My mother is a hard-working and kind woman. She is very busy from morning till night. As a teacher, she works hard.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Both my brother and I love her dearly as she loves us.

    My mother has been teaching math at a middle school in my hometown. She goes to work early in the morning and does not return home until late in the afternoon.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} She treats them with patience and teaches them well. For her excellent quality and very good teaching results, she has been elected as a model teacher several times.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Every day, when she comes back home from work, she sets about doing housework, sweeping the living room and bedrooms or cleaning the furniture, and putting everything in good order. She seems to be busy all the time. As she has been very busy working every day, she looks older than her age. But she looks as cheerful and happy as ever. Mother never buys expensive dresses for herself, but she often buys some inexpensive but high quality clothes for us.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} She just eats a plain meal outside when she is too busy to cook herself. She lives a busy yet simple life, without any complaints.

    Often she says to us, “work while you work, and play while you play. That is the way to be happy and gay. If you do not work, you will become lazy and be of no use to society”. What a piece of good advice this is! {#blank#}5{#/blank#} This advice of hers will always serve as a guide to my behavior. My mother is great indeed, and I always feel proud of her.

A. She enjoys listening to classic music.

B. As a mother, she takes good care of us and gives us every comfort.

C. She loves her students and cares for them.

D. She never goes to expensive restaurants to enjoy meals.

E. My mother is hard-working and never wastes money.

F. I never forget it and always bear it in my mind.

G. Can you tell us something about your mother?

An Interesting Experiment

    Put an ice cube(冰块) from your fridge into a glass of water.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Thus, you can take out that piece of ice with the help of the string. But you must not touch the ice with your fingers.

    You may ask your friends to try to do that when you are having dinner together.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You must use salt when you carry out this experiment.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Then put some salt on the ice. Salt makes ice melt(融化). The ice round the string will begin to melt.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The cold ice cube will make the salt water freeze again.

    After a minute or two you may raise the piece of string and with it you will raise your piece of ice!

    This experiment can be very useful to you. If, for example, there is ice near the door of your house, you must use very much salt to melt all the ice.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. If you don't put enough salt, the water will freeze again.

B. The string must be at least 10 centimeters long.

C. First you put the string across the piece of ice.

D. We can learn a lot from this physical experiment.

E. But when it melts, it will lose heat.

F. You should have a piece of string 10 centimeters long.

G. There is a salt bottle on the table.

    It's well-known by all the people to greet friends with a smile and a wave.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} However, what happens if your face and body send mixed messages? Would someone tend to believe the look on your face or the way you behave?

    Recently, scientists have dealt with these questions. They found that when a person is staring at your face, he might not believe what he sees if your body doesn't match the feeling that your face shows.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Previous study had showed that the tone of a person's voice can be more important than the words spoken. For example, most people are more likely not to believe a person who says in a flat voice, “I'm so excited.”

    When talking about emotions conveyed by facial expressions and body language, most scientists suspected that the face was more important. To test if this was true, psychologists from the Netherlands and Boston showed people a number of pictures of isolated faces and isolated bodies that showed anger or fear.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    An angry face had low eyebrows and tight lips. A frightened face had high eyebrow and a slightly open mouth.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}A scared body had arms forward and shoulders square, as if ready to fight back.

These results told the researchers that mixed messages can confuse people. Even when people pay attention to the face, body language surely influences the emotion they read.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}And if you want to be understood it helps to avoid sending mixed messages.

A. Studying such mixed messages is nothing new for scientists.

B. So, your body language is important for telling people your feelings.

C. Scientists feel new to study the mixed message that puzzles people.

D. An angry body had arms back and shoulders at an angle, as if ready to fight.

E. Body language can sometimes be misunderstood in different culture backgrounds.

F. They also showed pictures where angry or scared faces were paired with angry or scared bodies.

G. When doing this, your face and body work together to show your friends that you are happy to see them.

Five Steps to Better Handwriting

    Some kids love handwriting, but others hate when it's time to put their pen to paper. Maybe they are worried about their handwriting. Are you one of them? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are five steps that really work!

