How do you feel about your Chinese? Is it good or bad? If you think youare good at Chinese, you can take part in the competition named the “Chinese Characters Dictation Competition (中国汉字听写大会)”. The competition became popular among teenagers. Let's know something about it.

    More and more computers and smart phones are used by teenagers. They spend too much time onthe Internet in playing or chatting. They are used to sending messages by computers and smart phones. As a result, some teenagers forget how to writethe Chinese Characters by hand. The teachers and parents are very worried about it. What can they do?

    Not long ago, they found an interesting game called the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. The program was similar to the American show “National Spelling Bee”. In this program, middle school students competed among themselves and wrote down the Chinese Characters by dictation. Over two hundred competitors were from forty-six middle schools. The audiences(观众) loved this new kind of competition, too. They tried to write down the Chinese Characters while the competitors were writing them. Butthey found it was also difficult for them to write down all the Chinese Characters.

    Is it an interesting competition? Can you be the winner?

    Now many people like to keep dogs as their pets. But how did dogs become humans' close friends?

    In some places of Europe (欧洲), about 10,000 years ago, some wild (野生的) dogs often came to human's houses to find food. The wild dogs looked different from the ones today. They looked like wolves (狼). At first, they felt ① frightened. They always stood and looked for a short time. Then they got the food and ran away. Sometimes the young dogs couldn't run fast and people caught them. People trained them and the young dogs grew up with the help of people. Slowly, the wild dogs became home dogs. They could make home safe when people were away. They helped people hunt (狩猎). They helped people keep warm on cold nights. ② Sometimes, they could smell and hear danger before people could. In some cold places, they helped people pull (拉) things people need.

    Now there are more than 400 different kinds of dogs in the world. And they look different from each other. The number and kind are growing all the time. Today, some people mainly (主要地) regard dogs as pets. In fact, dogs are really our close friends. We should protect them from being killed.

Can money buy anything?

    In today's world many people seem to be hungry for money. ⑶Money does have its most useful effect on the poor. But even if a person has already got plenty of money, he may not be happy.

    If money were everything, all millionaires(百万富翁) would have real love, true friendship, good health and a long life. However, this is not always true.

    Nothing else is more pleasant than the three words "I love you" .But can love be bought? I'm afraid not. Love means giving, not taking. To every person, good health and a long life are probably the best things. Well, can health and a long life be bought with money? The answer is "No".

    ⑷Of all the long— lived people in the world, few of them are millionaires. True friendship can't be bought, either. In a word, being greedy for money can cause brothers to quarrel, marriages to end, lovers to hate each other, and strangers to fight. No matter how much money you have, you won't become a happy person if you have no one to laugh with, no one to cry for.

    When was the last time you gave or received a hug? Do your parents hug you before you go to school? In Western countries, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    You might hug your teammates after winning a basketball game. If one of your friends is having a bad day, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Friends who haven't seen each other for a long time will usually hug each other when meeting.

    Of course, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. After coming to China, I've noticed that people are generally more reluctant (不情愿的) to hug than they are in my home country, the US.

    My Chinese friends told me that hugging is considered to be very intimate (亲密的) in their culture, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, like couples. Chinese people don't usually hug in public, either.

    But people's attitudes toward hugging can also change.

    I remember watching a video story about a "hugging party" that was held in Shanghai. A local artist held the party, inviting strangers and asking them to hug each other.

    The Chinese participants clearly looked uncomfortable, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. They decided that hugging doesn't have to be awkward (尴尬的) and can actually be quite nice. So next time you see your mom or dad, give them a hug—see how it makes you feel.

    Last year I was very lucky to have a week's holiday. So I wanted to spend 1 in the best hotel I could find. That was 2 I chose The Haven in a country park. I thought I would be able to escape problems and pressures of daily life. But, just 24 hours after arriving there, my wife and I 3 problems with the restaurant and security.

    We were ready to return to our room when we saw two policemen 4  closely at the building outside. One of them showed us how 5 in through the windows into our room. It seems that the hotel has no locks on the windows. 6 we were a little worried, our concerns were forgotten 7 when we saw a good-sized bed, a flat-screen TV, a spa bath which more suggested a comfortable stay.

    Things started to go from bad to worse the following morning when I found the restaurant only served low-fat meals: six days of rabbit food and only 8 meat and fruit. What had I let myself in for? Nobody had told us what the food 9 like before we booked. I ordered my breakfast 10 my will anyway, but I had waited forty-five minutes for it to arrive. This was not the service 11 I had expected.

    That afternoon, when we returned from a tour around 12 university nearby, we found that nearly £200 13 from our room. The Haven refused to pay back the money. They claimed that they 14 not be responsible for any loss if our window was not locked.

    My holiday was then a total failure. I thought a "haven" was sure to be a quiet and peaceful place. But in fact, I have experienced 15 stress and worry in that one day than I usually do working in the office for a week.

The American book Who Moved My Cheese has been a bestseller all over the world. It teaches people how to face1 in their lives. The book tells us that when facing a new situation in our life，like a new school or new friends，we shouldn't fear. 2 ，use them to make a better life. This book is mainly for teens. 

The book gives a（n）3 of that at school. A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because the number of students there is getting4 . Several teens are talking about this. Most of them are5 . But Chris is not. He laughs and tells a story about two mice，two "little people" and some cheese. 

The four are in a maze （迷宫） looking for the cheese. Here，cheese means something6 in life. But they find the cheese IS gone. The mice realize that they can't change what7 and have to find more cheese. This means finding different dreams. The little people can't do this. They are afraid of changes so they find8 . 

9 Chris finishes the story，the friends understand one thing：10 more cheese，move in a new direction quickly. His friends now understand how this can be used in the changes all teens face，such as doing well at school or feeling good about yourself.