Hi Grace,

    How's it going? Sorry I haven't emailed for a while, but I had so much to do!

    I had told you about my decision to take up a sport. I knew I wasn't fit and I wanted to get some exercise. But that wasn't the only reason that I decided to do a sport. Students who play sports do better at school. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Exercise also helps learning and memory.

     {#blank#}2{#/blank#} First, I tried soccer. I had played a bit of soccer before and I thought it wouldn't be too bad. I knew I couldn't run for very long without feeling tired. On the first day, I was able to run for the first ten minutes, but then I was so tired that I couldn't even kick the ball!

    Then, I tried volleyball. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} I was able to run for the first twenty minutes and I wasn't the slowest runner in the team! After a few weeks, I could run faster and longer. I was doing better and feeling better. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Maybe I'm not a team sport person after all!

    Finally, I tried Kung fu. It's a great sport that exercise the body and the mind. You learn to follow instructions carefully and do what you are asked to do. This is the right sport for me! {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I feel so confident that I even showed some moves to the class last week! Can you believe it?

I hope you're OK! Write and let me know what you've been doing!

    Bye for now!

                                                                                                                                                                               Kristie

A. I got very excited about soccer.

B. But I couldn't decide on a sport.

C. Running helps me to keep fit.

D. Things were a bit better this time.

E. Then I found volleyball terribly boring.

F. They are more confident and less stressed.

G. I practice twice a week and I haven't missed a class.

    In spite of so many years of education behind us, can we confidently say we understand what it feels like to be a teacher?

    The biggest misunderstanding about teaching jobs is that anyone can be a teacher. In fact, the truth is far from it. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They also know the teaching theory well. They should know how things should be taught and how one can be inspired to learn. Also, they need to have an idea about classroom management and students' psychology（心理学）.

    Now it can be really annoying for a teacher if someone says teaching is one of the easiest jobs around, because everyone just needs to be taught for a few hours a day. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} However, teachers work longer to come up with ways to make the knowledge appear more interesting to students and help them learn better.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And this is a big reason why more people decide to choose teaching as a career. However, good teachers choose to make good use of the break, by enrolling (注册) themselves for workshops on teaching, classroom management, and related things.

    All teachers are not the same, as against what is widely believed. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Every teacher is different and has a different approach（方法）to teaching.

 {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A teacher has meetings to attend, and is responsible for (对……负责) organizing school events. An important duty of a teacher is to prepare the progress report of each student and discuss it with his or her parents.

    In a word, teachers ought to be respected for what they do, and we should never forget their great contribution（贡献）to our success in life.

A. A teacher has many things to do rather than just teach.

B. It is true that teachers get a lot more holidays than others.

C. A good teacher is one who motivates students to overcome challenges.

D. To begin with, teachers are people who perform well in their fields of study.

E. A statement that is true for one teacher is not necessarily true for the others.

F. And common people even believe teachers are probably overpaid when their days end at 3 pm.

G. These teachers give all they can to create an ideal learning environment for their students.

How to Write a News Article

    Writing a news article is different from writing other articles or informational pieces.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Knowing how to write a news article can help you exercise your writing skills and convey information clearly and briefly.

    Gather all your facts. Before you write a news article, make a list or outline of all the connected facts and information that need to be included in the article.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It will help you write a clean, brief article.

    Start with the lead.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}This is one of the most important parts of the piece, so start with the leading statement when you write a news article. Your lead should be one sentence which states the topic of the article.

    Give all the important details. The next important step to writing news articles is including all the relevant facts and details that relate to your lead statement.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}These details are important, because they are the key point of the article that fully informs the reader.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Be sure to double check all the facts in your new article before you contribute it, including names, dates, and contact information or addresses. Writing accurately is the best way to make yourself a suitable news article writer.

    Conclude your article. Make sure your news article is complete and finished by giving it a good concluding sentence.

