Mr. and Mrs. Smith have just opened a small restaurant. In order to attract customers, they put a notice in front of the restaurant, which said “Meals on the House for Three Days.”

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A.  He walked towards the restaurant and saw the notice. “American people are really strange. They even eat dinners on the house! But how can I get up to the top of the house? ” he said to himself.

B. “Doesn't your notice say ‘Meals on the House for Three Days'? Is it just a joke?” the foreign student answered.

C.  When they heard this, both Mr. Smith and the policeman laughed. “Don't you know what ON THE HOUSE means? Look it up in the dictionary.” the policeman said.

D. A foreign student who didn't know much English happened to pass by the restaurant on the second day. It was lunch time and he felt very hungry. “Well, here is a restaurant. I am going to have something to eat.”

E.  He looked around and found a ladder against a tree nearby. He was very glad. But as he reached the top he heard someone shouting at him, “Hey, what are you doing up there?” Mr. Smith was looking at him angrily and beside him was a policeman.

    The well-known children's character "Big Head Son" will have a new sister in the new book Little Biscuit and Apron Mom, which is coming out next month.

    Zheng Chunhua, the author of the book Big Head Son and Small Head Dad, has announced the news in Xiamen. The new book series has 10 volumes (册).

    The book Big Head was a bestseller among children's books, and when the book came out in 1995, it was a big hit. Almost every child at the time watched the program and could sing the theme song.

    Big Head Son and Small Head Dad was inspired by the author's own family. "My son really has a big head," Zheng Chunhua said. "When my son was little, I never bought T-shirts or hats for him, as they always didn't fit him."

    Zheng has two children, her son is almost 30 years old now, and her little daughter, who is a teenager. "My daughter has been jealous（嫉妒）of her brother for many years, as I have written many stories about him, but none about her yet," Zheng said, and this is the reason leading to her creation of the new book.

    This book is so popular with the readers and one of them said, "The book is not only interesting but also I have learnt a lot from it."

Some birthday customs are quite similar in many parts of the world—- birthday candles(蜡烛), birthday games, and birthday cakes. But some customs are more specific to certain countries. Here are some children talking about their customs.

Linda: I am fourteen. I come from Aruba阿鲁巴岛（拉丁美洲）（荷属安的列斯群岛中的大岛）. In our country, Children take something special to school for their classmates and all teachers. Each teacher gives the birthday child a small gift like a pencil, an eraser or a postcard. The birthday child is also allowed to wear special clothes instead of the school uniform.

Lucy: I am one year older than Linda. Denmark（丹麦） is my country. A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in that house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child's bed while they are sleeping so they will see them at once when they wake up.

Tom: I am as old as Linda. I am from Brazil. The birthday child receives a pull on the earlobe(耳垂) for each year in my country. The birthday person also gives the first slice of cake to his/her most special friend or relative, usually mom or dad.

    This is Zhu Xiaogang's day. Every day he gets up at six in the morning from Monday to Friday．He has breakfast at home．Then he goes to school at 6:35．He reads English from 7:10 to 7:30．He has four classes in the morning．He has lunch at school at 12:00．In the afternoon, he has three classes .He starts his lesson at 2:30. In the evening he does his homework．There is too much homework. He goes to bed at 11:30 every day．He doesn' t get enough （足够的）sleep. He feels tired (累的).

信息归纳：

Zhu Xiaogang's Day.

    A group of friends from Italy wanted to do something different for their vacation. They decided to drive through Australia in a jeep. The journey was a real adventure(冒险) but sometimes the long hours on the road made them tired.

    It was Bill's tum to drive. Tony, Allan and Jeff were sleeping. Bill was thinking of the cool drink and shower in the next town when suddenly something jumped in front of the jeep. Bill tried to stop the jeep, but it was too late, he hit it. When the four friends got out, they saw a kangaroo lying on the road. They thought it was dead. What could they do? It wasn't their fault(过失).I was an accident.

    The friends were sad, but they wanted to have a photo of the kangaroo to show everyone back home, Jeff got his camera, and the others picked up the kangaroo and stood it up against the jeep. The boys decided to dress up the kangaroo. They put a cap, sunglasses and a jacket on him. They took several photos with the kangaroo.

    Suddenly, to their surprise, the kangaroo moved its head moved its body, and jumped away with Bill's cap, Allan's sunglasses, and Tony's jacket-with his passport and one thousand dollars.

    There are some skills for students to listen to the teachers in class, which means you're going to have to practice them. Just as you would have to practice basketball to be a better player, you also have to practice listening. How to listen in school? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One of the things you'll need to do is to make sure that your mind doesn't wander(漫游). It's easy to start thinking about other things, especially when you are not interested in the subject. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

   Next, listen for the main ideas. If you want to catch every little piece of information, you'll feel tired and bored. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Not only does this show respect to the teacher, it also helps prevent your mind from wandering. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Or it could just be someone talking to their neighbors who shouldn't be, it can even be some birds outside the classroom window, or a group of kids who are talking loudly as they pass the door to your room.

    Finally, you need to take notes because you will not remember everything the teacher said. You'll have to take down the notes so that you can study it after class. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Listening isn't always easy, but if you follow these simple steps, you'll be much more successful in your classes.