American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes it does not seem like the same language. In fact, there are some important differences between British English and American English.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Often, Americans don't say each word separately. They say several words together. Americans may say "I dunno" instead of" I don't know". Or they may say "Whaddya say?" instead of "What did you say?" However, the British are more careful in their speech. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.

    Sound is not only the difference between British English and American English. Words sometimes have different meanings too. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}In England, if you are going to telephone your friends, you "phone them up". In America, you "give them a call".

    There are also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb "do" when they ask a question. They say "Do you have a storybook?" But the British often leave out the helping verb.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Many people in Canada speak French but their French is very different from the French of France.

    ⑴We are living in a world full of competition. Parents compete with others in their offices, our brothers and sisters compete with others in their colleges, and we compete with our classmates in schools. Most of us give up facing competition and will never be successful. Why can't we do better than others? One important reason is that we have no self﹣confidence.

    ⑵事实上，人人生而平等。You can do what others do. Your classmates may be better than you in some ways, but you may be better than them in other subjects. So everyone has his or her advantages.

    ⑶Don't look at things from a single point of view. Try to discover your own advantages, and believe that you can do better than others in those ways.

    Competition is not so terrible. ⑷不要害怕那些比你更优秀的同学。

    ⑸Remember that self﹣confidence is the first step to success. Believe in yourselves, and you will be successful in any competition.

⑴{#blank#}1{#/blank#} ⑵{#blank#}2{#/blank#} ⑶{#blank#}3{#/blank#} ⑷{#blank#}4{#/blank#} ⑸{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

    Our feelings influence almost every decision we make. Instead of living a boring life, positive (积极的) feelings can help us a lot. The pity is that sometimes become victims of feelings.

    In one of my latest books, I compare people's ability to controls (控制) on a media player. Just like the controls can help you enjoy wonderful songs, these methods will be choices for you to manage feelings successfully.

⒈Pause.

    Take time to stop and think before you speak or act. Of course, you may feel sorry if you like doing something without thinking-like sending an angry email or posting something bad on social media. If you feel your feelings getting out of control, pause. If possible, go for a short walk. Once you've calmed down, decide how you want to move forward.

⒉Volume control

    Have you ever noticed that when speaking with someone, your style or tone is a mirror (镜子) of the person's you are speaking to? If you stay calm or quiet, they'll follow you. Shout or scream, and they'll do just like you. If a discussion starts to become worse, try to change it by softening your tone or lowering your voice.

⒊Record

    If you want to learn more about another person's thoughts, recording, one way of careful listening, may help. You don't need to reply at once; you're listening to understand. Through careful listening, you often see things you didn't see before and can even discover misunderstandings you didn't know. Don't judge or offer advice before you know more about others and the topic.

    Sometimes, our decisions are affected by our feelings. If you keep positive feelings, you can {#blank#}1{#/blank#} living a boring life. Some methods can help you {#blank#}2{#/blank#} in controlling your feelings. First, doing without thinking may make you {#blank#}3{#/blank#}what you've said or done. It's wise of you to pause when your feelings become bad. Second, when speaking with someone, the other person usually offers you a reply in the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} style or tone. So controlling volume is very important.  What's more, recording is one way of careful listening, with the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of learning more about another person's thoughts. Follow this way, you can judge or offer suggestions.

    There are some easy things you can do to protect the environment and the earth.

    Choose ideas from the list or come up with a few of your own.

    Plant flowers, grass or trees.

    Whenever you visit a park or a beach, take away what you bring there-keep rubbish in a bag until you can put it in a dustbin.

    Turn off the lights, TV sets when you leave the room. This saves a lot of electricity.

    Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. You can save some water by not letting it run. Also, use a glass cup instead of a paper cup because this saves paper.

    Keep the doors and windows closed in winter to keep warm air in.

    Give your old books and magazines to a library instead of throwing them away.

    Give your old clothes to poor children you know instead of throwing them away.

    Use both sides of paper.

    Stop pouring dirty water into the rivers or lakes nearby.

    Encourage all your friends to do the same things you do to help protect the earth. You don't have to wait until Earth Day to do these things, Make every day Earth Day. If everyone protects the environment, the world will become much more beautiful.