My grandmother is over eighty years old. She always complains about how greatly things have changed, and she often says that life used to be better.

    Families aren't families the way they used to be. If a husband and wife are having problem with their marriage, they don't stay together any more. They choose to divorce. Mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now everyone is busy working; no one has time to look after children at home.

    And the cars! No one walk any more; people get richer and richer, and more and more people buy cars and drive. We used to walk five miles to school every day, even in winter. But now children don't.

    And in school, children don't have to think any more. When I was at school, I used to add, subtract, multiply and divide using my head in math class, but now, children use calculators instead.

    Most families have computers and TVs now. In the past we didn't have computers or TVs, we spent a lot of time talking with our family members. But now, people are too busy to talk to each other. If they have time, they'd watch TV or surf the Internet rather than talk to family members. They are even too busy to eat and think.

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more.

Information Card

    Have you ever been so worried about something that you have a headache or even can't sleep at night? Then you cannot pay enough attention during a test or to your study．If so, then you know that is stress．You are worried too much about something．The bad feelingin your mind can make you angry, sad, or scared, and can even give you a stomachache or a headache．

    However, some kind of stress is good． Excitement might happen when you are called to give a speech at school．You feel nervous but excited．This kind of stress can help you to get things well done．And you may do a better job in your test if the stress pushes you to prepare more beforehand．

    On the other hand, bad stress can last long if you are unable to come over your problems．You may not feel well, if your parents are having a quarrel, if a family member is badly ill, if you're doing poorly at school, or if anything else makes you unhappy．That kind of stress isn't going to help you．And it can actually let you do worse in your daily life．

    The best way to fight the stress is to have a balanced life．Make sure you get enough sleep and eat properly．Have some regular exercise．You should spend some time for fun．Get advice from your parents, teachers and friends．Soon after that, you'll probably get away with your stress．

    John is eight years old, and he is a very funny boy. He works hard, so he is good at his subjects. And his teachers and parents like him very much. But he has a very big head.

    Last year, he spent ten days in his uncle's home on summer vacation. His uncle lives in a mountain village and it's about four hundred miles away from his city. He took a train to a small town. There his uncle waited for him and took him to his house by bike.

    John made some friends soon. They played games and swam in the river happily. But one afternoon he cried to his aunt, "All the children make fun of me. They say I have a big head."

    "Don't listen to them," his aunt said. "You have a beautiful head. Now stop crying and go to the store to buy fifty potatoes."

    "Where is the shopping bag?"

    "Oh, dear. I haven't got one. Use your hat."

Information Card

    Cindy is a student. She is in Class Two. Kate is in Class Two, too.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Cindy is next to Kate.

    It's Friday afternoon .They have two classes. It's 2:20. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The first lesson is math. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Cindy looks unhappy because math is difficult for her. She doesn't like math. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . She likes the second lesson. The second lesson is English. Cindy thinks that English is interesting and useful. But it's nice for Kate to have math lesson. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Her math teacher can play games in his class. Kate can get great fun from her math lessons.

    Cindy and Kate are good friends. But they don't like the same subject.

    Life in the future will be very different from life today. What will the change(变化)be? There will be changes in our food. Maybe(或许)no one will eat meat every day. They will eat fruit and vegetables. Computers will be very small, and there will be at least(至少)one in every home. People will take the computers in their pockets. Work in the future will be different, too. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. People will have more free time to travel.

    When the Titanic was built, she was the largest ship in the world. It had taken 50,000 men two years to build her. She was 269 metres long and as high as an eleven storey building. She was huge! In fact, the word "titanic" is often used to describe something which is "very powerful, strong, important or large".

    It was built because of increased tourists travel between North America and Europe. The Titanic was like a floating palace. Everything about her was beautiful and comfortable. She was also impossible to sink or that's what everyone thought.

    The Titanic left Southampton on the south coast of England for New York on 10 April, 1912. She stopped first in France and then in Ireland before setting off across the Atlantic Ocean. There were 1,632 passengers on board; 907 crew members(船员) looked after them.

    Four days after leaving Southampton, the Titanic's captain received not one but four icebergs(冰山) warnings.

    Icebergs are very dangerous for ships- only 10% of an iceberg can be seen above the water. But the water was clear and the captain decided to continue without reducing the ship's speed. At 11:40 p.m. the ship hit an iceberg, which cut a hole about 100 metres long underwater. The passengers were not told, but the Titanic could not survive this terrible damage.

    It was dark and freezing cold. The ship was filled with water. There was no time to waste. Women and children were told to climb into the ship's lifeboats. But there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers. Finally, at 2:20 a.m. the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea. 916 passengers and 673 crew members died in the icy water.