A. Check facts before concluding.

B. Follow up main facts with additional information.

C. Include the basics of what, where, when, who and why.

D. A leading sentence is to grab readers' attention and interest them.

E. Unlike other articles, news articles present information in a specific way.

F. Avoid any statements or description that could be constructed as support or criticism.

G. This list helps prevent you from leaving out any relevant information about the topic or story!

    Everyone knows English is one of the most important subjects in middle schools. And we always know learning English is very important, but few students know how to learn English well. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    I think if we have a right way to learn English, and we work hard, then we must learn English well. But what is the right way?{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Second, everyone knows remembering new words is important, but how to remember them? I think we can copy new words on pieces of paper, and take them with us. When we are free, we can read them. Third, how to improve our listening and speaking?{#blank#}3{#/blank#}And we can answer the questions in class, don't be afraid of making mistakes. I think it's useful to us. Finally, it's about reading and writing. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}And try our best to retell them. We can also keep a diary every day, and spend an hour practicing English.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}If necessary, we can turn to our classmates and teachers for help instead of giving up. If we don't study hard, it's difficult to learn English well.

A. To begin with, you can recite as many words as you can.

B. First, we must he confident enough to learn English and be interested in it.

C. Whenever we meet difficulties in our English study, we shouldn't lose heart.

D. We can sing English songs, listen to the radio and listen to tapes every day.

E. Then how can we make rapid progress and learn English well?

F. In a word, we will make rapid progress.

G. When we are free, we can read articles in English

    Good time management allows you to complete more in a shorter period of time, lowers the amount of pressure(压力), and leads to career success. Here is some advice for you.

    Make a plan

    List all the tasks that are important. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} , Next, highlight the tasks on your list to show their urgency(紧急). Then focus only on one item at a time and enjoy the pleasure of crossing off the completed items.

    Stay away from distractions(分散注意力的事)

    Though the e-mail and social media are important to your everyday communication, they require much of your attention. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Learn to say "no" {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Although saying no to someone older than you is much more difficult, it's important to be honest and to look after your health. Sharing your list with him/her will help to refuse the additional work.

    Give yourself a break

    Don't be hard on yourself. You will actually perform better if you take breaks. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The world will not fall down if you put off opening some e-mails.

    Improve your plan

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, Remake your plan and take off the distracting tasks to focus on a solution. Dealing with problems in the face of time pressure will be one of your most valuable experiences in your future employment.

 A. Try not to do more work if possible

 B. Taking breaks is good for your brains

 C. Be honest with yourself as well as others

 D. Avoid looking at your work e-mails when not working

 E. Write them down and don't just rely on your memory

 F. Review your work plan regularly when things are not going well

 G. Shut them off as you work on a task requiring your full attention

    It should come as no surprise that the more stressed parents are at work, the greater the burden on their family is. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} After all, the more time parents spend working, the less time and energy they have to plan and prepare healthful meals. Previously, most studies have focused on the role of working mothers while fathers were ignored. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It adds a new wrinkle to the relationship between work stress and family nutrition. Mom's work related stress is still a central factor in how well families eat because they typically do most of the food shopping and cooking {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    The study finds that when mom or dad experience high levels of work related stress, their families are eating one­and­a­half fewer family meals per week, and the parents themselves report eating fewer fruits and vegetables, more fast food, and are less likely to eat breakfast regularly.

    It's worth noting that the study looks mainly at low income families who belong to ethnic or minority groups. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But the implications are wide­ranging.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Teaching kids, especially teenagers, to help with grocery shopping and to cook actual meals, instead of just putting a frozen pizza in the microwave, could be an important piece of the puzzle in helping families improve their eating habits.

A. But dad's work related stress has a large impact, too.

B. As to family nutrition, the entire family plays a role, even kids.

C. Yet, the kid's stress may affect the families' nutrition, too.

D. So the findings don't necessarily apply directly to other types of families.

E. It's also probably not a surprise that this can negatively affect a family's nutrition.

F. Now, a study looks at the family as a whole and at the role of fathers in particular.

G. It is parents who give their kids a good model to develop a good eating habit.