Raising chickens seems a difficult task for teenagers. Gracie Goodpasture, from Virginia, US, not only raises them, but also tries to breed (喂养) the “perfect chicken”. And she even won an award for her love of science.

      Gracie started breeding chickens in her third grade at Steward School. At first, she worked on some farms for her school project. But later, the 14-year-old started to have some ideas of her own.

    “Some have thicker eggshells (蛋壳), and they're hearty (健壮的) throughout the winter,” said Grade.

      Since then, the young science lover started to try to find the healthiest free-range (散养) chickens. And she ended up breeding a type that now bears her name.

      The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) gave the 2015 Angela Award to Gracie Goodpasture. Her interests don't end with chickens and eggs. She is also into building robots and testing preservatives (防腐剂) in fast foods. In her words, she wants to go to Virginia Tech for poultry (家禽) sciences in the future.

    Now many people like to keep dogs as their pets. But how did dogs become humans' close friends?

    In some places of Europe (欧洲), about 10,000 years ago, some wild (野生的) dogs often came to human's houses to find food. The wild dogs looked different from the ones today. They looked like wolves (狼). At first, they felt ① frightened. They always stood and looked for a short time. Then they got the food and ran away. Sometimes the young dogs couldn't run fast and people caught them. People trained them and the young dogs grew up with the help of people. Slowly, the wild dogs became home dogs. They could make home safe when people were away. They helped people hunt (狩猎). They helped people keep warm on cold nights. ② Sometimes, they could smell and hear danger before people could. In some cold places, they helped people pull (拉) things people need.

    Now there are more than 400 different kinds of dogs in the world. And they look different from each other. The number and kind are growing all the time. Today, some people mainly (主要地) regard dogs as pets. In fact, dogs are really our close friends. We should protect them from being killed.

To be a good tourist

    Nowadays, travelling is becoming an important part of our life. However, some people have bad habits when visiting places of interest.

    Some people often make loud noise that makes others feel uncomfortable. Some people don't realize the importance of protecting our environment. They throw rubbish everywhere. Some people like to take photos in wrong places, even in dangerous places. These are very rude and unwelcome in public.

    As a student, I think we should remember to do something to be a good tourist. First of all, we should throw rubbish in the dustbin instead of dropping it everywhere. Secondly, don't make too much noise, especially in some quiet places. It is not polite. Finally, we understand that many people like taking photos while travelling. It is fun. But we should take photos in proper places and always remember safety comes first.

    In a word, if all of us can try our best to be good tourists, I believe we can make a great difference to our environment and we can have more fun as well.

Information Card

    Let's have a look at American students' school life. On school days, American students usually get up at 7:00 a.m. Most students walk or take a yellow school bus to school. Some students ride bikes. After they arrive at school at about 8:30 a.m., they meet their friends and talk about their activities. They put their backpack in a small cupboard(衣柜）and take out only one book, some writing paper and a pencil for each class. In the middle school, they take only five or six subjects each term. They usually go to the same class every day, and they have homework for every class.

    At noon, the students eat lunch at school. They often have meat, vegetables, fruit and some drinks. But some students like pizza, hot dogs or hamburgers better. At 13:00 in the afternoon, they begin to have classes. Their classes are always over at 15:00. Then they join the school clubs or play sports. They go back home at about 5:30 p.m.

Information Card

    Today teamwork is becoming more and more important in businesses and other jobs. Our society needs people who can work with and get on well with others.

    John Brown, Design Works

    A good team needs people with different skills and talents. The best people can work with others and develop ideas with a team. It's important that everyone uses his talents in work.

    Lee Chung, Computer World

    Good team players are usually friendly and easy to talk to. They are also good at listening to other people. They are happy to share ideas.

Jane Lin, Lin Electricals

    Most teams need a mixture of people. It is great 10 have people with ideas but you also need people who get things done on time. A team made up of people that all have the same skills would not work.

Jim Khan, Northern Bank

    I prefer people who can bring out the best in other people. In a group you can see people that know how to get a team to work together. They understand teams and they can make a team work. A good team is the key to success.

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