Now students' English handwriting gets worse and worse. Their teachers worry about that. Is your English handwriting beautiful? If not, here are four steps that really work!

Use paper with lines 

      Using paper with lines can keep you writing straight instead of up or down when you write English words or sentences. Those lines on the paper can help you to write words in the right size. Be sure to fill the lined space completely. And remember that those capital letters are written properly.

Slow down 

If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. For some kids, going a little slowly makes the handwriting clear. If you write too fast, it's hard for you to stop where you should, and even worse, you may make more mistakes.

Hold your pencil correctly 

When you hold your pencil correctly, writing is much easier. Some kids press down really hard when they write. That makes the handwriting not nice. Try to be relaxed and don't hold the pencil so hard. Let your writing appear nice and clean. If you do so, people will guess you are a student with a good habit.

Draw more pictures 

      Drawing can improve your handwriting. You need to use the skills to control your pencil better when you are drawing pictures. Even though you have no chance to draw at school, you can practice by yourself at home.

Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a world-famous movie star or a well-known sports player, what do you do when your fans run up to you? Give them your autographs, of course!

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Michael: I perform in the evenings, but luckily I don't have to get up early. So in the mornings I sleep in, and then practise on stage for 45 minutes. I have to do a lot of exercise before each show.

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Michael: Because it's like a dream of flying. When you do a great performance on the trapeze, it's an unbelievable feeling.

Reporter: {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Michael: Working at such a high level every day.

Sometimes you wake up with a stomachache, but you have to perform.

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Michael: You need to be strong to deal with physical training. You mustn't be heavy, or your partner can't catch you easily. You can't be at all nervous when there are 5，000 people watching you.

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Michael: We get paid per show and the amount depends on your contract（合同）. Of course，we can set extra money for extra performances.

    Helen has always been interested in helping her community (社区). Her first volunteer experience was for the American Red Cross when she was in high school. When she was a school teacher, she also found time to volunteer.

    After she retired (退休), she started volunteering to help the old. When her father was older, he was not able to see as well as he used to, which made her sad because he had always enjoyed reading. She decided it would be fun to read to elderly people in her community.

    She also helped one woman write her stories. Ann was almost 100 years old, and Helen wrote down information about her life when she visited her. She put the information in a book and got it published (出版), Ann was very excited to share her life story with her children and grandchildren.

    After a strong storm hit some southern cities, Helen volunteered again for the American Red Cross. She prepared food and answered phones in a care centre.

    One day Helen read an article in the newspaper about refugees (难民) who needed to learn English. She met once a week with Sahra, a 38-year-old woman from Somalia. Helen gave Sahra a camera and asked her to take pictures of her daily life. In the end, they wrote a book together and used the photos in the book. This helped Sahra learn many new words about her everyday life.

    Helen says, "The real value of my volunteer work is becoming friends with the people I help. They enrich my life as well as I enrich theirs."

①We all think that history is really important, but how much does it actually matter?

②A famous writer from the 20th and 21st centuries, Michael Crichton, once said, If you don't know history, you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. "But not everyone agrees. George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a philosopher from the 19th century, said, "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing. "Karl Marx from the 19th century said, "History repeats itself first as a tragedy, second as a farce(闹剧). So, we do learn from history, but that doesn't mean we don't make the same mistakes again.

③However, in my eyes, history tells us where we come from, what we did right, and what we did wrong. It gives us warnings for the future and helps us move forward with knowledge. We might repeat mistakes, but at least we can move forward with our eyes open.

④As we head into the future, it's important to know not only our own history but the one of our neighbor countries. What better ways to understand a country than through its people?

⑤We asked people from different countries to recommend the best books about their history. We also looked into our own country's past, remembering stories that meant something to us when we were growing up. This way, different perspectives on world history can be learned.

⑥You can take a quick trip through the history of England, from its earliest people to the  21st century. You' ll learn about the turbulent (动荡的) history of the US and then fly across the globe to hear stories from Kenya, Australia and the Philippines. The histories you' ll read about will help you explore different parts of the world and different times in history.