When you start a new school, go to a party or try to know a person, you often need to break the ice in order to start a friendly conversation. Breaking the ice means saying or doing something to stop feeling shy or uncomfortable around someone you don't know well. Almost everyone feels uncomfortable or shy when people meet for the first time. If you feel like this, the following ① tips can help you out.

Smile ② Whenyou smile, people think you're friendly and easy to talk to. They are also very likely to smile back and help you feel more comfortable about starting a conversation.

Be positive  Everybody likes being around happy people. Always look on the bright side of life and see everything positively（积极地）.

Be a good listener.   Don't control the conversation and don't just talk about yourself. ③ 仔细听别人讲，并且问一些关于他们自己的问题。They'll think you're worth talking to.

Be easy-going  ④ Some people may be so shy that they can't break the ice. Don't avoid being around new people just because you feel uncomfortable. If you face a situation again and again, you'll get used to it.

    I have a garden(花园)．It is a great place to have fun．Now it's summer．The garden has many colors—green，white，red and yellow．There are three trees in the garden—an orange tree,an apple tree and a pear tree．The orange tree is young and it doesn't have any fruits．There aren't many pears on the pear tree，either because of the cold weather in April and May this year．There are a lot of green apples on the apple tree．It always has a lot of fruits every year．

    There are two animals in the garden now．Max is my dog．Max is big,but he is very friendly and everybody loves him．He's 4 years old．Max is playing with Hector, my beautiful white cat．Hector is about ten years old：

    There is a purple tent (帐篷)in the middle of the garden．My brother,Luke，likes camping(扎营)，but my mother doesn't want him to go camping．So he sometimes sleeps in the purple tent．I think my mother is right．Camping in the garden is safe (安全的)for a five-year-old boy．

根据材料内容简要回答下列问题。

    When I spent the summer with my grandmother, she always sent me to a store with a long shopping list. How could I hope to find all these things? In the store, there was a tall lady with black glasses on her nose. There wasn't a smile on her face.

    “Excuse me,” I said. She looked down and said, “I'm Miss Bee.”

    “I need to get these.” I said, holding up my list. “So? Go to get them. ” Miss Bee pointed to some shelves. “There's no one here, only you and me, so get yourself a basket and get all these things yourself.”

    That summer I visited Miss Bee twice a week. Sometimes she gave me wrong change. One afternoon I corrected her, “That bag of beans is only twenty-nine cents!”She just looked at me over her glasses and changed the price. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I got into the store just like General Patton getting into North Africa.

    Soon I learned how to find the product on the shelf… At the end of the summer, the shopping trip only took me 15 minutes. Before I left, I stopped in the store to get some candy.

    “All right, little girl,” she said. “What did you learn this summer?” Before I could answer. Miss Bee laughed and said, “I know what you think of me. Well, I don't care! My job is to teach every child some life lessons. When you get older you'll be glad you ever met Miss Bee. Haha!...”

    I didn't think of her words. Years passed, one day my daughter came to me with her homework. “It's too hard,” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”

    “If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said. Suddenly, I was back at that store and I knew what I learned from the old lady that summer.

    Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings and senses, including Love, Happiness, Sadness and Wisdom lived. One day they were told that the island would sink(下沉), so they all got on boats and left except Love.

    Love was the only one that stayed until the last possible moment. Finally, Love decided to ask for help.

    Wealth was passing by Love in a beautiful boat.  Love said, "Wealth, can you take me with you?"

    Wealth answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no room for you."

    Love decided to ask Pride, who was also passing by in a beautiful ship. "Pride, please help me!"

    "I can't help you, love. You are all wet and might damage(损坏)my boat," Pride answered.

    Sadness was close by, so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you."

    "Oh…Love, I'm so sad. How can I take someone else with me?"

    Happiness passed by Love too.  But she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called out to her.

    Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I'll take you." It was an elder. Love was so excited that he forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at the river bank(河岸), the elder went his own way. Love was grateful to the elder, so he asked Wisdom, another elder. "Who helped me?"

    "It was Time," Wisdom answered.

    "Time?" asked Love.

    Wisdom smiled and replied, "Only Time can understand how valuable you are."

    My work allows me to live in different countries. Reading books helps me to connect with my friends, family and my home country, the UK. Here are some books that I read a lot.

    Daddy Long Legs

    This book is about the story of a young girl, Judy, who goes to university and gets lots of new experiences. This book always makes me think of my mother because she used to read it to me when I was ill in bed.

    Harry Potter

    I'm sure many of you know Harry Potter books! I have read them many times since primary school. I really get lost in the stories. These days I'm reading them again in Germany.

    The Railway Children

    这是我最喜爱的书之一It was a gift for my 13th birthday from my best friend, so it still strongly makes me think of my childhood. It is about three children and their adventures(冒险经历)next to a railway.

    These days, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" is the wrong question to ask children in the USA. The question should be: "What job are you doing now？"American companies are employing more and more young people as consultants(顾问)to evaluate(评估)products for child consumers. The 12-to-19 age group spends more than $100 billion a year in the USA. Specialist agencies help manufacturers ask kids about all the latest trends in clothes, food and other markets. One company, Teenage Research Unlimited, has groups of teenagers who give their decisions on products like jeans. Another company, Doyle Research Associated, holds two-hour meetings in a room called the "imaginarium". Children are encouraged to play games to get into a creative mood. They have to write down any ideas which come into their heads.

    Some manufacturers prefer to do their own market research. The software company Microsoft runs a weekly "Kid's Council" at its headquarter in Seattle, where a group of school children give their decision on the latest products and suggest new ones. They are called young consultants. One 11-yearold consultant, Andrew Cooledge, told them they should make more computer games which are suitable for both boys and girls. Payments for the work are increasingly attractive, Andrew Cooledge was paid$250 and given some software. However, even if their ideas are valuable, the children will never make money. They cannot have the copyright to their ideas.