A rich couple went shopping for their party．After buying everything they needed，they called a delivery(运送)man to send the things home．The delivery man was quite old and looked like he might be too weak to carry everything．

    The old delivery man asked for $20．a very low price．But the couple still tried to give him $15 for his service．The delivery man didn't like it but agreed because he needed all the money he could get．

    The couple gave the delivery man their address．They returned to their home and waited for hours，but the delivery man never appeared．The wife started to get angry．She and her husband started to go back to the supermarket．On their way，they noticed that a young delivery man was carrying their things in his cart! The wife became angrier and shouted at the delivery man．

    The young man said，"Ma'am，please listen to me．That poor old man has been sick since last month．He hasn't been able to make enough money to buy himself food．I saw him take a bad fall on his way to deliver your things．He said．'I will give you $15 if you can take my delivery to this address．'"

    On hearing this，the couple felt ashamed．They asked where the old delivery man was and went to say sorry to him．

    We have always been interested in the Moon. 2,000 years ago, people already knew it moves around the Earth and where it would be in the sky at different times of the year. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    When scientists could use telescopes to study the Moon more closely, their ideas began to change. They could see the Moon was made of rocks. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And they believed the Moon had once been a planet. It was caught in Earth's gravity millions of years ago.

    In 1969, Moon rocks were finally brought to the Earth by astronauts. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To their surprise, scientists found that the Moon and the Earth are made of the same things except for water. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    After years of study, some scientists think that the Moon was once part of the Earth. They believe maybe 4 million years ago, something hit the Earth. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}These rocks slowly joined together and after many years became the Moon.

    In the future, even though our ideas about the Moon may change again, we will still be interested in it.

    Now students' English handwriting(书写)gets worse and worse. That makes their teachers feel worried. Is your English handwriting beautiful?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Use paper with lines

    When you write English words or sentences, you can use paper with lines. That will make your handwriting straight.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Be sure to fill the lined space completely. And make sure these capital letters (大写字母) are written properly.

    Slow down

    If your writing is hard to read, just slow down a little.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}If you write too quickly, it's hard for you to stop where you should, and you may make more mistakes easily.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    When you hold your pencil in the correct way, writing is much better. Some kids press down really hard when they write. That makes the handwriling bad. Try to be relaxed and don't hold the pencil so hard. Let your writing appear nice and clean. If you do so, people will guess you are a student with a good habit.

    Draw more pictures

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}While you are drawing pictures, you need to use the skills to cuntrol (控制) your pencil better. Even though you have no chance to draw at school, you can practice by drawing at home.

    Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a famous movie star or a well-known sports player, whad do you do when your fans run up to you? Givethem your autographs (亲笔签名) , of course!

    Reading is fun! Besides for fun, we can also analyze (分析) texts to learn more from the texts and more about the texts. One way we can do this is by finding out the theme of the texts.

    The theme of a text is the "big idea" that runs through the text, connecting the characters and events. It is what the writer wants to tell us through the story. Usually the theme of a text isn't told directly, you have to use clues (线索) in the text to find it out. 83 Themes can be ideas like family, friendship, love and so on. The theme might not be just one word, but it might be an idea such as "Friendship is important." There may also be more than one theme in a story. How can we find out the theme of a text? The following steps may help you.

    Read through the whole text, usually characters change as the story goes on, so the theme you get at the beginning might not be true at the end! For this reason, you need to read through the whole text first.

    Find out the clue after reading the whole text, try to answer the following questions. What important events happened during the story? What was the problem? How did the problem get solved? How did the character(s) change? What did the character(s) learn? The answers may help you to get the clues.

    Get the big idea Read again for the writer's purpose of the text by answering the following questions. Was most of the plot(情节) around friendship? Did the characters solve problems with their families? Did the main character learn the importance of friendship? If one of the answers is "yes", you may get the big idea.

    Check the big idea out If you've found a "big idea", go through the text to find the evidence( 证 据 ) that supports this idea in the text. For example, if there was only one small problem with a character's family, then "family" might not be the theme of the text. You might find more evidence for other themes.

    Have you got the way to find out the theme of a text? 84 Get your favorite book quickly and see if you can find the theme out!

    Ways to Increase Your Confidence

    There are some ways you can use to increase your self-confidence. Some of them you'll need to practice a lot before they start to work. It's like playing the guitar or soccer. They might not work too well the first or second time you try them. But as you do them, you build a deeper confidence in yourself.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Exercise will improve your confidence and your way of looking at life. Plus, being healthy and looking better can also help you feel more confident.

    Create something.

    Everyone is a creative(有创造力的) person. Rediscovering your creativity is a good way to improve your confidence in yourself. Creating something is a wonderful but not always easy experience. But when you're done, you not only feel good about yourself. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Use your body.

    If you start to walk fast you'll soon start to feel nervous. If you start to walk slower you'll soon start to feel more relaxed. To feel more confident, use your body in a more confident way. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Learn how confident people around you or on the TV use their bodies.

Compare yourself to yourself.

This will take away a lot of unnecessary pain in your life. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Compare yourself to yourself. Improve yourself and see how you grow and become a more successful, more confident and happier person.