Emilyand Alex were happy when their family moved to a house with a very big garden. Theycould climb up trees, grow flowers and even play badminton. They liked to watchthe birds flying among the trees in the garden. They even started to put food outto attract（吸引）more birds.

    Everythingwas fine for a few days until one afternoon there was a strange bumping noise ona window. Emily went outside and found a small bird dead on the grass. Its neckseemed to be broken.

    "Itmust have flown into the window," Alex said when his sister Emily called himto have a look. "Ah, yes, look here. You can see the mark where it hit thewindow. There are a couple of tiny feathers stuck(粘贴) on the window."

    "Poorthing!" Emily said.

    Duringthe next month, another five birds died in the same way. "Why would they flyto the windows?" they wondered. Finally they found out the truth. When thebirds were flying, they couldn't see into the rooms. All they saw was the reflection(反射) of the garden. They thought that they were flying into trees becausethey saw trees reflected by the window.

    "Somethinghas to be done to save the birds." the parents decided.

    At first,he family tried keeping curtains（窗帘）across the windows, but thismade the room dark. Then they bought some strong black paper and cut out the shapeof ahawk. They made six hawks—one for each window. They stuck the hawks to the windows. They lookedpretty and did not keep out much light. When the birds saw the hawks, they wouldfly away.

    Afterthat, there were no more dead birds. The family were much happier.

Suggested questions:

1. When and where did you meet the friend for the first time?

2. Why do you think the friend is special?

3. What made your first meeting do impressive/ unforgettable?

4. How are you getting along with each other?

It's not an easy thing to speak out how we really feel sometimes. An English teacher from Fremont, California thought of a creative * way to help her students express their feelings. 

Erin Castillo is a special education * teacher. She made a "mental health checklist(心理健康诉查表)"for her students. The checklist asks kids if they are "Great", "OK", "Meh", "Struggling(挣扎)" "Having a hard time" or "In a really dark place". Each student needs to write his name on the back of the paper and put it in the section describing how he is feeling. If he puts it in the "Struggling" section, he knows he should talk with friends or parents. If he is "Having a hard time" or "In a real dark place", Castillo will talk with him. Also, Castillo made a table for "Coffee Time" Students can sit it at the table and work quietly and independently *. They can listen to music, have a snack or enjoy some "me-time". "It is important for teachers to create a classroom where students feel safe to communicate with others, "Castillo said. 

Hi, everyone! My name is Sheldon Cooper. I'm from America. I'm twelve years old, but I'm a middle school student. I like science very much. 

My father is a PE teacher. He teaches students to play football in my school. My mother is a beautiful woman with blue eyes. I am like her. My eyes are blue too. Missy is my aunt. She is a nice woman. Her eyes are brown. My brother's name is George. He likes to play football. He is fifteen years old, but we are in the same class. George isn't happy about it. 

This is my family. Meet my family on Young Sheldon. 

Patrick Dan was 12 years old when he decided to do something different. He thought it could be fun to raise worms (养虫). He wanted to sell the worms to 1 to help them improve their fields. He could also sell the worms to fishermen. Then he 2 to do that. In spring, Dan bought many worms. He put the worms in clean earth. He then put water and leaves there. When the worms got fat, Dan sold many of them. But one winter he did not put them in a warm place. The 3 weather killed all the worms.

The next spring, Dan did that again. He bought more worms. He tried his best to 4 them. Many people bought Dan's worms. When winter came, Dan took the worms inside so they would stay 5 .

However, one day, he suddenly got a(n) 6 . It was from the state of Chicago where he lived. It said, "Everyone who sells things has to 7 taxes (税)!" Dan made only 50 cents per day by selling worms, but he still had to give part of that money to the state. Dan told many people in his town what had happened. He told them about his 8 . Later some people showed a video of their talk with Dan online. In the video, they said that the law was not 9 .

To everyone's great joy, the law was 10 changed. Children like Dan can now sell things without paying money to the state.

Helen: Hi, Tom. I called you at 10 o' clock in the morning but you didn' t answer the phone.

 Tom: Sorry, Helen, I was playing tennis with my sister Mary. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

 Helen: I had a problem with my maths homework.

 Tom: {#blank#}2{#/blank#} . He is good at maths.

 Helen: {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

 Tom: Did you solve the problem at last?

 Helen: Yes. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

 Tom: Great! {#blank#}5{#/blank#}