In America, science is a very important class. In middle school we were {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  how to solve problems by thinking like a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} . We had to think of a question, guess an answer, and {#blank#}3{#/blank#}  a way to test our guess. There were lots of experiments and other activities. I remember studying how science can explain things like light and electricity.
Our English class is very different from {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  in China, more like Chinese class I think! We read lots of books and talked about them, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  we could understand what we read better. We learned how to know what information is important when we read and what {#blank#}6{#/blank#}  so important. In my class we all gave six {#blank#}7{#/blank#}  to the class during the year. We had to talk in front of the class for six {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ten minutes!
We also have health classes. In this class, we learned about our bodies and how to take care of {#blank#}9{#/blank#}  by doing things like eating healthy foods, and not doing {#blank#}10{#/blank#}  things like smoking or drugs (毒品). We cooked a little bit, but I was not very good at it!

Do you know Fu Niu Lele? It is the mascot (吉祥物) {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games (残奥会). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} can it be the mascot? Because in Chinese culture，cattle (牛) are hardworking, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} and brave(勇敢的). The mascot of cattle is a {#blank#}4{#/blank#} of Chinese people. It also {#blank#}5{#/blank#} for the harmony (和谐) between people and the environment. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the mascot shows disabled (残疾的) players are very strong. It also sends Chinese people's best {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to all disabled people around the world.

    Beijing successfully (成功地) held the Paralympics {#blank#}8{#/blank#} September 6th to 17^th in 2008. Many players from all over the world {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the games. There were 20 different kinds of sports for them. Our country tried its best {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the Paralympics best.

    When you are learning English, listening, speaking and writing are important, but reading can also be very helpful. Here are some good reading tips.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Read something that you can understand. If you need to stop every three words to use a dictionary, it is not interesting.

    Try to increase the number of your new words. If there are four or five new words on a page, write them in your notebook. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Instead, try to guess their meaning as you read: First mark them with a pen. Next come back to look them up in a dictionary. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Finally spend some time remembering them.

    Try to read regularly（定期地）. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Fifteen minutes every day is better than two hours every Sunday. Fix a time to read and keep to it. You could read for fifteen minutes when you go to bed, or when you get up or at lunchtime.

    Read what interests you. Choose a book or a magazine about a subject that you like, because you are going to spend time and money reading it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. You can also read newspapers. There are many English newspapers in China. It is easy enough to understand and also there is something interesting in it.

     When I was in Grade 7, I used to spend too much time chatting online at night. The next day, I often felt{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(困倦的) in class, I couldn't listen to teachers carefully and I couldn't {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (重复) correctly what the teachers told me. I {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（几乎不） understood what they taught in class. That was why so much homework couldn't {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(做) by me because of my terrible situation at that time. And my mother always {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(警告) me of the importance of my schoolwork. From then on, I {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(开始)studying for my most important exam in my life. I have realized that it's {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（愚蠢的）of me to do that. I listen carefully in class every day. At night I read some books after finishing the homework to be knowledgeable. I feel like studying with my teachers and classmates I'm the {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（主人）of myself. I have made a little progress and I think I {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(赢了) the war against my laziness. I'm no longer a fool , which once worried my parents a lot in the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(过去).

      There is an old saying: He who laughs last laughs best. I hope I could enter my ideal high school.

    A little bird lived in a beautiful fruit tree. He lived there for a long time. He and the tree were good {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. One year, the rainy season (雨季) did not bring enough water to the fruit tree. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the dry season came, the fruit tree began to die (枯萎).

    One day, an old bird came and sat on the tree. He saw the little bird was not {#blank#}3{#/blank#} and asked him why. After hearing the little bird's story, he {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, "Why don't you find {#blank#}5{#/blank#} tree to live in?"

    "I do not want to {#blank#}6{#/blank#} my friend," the little bird said. The old bird said, "Well then, are you just going to sit there and do nothing to {#blank#}7{#/blank#} your friend? What does your friend {#blank#}8{#/blank#}?"

    The little bird thought about the old bird's words. And he {#blank#}9{#/blank#} he could do something to help his friend. He flew to the river and brought {#blank#}10{#/blank#} to the fruit tree day after day. Soon, the tree turned green again.

    Next time you hold a book in your hands, stop and think. Like most other things in the modern world, it is the result of thousands of years of human invention.

    First, came the invention of writing,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(probable) about 5500 year ago. With writing, people did not have to remember everything in their heads. They could communicate with people that they never {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(see) and share their knowledge with future generations.

    Later, the Greeks were well-done for their literature( 文学 ) and science, but their “books” looked very different {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the books of today. They were called scrolls(卷轴).

    They were different to use and took a lot of space in a library. About 2,000 years ago, books with lots of pages {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(invent).

    For more than a thousand years, the pages of books were made from animal skin. That changed in {#blank#}5{#/blank#}thirteenth century, when Europeans learned about a very {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(use) Chinese invention: paper.

    But the biggest change for books in Europe came in 1439, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Before that, books in Europe were copied by hand, so they were very expensive. Many more people could afford the books {#blank#}7{#/blank#}were produced on a printing press.

    These days it is difficult {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(imagine) a world without books. But human invention does not stop. Every year, more {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(story) are bought as e-books and read on a screen.

    Will anyone turn the pages of a traditional book in the future,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}will books, like scrolls soon disappear?