Lily comes from England. She is a nice girl. Her eyes are big and her mouth is small. She has a big family（家庭）. Her father is Jack Smith, and her mother's name is Kate Smith. They are very kind (和蔼的). Lily has a sister and a brother. Her sister is Helen, and her brother is Paul. Helen has long hair and a round face, but Paul has short curly（卷曲的）hair and a long face. They are in the same school. They like their teachers very much（非常）.

      Carol studies at Roosevelt High School. She is having a hard time passing exams. She has no interest in her homework, so she seldom finishes it on time.

     But there is one lesson she is doing well in. It is history. Carol always hands in her history homework on time. She respects the history teacher Mr Aragon. Carol feels that Mr Aragon treats her more than just a student. She feels other teachers look down on her.

      Carol's mother Maria told Mr Aragon that Carol wasn't doing well in her other lessons. Mr Aragon was surprised to learn that. "She is such a smart girl," he told Maria. Mr Aragon told Maria that he would talk to her daughter.

Carol felt embarrassed when Mr Aragon talked to her about the problems she was having in other lessons. But later Carol understood that Mr Aragon just wanted to help her. Mr Aragon and Carol had a discussion about what she could do to improve her marks in other lessons. They made a list of ways to help her to complete her homework on time, including setting a timetable for homework, cutting down some boring after-school activities, and having a friend help her with the homework. Carol decided to try these ways out to see which one would work best for her.

    As I was leaving to meet Lynne, my roommate told me that I'd better take some money. But I didn't listen to him. I thought that Lynne would pay because she had invited me. I arrived at the restaurant exactly on time. I'd been told that Americans expect you to be on time. Lynne and I sat at a table in the corner of restaurant and a waitress came and took our order.

    The dinner was a great success. I talked a lot about Saudi Arabia and Lynne told me all about herself. After two hours, the waitress finally came and asked if we wanted one check or two. Lynne said two. We went to the cashier and Lynne paid her check. I was embarrassed (尴尬) when the cashier gave me my bill. I had no money to pay for my meal. Then I had an idea. I pretended to look for something in my pockets and said, “Oh! I forgot my wallet! Can I call my roommate, please?” The cashier showed me where the phone was and I quickly called my roommate. In a few minutes, he arrived with some money, but he couldn't hide how he felt. He laughed all the way home. Now, I think it's funny too, but at that time I was terribly embarrassed. I thought that an invitation to have dinner in the United States meant the same thing as that in China. I guess you have to understand that your customs are only your customs. When you visit a foreign country, you have to learn about their customs, too.

    An American boy has made a cheap machine that can help blind people read.

    The blind can read by using Braille-a system of small bumps (隆起物) that the blind touch to read the letters. The machine that makes these small bumps usually costs at least $2,000. It is called Braille typewriter. The American schoolboy, Shu ham Banerjee, made a new Braille typewriter from a Lego tool that lets people create robots. Banerjee has called his new machine the Braigo-a combination(组合) of the words Braille and Lego. It costs just $350. It works by changing electronic texts into Braille and then printing it using a computer or a mobile machine.

    Banerjee designed (设计) his Braigo for a school science project. Since then, he has caught the interest of Silicon Valley in the USA. The big technology company Intel spent money on Banerjee's machine in November, but they did not say how much money they put in. Banerjee also got $ 35,000 from his father to help him start the project. His father works as a computer engineer (工程师) at Intel. He spoke about why he gave so much money to his son, saying, started to be interested more, thinking that he's on to something and this invention has to continue, dream would probably be having most of the blind people use my Braigo.

    A taxi hit a truck. A policeman spoke to the taxi driver and the truck driver. He also spoke to Tom. Tom was a witness(目击者). This is what they said.

    Truck driver: I was driving from the airport to Newtown. A car crossed the road, so I slowed down. I did not stop. A taxi hit the back of my truck. Nobody was badly hurt but both vehicles were damaged.

    Taxi driver: I was driving behind a truck a few kilometres from Newtown. The truck stopped suddenly. The driver did not give me a warning. I was driving very slowly. I could not pass the truck because there were two cars coming near from Newtown. My taxi hit the truck, and some glass cut my left hand.

    Tom: I saw the traffic accident about a kilometre from the airport. A truck was going to Newtown. It was not going very fast. There was a taxi about two hundred metres behind the truck. It was going fast. When the truck slowed down, the taxi hit it. The taxi driver was not looking at the truck. He was looking out of the window at something. My friend saw the accident too.

    Tom's friend spoke to the policeman and agreed with Tom.

    A man came home from work late, tired, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

    "Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"

    "If you must know, I make $20 an hour."

    "Oh," the little boy answered, with his head down. He thought for a moment, looked up and said, "Daddy, could you lend me $10?"

    The father was angry, "If you asked for the money to buy a toy or some other things, then go straight to your room and think about why you are being so selfish (自私的)!"

    The little boy quietly went to his room and closed the door. After about an hour or so, the father calmed (平静) down, and started to think, "Maybe he really needs to buy something and he didn't really ask for money very often." So he went to the little boy's room.

    "Sorry! Maybe I was too hard on you just now." said the man, "Here's $10."

    "Oh, thank you, Daddy!" he said happily. Then, the boy took out some coins. When the father found that the boy already had money, he got angry again.

    "Why do you want more money since you already have some?" the father shouted angrily.

    "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do." the little boy said, "Daddy, I have $20 now. Could I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."