When you start a new school, go to a party or try to know a person, you often need to break the ice in order to start a friendly conversation. Breaking the ice means saying or doing something to stop feeling shy or uncomfortable around someone you don't know well. Almost everyone feels uncomfortable or shy when people meet for the first time. If you feel like this, the following ① tips can help you out.

Smile ② Whenyou smile, people think you're friendly and easy to talk to. They are also very likely to smile back and help you feel more comfortable about starting a conversation.

Be positive  Everybody likes being around happy people. Always look on the bright side of life and see everything positively（积极地）.

Be a good listener.   Don't control the conversation and don't just talk about yourself. ③ 仔细听别人讲，并且问一些关于他们自己的问题。They'll think you're worth talking to.

Be easy-going  ④ Some people may be so shy that they can't break the ice. Don't avoid being around new people just because you feel uncomfortable. If you face a situation again and again, you'll get used to it.

    Music touches our hearts and shortens (缩短) the distance between people of different countries. The super star Jay Chou has cooperated with the American NBA star Kobe Bryant to create a song named TheHeavenandEarthChallenge. That's a song written by Jay Chou whose favorite sport is basketball. It expresses the love for basketball. And it encourages young people to be more confident. Jay Chou has learned much from Kobe's sports spirit. In the song, Jay Chou does most of the singing part while Kobe plays a part of a rapper (说唱者). People can download the ring tone(铃声) of the song from the Internet. All the money from the downloads will go to Project Hope, which aims to improve the educational environment in poor areas in China.

    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.

    Once upon a time, in the forest there lived a baby elephant, who had no friends.

    None of the animals wanted to be his friend because he was too large.

    One day, a wild fire happened in the forest. The animals ran to safer places. The dry trees caught fire and the fire was sure to go all around the forest. The baby elephant ran to the nearest river, collected much water in his trunk (象鼻) and rushed to the burning trees. He sprayed (喷) the water on the fire. Finally, he put out the fire.

    Later, while he was resting after the hard job, all the animals and birds came to him and expressed their thanks for his kind help in time. They were now ready to regard (把……看作) him as their good friend and their hero. They said, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

    The baby elephant was happy to get so many friends and played games with them. He walked through the forest, carrying several small animals and birds on his back.