There was a young painter who made money by painting portraits （肖像画）. His dream was to become one of 1 artists in the field of art. One day, a rich lady asked him to paint 2portrait for her and promised to pay him 10,000 dollars.
After a week, the lady came to take the painting. The painting was wonderful,3 she was not happy with it. She told the young painter, "I will buy this painting only for 3,000 dollars." The young painter felt 4at what she said. Then he talked with the lady, hoping that she would keep her promise.
The rich lady said to the painter, "The person in the painting is me.5 I don't buy this painting,6 else will buy it. So you have to sell it to me for 3,000 dollars."
The young painter said 7, "No, I prefer not to sell it rather than be humiliated（羞辱）by you. Someday, you need to spend 20 times the money 8the painting, because you break your promise today."
After that, the painter worked even 9than before. Finally, his dream came true and he became very famous in the field of art.
The rich lady soon forgot about the artist and what he had told her. But one day, one other friend told her, "There is a painter selling a painting called ‘Liar'（说谎的人）for 200,000 dollars. The lady in the painting looks really like you."
Then, the rich lady remembered the painter. She quickly went 10sorry to him and paid 200,000 dollars to buy the portrait.
More than 700 years ago, Scotland （苏格兰）was fighting against England. The king of England wanted to 1Scotland. England had a strong army so it was 2for the Scots people to fight. They lost many times. King Robert of Scotland had to run away from the English army.
One rainy day. King Robert lay in an old house. He thought that he was not good enough to be a king. He was so 3that he didn't even see a spider（蜘蛛）above him. When he 4, he saw the spider climbing. It was trying to climb up its web at the top of the house but it fell down.
"How sad!" thought King Robert. "The spider is like me. It's not 5enough." He watched it while the spider climbed up again. It fell down a second time.
"Be careful, little spider,6 you might die." he said. "Life is so hard, you will never get back to your web. But the spider 7again and again. King Robert watched as it 8climbed back to its web. After an hour, the spider got back to the web.
"You are such a great spider," he said. "If you can keep trying, I can too. I must keep on fighting. I won't let the English win." His 9grew strong and they 10the English army. Scotland was free.
Joseph Sekar is a 62-year-oId man in India. He feeds thousands of parrots every day. And he has earned himself the nickname "birdman".
Joseph always left small amounts of rice on his roof. The neighbor sparrows and squirrels often came to eat them. One day two parrots flew in and fed themselves some rice. The birds not only returned the following day, but also brought along other hungry friends. Today about 2,000 to 4,000 beautiful parrots visit the birdman twice a day!
Joseph does not feed the birds raw rice. He cooks them! This means that the amazing man gets up at 4:30 a.m. every morning and spends over an hour making the breakfast. He then spreads the rice across 14 wooden planks（厚木板）on his roof.
The breakfast rush begins at about 6:00 a.m. when the beautiful parrots fly in and continues until every last grain of the delicious rice is gone! The action is repeated in the afternoon when the birds arrive around 4:00 p.m. and stay for almost two hours. Besides feeding them, the superhero also takes in sick or injured birds and nurses them back to health.
Of course, feeding so many birds is not a cheap job. Joseph, a camera repairman, now spends 40% of his income feeding the birds. The generous man says all of his actions come of a sense of love.
Though Joseph has not any plans to stop it now, he does worry about what will happen to the beautiful birds as he gets older and is unable to continue.
Every morning, my father buys a newspaper on his way to work. Every day, I open my books in class and start my lessons. Every evening, my mother reads magazines at home. And every night, I look at the photos of David Beckham and Yao Ming on the wall in my bedroom before I go to sleep. Can you imagine the life without paper or printing?
Paper was first created about 2,000 years ago in China. After it was invented, people started to write on paper to make books. In those days, books were only produced by hand. So there were not many books, and they were expensive. Only a few people had the chance to read books.
Printing was invented in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties (朝代). The development of printing made it possible to produce books more quickly and cheaply. More and more people can read books. Knowledge and ideas spread (传播) faster than before.
The Internet was created in the twentieth century. Although the Internet is still young, it is growing very fast and becomes powerful. A much larger amount of information can be stored in different forms on the Internet. We can find it much more easily than that in books.
Nowadays computers and the Internet are used in classrooms, and newspapers and magazines can be also read online. Will there be paper and printing in the future? Let's wait and see.
Do you know any exciting computer games that are also educational? Malmo Software has four new games that will surprise you.
Space Pirate
It lets you go through the Galaxy（银河系）on your own starship. You will find interesting stars and learn science along the way.
Crazy Cooking
In Crazy Cooking, you can choose meat and vegetables, cook them in your video kitchen and ask your friends to eat with you. At the same time, you will learn Maths by working with lots of numbers and measurements（测量）.
Time Machine
It lets you go back to any time to see what it was like. You can find out almost all things you want to know. You can meet George Washington or study a map with Columbus.
Word Search
It takes you on a trip through the English language — where it began, who started it, and why something is different now. On your trip, you will learn new words and their spellings.
Each of these new games costs only＄15.95. Besides, you can buy three and get one for free! These are the best new games! They will give you lots of fun, and you'll learn many things from them. So don't wait! Go to the shop now!
Everyone is forgetful, but as we age, we start to feel like our brains are slowing down a bit — and that can be a very unhappy thing. . Read on for some advice worth trying.
①.
People will have less chances for Alzheimer's disease（早年性痴呆症）if they often make plans and look forward to bright future. . Something is as simple as having a weekly coffee or dating with a friend tomorrow. In other words, keep your brain looking forward.
②Go for a walk
Good blood glucose（葡萄糖）can help you keep good memories and physical exercise can make the blood glucose in good levels. In fact, exercise produces chemicals and that's good for your brain. .
③Learn something new
Take a French class online, join a drawing club, or learn to play cards. The study shows that the best thing for your brain is when you learn something new and are active at the same time. . Or go dancing with your friends.
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A. Focus on the future. B. It should be something like singing. C. But don't worry if your plan isn't filled with big things. D. Luckily, research shows there is a lot you can do to stop those moments. E. In other words, when you take care of your body, you take care of your brain. |
Dear Laura,
Thanks for your message. Yes, I'm having a great time as an e student in France. I was a bit nervous before I arrived here. But my h family is really nice. They go out of their way to make me feel at home. The granddaughter about my age is really kind. She always talks to me in French to help me practise. And you wouldn't believe how quickly my French has i.
My biggest challenge is learning how to do at the dinner table. Things are really different from the way they are at home. For example, you should put your bread on the table i of on your plate. You shouldn't cat anything with your hands except bread, not even fruit! You have to cut it up and e it with a fork. I have to say that it is strange at first, but I'm getting used to it now.
Hope you are having a good school year!
