Two years ago, a small town in Changhua started to grow healthy rice. The healthy rice was not grown by farmers but by the students from a small primary school of only about fifty people.

    The idea of growing rice came from the school teachers. When making teaching plans, the teachers decided to teach students how to grow healthy rice on school land. They wanted the students to get closer to the land when doing the rice farming outside the classroom.

What's better, the school made money from selling the rice and giving farming classes to the public. With the money, the school could help the students who wished to go to foreign countries some day. Today the dream is becoming real — the students are flying to Japan to share their special farming experiences, and have fun over there, of course! “We all feel very proud that even students from a small town can make themselves seen in the world,” said one of the teachers.

    The Maori people of New Zealand believe that the world began in darkness.

    They say it was dark because Rangi, the sky father, and Papa, the earth mother, were lying together, keeping out of the light.

    Rangi and Papa had many children who were all gods (神). Their children did not like the darkness, so one of them, Tane, the god of the forests, made his mother leave his father. After that, the sky stayed far above the Earth, and let the light in.

    Later, Tane was living on the Earth. He wanted to have a wife. There was no woman around, so he made one from sand. He breathed (呼出) life into her, and she became the first human(人类).

    As Tane breathed life into his wife, he knew that the breath of life would one day leave her. So it was that humans were not like gods — they could not live all the time.

    How do you find happiness every single day? How do you get more out of life and live life to the fullest? There are three easy ways to help you to enjoy your daily life.

    One way to find happiness within you is to show your appreciation（感激）to others. Showing appreciation not only gives happiness to others, but also we can receive happiness in return by writing a letter of appreciation and for the response we get. Often maybe you are strict with yourself by telling yourself you could have done things better. Have a look at your life and think about what you have achieved today. So take 5 minutes right now to write down what you have achieved in life and what you are proud of.

    Have you ever kept a diary? Sometimes writing things down will give you a clear thinking and allows you to let go of things. When you write in a diary, you have the ability to express yourself as you truly would like to be.

    Each of the above three easy steps takes only 15 minutes. Not only can it produce happiness for you, but also it will help others be in good feeling. Why not have a try right now?

    Grandfather was a wise man. No matter how badly-behaved I had been, I could tell Grandpa anything and my 1 were safe. He loved me and would never give them away.

    I remember a time when a group of us were playing baseball behind Mrs. Brown's house. I hit one pitch(投球) just right and …slam! It ended up breaking Mrs. Brown's kitchen window! We all 2!

    After I got home, I 3 Grandpa about it. He knew we had been warned many times about the dangers of playing where we shouldn't. 4 he just listened.

    "I was 5," I told him, with my head down. "I hate myself for what I did. Is there a way out?" "Well," he said, "Mrs. Brown has a problem, just like you. If she knew you cared and you were afraid of her, she would be sad. I'll bet she wishes you would give her a 6 to be understanding. It's 7 decision. Are you planning to pretend(假装) nothing happened? Just keep quiet and hide what you're not proud of?"

    "I don't know," I sighed(叹息). "Things might get worse…" "Let's think it through," he said finally. "If you were Mrs. Brown, what would you do?" I didn't know 8 she might do. I had been afraid that Mrs. Brown would stay mad at me, so I ran. On the way home I 9 that she was a mean witch(女巫) running after me.

    "Well," I said, taking a deep breath, "One way is to tell Mrs. Brown I'm sorry and offer to fix her 10. "

    "If you call her," asked Grandpa, "What's the worst that can happen?" I had to think for a moment. I realized that even if she did not 11 my apology(道歉), it could not be any worse than seeing the disappointment(失望) on Mom and Dad's 12.

    Grandpa smiled when he knew I had figured it out(明白). "Doing what's right is not always easy," he said, handing me the phone. "I'm proud of you." Grandpa did not make me do it. It was always my 13. As it turned out, Mrs. Brown was very kind and we 14 became really close friends.

    Grandpa passed away a year ago and I miss him so much. He gave me the tools to fix many problems and most of all he showed me I was 15.

     "Hi! John." Mary ran towards me with a bright smile, saying. "I'm going to have a dance performance tonight. I hope you'll come. Here is the ticket. Don't forget!" Then she left in a hurry. "What? Dance? Is that1?" I asked myself. Mary was not such a kind of girl. She was quite common one. I had never seen her wearing colorful clothes. In fact, she really did not know how to dress up. What a terrible thing!

    "I should go to, I must go to." I thought.

    I arrived at the hall with the ticket, found my 2 and sat down. Her performance was the seventh one. I knew I would have a 3 time before her turn, for I had no sense of art, but her performance was worth watching, no matter how long I would wait.

    Time went4I tried my best not to fall asleep.

    Just then, came the words, "Let's welcome the next exciting dance - Latin!"

    Hearing this, I opened my eyes as large as possible, fearing to lose anything. Wearing a golden and shining skirt, Mary appeared. She5with a sweet smile, looking like a pretty butterfly flying. I could hardly believe my eyes.

    After the performance was over, I waited for her at the gate.

    "Hi!" She stood in front of me with her crystal（水晶）shoes. "How do you feel?" "Fantastic!" I answered.

    "Ha, ha. I knew 6 would be." She could not hide her excitement, laughing like a child. At the time, I realized that every girl has a pair of special shoes which are like the crystal shoes of Cinderella.

Many students have problems in listening to English. Read the information below and learn more about how to improve your listening skills（技能）. 

Listen to the English radio.

One of the best ways to improve your English listening skills is to listen to the English radio on your mobile phone. 

●You should listen to the radio shows for more than 30 minutes a day. 

●Try to understand. Don't just let the English wash over you. If you find it too fast, try to pick out the key words to get a main idea of it. 

●You can also make notes when you hear some new words or phrases（短语）. Look them up in the dictionary and then listen to the show again. 

Watch English movies and TV shows.

Another fun way to improve your listening is to watch English movies and TV shows. 

●Try to choose films or TV shows that you will enjoy. This will make the listening more interesting. If you like the film or TV show, you may forget your job is to practise listening. You just enjoy it. 

●However, you should not watch movies or TV shows with Chinese. It will be difficult for you to focus on English. 

If you have any other questions, please send emails to us and we will give you the best answers.