This is Jill. She is twelve years old. She has two new friends. They are Sami and Pat. Sami is a girl. She's twelve. She is short and slim. She's from England. She's English. Pat is a boy. He is twelve too. He's tall and strong. He's from America. He's American.

    Do you want to travel as cheaply as possible while enjoying the great scenery(风景)as much as possible? Backpacking(背包旅行)is the most popular way among young people now. With a tent, a sleeping bag and some clothes, you can start your trip Backpacking can give you many challenges(挑战). To travel with little money, backpackers stay in cheap hotels or schools, and they sometimes sleep in railway stations or under bridges.

    The young people in Europe often travel around their own country by train. Now they can travel father to Australia or China by plane because the plane tickets are much cheaper now.

    But no matter where backpackers travel, planning is very important if they want to enjoy the trip They should carry waterproof(防水的)clothes in summer, some medicine, and of course a credit card which is a safe way to carry money. Students may bring their student ID card to get tickets at lower prices. When you want to travel to a foreign country, the passport(护照) is necessary.

Information Card

    The Backstreet Boys is a well-known rock band in the USA．When their first album（音乐专辑） came out, they got a lot of attention. Young people everywhere loved their songs. Among the band's biggest fans, there was a young boy named Aaron Carter. Aaron had a special reason for taking such an interest in the band. Nick Carter, one of the Backstreet Boys, was Aaron's big brother.

    Even before Nick joined the band, Aaron loved music. From the age of two, Aaron spent lots of time listening to the radio. He sang along with his favorite songs. He made up dances to go with them. That's why Aaron's family was not surprised when Aaron decided to follow Nick into the music world.

    Aaron got off to a fast start. At the age of seven, he joined a band in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. But after two years, Aaron didn't want to be part of a band anymore. He wanted to sing alone. Soon, brother Nick gave Aaron a helping hand. During a Backstreet Boys show in Germany, Aaron sang a song. He did an amazing job! After the show, someone from a record company asked Aaron to make an album. Of course, Aaron said yes!

    Since that day, Aaron has made many popular songs．His songs include" Crush on You" and "I'm Gonna Miss You Forever".

    Aaron has worked hard to become a success. But he never forgets how his brother gave him his start. As Aaaron has said. "If Nick wasn't a singer, then I wouldn't be here."

Northern fur seals

    Northern fur seals spend winter in the warm waters near California. There is lots of food for the seals, but there are also lots of predators. When spring comes, the Northern fur seals go on a long trip to islands near Alaska. These islands are a safe place to breed, as there are not many predators. The male seals arrive at islands first. They fight for the best females to arrive. The females arrive about four weeks later. They each give birth to one seal pup. In the next few days, the seals mate again. When they return to the islands, one year later, the females will give birth to next year's seal pups. After three months, the females and the young seals set off back to the warm waters off the coast of California. Soon after, the males also leave the islands. The fur seals travel about 10,000 kilometers on their trip from California to Alaska and back again.（改编于《七年级新理念第三册》）

    When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

    In the A, B, C, D and F grading system, the first four letters are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for "fail". The word "fail" happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E.

    The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale;

    A: 95-100% (excellent)         B: 85-94% (good)      C: 76-84% (fair)

    D: 75%( nearly passed)         E: below 75% (failed)

    We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

    Gradually, the letter grading system became more popular all over the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F. There is no evidence(证据) to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for "excellent".

    Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during a time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began, growing cities and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

    Today, more and more people think that letter grades don't fully show students' learning. However, as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to prefer the letter grades they got as kids, as they are familiar and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.

A.     B.     C.     D.     E.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I usually go to school on foot every week day. And I get to school at 6: 45 am. I have four classes in the morning, I have lunch at school, but I don't like school lunch. In the afternoon, I have three classes. I'm busy but I'm very happy!

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}We have many rules in our school. We can't talk in the library or eat in the classroom. And we can't be late for school. We must clean our classroom every day. Besides, we need to say hello to our teachers when we meet them.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It is warm and sunny today. Little Sarah is visiting the zoo with her parents. Sarah likes pandas best. She thinks they're cute and lovely. So she goes to the panda house first. She sees a baby panda and says happily, "Hello, little baby!"

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Last weekend, my classmates and I went to the Children's Park. We took some photos at the gate. Then we went into the park. Some of us started to fly a kite, some played games on the grass, and others went boating on the lake. We had a lot of fun!

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}There is a big library near my school. It is our city library. You can find many kinds of books there. I like science, so I like going there on weekends to read science books. There are always lots of children reading books there.