On Monday, I stopped my car in front of my daughter Juliet's middle school. She jumped in the front seat, feeling down. She asked me to help her study for her science test.

    "Dad I need to memorize a unit about the Reproductive Cycle of Plants. And I can hardly make it."

    "You know memorizing seems like the best way to study, but in fact you can do better in tests if you work on trying to understand the material."

    Juliet was open to my advice. It was Monday afternoon and we had two nights to study before the test on Wednesday. I suggested a plan. "Tomorrow night, you are going to teach the material to me. Tonight, read the unit. Prepare to teach."

    Asking her to teach me was an unusual idea but I was determined to do it. Studies show teaching somebody else is a very useful way to lean, Even if you don't do the teaching, the act of preparing to teach leads to more learning than just trying your best to memorize the material.

    On Tuesday afternoon, Juliet sat down with her Science book facing me said, "Okay Dad, let's study." I wanted her to teach me. But false starts happened. I couldn't be too hard on her. So instead we starred with me asking her some simple questions. She knew some but not other. When she didn't know the answers. I encouraged her to check the book.

    She started checking things that didn't make sense. And she was actively seeking to test her understanding. I was happy to see it. She wasn't memorizing, she was trying to make sense of things, which was exactly what I had hoped she would do.

    Today, roller-skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn't easy at all. Before 1750, no one had any ideas of roller-skating. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. He liked to make things and play the violin in his free time. He was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.

    One day Merlin was invited to a party. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make an amazing entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought everyone at the party would show much interest if he could skate into the room. He tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.

    On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was very surprised to see him. There was just one problem: Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly he ran into a mirror that was hanging on the wall. The mirror fell down, breaking into pieces. Merlin's idea was so good that nobody forgot his special entrance for a long time. But could he find out a way to stop his roller skates?

    A rich man was riding along the road and saw an old man digging in his garden. There was a young tree lying on the ground. The rich man asked the old man, "What kind of tree are you planting there, my good man?

    "This is a fig(无花果)tree, sir," he said.

    "A fig tree?" the rich man was very surprised." How old are you, may I ask?"

    "I am ninety years old."

    "What!" shouted the rich man." You're ninety years old. You are planting a very young tree now and it'll take years to give fruit. You certainly don't hope to live long enough to get any fruit from this tree." The old man smiled and said, Tell me, sir, did you eat figs when you were a boy?" "Sure," the man did not know why he asked this question.

    The old man asked, "Who planted the fig trees?"

    "I don't know."

    " You see, sir," the old man said slowly," our forefathers(祖先) planted trees for us to enjoy and I am doing the same for the people after me."

    The rich man was quiet. Then he said, "You are right, my good man. We should do some things for the people after us. Thank you very much." Then he rode away.

    Amy told her mother she wasn't feeling well yesterday morning. She stomachache, a high fever, and a sore throat.

    The mother thought that she had caught a bad cold and became very worried, so she drove her Centre Hospital right away.

    They got to the doctor's waiting room at 8: 20. There were too many patients, so they had to wait there. At 11: 20, Amy finally saw the doctor. The doctor asked her a few questions and began to check her. He listened to her breathing and took her temperature. After finishing her check-up. The doctor was sure that she was quite sick, although he still couldn't make sure what was wrong with her. There were more tests that he could do to find out her illness, but at first, he decided to just ask her about her symptoms (症状) to see if he could get a better diagnosis(诊断).

    The doctor asked, "Young lady, what is troubling you the most right now?"

    The little girl answered: "What's troubling me the most? It's my elder brother Johnny. He is always breaking my toys and sometimes beats me!"

Last year, my friends and I went on a trip. We started early in the morning and traveled for several {#blank#}1{#/blank#}on a bus. When we arrived, everyone was tired.

While we were getting off the bus, I noticed a young man, probably in his early twenties, standing very close to one of my friends. Suddenly I realized that he was trying to {#blank#}2{#/blank#}my friend's wallet from her bag! I {#blank#}3{#/blank#}really nervous, but I knew I had to take action to stop him. Luckily, I saw two police officers standing {#blank#}4{#/blank#}and got an idea. So I fell over and cried out painfully. The police officers heard that and came over to help. When they were by my side, I told them what was {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. They caught the thief right away.

After that, we thanked the police officers and went on with our trip happily