It was raining heavily. I had to wait inside the supermarket like a lot of other people did. A little girl and her mother were waiting, too. The girl looked like 5 or 6 years old. She made me think of my daughter Alice. They are about the same age.

    After a few minutes, the girl got bored and she said to her mom, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "No, dear. We'll wait until it slows down a little." said Mom.

    This young child waited about one more minute and said again, "Mom, let's run through the rain!"

    "We'll get wet if we do," her mom said.

    "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said.

    "This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

    "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer (癌症), you said, 'We have got through (已经熬过) this, and then we will get through anything!'

    All of the people stopped talking. It was a time when innocent trust (纯真的信任) could grow into faith (信心). The mom thought for a minute and said "You are right, sweetheart. Let's run through the rain! If we get wet, maybe we just need washing." Then they ran out.

    They got wet. But some people followed them  ▲  .

    And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

    People already know a lot about animals. However, there are still some things about animals that may surprise you. Here are {#blank#}1{#/blank#}about animals you probably didn't know.

    Cows do have best friends and feel stressed when they are separated. Scientists have found that cows are very social animals and that a cow always {#blank#}2{#/blank#}other cows. When a cow is with its friends, it feels relaxed, compared with when it is alone.

    During a breeding season, a male penguin will offer a small stone to a female penguin as a gift. If she takes it, they will become partners. When the female penguin lays an egg, she and her partner may carry it {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, because some penguins don't build nests.

    Crocodiles (鳄鱼) swallow (吞) stones. Crocodiles always swallow their food instead of eating it like other animals. They swallow stones which break the food into very small pieces in their stomachs. These stones may stay in their stomachs {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Elephants use plants to treat pain or other illnesses. Scientists once found a pregnant (怀孕的) elephant in Africa who ate a kind of plant which was not part of her normal food. Four days later, she {#blank#}5{#/blank#}a baby elephant. The same plant was used by the local pregnant women.

Hello, I'm Jane. I'm an English girl. I'm a student in the exchange（交换）students' class at Happy School in Beijing. Let me tell you some things about my class. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} We're all from other countries. We'll study in China for one year. We love China and we come here to study Chinese.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} There aren't many words in Chinese, but it is difficult to write Chinese words. Speaking Chinese is also hard for us. It is difficult to get its pronunciation（语音）right.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Some of us like drawing pictures; some of us like listening to traditional（传统的） Chinese music; some of us like playing sports.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} We think Chinese food tastes very delicious. Sometimes we learn to make some traditional Chinese food with our Chinese friends, like toufu, jiaozi or zongzi.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} In this way, we can learn Chinese better, and we can learn more about China. The host families are friendly to us and make us feel at home.

 Carol is a middle school student. She does 1 in only one subject. That is 2 . Carol always does her history homework well and 3 good grades(分数) in history tests. She likes her history teacher Mr. Aragon very 4 . She feels that he is like her 5 .

 At 6 parent- teacher meeting, Carol's mother has a7 with Mr. Aragon.8 says that Carol doesn't do well in 9 subjects. She hopes Mr. Aragon can 10 her." Oh, I didn't know that. She is 11 . I' ll try to talk to her," says Mr. Aragon.

 When Mr. Aragon talks with Carol 12 her problems(问题), Carol doesn't feel good, 13 she is grateful(感激的). She knows that Mr. Aragon is 14 trying to help. Carol 15 his ideas and tries to do well in those subjects.

For his eleventh birthday, Tom was given a gift that would shape his life. On that day his father took him to the Children's Activity Centre and said he could choose any course（课程） that interested him. There was just one requirement (要求): Tom would have to promise（承诺） to study it for at least one year. 

Tom had many hobbies, but none kept his interest for more than a week or two. His mum once gave him a bag of stamps to encourage stamp collecting. That hobby lasted a week. Then his father got him some paints hoping that Tom's artistic side would shine through. Those paints were now under his bed, still unopened. This time Tom's parents would let him decide. 

Tom's eyes moved down the noticeboard that listed (列出) all the courses on offer. He stopped at "Photography". He liked the idea of taking beautiful pictures but the notice said that each student needed their own camera. Although Tom's family weren't poor, they weren't rich either, and a camera cost a lot of money. He continued looking. 

The next course to catch his eye was "Language Art". He didn't even know what that meant. His father explained that it taught people how to make public speeches（演讲）. Tom, a shy boy, could think of nothing worse. Then he saw "cooking", which sounded like something he'd like to do. It was inexpensive and convenient(方便的). It could be done alone and it was also creative. 

Based on（基于） Tom's hobby history, his dad had doubts (怀疑), but he agreed. Much to his parents' surprise, he practiced at home and made delicious meals for his family. Everyone looked forward to birthdays, when they could eat his cakes. Tom got great satisfaction from the pleasure his food brought to others. 

The months turned to years but his hobby never changed again. Now Tom is an adult and runs a successful restaurant. When customers（顾客） say they enjoy his meal, he still gets the same pleasure he did as a child, and remembers the special gift he received all those years ago.