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    Jack Johnson is one of the most popular singer-songwriters in the world.

Jack was born on May 18,1975 in Hawaii. Being the son of a famous surfer,Jack naturally has an interest in surfing. Most of his life lessons were learned in the water. At the age of 17,Jack entered the finals of the Pineline Masters—the world's most famous surfing competition. Everyone thought Jack would become a professional surfer like his father. Unluckily, one month later,he had a deadly accident while surfing and was seriously hurt.

    Life is like a revolving door. When it closes ,it also opens. Jack started to practice playing the guitar and write songs when he was staying in hospital. At first,his father thought Jack only did it for fun,but soon he was surprised at the great progress his son had made.

When studying in the university, Jack didn't stop practicing his guitar skills. He played the guitar for school parties. He wrote songs and sang them for his teachers and friends. They liked his songs. His first music album Brush fire Fairytales came out in 2001. It was a great success. His second album，On and On ， was much like his first. They were filled with sweet，easy-going songs

that everybody liked listening to. Later Jack had lots of concerts in and out of America. He became popular all over the world.

    Jack had five albums by 2010 and more than 15 million copies of them were sold. His music doesn't fit into any of the popular music styles like pop, rock, R&B or hip-hop. It is more like folk music, played with a guitar and beautiful voice. When listening to his songs, you feel like lying on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine.

    Jack is a talent, though he himself says he is only a surfer who loves music. In his songs we can find his secret of success: Whatever happens in our lives, we have to accept it and do the best we can.

    When he was nine years old, American boy Milo Cress had a question: How many plastic straws(吸管) do Americans use every day?

    He quickly learned there wasn't a simple answer. The boy tried to work it out himself. Through lots of research, Cress found out that Americans use about 500 million straws every day. In hopes of reducing plastic waste, he founded the Be Straw Free project in 2011.

    Cress started the project in his hometown – Burlington, Vermont. He asked a local restaurant to stop offering straws with every drink order. It was a simple change. However, it would save money. And by doing that, the restaurant would cut down on its straw use by 50 percent.

    For the years that followed, Cress tried to spread his project across the United States. More and more restaurants agreed to join. They stop providing the customer with a straw unless he or she asks for one. Last April, Seattle became the first American city to completely ban (禁止) plastic straws.

    Plastic pollution has been one of the most serious problems today. According to scientists, more than eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. Plastic straws are especially terrible. They make it easy for people to get comfortable with single-use plastics.

    After his project became popular, Cress took his findings on the road. He has since spoken to tens of thousands of students around the world. He wants to encourage more people to say no to plastic straws.

    "Focusing(聚焦) on straws is one simple step we all could take," Cress says. "And it makes me feel that I, as a kid, could make a difference, too."

    As a student, I was the most afraid to answer questions in class, and I found that the students around were just like me. At the beginning of each class, when the teacher asked a question, I always lowered my head because I was afraid that the teacher would see me.

    One day, in a foreign language class, Mr. Black gave us a lesson, He wanted us to be active in class. So he asked us some questions, but no one answered. "Let me tell you a story first," he said. "When I went to the

United States to study, the university often invited famous people to make speeches. Before the beginning of every speech, I found an interesting thing.

    The students around me always took a cardboard folded(折叠的) in half wrote their names in bold with the most eye-catching colour, and then placed the cardboard on the seat. So when the speaker needed the answers from the students, he could see and call a listener's name directly.

I couldn't understand that. My classmate told me the speakers were all top people, who meant chances. When your answer was to his surprise, it meant he might give you more chances.

    In fact, I really saw a few students got great chances because of that after listening to the story, I understood that the chance will not find you itself. You must show yourself all the time so that you can find a chance.

    Wendy has a busy day every day. She gets up at six o'clock in the morning and has her breakfast at home. She leaves home at five to seven. It takes her fifteen minutes to walk to school. She has a little rest after lunch, but she works hard in class all day. She plays basketball after school, and then walks home. On her way home she sees a lot of buses, cars and bicycles. She sees flowers and green grass. She sees some children playing happily. She is also very happy. After she gets home, she has a short rest and a glass of water. After that she helps her parents clean the house. After dinner, she watches TV for half an hour. Then she starts her homework. She finishes it at nine o'clock. She goes to bed at nine thirty.