A lovely rabbit, a cute hamster, some colourful fish, a strange-looking turtle or a snake...What kind of pet would you like? Lots of kids love animals and dream of having a pet.

    But not every family can have a pet. So, in many Western countries such as America, Britain and Australia, primary and middle school classes have their own pets. Looking after a pet is not as easy as you may think! Fish and turtles need clean water and the right food. Hamsters and rabbits need fresh vegetables and a warm place to sleep. Even little mice need good care! What would you feed a pet mouse? How about snakes?

    Class pets teach kids about nature and being responsible. Sometimes the pets have babies. It's very exciting but it also means having more animals to take care of!

    Students take turns to take care of their class pets. Every week the pets have a new “mum and dad” to look after them.

    You may want to know what happens to the class pets during school holidays. At the end of term, the teacher chooses a responsible student. This lucky student keeps the pets at his or her home for the holidays.

    Notes:

1) hamster n. 仓鼠   2) turtle n. 乌龟   3) responsible adj. 负责任的   4) choose v. 选择

    Special homework was given to the students in Grade Four at a primary school in Foshan, Guangdong this April, that is to say the children must11100 million grains(颗粒) of rice. A maths teacher Miss Chang asked her students to2the homework in two days. If some .students3to finish in time, they would go on counting the, rice at the weekend. Some parents thought: that if it took a4to count .three grains, if would fake more than a year to count 100 million grains of rice.

    5, others thought it was a good idea. A parent surnamed, (姓) Lin said it could,6 students to use their brains. “I will7my daughter to count 100 or 1,000 grains of rice first, and then8them and multiply (乘以) the figure to, reach 100 million grains of rice, So she will have a clear9of the number 100 million," she said. "The special homework could10help develop children's patience," Lin added.

    Some Internet users also praised the special: homework for encouraging children to11 new ways to do their homework.

    Miss Chang said earlier this week that she hoped the, students could learn knowledge12practical activities. She said she was13 that 10 of her more than 40 students had finished the special homework by using cups or other14to count the rice. The homework helps students develop their abilities to15problems. It's good for them.

    If you are hungry, what do you do? Have your favorite meal and stay quiet after that. Just like your stomach, your mind is also hungry. But it never lets you know. It 1 serves your needs and never lets itself grow because you keep it busy thinking about your friends or favorite stars. When mind loses 2 freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop. This 3be the reason why we all sometimes think "What happens next?", "Why can't I think?"

     In fact, hunger of the mind 4 through wide reading. Why reading but not watching TV? It is because reading 5 the most educative tool used by us since our childhood.

    Once you read a book, you run your eyes 6 the lines and your mind tries to explain something to you. The interesting part of the book 7 is stored in your mind is regarded as a seed（种子）. Now this seed is unknowingly used by you to develop new ideas. If it is used many times, the same seed can give you great help to relate lots of things. You can never think of these things even in 8 dreams in your life.

    This is creativity. Also this helps you 9your vocabulary. In no time you can start talking with your friends in English or any other language 10you will never run out of the right words. So guys, do give food for your thoughts by reading, reading and more reading.

How to be a friend of yourself?

We often pay attention to developing relationships with others. However, we forget the basic step: being friends of ourselves. How can we have good relationships with others if we don't even have good relationships with ourselves?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

First, forgive(原谅) yourself. It's true that you are not perfect, and neither is everybody else. It's normal for everyone to make mistakes.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Second, accept things you can't change. There are many things you cannot change, such as your background and past.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}If you face the things you can't change, just smile and move on.

Third, focus on(聚焦于) your achievements. You can try making a list of your achievements, which do not have to be big things. There are a lot of small but important achievements in our life.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Last but not least, stop comparing yourself with others. You are unique.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Your success is not determined(决定) by other people. Instead, it is determined by your own life purpose.

    Thirteen-year-old Cindy had been bullied (欺凌) at school for about two years. Her bag, keys and mobile phone had been stolen. She had also been knocked off her bicycle, kicked and punched (以拳重击).

    Cindy tried to fight back, but it always seemed to be her, not the bullies, who got into trouble. She became so afraid of going to school that she started to be absent from her classes.

    Finally, her headmaster set up a special plan, asking students to look after one another. He gave Cindy the courage to play the guitar in a school concert, which gave Cindy new confidence and helped her receive respect from the other students. Gradually, the bullying began to stop.

    Cindy's story is not uncommon, but help is out there. All schools in the UK now have to follow strict bullying policies (政策). There are many charities and organizations giving support to young people, such as Bullying UK and Childline. So remember one very important piece of advice: If you are being bullied, don't put up with it—tell someone.

    The 21st century discoveries about the human brain and its functioning have showed the surprising fact that human abilities are not fixed at birth. In other words, what you are able to do with your life is not fixed when you are born. It is not all in the genes (基 因 ). It is not just nature: nurture (教育, 培育) plays an important part in the moulding (塑造) of what a person is, and what he/she can be.

    Brain plasticity (可塑性) or neuroplasticity (神经可塑性) refers to the amazing ability of the human brain to modify (修改) its structure and functions according to the changes within the body and/or in the outer environment.

    In his book „The Brain that Changes Itself‟ psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., offers an introduction to the great scientists strongly supporting neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've changed. The book describes real life stories of stroke( 中 风 ) patients learning to speak again, and the amazing story of a woman born with half a brain that restructured itself to work as a whole. It is a book that changes the way we think about our brain, its nature, and its potential (潜能).

    The genes we receive from our parents are finite (有限的), no doubt about that. However, our brain's ability to develop is infinite. New brain cells are being born all the time, and to keep them alive and growing, we have to stimulate (刺激) them.

    Here lies the promise of neuroplasticity in the moulding of children into adults who are capable of realizing their potential. For, genius is nothing but a human being who has realized his /her inborn potential! What Mozart, Einstein and da Vinci had was inborn potential plus (和，外加) the right environment.

    All geniuses started life in exactly the same way. They had parents who supported the development of their individual gifts and talents. They had the right environment and stimuli (刺激， 刺激物) that led to the best development of themselves.

    You can think about your child's gifts as the merging (融合的) colours of a rainbow. The possibilities are endless. All children are born with three natural abilities that provide them with the potential to think like a genius: the abilities to think, to learn and to develop their own individual way of thinking and learning.

    Can your child be a genius? Yes, he/she can be, if you give him/her the right environment, the right stimuli and the right guidance.