Mr. White lived in the country. One day, he bought a second-class train ticket and went to London to buy something. All the seats in the second-class carriages had been taken when Mr. White got on the train. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Half an hour later, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} So he went into one of them and took an empty seat. The other four men seemed to be rich people because they all wore fine clothes. But just before the train started, a different kind of person jumped in and sat down.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} It was clear that he was very poor.

    Everyone in the carriage looked unhappy with the young man. Mr. White thought that he would not be the only person to pay more. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}If so, he was wrong. For when the train had traveled an hour, the door opened and the ticket-collector came into the carriage. Of course, Mr. White had to pay more money for his ticket. But to his great surprise, one by one each of the four men held out a second-class ticket. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He was the only man who had the first-class ticket in the carriage.

    Can you imagine a world without a writing system for your language? It may be hard to picture it now, but a man named Sequoyah lived in such a world. Sequoyah was a member of a native American tribe(部落), the Cherokee. Cherokee people speak their own language, but for hundreds of years they did not have a system of writing. Without a writing system, the Cherokee had no newspapers or books before 1809.

    Sequoyah was probably born around the year 1770 and lived with his mother in a small village in the mountains of Tennessee. When he grew up, he became a blacksmith(铁匠). When he was doing business with those “English-speaking people”, he noticed that they used paper with marks to record their thoughts and ideas. Sequoyah called these pieces of paper with marks “talking leaves”. He began to wonder why people who spoke Cherokee did not have a way to write down their words.

    In 1809, Sequoyah decided to give the Cherokee their own “talking leaves”. At first he tried to make a different symbol for every word in the Cherokee language. But in that case, there would be so many symbols and too hard for people to remember, so he decided to make a picture for each syllable (音节). After much hard work, Sequoyah invented 85 symbols. In order to see whether it would work, he helped his six-year-old daughter Ayoka learn each symbol and found she could learn to read and write very quickly. Sequoyah's invention was a success!

    Before long, Sequoyah's writing system had spread far and wide. Cherokee people living in all different parts of the country learned to read and write. In 1825, Sequoyah's system was made the official written language for Cherokee people. To this day, Cherokee speakers still use Sequoyah's writing system. In some parts of the United States, you can see street signs and billboards written in both English and Cherokee. Sequoyah will always be remembered for his important contribution（贡献）to Cherokee people.

根据短文内容，回答下列问题。

    Many parents fear to travel with kids. If you have the same fear, it's time to remove it. Here are some reasons why it's important to travel with kids.

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    When I say that, I'm talking not only about the history lessons. I'm also talking about the math lying behind the questions to be answered, such as "How long will it take us to get there? What is the currency (货币) exchange rate to the US dollar? Children can also learn some geography facts."

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    For kids, being able to talk about their travel experiences with others is pretty impressive! These types of travel experiences stick with children for a lifetime, and they will always have information to share about their travels.

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    The moment my son became old enough to travel alone, I was so nervous. But it didn't take him long to become a very independent little traveler. When children realize what it takes to travel independently, it creates a certain level of confidence which is very important for them.

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    Once your kids realize that there's so much of this exciting world that they haven't seen, they will be hungry to explore more and more!

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    Who doesn't need a break from school? I know my kids do because we are strict during the school week: No TV, no computers, only homework and after-school activities. So, naturally, they want a break from the busy life. And, more than likely, there is plenty of fun waiting for you. Don't forget that you don't have to travel far for kids to have a good time!

May 31, 2017

    Jaden is a six-year-old boy. He experienced the unlucky things of life twice. First he lost his dad when he was four and his mom died unexpectedly in her sleep last month. Jaden's heart was broken. His parents' death hit him a lot.

    But things always go towards a good side. A few weeks later, Jaden told his aunt that he was tired of seeing everyone sad all the time. He'd like to see more smiles around him. He hoped that the number of the smiles could reach 100.

    Then he asked his aunt to buy him some little toys and take him to the center of the city. "I'm trying to make people smile," said Jaden. At first, he was not sure if the people passing by would like to accept his toys. In fact, he was always successful and got close to his dream step by step, because no one could refuse such a little boy's giving and expecting.

    "I'm keeping a count of 100 smiles," said Jaden. When asked if he could make it, he answered, "I think I can."

    Reported by Barbara.