When Norman left high school, he went to a college to learn cooking for two years. He enjoyed cooking and was good at creating (创造) his own dishes. Then he got a job in the kitchen of a big hotel as an apprentice (学徒) for four years.

    ①Norman soon found that cooking in a hotel was nothing like cooking for his family at home. He needed to work in a hot kitchen for a long time every day. A lot of people couldn't stand it, but Norman enjoyed it. He always made new and unusual cakes on Friday. More and more people visited the hotel on Friday just ②________ his cakes. The hotel owner soon found out why.

    When Norman decided to leave the hotel, ③the hotel owner offered(提供) him more money and the position (职位) of the head cook. Norman took the position and saved most of the money he made. Finally, he bought his own hotel last year. Then he found he needed a lot more skills than just cooking skills. So he went to an evening school to learn business every Tuesday and Friday.

    Norman enjoys having his own hotel. But he also enjoys working in the kitchen and ④thinking up new creations when the hotel is not too busy.

    Friends are very important in everyone's life because friends are always there when we need them. It's great to have many friends, and I can't think about my life without my friends.

    My best friend is Lisa. When I first met her, I was five. She is one year older than me. Now she is in the same class with me, in the 8th grade. She is tall and quite thin. She has long curly blond hair and blue eyes. Lisa and I like doing a lot of things together and talking about different things. She always helps me with my math and I sometimes help her with her English and history, I had to do a report(报告)on science once, but I didn't understand(理解) what the teacher said. The next day, I read it in front of the class. But the teacher told me that my report was wrong and my classmates laughed at me. I felt very bad about myself. Lisa was the only one who didn't laugh at me. She tried to be nicer than anybody else and made me happy.

    Lisa is friendly and everybody loves her. I am happy to have a friend like her.

Information Card

    Liu Wei is very famous in China because he can play the piano with his toes(脚趾). One day when Liu Wei was only 10 years old, he played a game with some friends. He lost both his arms because of electricity(电). Liu Wei was very sad when both his arms were cut off after the accident. But soon he had to make a choice. "For people like me, there were only two choices. One was to give up all the dreams, which would cause a quick death. The other was to work hard without arms to live an excellent life." says Liu Wei. Liu's dream was to be a pianist. His excellent life included a show on China's Got Talent(《中国达人秀》) and a wonderful performance(演奏) playing the beautiful Marriage D'amour with his two feet on the piano. Liu Wei learned to play the piano with his feet. And teaching himself to play the piano with his feet was very hard. Many times he wanted to give it up, but his parents went on encouraging(鼓励) him and he wanted to make his parents proud. Maybe you can not believe that Liu Wei is able to play well only with his toes. The audience(观众) were deeply moved and very excited when they watched his performance.

    Should parents ask their children to do chores? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}They think that children are too young to cook or clean for themselves or their parents. But many people believe that children can learn a lot from doing regular chores. Parents should help children learn to do the housework that they will have to do when they live on their own. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Most experts(专家)do agree. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Parents shouldn't, of course, ask a schoolboy to cook when he is doing his homework. If the child has activities after school, the time left to do chores may be short.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}When a child does what his parents ask him to do happily, he will probably have the feeling of growing up. Chores can be useful. They are a teaching tool(工具). Parents use the tool to teach children, so that they can care for themselves some day. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}If parents keep a clean house, children won't find any reason to do chores.

A. And they also give children a sense of responsibility, importance and confidence.

B. Parents must make children understand how hard they work.

C. However, the chores should suit (适合于)children.

D. Doing chores can help children get better grades.

E. Some believe that children should not do chores.

F. Perhaps more chores on weekends can be helpful.

    Everyone loves chocolate- kids and grown-ups alike, and no matter what your age is, you are sure to enjoy learning more about chocolate. Read on to learn some fun facts.

    All the chocolate we eat comes from a special plant- the cacao tree. These trees produce a special kind of seeds. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Then they are used to make chocolate.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} So they grow best when under the branches(树枝) of taller trees in the forest. They won't begin to bear fruit, however, until they are at least three to five years old. Cacao trees produce beautiful flowers all the year round. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} A kind of small flies pollinate(对......授粉) these small flowers. These flies are so small that they easily stand on the head of a needle(针状物). They beat their wings very fast—1, 000 beats a second! {#blank#}4{#/blank#} A cacao pod(可可果) has about 30—50 seeds. This is enough to make about seven milk chocolate candy bars!

Leonardo da Vinci was a famous artist who was born in Italy. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern life. Although Leonardo hated war. he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war. Besides, Leonardo spent days thinking about how to save time. He developed ideas for something like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He never ate meat. That was very unusual in those times. He never published(发表) discoveries about science. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like usual writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left side。

Only a few of his paintings are left today. Many paintings were not finished because he thought they were not perfect.

Leonardo was talented and creative. He was regarded as one of the most intelligent men in the world.