Before the day I stepped into junior high school, I had always thought that as long as I could read, speak, and listen well, English will be a "no problem" 1 for me, and that English grammar was a piece of cake. My father 2 to tell me the importance of grammar but I just wouldn't listen. I didn't understand what's so important about the whole "grammar" thing.

    This misunderstanding didn't last long. Something unexpected happened. It was only 3that day, and I would never forget that day. I was just a young and seventh grader when our English teacher 4 to give us a quiz on English grammar. We had to fill in blanks. After I read the sentence in question number one, different kinds of answers which I thought were possible came into my mind. All of them seemed right and made sense to me, but there was only one 5 answer to it, but I didn't know which one exactly. I was shocked, but I said to myself "never mind", and went on to question number two. Unexpectedly, the same trouble that just happened, appeared right in front of me again, and it just kept happening again and again until I heard our teacher say 6"Time's up." I had to turn in my answer sheet 7 so many unsure answers on it.

    I was really sad about the whole thing. And since then, I've 8 that in English, writing grammar is quite different from spoken grammar. My father had been trying to tell me the important role grammar plays in learning English. Well, it's 9 too late to learn anything, including ENGLISH! So, I started to work on my grammar skills, and thanks to that bad 10, I really learned a lot from it! Now, I'm still on my journey of learning grammar, and I am enjoying it.

    Thang-ga is a special kind of painting. It started from the Tang Dynasty. Thang-ga paintings have attracted the public's attention in recent years. At the same time, the Chinese government has also tried hard to protect the culture.

    Thang-ga paintings were developed in the 7th century in the Tibetan area. The paintings are colourful and the paints used in Thang-ga paintings are different from those in other paintings. Because of the special environment of the Tibetan Plateau (高原) and the excellent painting skills, the colours of Thang-ga paintings look special. The paints in Thang-ga paintings in the past were made from minerals, including gold, silver, as well as some plants. Since they were made by hand, the beautiful colours could last for hundreds of years.

    However, with the development of machines, people now use cheaper and more easily-made chemicals to make paints. The traditional paints in Thang-ga paintings needed too much work and there were many secret methods. Later people stopped making the paints and forgot about them. So the skills were almost lost.

    Is it good to be in a middle school? Most American children think so. In America, middle schools often have sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. It is different in different places.

    For children, going to a middle school is a big change. Most middle schools in America have a special day for new middle school students. On that day, they are showed around the school by their new teachers. And they could know a lot about the history of the school. They also would make friends with the old schoolmates (校友).

    They will grow up and learn some different and difficult things in a middle school. A new middle school student will learn foreign languages, computer, music and art, health, and other skills, such as cooking.

    A middle school will have sports teams, clubs and have activities for children. They can choose what they like and join them. If they are good at singing, playing basketball or something else, or if they want to learn, they can join them. Most American children think it's good to be in a middle school.

    Imagine you are taking a walk on the beautiful beach. Just then, your feet step over something and you hear a crack (噼啪声) —an empty plastic bottle. Things like this are happening more often because of sea rubbish.

    Studies show that 80% of all the waste is from the land. The waste is mainly plastics (塑料制品) which are really hard to degrade (降解). So the rubbish will remain there for a long time. Some of the pollution is caused accidentally. For example, about 10,000 product-filled boxes are lost at sea every year from business ships. Sometimes people just throw things into the water from boats or land. Many large rubbish areas are formed in the North Pacific Ocean.

    Thankfully, the situation isn't ignored (忽视). Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are taking action to help clean the sea. Since 2006,76 projects have cleared out 3,814 metric tons (公吨) of rubbish from the sea. Methods of rubbish cleaning include using machines to remove (移除) the waste away from the surface of sea water. Besides, special nets are set by the mouths of rivers to stop the rubbish before it reaches the sea. If everyone does his part, sea rubbish seems like a problem that can be solved.

Today, many students are always stressed out. They are often too busy to think{#blank#}1{#/blank#} their diets and exercise. Healthy eating, along with regular(定期的) exercise {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (keep) you healthy. Do you think it is the only way to keep us in {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(healthy)?

As we know, it is important to give your body the energy it needs. Teenage girls {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (need) about 2,200 calories(卡路里) a day and boys need a bit more. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (fiftieth) percent of your calories should come from rice, bread, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(vegetable) and fruit. You also need to d{#blank#}7{#/blank#} a lot of water, six to eight glasses a day. Enough water will improve your skin and give you healthy hair.

Exercise can help to make you look good, feel good {#blank#}8{#/blank#} be healthy. Scientists suggest that teenagers should spend at{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(little) 30 minutes exercising every day.

Exercise can make you feel {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (relax)and energetic. It can even help you sleep better at night.

Let's eat healthily and take more exercise.

Problems between parents and children are common. If you need to improve your relationship with your parents, you are not alone. To develop a better relationship with your parents, you should change how you think and do things. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Act first. Don't wait for your parents to try to improve the relationship. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Be thankful to your parents. Think about everything that your parents have done for you. You are sure to feel thankful to them. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Give them a nice gift or do some housework without being asked. They will be happy with you for these actions.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Talk to your parents about things that you care about and your feelings about these things. Often talk to them, and your parents can understand you better. If so, it's easy for them to discuss things that you are interested in and develop the relationship.

Accept that your parents are different. They grow up in a different situation with different technologies. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Try to remind them of any problem in their relationships with their parents because of these differences.

Use these ways when you talk to your parents to improve your relationship with them.