One cool April 22 morning, people started the day as usual. Yet it was not a normal day. What's so special about April 22? The answer is because it is Earth Day. People all over the world celebrate this important day. The idea of having a special day to celebrate the Earth began in 1960s. Life was very different then. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Most people had no idea how dirty our air and water were.

    On April 22, 1970, twenty million Americans joined the first Earth Day activities. This showed that people really want to do something for the environment. Since then laws have been passed   to protect the air, water, land, and animals. The vehicles(汽车) such as cars and buses you ride  in must pass tests to make sure they don't cause too much pollution. Thanks to it, cars today give out about half as many bad chemicals as they did in the past. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It's a good thing because they have got a lot of help. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so polluted that rubbish and oil on the river even caught fire! Today, the river is cleaner. It no longer burns. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Now the celebration has spread to other countries. More than 175 countries take part each year.

    In 2007, people in China paid much attention to this big problem. People were throwing away one million plastic bags( 塑料袋) a day! People had "Bye-Bye Throwaway Culture Week." They wanted everyone to see how polluted it was to throw away so many plastic bags. In 2008, China passed new laws against them.

    Every April 22, millions of people get together to clean and protect the Earth. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Our job is to put this knowledge to work. You can help keep our planet healthy, too!

    ⑴We are living in a world full of competition. Parents compete with others in their offices, our brothers and sisters compete with others in their colleges, and we compete with our classmates in schools. Most of us give up facing competition and will never be successful. Why can't we do better than others? One important reason is that we have no self﹣confidence.

    ⑵事实上，人人生而平等。You can do what others do. Your classmates may be better than you in some ways, but you may be better than them in other subjects. So everyone has his or her advantages.

    ⑶Don't look at things from a single point of view. Try to discover your own advantages, and believe that you can do better than others in those ways.

    Competition is not so terrible. ⑷不要害怕那些比你更优秀的同学。

    ⑸Remember that self﹣confidence is the first step to success. Believe in yourselves, and you will be successful in any competition.

⑴{#blank#}1{#/blank#} ⑵{#blank#}2{#/blank#} ⑶{#blank#}3{#/blank#} ⑷{#blank#}4{#/blank#} ⑸{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

    Making the most of time is important in our life. Here are some tips that might be of help to you.

    Make a plan. You should make a list of what you want to finish every week. The plan includes things you want to finish. You should know what the most important ones are, and try your best to do them first.

    Control your stress. No matter what kind of stress you have, try to keep cool. When you have a lot of things to do, too much stress may make you slow. Don't work all day without breaks.

    Focus on one thing at a time. Don't try to do many things at a time! You will lose your focus (注意力), and it will take you longer to finish your work.

    Just say "no". If you really don't have the time to help out, just say "no". You're only one person, and you can't save the world by yourself!

    Stop wasting time on the phone. While talking on the phone, keep your conversations short. In this way, you'll waste much less time.

    Relax. The most important thing is to take time to relax. Even if it's a 10-minute walk, get away from your work and get relaxed.

Dear Alice,

    Thanks for your e-mail. My name is Zhang Ling. I am in Chongqing. I don't have a sister. You are happy to have a sister. In the morning, I eat breakfast at home with my parents. After breakfast, my father takes me to school. I have math and English in the morning. I eat lunch at school. In the afternoon, I play sports with my friends. I eat dinner at home.

Yours,

Zhang Ling

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835,in the state of Missouri. When he was four, his family moved to the town ofHannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a port on the Missippi River, and Clemensloved to watch the big steamboats going up and down the river. He said that allthe boys in his school had one ambition in life: to work on a steamboat!

    His father died when he was just 12 yearsold, and Clemens then went to work for a printer to help support his family. Hetravelled around, and worked in many different cities. But when he was 22, heachieved his ambition—he got a job working on a steamboat. He sailed up anddown the wide Missippi River until the American Civil War began.

    He then moved around America, and triedseveral jobs. He was a soldier, and a silver miner. Then he started working asa writer for a newspaper. It was at that time that he decided to use a pen namefor his stories, and he chose the name "Mark Twain".

    The name is interesting. It comes from hisdays on the steamboats. He used to throw a piece of rope into the river. Therewas a heavy weight on the end of the rope, and the rope had some marks on it.He used the rope to find how deep the river was. Then he shouted out, "MarkOne" or "Mark Twain", meaning "Mark Two". Each markwas about two metres, so when he shouted "Mark Twain", it meant thatthe river was deep enough for the big boat.

    In 1865 Clemens wrote a story about ajumping frog. The story and the writer became famous. In 1867 he toured Europe.He married when he returned, and lived for most of the rest of his in Harfort,Connecticut. He wrote many books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, whichhe wrote in 1876. He also gave many lectures, and became a very famous andpopular man.

    Once two of his friends decided to write tohim, but they had lost his address. So on the envelope they just wrote "MarkTwain, God knows where". Several weeks later, they received a replay fromthe writer. It just said, "He does!"

    Samuel Clemens died in 1910. He isconsidered to be one of America's most important writers.