How do you spend your time at school? Do you know how students in other countries study every day? Here are the studying ways in some western schools.

American Students

    American students spend seven hours in their schools every day. And the day is divided（划分） into classes of about 40 to 50 minutes. Students study English, history, math, science, art and foreign languages. They go to listen to different lessons taught by different teachers in different classrooms. After class they learn job skills. Sometimes they study by working in an office, a hospital or other places one day a week.

German Students

    German students love practicing. Lots of schools have lessons for only half a day. They spend most time practicing. Teachers give students enough freedom. Students may try all kinds of ideas they have. They begin to plan what they will do in the future and work hard at a young age.

French Students

    French students like independence（独立） and freedom. Their school life is very relaxing and interesting. When they have tests, they may have snacks. For example, they can put a few desks together, and put some peanuts （花生）or candies on them.

    What is life's greatest gift? It is choice. Choice is the ability to choose some actions from a set of things to achieve a goal{#blank#}1{#/blank#}The reason is that it turns us from dumb animals into artists. Choice becomes the tool we use to sculpt（雕刻）our life. The tool doesn't come free, however, for the price of choice is responsibility.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}It is enjoyment.

    Choice is power. Choice is at the heart of life. It's the creative power of life. Life is always changing and we have to make lots of choices{#blank#}3{#/blank#} We often need to check where we are on our journey. We need to ask questions: Am I moving closer to my goals? If not, what action will I take now to make myself realize my goals?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}And our life becomes more convenient or comfortable because of them. For example, you decide which stores to shop at and which bus station to go to. But the decisions that we make to sculpt our lives are much more important than deciding where to shop. The more we understand the difference between small and big decisions, the more pleasure we will get.

    Life is like a chess game.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}All chess lovers realize that it isn't necessary to win to enjoy the game. Make the best moves you can under the conditions. Then you can enjoy your life.

A. Why is choice so great?

B. The pleasure is in the playing.

C. In fact, we have to make choices every day.

D. But when we accept and carry it out, we get a great return.

E. Every choice we make leads us closer to or farther from our goals.

    Culture UK: Bristol

    Chocolate!

    The first chocolate bar in the world was created in Fry's, a company in Bristol. Joseph Fry invented the delicious treat around the year 1720. Fry's also produced the first chocolate Easter egg in the UK in 1873. The company continues to produce chocolates and sweets to this day.

Balloon Festival

    The Bristol Belle was the first modern hot-air balloon in Western Europe and was developed and built in 1967. The Bristol International Balloon Festival is held every summer in the city, and is Europe's biggest hot-air balloon event.

    According to a new study, Bristol is the UK's most musical place, with the biggest number of musicians among the population. It's well-known for giving birth to the trip-hop scene in the 1990s. Its multicultural（多元文化的）population has really influenced the sounds of the Bristol music scene.

    Famous people

    JK Rowling

    J.K. Rowling was born and brought up in Chipping Sodbury, just outside Bristol. It is said that she invented her famous character Harry Potter after meeting a young boy named Ian Potter in the village where she grew up.

    Banksy

    Banksy is a graffiti artist local to Bristol. He is famous all over the world for his street art. Some of his pieces have been sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Many Hollywood pop stars and famous people love to collect his work.

    Today taxis are very common in cities all around the world. While London is world- famous for its special back taxis, New York's yellow taxis are also well- known all over the world. How about the taxis in Mumbai, India? Before a project (项目)named Taxi Fabric, taxis got little public attention. But now things are different because some of them have changed their common looks. Artist Sanket Avlani started the project last year with some other artists. He said," Taxi drivers here try hard to decorate(装饰）their taxis and make them stand out from others, but they usually pay little attention to the insides of their taxis. "He hopes to use his art project to connect young designers(设计师）with taxi drivers." The designs that cover the taxi seats are often boring and forgettable ,but they can be improved with the help of designers in Mumbai.

    Last summer the project raised over £l1, 000, and they invited local designers to create different designs inside the taxis. All the designs are about Mumbai. The designers are local but they got their ideas from all around the world. So far they've created 26 different designs, which make the insides of Mumbai's taxis as colorful as the views from their windows. Taxi Fabric is now hoping to spread to other cities in India. They are also inviting designers from all over India to take part in the project and planning to redesign buses, trains and subways besides taxis.

   ①   

    How much money do you spend every week? Write it down on your notebook. Then you will know how to manage your money. It's best to plan to spend money buying useful things. So you can put your money into good use. Don't spend money on useless things if possible.

    ②  

    Perhaps you like having delicious foods outside with your friends or family. Invite your friends over to your house instead of going out to a restaurant. You can enjoy home-made foods and play games together. It's an excellent way to have fun, but at a lower cost.

   ③   

    Instead of buying tea or coffee with a meal, drink water. It is widely known that water is the most popular drink in the world. It is good for your health. Drinking water makes you full of energy and it also saves money.

    ④  

    Walking is a great way to get some exercise and save money. This is a lifestyle that costs nothing. You'd better choose to walk rather than drive as much as possible. Doing this, not only can you feel good about enjoying the fresh air, but you get to spend time exercising a lot.