If your math teacher assigns(分派) five problems you should do six. If your Chinese teacher assigns eight pages of reading, you should read nine. The more you practice, the more you learn.

    Studying is a matter of personal preference(偏爱), so choose the way you are most comfortable with. Some people like working at night when the house is quiet, while others like doing their work early in the morning. Still others like studying as soon as they arrive home from school while the work is fresh in their minds. No matter which way you use, try to do your best.

    Studying is your business and business comes before entertainment(娱乐). When you are studying, phone calls should go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks uneaten. Studying is the only thing in your mind. Nothing can pull you away from what you are studying.

    Studying is like eating. You chew(咀嚼) it one bite at a time. You can plan what to do today, but don't do too much. When you can't finish the work you planned to do, you may lose confidence. On the other hand, you will not study well without a good plan. It all depends on how you arrange your time.

    The students who hand in a clearly written paper is already half way to an A. Neat(工整的) papers are likely to get higher marks than sloppy(被泼水弄湿的) ones. When you write neatly and do your work carefully, the thoughts in your mind are clear. You are able to make fewer mistakes.

    How long does it take to build a new house? It usually takes about six months or more. But each year, thousands of people work together to build new homes in just four months! Who does this wonderful work? Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is a group that builds homes for families in need. It has branches in different states around the USA. This group works all over the world, too. Volunteers help build the homes. They are unpaid workers. Volunteers can be builders and painters. They can be teachers or bankers. Some are students.

    Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 houses. More than 1.5 million people live in these houses. Building a home is hard work. Volunteers learn how to put up walls. They use tools and machines. These selfless volunteers work with the family that will live in the house. Everyone works together to make the family's dream come true.

    Suruchi Srikanth has worked with Habitat for Humanity for four years. She began volunteering in high school. She has built many homes with other volunteers. She takes her responsibilities(责任) seriously. Volunteers know that if they don't help, homes might not get built. They are good citizens(公民) who care about other people.

Doing "Clean "Exercise

    When you go for a run outside, chances are that you'll find litter all around you. Do you just go past it, or do you stop and pick it up? If you choose the second, you're part of the latest popular sport in the West: plogging.

    The word "plogging" is the Swedish phrase" plocka upp"（ pick up） and the English word "Jogging"(running slowly)put together.

    What a plogger needs is a rubbish bag and a pair of gloves to protect your hands. While collecting rubbish, ploggers learn to classify (分类)and deal with it correctly, too.

    Plogging seems simple but it does a lot of good to both the environment and your health. It can not only make the world greener, but also get you full body exercise, For example, a 30-minute logging burns around 288 calories（卡路里）， compared to 235 calories burned from just jogging.

    So next time you go out jogging, why not carry a rubbish bag and collect some litter along the way? Your body and the environment will thank you.

    There is half a glass of water on the table. Is the glass half empty or half full? This question can represent a situation where there is both opportunity(机会) and trouble, but people with different point of views see the same situation in different ways. Ask yourself this question and see what kind of person you are.

    If your answer is "half empty", it shows that you tend to look on the dark side of things. You are a negative-thinking person. You are worried about what you don't have or what you have lost more than what you already or still have. In other words, you are a pessimist(悲观主义者).

    If you see the glass as half full, you tend to look on the bright side of things. You are a positive-thinking person. You know you should take the opportunity that comes your way rather than worry about getting into trouble. This is to say, you are an optimist.

    We don't live in a perfect world, but if we can change the way we see things, the things we see will change.

    In a school, you may hear a student saying in Chinese,“我对汉语很感兴趣。“ but you're not in China. You're in a foreign country. Like the student, many foreigners are learning Chinese. But it's not easy. The Chinese use a different character(汉字) for each word. People have to memorize about 600 characters before they can do even basic reading and writing. For foreigners, it's hard to memorize them. And the following chart shows the top 3 difficulties for foreigners while learning Chinese.

    However, Chinese is more popular around the world today. The long history and colorful culture of China attract many foreigners to learn Chinese. With the rapid development, China is staying ahead in many fields and is playing its role in the world.

    Chinese is becoming a global (全球的) language and its popularity has risen around the world. Many countries set up Chinese courses in their schools.

    For example, in the UK, students used to choose between Spanish, Latin, French and other foreign languages. But now schools encourage their students to study Chinese. The increase in popularity of Chinese has been surprising. 1031 people took Chinese language exams in 2001, and the number was 2062 last year, while 2561 people chose Spanish. It's predicted that studying Chinese in the UK could overtake (超过) Spanish in less than five years.

    Just like the foreigners do, we also learn foreign languages. Different languages carry different cultures. So exchanges are necessary. By learning a foreign language, we not only have a useful tool of communicating, but experience a new culture, what's more important, learning a foreign language well will help us tell our own stories to the world.

    Mr. Smith is a teacher. Yesterday he did a survey of what his students did on their last day off and this is what he learned.

    Linda went to see her grandparents. Her grandparents live in the countryside. They are very old. But they don't like to live in the city. They want to have a quiet life. Tom helped his parents do some housework. He cleaned the room, took out the trash, washed all the clothes. At noon, he helped his mother cook lunch. Mary look after her little brother because her mother was ill. Her father had to look after her mother in the hospital. Mike studied history at home. He isn't good at history. He thinks it is too difficult for him. His father helped him. Both his father and his mother hope that Mike can be good at all his subjects. They want him to study in a famous university one day.