If you think you are too shy and want to be a little braver, just try the following things: Be open to others. Tell people you are shy. There is no need to hide it. When they get to know you are a shy kid, they will understand you better. This also helps you feel more comfortable in talks.

    Try to smile more. When you smile, people think you are friendly and easy to talk with. Remember that other people have feelings, too; and most people will stay away from an angry-looking face.

    Learn to be a good talker. If you find it hard to start a conversation, say something nice about people around you. Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you. Doesn't it make you want to keep talking to that person?

    Get your attention(注意) elsewhere（在别处）. Think more about ways to enjoy parties or games. Don't waste time worrying about your look or whether(是否) people like you or not. You will become relaxed(放松的) and find it's not so hard to talk with others.

Take one small step at a time. Each time when you say “Hi!” or smile at someone, say to yourself “You can make it.” Keep trying and one day you'll never feel shy when you talk to others.

Title: Advice on……to be a little braver

    Mr. Beynolds, my teacher, handed us a list of thoughts, and asked us to write a paper on one of those thoughts. I chose the topic “I wonder why things are the way they are.”

    I wrote down all the questions that puzzled(困扰) me about life. I realized that many of them were hard to answer, and perhaps others could not be answered at all. When I handed in my paper, I was afraid that I might fail because I did not answer the questions.

    The next day, Mr. Reynolds handed me the paper and asked me to read it for the class. The other students became quiet as I began to read my story:

    Mum, why are the roses red? Why is the grass green and the sky blue? Why do I have to graduate(毕业)? Why do I have to grow up? Why do I have to be called “Grandma” on day? ...

    Dad, why can't I stay out until 12:00? Why do I miss my old friends? Why do I miss being at home? Why do you love me so much? ...

    Mum, Dad, why did you have to leave me? I need you.

    At the end of my story, I looked at Mr. Reynolds, and I saw a tear slowly coming down his face. Then I realized that life is not built on the answers we receive, but on the questions we asks.

    A few months ago, a strange thing happened in my life. I heard a strange sound outside the window every night. I was scared and didn't know what to do. I thought there might be a thief standing outside the window was closed. I asked my parents to see what it was. But they didn't find anything. They thought it might be the wind. But I didn't think so.

    That lasted for a few days. I couldn't sleep well. Sometimes I even couldn't fall asleep, One day, I bought a flashlight(手电筒) in a market. At midnight, as soon as I heard the strange sound, I jumped out of my bed with the flashlight. I saw a black cat jumping up and down near thewindow. He might want to make friends with my pet cat, but he couldn't get into my house.

    Do you think it is strange? Have you ever had this kind of experience in your life?

⑴--⑷根据短文内容，回答问题⑸英译汉

    Amazing news! There are robot cooks in Hunan Province. They started cooking local(当地的) dishes at a restaurant in Changsha on May 1.

    The cooking robots get cooking skills and recipes(食谱) for 40 kinds of Hunan dishes. They are (A)a      to cook fried meat in two minutes. (B)We want our customers to enjoy the dishes and the amazing robot cooking." said Li Zhiming, the inventor of the robots and owner of the restaurant.

    Li hopes that Hunan robot cooking restaurants can open worldwide in the future, like KFC and Mc Donald's." In Changsha, the restaurants, which are similar to ours in size, need 8 to 10 cooks and kitchen helpers. (C)      we only need two kitchen helpers to help three robot cooks in our restaurant," said Li.

    Kitchen helpers at Li's restaurant put materials(材料) into special boxes, and press the button "ON", The robot cooks then begin to cook. It is not an easy job to invent these robot cooks. Li and his group spent round four years and nearly ten million yuan inventing such a robot cook. At present, Li's restaurant can sell more than 800 bowls of rice with Hunan local dishes on top per day. Li plans to open up brunches

(分店) in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and even abroad.

    Travel Tips for Holidays Abroad Everyone loves holidays abroad. They give us the chance to see some sights, have some fun and relax. However, holidays aren't always a great experience. Follow these tips to make sure you enjoy your holiday.

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    Please get everything ready. Every year, thousands of people miss flights because they are not ready, they arrive at the airport too late, or even go to the wrong airport!

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    How much do you know about the place you are going to visit? Learning a little about the culture of a country will help you a lot. Learning a few words of another language can also help you make new friends.

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    Try to keep the place that you visit clean. Don't throw rubbish here and there. You'd better use buses or trains instead of taxis when you arrive.

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    You can help a local community a lot by staying in local hotels and eating in local restaurants. This means that your money will go to local people.

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    You don't want to forget your holiday. Write a book about your holiday. You can show it to friends, or just use it to remember all the good times you had! And don't forget the new friends you made during your holiday. Then next time you go on holiday, you can visit them again.

    For most of us, the days are divided into day and night. But for two months each winter in Northern Norway (挪威), it's dark for 20 hours a day. There is no sunrise or sunset because the sun never gets above the horizon (地平线) .

    Would you like to live in darkness for this long? It may seem difficult, but many people in Norway love the beautiful colors of these months.

    To the south are the red and gold colors of the horizon. To the north, the sky is a special blue. Even the moon and the stars look blue. In the towns, the lights in the streets shine like little yellow diamonds.

    People do need light to be healthy and happy. Since they don't have much daylight during this time of the year, they exercise and eat foods with vitamins (维生素) A and D, people usually get energy from being in the sun.

    And darkness doesn't stop people there from having a good time. Each winter, some people are skiing on hills and skating on ponds that are lit up. Others are going to film and music festivals And other people are spending time with friends in cafes and restaurants. Of course, not everyone is so active in the dark months. Many people are just going to sleep a little earlier until the sun returns in spring.