to talk about all the ideas that they had for the report 3 in class. Sara's best friend, Betsy, loved to play the piano and was already a skilled pianist. Tom was the captain of the school team and would write his report about basketball. Everyone seemed to have an idea for the project except Sara.

"It's impossible for me to choose 4 ," thought Sara, as she walked in through her front door—remembering her basketball for the wrong team and her strong dislike of running! She loved to sing and dance, but she did it only for fun with her friends. As for art, she believed that her paintings were about the same quality as her little sister who was five. Sara 5 what in the world she would write her paper about.

The minute Sara walked through the door, her sister came running towards her to give Sara her daily after-school hug! Suddenly, Sara 6 the happy moments with her sister. Every day, Sara tried to think of something special that they were going to do together. Sometimes, they went out for a walk or played in the backyard. Other days, they stayed inside the house to read or watch their favorite show on TV. Today, Sara was planning to help her sister make a castle out of pillows, chairs and blankets. With a smile, Sara considered how much she 7 being a big sister.

As Sara gathered blankets, pillows and snacks to eat in their castle, her sister shouted happily. Then an 8 came to Sara—she was an expert at something! Sara smiled as she knew that she also had a wonderful report. She believed she would hand in an excellent assignment next week.