Look at this photo. It's a photo of my two good friends and me. The boy is Tom. 1 is from America. The girl 2 red is Helen. She is from England. And I'm from Australia, my name is Lucy. We3 in the same (相同的) school.

    Tom likes sports very much. He often 4Ping-pong, baseball and basketball after class. He has a great sports collection: some ping-pong balls, two ping-pong bats, eight baseballs and two 5. He thinks it's relaxing and 6 to play sports every day.

    But Helen thinks it's boring. She 7 sports every day. She likes 8. She has many books. She reads every day. I don't have a great collection. 9 I play sports every day. I also (也) 10 sports shows(  节目 ) on TV. I think sports are good for me.

    Many people like to collect things. For example, they like1stamps, books, pictures and so on. But my friend Mr. Green likes to collect clocks. He 2 five hundred clocks. The clocks are3in his house. You can see shelves in4room. All the shelves are5of clocks. Mr. Green is glad to do this,6 his wife doesn't enjoy it at all. She has a lot of7to do every day. It's not 8for her to clean hundreds of clocks. She is also angry at the noise. Each clock keeps its own time, so she can hear the clocks strike almost9time day and night. She says, “There is something even worse. I really don't know what10it is with so many clocks in my house.”

    When I had something difficult to do, I used to ask my mother for help. But she always said, "Do it yourself, dear." I was not 1 at all. I thought she was the 2 mother in the world!  For example, one day, I decided to 3 some friends to come to my home. My bedroom was not in order. Books were everywhere. And I didn't make the bed. I told my 4 to help me clean it, 5 she said, "Do it yourself, dear." Because of my "lazy mother", I have to 6 my clothes and clean my bedroom. I have to help my parents 7. I even have to go to the dentist by myself. It is really hard for me to do everything well, but I have learned 8. As time goes by, I understand my mother. She makes me clever and diligent. 9 a great mother! A 10 mother is worth one hundred teachers! Don't you think so?

My name is Robinson Crusoe, and I was born in the city of York in 1632. My father was a successful businessman. I had two elder brothers. One of them worked in the army(军队) and was killed during the war against Spain. The other was missing one day, and we never knew what had happened to him. My father gave me a good education and wanted me to be a lawyer(律师). 

However, I wanted to be a sailor(海员) and go to sea. My father was very angry with me. He didn't understand why I wanted to leave his house, where I would have an easy and comfortable life.

"Two kinds of people go to sea, " he said. "They are the very poor people and the very rich people. The poor are foolish, having no other ways to live. The rich own ships and can make money with them. You are neither too poor nor too rich, so you should stay at home with your mother and me. Your elder brother didn't listen to me, and now he is dead. If you do not listen to me, you will have a difficult life!"

I tried to do what he wanted me to do, but I couldn't. I spoke to my mother.

"Please ask Dad if he will let me have one voyage(航行) by sea, " I asked her. "When I return, I will live the life he wants me to live. "

Mum was angry. "Your father will not let you go. I don't want you to go to sea either. It's dangerous. "

I argued(争吵) with my parents for another year. Then, I went to Hull with a friend who was going to London by ship. He invited me to go with him, and I agreed. I didn't even tell my parents before leaving. I just went. That was how all my bad luck began.

—Adapted from Robinson Crusoe

Xiao Pei is a student in Xiaogan, China. She is thirteen years old and she is in Grade Seven this year. She has a friend in India. She gets lots of e-mails from his friend.

In their e-mails, Xiao Pei learns that life of Indian children is difficult. And they don't have money to buy desks for school. She feels sad and wants to help them.

She and her friends collect 2750 yuan. Some Indian teachers help them buy 50 desks. "We have many good things in our country," says Xiao Pei . "We should help others." She also hopes to save money to build a well for them. Then the students can get clean water from it. It may be a good gift for the Indian children.

Confidence is very important in daily life. It can help you to develop a healthy attitude (态度). A study shows that the people who are more confident are much happier. They can have more chances to make themselves successful. But how to be more confident? Here are some suggestions: 

Speak loud 

When you are not confident, you can't do well what you want to do. You speak in such a low voice that other people can hardly hear you. Try to speak loud enough so that people can hear you clearly. The high voice can help you become more confident. 

Play sports 

Physical exercise makes you tired but completely relaxed. A strong body helps you be full of confidence. 

Encourage yourself Write down a list of things you did during the day to see how many things you have done well. Did you finish your homework? Did you tell a joke that made everybody happy? Give yourself praise for the good things you've done. 

 Get rid of (消除) fear 

Fear comes along with failure (失败). But it's easy to overcome (克服) if you know that failure is part of your life. Don't hide your head just because you said something stupid last time. Try to start again and believe you can do better. 

Pick up a hobby 

If you like singing, sing as much as you can. In some ways, a hobby can make you outstanding. And it will make you happy and confident.