Once upon a time, there was an old woman who lived in a small house. She planted a lot of beautiful tulips (郁金香) in her garden.

    One night, the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing woke her up. She looked out of the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulips, but she could see nothing.

    The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of anyone having been there the night before.

    On the following night she was again wakened (弄醒) by the sounds of sweet singing and babies laughing. She got out of bed and walked softly into her garden. The old woman looked closely and she noticed that a fairy (精灵) mother was singing softly, and that in each tulip-cup was a little fairy baby, laughing and playing.

    The old woman went back to her house quietly. From then on, she never picked a tulip. She didn't allow her neighbours to pick the flowers, either. When the old woman died, all the tulips disappeared overnight. But her grave (坟墓) looked beautiful, because the fairies sang above it and kept it green.

Secrets of top students

⒈ Example One: "If I don't understand what my teacher is explaining in the science, I ask him to say it again," says Anna Lee. "also asking more helped a lot."  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

⒉ Example Two: "When a teacher asks us to do a lot of homework," says Dave Roman " I will draw up a timetable and plan to do it little by little, so it isn't so tiring. "  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

⒊ Example Three: One student put a vocabulary list on the wall of the bathroom. He learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth. Another student used the time to remember biology terms while practicing running.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

⒋ Example Four: In high school, Mike played football, painted and was in the band. "I was so busy that I couldn't waste time looking for a pencil or missing paper. I kept everything in order." He says.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

⒌ Example Five: Christi is an excellent student at the university. If her math teacher asks her to do five problems, she does ten. If the history teacher asks her to read five pages, she reads ten. "Part of learning is practicing," she says, "and the more you practice, the more you learn."  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city. Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It wasn't built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The waterways have always been the best ways to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can guide you where you want to go. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They like to enjoy the scenery and cool summer nights while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians escaped from a war more than 1,500 years ago, and built homes there. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Every year, high waters hit the city in autumn and winter. When a lot of water comes, more than half of the city is underwater.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Keep your food safe. At night put it in bags. Hang the bags from the trees. Eat food before it goes bad(变质). Keep food and water in closed boxes or bottles.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Find a place for your camp an hour before it gets dark. Look for a dry place. Don't make your camp under trees or very near a river. Look for firewood before it gets dark.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}In very hot countries, don't walk in the middle of the day. Walk in the early morning before the sun conies up.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}There are dangerous animals in some countries. Before you put on your shoes in the morning, hit them on the ground. There may be animals inside them. Do the same with your sleeping bag before you go to sleep.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you are walking, you need to drink lots of water. In very hot countries you may need 5~8 litres(升)of water a day. If you are thirsty, stop and drink.

    It is said that everyone has two boxes hung on our necks. The small box at the front is full of other people's mistakes, while the big one at the back is filled with our own shortcomings(缺点).Most of time, it's easy to find other people's mistakes. It's hard for us to see our mistakes behind us.

    A boy called Tony, always looked at the front box to check what was in it. He saw other people's mistakes very quickly. When Ben was impatient with him, he said to Ben, "It's so easy for you to get angry. It is hard to be friends with you."

    He told his mother that Michael was dishonest. "Michael takes my things without asking. And he forgets to return them. "Tony himself did not like sharing his things with anyone.

    When John was too tired to go hiking with him, he said, "You are such an unfriendly person."

    He thought Nick was too proud of his rich parents. But Tony was so proud of himself because he could not see any of his own mistakes!①He could not understand why he didn't get on well with others. Then his mother said to him, "If you change the boxes around, maybe you can find the answer." He did it as his mother said, and his face turned red.②他发现自己并不比其他同学更好.

Environmental protection is one of the hottest topics nowadays. It was also something that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world's earliest environmental protection idea, ministry （部门） and law were all born in China. How did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

The world's earliest idea of "managing state affairs（政事）through environmental protection"

Xunzi, a famous thinker in the Warring States Period, came up with the idea of "managing state affairs through environmental protection". He wrote in his book that vegetation（植被）should be protected well by humans.

Guan Zhong, a government officer 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. He said "a king who cannot protect his vegetation is not doing a good job".

The world's earliest environmental protection ministry"

Nine ministries set up by Shim, an ancient Chinese emperor, included "Yu"（虞） , an environmental protection ministry. Hie first " Yu'' leader was Boyi, an environmental protection expert. He invented wells so people could drink clean water. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

The world's earliest "environmental protection law"

Over 4, 000 years ago, Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert and also an emperor, made a rule, not allowing people to cut down trees in March or catch fish in June, because it was the time when they grew quickly.

Almost 3,000 years ago, Tianlv, the first environmental protection law, appeared in Qin. It recorded many ancient environmental protection rules. Two of them were interesting: firstly, rivers should not be blocked（堵塞）; secondly, grass and trees should not be burned to be fertilizer （肥料）except for summer. The second one is inspiring even for today. It can help to keep air clean and fresh.

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