I love to write! Ever since I was a five-year-old girl, I wrote stories in my notebooks and on small pieces of paper. I told stories to my friends. As a grown-up, I have written over 100 books! That's a lot! As a teacher, it's my goal to encourage all of my students to love to write.

    Writing is easy if you're careful enough, I told them. Everyone I meet is a possible character.

    Everything I see or do is a possible scene in a book. Start looking around you. You'll be amazed at what you discover.

    Anyone can be a writer. You just put your pencil on your paper and write what you like to read, step by step:

    ● Create great characters. If you know your characters well, they'll write the story for you.

    ● Interest the reader right at the beginning. You can start your stories with dialogue or action. If you can make the reader ask questions, then he has to keep reading to find out the answers.

    ● Follow the steps. The steps for every story are almost the same: Introduce the characters and the conflict(争端);things get worse; all seems lost; the hero saves the day!

    ● Balance is the key.

    Remember, when writing, it doesn't hurt to add some humor(幽默).

Secrets of top students

⒈ Example One: "If I don't understand what my teacher is explaining in the science, I ask him to say it again," says Anna Lee. "also asking more helped a lot."  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

⒉ Example Two: "When a teacher asks us to do a lot of homework," says Dave Roman " I will draw up a timetable and plan to do it little by little, so it isn't so tiring. "  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

⒊ Example Three: One student put a vocabulary list on the wall of the bathroom. He learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth. Another student used the time to remember biology terms while practicing running.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

⒋ Example Four: In high school, Mike played football, painted and was in the band. "I was so busy that I couldn't waste time looking for a pencil or missing paper. I kept everything in order." He says.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

⒌ Example Five: Christi is an excellent student at the university. If her math teacher asks her to do five problems, she does ten. If the history teacher asks her to read five pages, she reads ten. "Part of learning is practicing," she says, "and the more you practice, the more you learn."  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Confidence (自信) is very important in daily life. It can help you to develop a healthy attitude. A study show that the people who are more confident are much happier. They can have more chance to make themselves successful. But how to be more confident? Here are some suggestions:

    Speak loudly when you are not confident, you can't do well what you want to do. You speak in a voice so slow that other people can hardly hear you. Try to speak aloud enough so that people can hear you clearly. The high voice can help you become more confident.

    Play sports Physical exercise makes you tired but completely relaxed. When you are athletic, you will be full of confidence.

    Encourage yourself Write down a list of things you did during the day and see how many things you have done well. Did you finish your homework? Did you tell a joke that made everybody laugh? Give yourself praise for the good things you've done.

    Get rid of (消除) fear Fear comes along with failure (失败). But it's easy to get over if you know that failure is a part of your life. Don't hide your head just because you said something foolish last time. Try to start again and believe you can do better.

    Pick up a hobby If you like singing, singing as much as you can. In some ways, a hobby can make you outstanding. And it will make you happy and confident.

Information Card

    April 22 is Earth Day. Everyone on earth should care about and protect the earth! The earth has warmed by about 1 °F over the past 100 years, but why and how? Well, scientists are not quite sure. Maybe the earth gets warmer and warmer on its own. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    First, greenhouse effect(效应) is a very important reason for the change of the earth. People give out too much energy into the air every year. It makes the earth warmer. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Sometimes it becomes too hot and sometimes too cold. Sometimes there is too much rain and sometimes too little. The change of the climate makes the earth warmer. In turn, the warmth of the earth changes the climate, too.

    When the earth becomes warmer, there may be more rain and a rise in sea level. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} On a Pacific island, 100 people have to move to higher ground because the sea is rising. These people can no longer live on the coast. Before that, two islands without people went underwater in 1999. Scientists say that the seas can rise by nearly one metre by 2100.

People can affect the earth's air, land and water. As for us, we can do many things to protect the earth.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} We can tell more people about protecting the earth.

Hello, I am Mary. I live in Chengdu. It's sunny and cool in my city now. I'm studying at home. My parents are shopping. What's the weather like in your city? And what are you doing?