Once upon a time, there was an old woman who lived in a small house. She planted a lot of beautiful tulips (郁金香) in her garden.

    One night, the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing woke her up. She looked out of the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulips, but she could see nothing.

    The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of anyone having been there the night before.

    On the following night she was again wakened (弄醒) by the sounds of sweet singing and babies laughing. She got out of bed and walked softly into her garden. The old woman looked closely and she noticed that a fairy (精灵) mother was singing softly, and that in each tulip-cup was a little fairy baby, laughing and playing.

    The old woman went back to her house quietly. From then on, she never picked a tulip. She didn't allow her neighbours to pick the flowers, either. When the old woman died, all the tulips disappeared overnight. But her grave (坟墓) looked beautiful, because the fairies sang above it and kept it green.

Try to help your dog relax

    It's a Saturday morning. You rush through breakfast, walk the dog, and then get to soccer practice on time. A few hours later, you return home, only to find that the dog has made your bedroom untidy.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Your favorite sports shoes are in poor condition.

    Before you get angry, stop and think. Your dog wasn't misbehaving (行为不端) just for the fun of it. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Some dogs just feel nervous when left alone. It's called separation anxiety (分离焦虑).

    Think of it this way: Dogs can't ask where you're going or when you'll be back. They can't call you on the phone. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Since you're not there, they need to find you. Dogs may suddenly develop separation anxiety. But with practice and patience (耐心), you can teach your dog to be comfortable being left alone.

    Put on your jacket, and then sit back down. Open and close the door, and then sit down. After a while, walk out the door for 10 seconds, then 20, then a minute and so on. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Besides, you can also try the following ways:

    Teach your dog a word or action that you use every time you leave, which tells your dog you'll be back.

    Help comfort (安慰) your dog by leaving a piece of clothing that smells like you.

    Before you leave, give your dog a toy. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

    Mr. and Mrs. Spencer both had very busy jobs and didn't have much time to spend with their young children. They wanted to change this, and because their hobby was boating, they decided to sail round the world together.

    It took six years to prepare everything for the trip. First, they bought a new boat. Then, both the husband and wife had to take advanced (先进的) sailing lessons and learn all about the sea and the weather. Mr. Spencer also did several courses in repairing engines (发动机) and Mrs. Spencer spent an hour in a restaurant learning to cut up fish.

    In October they had one year off from their jobs and sailed away from England with their two children. The next year, in August, their long journey ended in Australia.

    The boat was not big, but they took a teacher for the children with them. None of them found the trip boring because there were three computers, many CDs, a TV and a DVD player on the boat.

    The family loved being at the sea and seeing the stars in the sky. But, most of all, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer enjoyed spending time with their children while they were still young.

回答下面5个问题，每题答案不超过5个单词。

    Where did you go this summer vacation? Perhaps you have visited some top universities. If so, you are not alone.

    This summer vacation, thousands of people from across the country traveled to famous universities like Tsinghua University, Peking University and Fudan University. For example, about 6,000 visitors visited Tsinghua University every day on vacation. Most of them were junior high school students and senior high school students with their parents.  With more and more people coming to these universities, it usually took many hours to enter them.

    "Tsinghua University opens to the visitors at 8:30 am." a guard (保安) told China Daily. "However, many people start to wait in line at3 to 4 am. If people come at 6 o'clock, it may be too late and they can only enter in the afternoon.

    "University tourism" is popular because of the long histories and special cultures of these famous universities. Also, many parents hope their children can learn something more from the trip and study harder after that.

    "I brought my son here as soon as I finished my job," Mrs. Zhang, a mother of a 14-year-old boy, told China Daily. "And I hope my son will go into a top university in the future."

    It's true that you can learn new words when you read or listen, but you should also study new words seriously. Here are a few things I do:

    Make flash cards(识字卡)：(A) I find this is really the best way to learn new words. Make some small cards and write the new English word on one side and the word in your language or in easy English on the other side to test yourself. To really make this work, you have to review often (You need a system! ). I think this is the best method for learning English vocabulary.

    Make sentences with the new words: This is great if you can ask someone to check them. It's also great to make some really crazy sentences-that way you won't forget them! I also collect example sentences of the words I'm trying to learn if I see the word in a book, I write down the sentence.

    Make up a mnemonic：A mnemonic is a way to remember something, like a little story. For example, (B) 我在厨房的门上贴上单词 kitchen. The problem with this is that it works for a while but then you get used to the words and forget to read them!