Top students always have special ways of learning that others probably can't learn. Here are some of their secrets.

    Study at any time and everywhere. Some work late at night. Others work early in the morning. And some others study as soon as they come back home. All the ways are OK, but you should keep your own.

    Learn how to read. The secret of good reading is to be an active reader. Asking questions makes a full understanding of the book.

    Plan your time. If you want to be the top, make sure to finish all tasks on time.

    Keep your papers clean. Clean papers are likely to get higher grades than dirty ones.

    Top students often make up possible test questions（模拟测试） themselves. It helps them find exams much easier.

    Do more than what your teacher asks. The more you practice, the more you learn.

    Eileen Collins is the first woman ever chosen to be a spaceship pilot. She is also the first woman to command(指挥) a spaceship. Today she has flown more than 5,000 hours in more than 30 kinds of airplanes.

    Talking about high school, she said, "I have been reading all kinds of books about famous women pilots. These women went and flew into dangerous places. Their stories encouraged me." In 1977, Eileen got a pilot's license and the following year she graduated from university. She went into space in 1999 at the age of 43. She took with her the hopes and dreams of a nation of young people on the earth.

    Eileen is not only an astronaut but also a wife and the mother of a young daughter. She has short curly hair and friendly brown eyes. She met her husband, Pat, while they were together in the air force(空军).

    When she was named as the First Woman Spaceship Commander in 1998, Eileen smiled and said, "When I was a child, I dreamed about space. It was only a dream that I would be one of the astronauts someday. I hope all children will be encouraged to reach for their dreams, when they see I go into space. I believe dreams do come true!"

    Hans Christian Andersen, a great Danish(丹麦的) writer, is very famous for his fairy tales. He wrote a lot of best-known stories such as The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling. His fairy tales have brought happiness to children across the world. The tales have versions(版本) of over a hundred languages.

    Andersen was born in Denmark in 1805. When he was still a young boy, he was already very clever and imaginative(富有想象力的). He created a small toy theatre and made clothes for his puppets(木偶). He also loved reading.

    After his father died, he learned to be a tailor (裁缝). Later he worked in a factory. At the age of fourteen, Andersen moved to the capital of Denmark to become an actor and gave performances(演出) in the Royal Danish Theatre. However, his voice changed when he grew older, so the job had to stop. Then he began to write poems and fairy tales.

    In the spring of 1872, Andersen fell out of bed and didn't get well again. He lived until 1875 and died peacefully in the house of his close friend.

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    English dictionaries which were written before 18^th century had only words which were not common, or words which were difficult to spell. Then, in 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great English writer, wrote a famous dictionary. This dictionary contained common words as well as unusual ones. It also showed how words should be used in sentences.

    In 1858, a group of people who study language started to write The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). They wanted to list all the words of the English language. They even included words which were not used any more. They also wrote sentences that show the meanings of words. They also described the history of words, saying when words were first used in English, and which languages they came from. The OED tells us, for example, that "algebra" comes from Arabic and was first used in English in the 16^th century. The dictionary took hundreds of people over seventy years to complete. It has been improved many times, as the number of words used in English has increased. The more recent dictionary gives the meanings of over one million words. It is put into twenty-one books: each one is over one thousand pages long.

    Although Americans speak English, they use some words that are not used in British English. For example, the season an English person calls "autumn", is called "fall" by an American. The first dictionary of American English was published by Noah Webster in 1828. He also decided to spell some words in a simpler way. For example, he wrote "colour" as "color", "centre" as "center", and "plough" as "plow". These spellings are still used in America today. Since 1828, Webster's Dictionary of American English has been improved and made bigger many times.

    A good dictionary is a very important tool for every reader. Many modern English dictionaries are now available. They give different kinds of information. It is very important to choose the best dictionary for your needs and to use it often.