People live around the world. They like to have celebrations (节日). In China, people celebrate Spring Festival. It is in January or February. They wear red clothes because red is the color for good luck. Chinese children also get money from their parents or grandparents for the Spring Festival. In Gambia (冈比亚), people celebrate Independence Day (独立日). It is in February. They wear bright clothes and play music at the celebration. In England, people celebrate May Day. It is in May. They wear beautiful clothes to celebrate the coming spring. The children like to dance on this day. In America, people celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It is in November. They have a very big dinner with their families or friends. They eat turkey and a lot of other delicious foods. They have a long talk after the dinner.

    [1]Once, when there was a famine（饥荒）, a rich baker sent for twenty of the poorest children in the town, and said to them, “In this basket there is a loaf（面包）for each of you. Take it, and come back to me every day at this hour for more.”

    [2]The hungry children gathered eagerly about the basket, and fought over the bread because each wanted the largest loaf. At last they went away without even ______ the good baker.

    [3]Gretchen, a poorly dressed little girl, did not fight or struggle with the other children, but stood quietly in the distance（远处）, When the badly behaved children had left. Gretchen took the smallest loaf, which was all that was left in the basket. She kissed the baker's hand and went home.

    [4]第二天，孩子们表现得像以前一样糟糕。Gretchen got a loaf almost half the size of the one she got the first day. When she came home, her mother cut the loaf open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it.

    [5]Her mother was very worried and said, “Take the money back to the baker at once. The silver must have fallen into the dough by accident. By quick, Gretchen!”

    [6]When the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, “It was no mistake, I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf to reward（奖赏）you. Always be as content（满足）,peaceable, and thankful as you now are. Go home now, and tell your mother that the money is yours to keep.”

    We often see top students around us and everyone knows about them. Let us take Jenny as an example. She is the monitor of our class. She spends a lot of time working for our class. But she always gets good grades in all subjects. How do students like Jenny do that? When I asked her, she said, "Hard work is not the whole story. It's not how long you sit at the desk with your books open. It's what you do as you are sitting." In fact, we can see many top students spend fewer hours on their studies than their classmates. Jenny gave me some valuable suggestions.

    If your math teacher gives you five exercises, you should do six. If your Chinese teacher gives eight pages of reading, you should read nine. The more you practice, the more you learn.

    Studying is a matter of your personal interest, so choose the way you are most comfortable with. Some people like working at night when the house is quiet, while others like doing their work early in the morning. However, others like studying as soon asthey arrive home from school while the work is fresh in their minds. No matter(无论) which way suits you, try to do your best.

    Studying is your business and the business comes before entertainment(娱乐). When you are studying, phone calls should go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks given up. Studying is the only thing in your mind. Nothing can pull your attention away from what you are studying.

    Studying is like eating. You should eat a little at a time. You can plan what to do today, but don't do too much. When you can't finish the work you planned to do, you will feel stressed and may lose confidence. On the other hand, you will not study well without a good plan. It all depends on how you manage your time.

    The students who hand in a clearly written paper are already half way to get an A. Tidy papers are likely to get higher marks than messy(乱糟糟的) ones. When you write clearly and do your work carefully, the thoughts in your mind are clear. You are able to make fewer mistakes.

    When you wake up every day, once again to see this beautiful world, when your parents, teachers and friends give you help, will you know how to be grateful? And when you feel unlucky and make mistakes, will you still be thankful?

    Yu Dan, a professor at the Beijing Normal University, made a report about Gratitude Education（感恩教育）. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Nowadays, some teenagers only care about things outside. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}For example, they fight each other, use phones in class, be rude to their parents and teachers and so on. Most of them don't know love, respect and gratefulness.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It is impossible for anyone to be lucky and successful all the time as long as he lives in the world. We should learn how to face failure or bad luck bravely and to try to deal with it. As we know, "Life is a mirror. When you smile in front of it, it will also smile and so will it when you cry to it. " {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you always complain about everything, you may own nothing in the end.

    I think the teenagers should be grateful to life even when we are unsuccessful or unlucky. We have many reasons for being grateful. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} And it is also a way to sing for our life which comes just from our love and hope.

    If each of us has an attitude of being grateful, we'll lead a better and more beautiful life. So remember, being grateful forever.

A. It will affect Chinese people, especially the teenagers.

B. They don't care about others.

C. If you are grateful to life, it will bring you shining sunlight.

D. For example, being grateful is a way to communicate with adults.

E. They often behave badly.

F. Being grateful or thankful is very important.

G. Some students love and respect others.

    Robots were something in science novels and movies. Now there are many robots working in factories. In fact, most working robots are not like humans at all, some are more like strange machines. They do most of dirty or dangerous jobs over and over again. Robots never get bored or tired but humans will if they do the same jobs. Scientists believe there will be more new robots everywhere, but it may take hundreds of years. They will have different shapes. They will look like humans or animals. In India, scientists made robots that look like snakes. They can help find people inside fallen buildings.