    Get a great grasp

    Try this — hold your pencil at the top and try to write your name. Pretty hard? But when you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Hold it in place with your thumb, and your index (食指) and middle fingers.

    Let the lines be your guide

    Lined paper is your friend! Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion (均衡). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Also be sure to fill up the lined space completely. Those capital letters should be from the bottom line to the top one.

    Slow down

    If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. If you rush, it's hard to control where you stop and start your letters.

    Lower the pressure (压力)

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}That makes it harder to make the smooth lines. Try easing up and don't hold the pencil too tightly.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. So even though it's not schoolwork, you're still using the skills you need to control your pen better.

A. Play games

B. Ask for more advice

C. So "a" should be half the height of a capital "A". 

D. You've been writing since you were a little kid.

E. Some kids press down really hard when they write. 

F. The good news is that just about everyone can improve their handwriting. 

G. The best way to hold a pen or pencil is to let it rest next to the bas e of your thumb.

    Summer is the perfect time to relax.As you plan for your trip,here are some tips on how to protect yourself. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Fight against the mosquitoes in the hot spots.

    There are many mosquito-borne illnesses in tropical regions,which are traditionally vacation hot spots. Therefore,mosquito repellent（驱蚊剂）that contains DEET should be an essential item in your travel bag.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    In lesser-developed countries there is less equipment for clean water and public health.If you can't avoid unhealthful water,make sure you bring along a tea or coffee—making pot that will boil water for you.You'd better buy a case or two of water and check that all bottle caps are sealed to assure the bottled water isn't just a refilled bottle of dirty tap water.

    Always protect your feet.

    It's best to wear slippers in the shower,but if you must be barefoot,put a towel down on the floor.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}You should never walk barefoot in any area of a foreign country,including your hotel room.

    Be sure to eat safe fruits.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}They may have been washed in the same water,or wiped with the same rag used to clean work surfaces in kitchens.The best advice is to bring your own peeler（削皮器）so that you know that something clean has been applied to the fruit.

    Enjoy the smell of roadside stands,not the food.

    Unless the food is piping hot when served,it's best to stay away from roadside stands,no matter how good the smell of the food might be.If you are concerned about whether a restaurant is clean,order the food to go.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.Don't trust the local water

B.Any fruit served fresh may be polluted

C.Look out for any water not served in a bottle

D.The boxes may be cleaner than the plate or fork on the table

E.You should know how to keep yourself away from dirty fruits

F.They are necessary to avoid coming back with a major illness from your trip

G.Parasites（寄生虫）can enter the skin of your feet and travel to different parts of the body

How to politely refuse an invitation

    Have you ever received an invitation that you couldn't accept? Do you have difficulty in refusing it without hurting someone's feelings?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}If the answer is yes to any of these questions, you are not alone. In fact, this happens to most people at some time in their lives. Here are some tips on how to turn down an invitation in a polite way.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Putting the invitation aside to deal with it later isn't good for you or the person who sent it. He needs to know whether or not you will be there. Ignoring the invitation shows that you don't know proper etiquette(礼节), and you might be left off the guest list for his next party.

    Be honest. You don't ever have to come up with false excuses for why you're unable to go to the event, but you also don't have to go into details.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} That will be enough.

    Ask for a different time. If the invitation is not proper for you, let the person know you're unable to make it at the time he requested.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} In this way, both of you won't feel uncomfortable about the event.

    Don't over-explain.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Long and unclear explanations will make it sound like you're just trying to come up with excuses.

A. Don't ignore the invitation.

B. Don't respond immediately.

C. Let him know that you already have plans.

D. Do you wonder what you should send to the inviters?

E. If you can't make it  keep your explanation short and to the point.

F. Does it trouble you to turn someone down?

G. But tell him you'd love to get together with him at another time.