Tom is a young man. He eats and sleeps a lot,1works a little. He doesn't like to learn, so he 2little. He can't do any difficult work, so he has to look 3 an easy job. One day he finds a job on a farm. When it's work time, he always says he's tired and4So he gets less money than the others.5 is coming. The workers are getting ready for the next year. Only Tom does 6. The farmer tells him to cut down trees in the forest. The young man goes there with a 7. He feels terrible in the forest and 8 about the animals. So he looks around and sings loudly. Nobody knows 9 he's singing.

    After three days, Tom hasn't cut down any trees. The farmer wants to find out how the young man is doing. He's 10 when he finds Tom sitting on the chair, cutting the tree. “Why are you sitting here to cut the tree?” asks the farmer. “Because I can't work if I am lying(躺)down, sir.”

    Tom lives in London. His1have a shop at their house and they both work there. He is six years old now and goes to school The school is a little2from their shop and his father drives a car to take him to school every day. So he's not 3for class and his teachers like him.

    It's Monday today Miss Hunt is teaching them to4from one to ten. Tom studies5. Soon he can count them Miss Hunt is6and asks, "How many people are there in your family, Tom?"

    Tom stands and begins to count with his7. Then he says, "8, Miss Hunt."

    "9are they?"

    "My father and my mother."

    "Oh?" Miss Hunt is surprised. She says, "There are three people in your family"

    "But now I'm not10, but at school, you know!"

    Tongtong is three years old. She likes1English very much. Her mother2English in a high school.

    Tongtong likes to3English cartoon videos. She plays games with her dolls and4with them in English. She learns a lot by watching the videos. Sometimes she can5but doesn't know the6. When her mother comes back home, she will tell Tongtong what the words and sentences mean.

    Tongtong's mother thinks that interest is important, and7is more important. Tongtong has great interest in English speaking. She can learn to speak by8and listening. But she should have chances(机会)to use it. So her mother tries to talk with her in English at home and takes her to the9at school. Though Tongtong makes many mistakes, her English improves10.

    It was the middle of July. I had spent two days exploring a bat cave in the desert in southern New Mexico. The cave was part of an ancient flow of lava（熔岩流），now hardened into rock. I had left the cave and was driving my pickup truck on a rough（高低不平的）track across the  1surface of the lava flow.

    Suddenly, the truck came to a stop, caught on a black lava rock.

    A quick check of the underside 2the worst: the truck's axle（车轴）was bent，nearly broken in two. I couldn't 3 help in such faraway country. I put the food and cans of water into my backpack and set off on foot, going north, the direction of the main highway. I was low on water. Too little food did not matter much, but hiking across the desert in July without water could be dangerous. As I set out, unreasonable 4 came over my mind. I was afraid of everything around me. Each creature made my heart jump. In my mind, every movement was a scary animal about to strike and kill me.

    I walked for hours and cried until I 5that nobody was around to hear me. Complaining was useless. A change came over me. I began to feel less afraid. Fear was replaced by curiosity. I went on, and slowly but surely began to see the desert world differently, through 6 eyes, not frightened ones.

    That night I lay on the warm sand, using my backpack as a pillow. The sky went dark. The stars began to shine in the hugeness of the heavens. With a smile I thought how little there was to fear, after all. By noon the following day I 7north. I began to think how lucky I was to see the wild desert world. A wrecked truck and a forced hike across the desert gave me an/a 8 to see what few others ever saw

    Late in the day, I came to a farmhouse. I drank all the lemonade that the farmer and his wife had in their refrigerator. "I liked it out there," I told them when we got to talking. "I just wish I had been less frightened. I would have noticed more that way "I know what you mean," the man said thoughtfully.

"It's a rare sight, that desert wilderness, a rare sight'

    When I had something difficult to do, I liked to ask my mother for 1. But she always said, "Do it yourself, dear." I was not happy about this at all. I thought she was the 2mother I had ever seen!

For example, one day, I decided to3some friends to my home. My bedroom was not in order. Books were4, and I didn't make the bed. I asked my mother to help me clean it, but she 5said, "Do it yourself."

    Because of my "lazy mother", I had to6my clothes and clean my room. I had to help my parents do7. I even had to go to the doctor by myself. It was really difficult for me to do a good job, but I have 8 a lot.

    As time goes by, I start to understand my mother. She made 9clever and hard-working. A 10mother is worth 100 teachers! Do you think so?