Sixteen is a special age in the United States. There's often a special celebration for a girl's 16th birthday—a big party called Sweet-16. It is like a wedding reception(结婚晚宴) in the number of guests and gifts handed out.

    About a month before the party, the girl's family sends out invitations to the guests. They must buy a special present for the birthday girl and the girl guests find good dresses to wear. A sweet-16 present usually costs $40 to $60. This is about $20 more than the usual-cost of a birthday present.

    The party itself is not held at someone's house. The hostess rents(租赁) a reception hall for the event. Food, cake and a DJ are provided. Around 6'clock, guests arrive and meet the birthday girl. Then the girl and her father have a special father-daughter dance. After that, guests dance for about 30 to 45 minutes.

    Then there is the most important part of the Sweet-16 party, the candle-lighting ceremony.

    The sweet-16 hostess stands behind 16 unlit(未点燃的) candles and dedicates(献给) each candle to her friends, family, and anything that she feels is important to her. A lot of crying and hugging goes on at this time.

    Afterwards, people sit and eat. Most guests begin leaving around 11 o'clock.

    This school year, I have been to two Sweet-16s. I am one of the youngest students in my grade (My birthday is in December). I'll have to wait another year before I can have my own special Sweet-16 party. I can't wait for it!

When something is troubling us, it's natural to try and make it go away. We might head to the doctor or make a trip to the local drug store for medicine. Unluckily these methods can be expensive and it takes time.

But have no fear, because you might be able to come up with useful home remedies (治疗方法)with nothing more than a few simple ingredients from your house.

At one time or another, it seems everyone comes down with the flu. Along with taking it easy and getting plenty of rest, you can tur to chicken soup to make you feel better. Mothers from around the world have been making it for thousands of years for sick relatives. The hot soup warms you up and its pleasant smell helps to clear up your nose. It's often prepared with onions, carrots ... which all provide vitamins.

Nothing drives people mad quite like getting the hiccups (打嗝). In some cases, nothing seems to drive them away. Next time you've got a bad case of the hiccups, try this sweet solution. Take a full teaspoon with sugar and swallow it down. The sugar is thought to get your throat muscle (肌肉) to relax. Just don't overdo it, or you might have to take a trip to the dentist.

Headaches are another trouble. If you get one, try putting a pencil in between your teeth. A major cause of headaches is stress, and when we're worried, we often tighten our jaws (咬紧牙关), which pulls a muscle that connects to our head, and this action causes the pain, By placing a pencil in our mouths, we are giving our minds a signal to relax our jaws. This can reduce (减轻) the headaches almost immediately, But just remember not to bite(咬) it hard.

草拟要点：

短语：1) his favorite subject/day 他特别喜欢的科目/日子2) science teacher科学老师

句式：1) He has classes from…to…2) His favorite day is…because he has…

My Good Friend

People use languages to communicate. Any language has its ways to express people's minds. One of the ways in common is the use of idioms. An idiom is a group of words. It has a special meaning that is different from the usual meaning. For example, under the weather is an idiom meaning ill. So when people say "I'm under the weather", they are saying that they're not feeling well. Another example, in all weathers means in all kinds of weather. So, "There are homeless people sleeping on the streets in all weathers" tells us that homeless people sleep on the streets no matter whether it is cold or hot.

Different languages may have different ways to make idioms. For people who are learning a foreign language, idioms could cause misunderstandings and bring them endless problems. On the other hand if things are done right, idioms can also be a fun way of looking into a new culture and understanding how the people think and talk.

Metaphor（比喻）is often used in idioms. Let's read the following two examples:

▪Example 1: It makes my blood（血液）boil（煮沸）when my brother breaks my computer.

▪Example 2: The night was dark and quiet; my blood ran cold when I heard a strange noise outside on a dark night.

In neither situation above, can our blood reach the point so high or so low in temperature. However, with the situations the two sentences created, it is not difficult to understand the  ▲  feeling in the first example and very afraid in the second.

Of course, not all idioms are this easy to understand. When we come to idioms of a foreign language, a good dictionary of idioms is always suggested.

Some designers are trying to build a new type of house. The picture below shows some information about the house.