Death Valley is a huge place. It is more than 225 kilometers across the southern part of the state of California, and across the border (边界) with the state of Nevada.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It can be dangerously cold during the winter months. The air temperature during the summer can be as high as 57℃. The heat of Death Valley has killed people in the past. It will continue to kill those who do not honor the climate. Death Valley does not forgive (原谅) those who are not careful.

    Death Valley was named by a woman in 1849. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Thousands of people from other parts of the country traveled to the gold mining (开采) areas in California. They were in a hurry to get there before other people did.

    Many people were not careful. They made bad choices or wrong decisions. One group of people had reached Death Valley by December. They avoided the terrible heat of summer, but there was not enough water. There were few plants for their work animals to eat. The people could not find a pass through the tall mountains to the west of the valley. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They had to kill their work animals for food and began to walk out of the valley.

    As they left, one woman looked back and said, “Good-bye, death valley.” {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

A. Slowly, they ran out of food.

B. Death Valley has a long history.

C. The name has never been changed.

D. Death Valley is a beautiful but dangerous place.

E. That was the year after gold was discovered in California.

    Have you ever tried to hide your emotions (情感)from someone during a conversation? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Scientists from the Ohio State University have found that people are able to tell other people's emotions according to changes in the color of their faces.

    Scientists studied pictures of people's facial expressions. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, happiness makes our faces red around the cheeks and a little blue around the chin. Disgust(厌恶)creates not only a blue-yellow color around the lips, but also a red- green color around the nose and forehead.

    “We believe these color patterns are the result of small changes in blood flow triggered(触发) by the central nervous(神经) system." Lead researcher Alex Martinez said.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Does the color alone or also facial expressions help people tell other's emotions?

    To figure this out, scientists added color patterns to pictures of faces that showed no facial expressions. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}They were able to tell the emotions 75 percent of the timewithout any difficulty.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, when two people are heatedly arguing over something, we say they are red in the face. When a person is very angry, we'd say he or she is blue in the face.

    It is necessary for children to help their parents with housework. But most parents may find it difficult to get their children to help with it, because children usually enjoy playing games instead of doing housework. However, I have some good ways to get my children to do housework. Here is an example.

    "Mum, what's next week's housework? Let Kitty and me choose the cards. I can't wait. It's interesting!"

    When my son, 7-year-old Tommy shouted, I began to put all the cards on the sofa. On the cards, I wrote some words like these, "wash the car, take out the rubbish, make the bed, do the dishes, clean the living room, sweep the floor, wash the clothes, take the dog for walks, water the flowers" and so on.

    Kitty and Tommy chose two cards for each day from Monday to Friday. Then they wrote them down on their notebooks. Tommy likes to take the dog for walks best while Kitty enjoys cleaning the living room. Soon the two kids had fun taking away all the cards. And I didn't need to worry about the housework again. Of course, on weekends, I usually do the housework myself and set the children free.

    I have a pet. His name is Lucky. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} My parents love him too. He is also one of our family members.

    When he was a small dog, he was very shy and he seldom barked. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Maybe the dog just wanted to play with him, but he stayed behind me and looked at me sadly. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    However, my little dog barked loudly when there was a fire in the kitchen. I was very curious at that time why he became so excited and ran around me all the time. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    There is an old saying about pets in my hometown: to love your pet is to love yourself. I can't agree with it more. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} When we stay together, we enjoy ourselves very much. Life is just like this: we need a friend with us till the end.

    Nowadays, a new method is used to decide who are the top students in school. The best students are those who not only get high marks, but also follow the rules and the behavior standards for middle school students. Here are some of the new rules and standards.

    Tell the truth. Have you ever copied someone else's work on an exam? If you have, then don't do it again! That's not something an honest student should do. If you have played computer games for two hours in your room, don't tell your parents you were doing homework.

    Learn to work together with others. It would be more fun when more people work together. Did you fight with your teammates when your basketball team lost? Only working together can make your team stronger. Be friendly to the people you are with. Try to think of others, instead of only yourself.

    Be open to new ideas. Have you ever thought that people could live on the moon? Perhaps you'll discover Earth II someday. Don't look down on new ideas. Everyone's ideas are important. You should welcome them, because new ideas make life better for everyone.

    Use the Internet carefully. Some websites on the Internet aren't for kids, so make sure to visit the web pages that are good for you. You can visit the websites for fun or homework. Can't you find any good websites for children?