{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Ben is a student. He is not good at English, so he wants to buy some books to help him learn English.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Sara likes hand making. She plans to make some special Christmas cards for her friends.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Dave likes doing sports and he can play table tennis very well. He also likes watching sports games·

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Grace wants to buy a beautiful dress and a pair of nice shoes for the New Year Party. She also needs a new chair.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Alice often goes to see movies with her friends. She likes American movies best because these movies are often very exciting and fun.

A. Silver Screen(It's a big and new cinema. Some famous American movies are going to be on this weekend. )

B. Fun Centre(People can play sports as well as watch games there. There will be two table tennis matches this weekend and the price of the ticket is not so expensive. )

C. City Lights Bookstore(There are many kinds of books, magazines and CDs in the shop. You can always find your favorite ones to enjoy. )

D. DIY Workshop(It's a good place for people who like making small things with paper. You can make beautiful lanterns, cards, paper flowers and more. )

E. City Museum (It's a big and famous museum with a long history. If you want to know more about the history of the city, this place will be great. )

F. MIXC Mall (it's a big shopping centre with nearly everything, clothes, shoes, bags, and even furniture·)

    I once believed that a friend is a friend all the way. Now I have changed my ideas about friendships.

    1). Friends of convenience(便利). They can be the people who live next door or the mothers of our children's closest friends. Friends of convenience are good indeed. They'll help us when we need it. They'll look after our cats when we go on holidays. But we don't ever get too close or tell too much. Between us, we'll talk about being overweight but not about being sad or disappointed(失望). However, people still find it necessary to make friends like this.

    2). Special-interest friends. These friendships aren't deeply personal or emotional(感情上的). They lie in some shared interests, so we may have an office friend, a tennis friend, or even a shopping friend.

    3). Historical friends. We all have a friend who knew us when…maybe we were back in the second grade of primary school, when our family lived in that two-room flat downtown. He or she was the first, the only friend we told our secrets to.

    The years have gone by, and we have gone different ways. But we're still a personal part of each other's past. We know how we looked before our teeth were straightened(矫正), and our getting together makes us think of an earlier part of ourselves, which is important and never lost.

    4). Cross-generational friends. These are friendships that from across generations(代). I have in my own life a precious(珍贵的) friend, a woman of 65, who is clever, who listens well, and who means not only an ideal mother to me but also the person I'd like to be when I grow up.

    Best friends, I believe, totally love and help each other.

    Casey was painting the sets (粉刷布景) for the school play (戏剧). When she worked, the actors practiced on stage (舞台). A girl named Amelia played an important role in it. Now she was singing.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}She saw the actors practice again and again. She remembered the words to all the songs by heart.

    Casey's friend Kareem helped her paint. "You should try out for the next play," he said. "You're good."

    Casey said, " {#blank#}2{#/blank#}"

    The next day, Casey and Kareem finished painting the last part of the sets. They were cleaning up their brushes and paints.

    "It's too bad!" Ms. Brown came in and said. " {#blank#}3{#/blank#}She can't be in the play. What will we do?"

    Kareem and Casey heard this. "You know all the words to the songs. You can take over Amelia's part!" said Kareem

    "No, I can't," said Casey.

    "Sure you can. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You must do it!" said Kareem.

    Casey really wanted to act on stage. She thought, " {#blank#}5{#/blank#}" Then she took a deep breath (深呼吸) and walked to Ms. Brown, "I know what we can do!"

    It's easy to just get fast food when you're hungry, but it can also be unhealthy and expensive. So I made my own food at home using healthy recipes(菜谱).

Trying new things

    I tried some zucchini noodles.  Zucchini isn't my all-time favorite, but I was surprised by how good this tasted.

Shaking up(重组) breakfast

    Two more days until my healthy diet was over and I felt really good about myself. For breakfast, I had a banana sandwich. Don't let the term "sandwich" fool you. The banana actually works as the "bread".

At-home burrito

    I found an easy burrito recipe. I needed black beans, garlic, tomatoes, lettuce and some other vegetables. What a great recipe for vegetables!

How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? Do you know there is a scientific (科学的) reason for this?

Scientists are studying the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language. They found that remembering words in a song is the best way to remember even the most difficult language. 

"Singing could be a new way of learning a foreign language. The brain (大脑) likes to remember things in a catchy and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song," said Dr Lude. "If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages," Dr Lude wrote, "a listen- and- repeat (重复) singing method can support foreign language learning, and open the door for future research in this area."

Many language teachers know the importance of music and they often use it in teaching and learning. Hua Zhuying, a teacher at a Chinese language school in America, likes using songs to teach Chinese. " We usually use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics (歌词), so it's easy to start because they know the music, " she said. "Sometimes I think if I learnt English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better than now."

Our brain likes music in learning languages. especially (尤其) for remembering. If you are still having some problems in learning a language, why not try singing it out?