Peter, Jack, Sam, Bob and John are on our school basketball team. It is one of the most popular teams in our city. Next Sunday, they're going to play against(同……比赛) No. 20 Middle School basketball players. Let me introduce(介绍)the five players.

    ①萨姆是最瘦的,但却是跑得最快的。Peter is the tallest. He can jump the highest, too. ②He can throw the ball into the basket easily. Bob is a new player, but he is also a great player. Of the five boys, Jack is the best player. In the last basketball match, he got twenty points for his team. John is the heaviest. He is 65kg. ③He runs slower than any other boy. But be is good at stopping the players of the other team from getting near the basket. They're a strong team. Are they going to win? Let's wait and see!

    I am Canadian. I started learning French when I was 10 years old. But my whole experience with the language was in the classroom. All of that changed, however, during my last summer of high school. As a 17-year-old girl, I flew across the country by myself for the first time! I headed for Quebec to live in the province with a French-speaking host family, who didn't speak any English. And I would learn French at a local school.

    On the first day of school, all of us students were given a test to determine (测定) our language level. We were required to speak only French all summer.

    I made every effort to communicate in a second language by making new friends, seeing movies and even ordering food from restaurants in French. Though I couldn't understand most of it at the very beginning, the whole experience was exciting and refreshing.

    On weekends, my classmates and I took trips to different places around the province. On one trip, we went whale watching on the St. Lawrence River. Even though it was raining, we could see huge whales swimming around our boat. The most memorable part of our trip was a visit to historic Quebec City. I walked along the stone streets, took pictures of the European-style (欧式的) buildings, and learned some stories there.

    Finally my efforts paid off! At the end of the summer, I was able to communicate pretty well. I couldn't wait to go back to school and talk with my French teacher. Being fully immersed (沉浸)in a French-speaking environment was a valuable learning experience. And it could be the main reason for my improvement in French.

    Everybody knows that healthy eating habits are important. Here are five good eating habits for you.

    ★{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. You may need even more water when you are exercising.

    ★{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Breakfast is the most important meal of a day. You can have more energy(能量) after eating breakfast.

    ★{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    If you don't have enough time to have a big meal, take some bread with you for a quick lunch. Don't eat lunch which has too much oil: If you don't have lunch, that will be bad for your health.

    ★{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    We should eat fruit and vegetables every day." Add a banana to your breakfast, have salad for lunch, and eat some vegetables at dinner. If someone doesn't like to eat vegetables, he or she can eat some fruit instead.

    ★{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Try to have dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed. Your body needs time to digest(消化) most of the food before you rest for 8 hours.

    What do you do when you begin to read an English newspaper?

You'd better know what sections there are. Usually, there is international news, business, science and technology, entertainment or lifestyle, sports and cartoons. You can choose your favourite section to read carefully.

    That you come to the article itself. If you don't have time to read the

whole article, the headline(标题) and photo give you a general idea of the story.

    Different kinds of articles

    A news article includes body text and a photo with a short piece of text under it. It usually puts the most important information at the very beginning. If you don't have much time to read the story, just have a look at the first paragraph.

    A feature article is an in-depth(深人的) report on an event or a person. It usually has an interesting opening. You get to know the idea of the article as you read.

    Another kind of article is an opinion article. Usually, some famous people give their own opinions about an important issue in a fun way. Opinion article is different from news stories that are all facts.

Be a critical(批判性的) reader

    There are advertisements in newspapers. They can provide useful information about products, places, food or jobs. Remember that people make advertisements to sell you things. You don't have to do everything advertisements tell you to do. You should be critical enough to judge which advertisements are useful and which are not.

With only one yuan, could you live in a city for one day? It may sound impossible.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

On April 10th, more than 60 students from a middle school took part in the One Yuan Metropolis Survival(一元城市生存). A charity organization(慈善组织) for teenagers held this activity.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And it is going to four others, including Beijing.

In the activity, students had to live and deal with difficult tasks. To make money, many students looked for part-time jobs and saw how hard life was. A 14-year-old girl asked more than 10 restaurants for a job and finally got one. "{#blank#}3{#/blank#} But gradually, we got used to it," she said. After being a waiter for an hour, she got 25 yuan.

Living was hard, but finishing the tasks wasn't any easier. The students went to different places to finish tasks in a short time. The most amazing one was when they had to exchange things worth a thousand yuan with only a piece of paper in half an hour. "{#blank#}4{#/blank#} From a balloon to a cake to a bottle of yogurt...after almost 20 tries, we got an expensive ring," a student said. "We will give all of the money we have raised to poor schools in Tibet."

Many middle school students don't know how to spend their free time. When they have holidays, they always have nothing to do and feel bored. How can you spend a perfect holiday? Here are some suggestions(建议).

If you like to stay at home, you can do these things. First, you may listen to some light music which helps relax yourself after working for a long time. Second, you can play some indoor(室内的)games such as chess, cards, and able tennis. Third, you can also plant some trees and flowers in your garden to make your home beautiful. Finally, it is also a good way to keep a pet and talk with it. For example, you can chose to keep a dog.

If you don't like to stay at home, you can go for a picnic with your family or friends, take a walk with your parents in a park, or play some sports out of the house. Go out of the house, and you can take some fresh air and keep healthy.

Just have some hobbies(爱好)and you will feel happy during a long holiday.