浙江省杭州十三中教育集团2021-2022学年八年级下学期期...

Conner Crites is 8 years old. He started to cry when he was waiting for the doors to open at his school. The sights and sounds of the first day of school made Conner stressful. Conner has autism (自闭症). Children with autism often do things differently. Some can talk while others cannot. Many are uncomfortable with noise. Some are very good at art or music.

Most kids didn't notice Conner crying, but his classmate Christian Moore did. He held Conner's hand and then walked him into school Christian's mum Courtney Moore took a photo of Christian's act of kindness and wrote about what happened in a Facebook post. She was very proud(骄傲) of her son. The post became very popular.

Christian's kindness helped Conner a lot. Conner later told his mother April Crites that he had a great first day of school. He liked his teachers and his friends. Mrs Crites said she didn't know what happened with Christian at first. She found out when she saw the photo a few days later. She was thankful for Christian's help.

Now Conner and Christian sit together at lunch and play together at break. Christian went to Conner s house one weekend. The pair played for an hour and a half happily. Mrs Crites said this was unusual for her son. Conner even wanted Christian to spend the night at his house.

Mrs Crites believes we can all learn from this story. "It is important to be kind. Hand someone a tissue (纸中) who is crying and make their day better, " she said.

We all know that getting the flu is not fun. There are headaches, coughs, fevers, and other terrible feelings. To help us get better, we take some medicine and get much rest. We also drink lots of water and eat healthy food to make us feel better.

However, some people don't want to get sick at all. So, they get a flu shot before the flu season starts. The flu shot is in fact, a vaccine (疫苗), not usual cold medicine. It will protect them from the flu.

The vaccine introduces some of the flu into the body. But don't worry. The flu is dead and won't make you sick. It will teach your body to know it and fight it off in the future, though.

Vaccines not only protect you but also protect others. That's because they help stop diseases (疾病) from spreading (扩散) from person to person. When fewer people have the diseases, the chances of getting them go down. Sometimes, the diseases completely go away.

Even though vaccines are quite safe, some adults are afraid of them. Their worry is that the vaccines will cause serious side effects (副作用). Vaccines might cause side effects, but they are usually not as terrible as people imagine. For most people, vaccines are  ▲  and make them better.

So, they are believable and people want them in their bodies. These days, people are in line for the COVID-19 vaccines and hope they can protect them well!

Parents may be surprised at how fast their kids grow up, but a study finds that U. S. teenagers are developing more slowly than those in the past.

Scientists at San Diego State University have worked on a study of over 8 million U. S. kids aged 13-19 for 40 years. The findings show that today's teenagers are less responsible(负责任的) and that most of them don't have a part-time job. "The whole development has slowed down. Today's 18-year-olds are more like 15-year-olds in the past, " said Professor Jean Twenge. "Teenagers are taking fewer risks than those in the past. "

Scientists have also found that more teenagers spend longer time living with their parents instead of renting(租)their own room or apartment. So is that slower development "good" or "bad"? It may depend on how you look at it, the scientists said. "The upside of slower development is that teenagers aren't growing up before they are ready, " said Professor Twenge. "But the downside is that they go to college and into the workplace without as much experience with independence. Today's students may be smart and creative, but they often have trouble with planning, time management (管理) and problem-solving, "added Professor Twenge.

One of the reasons for these changes is that today's teenagers would like to spend much time online. They keep on watching videos or playing games on the Internet instead of spending more time with their family and friends in person. Another one is that parents have become much more "child-centric". In fact, parents had better let their children do everything by themselves. They should try their best to make their children become independent as soon as possible.

Mark's science blog

How cardboard is like a bridge

Hello everyone! Today, I visited a museum and found out a lot of amazing information about cardboard!

In 1879, a Scottish engineer called Robert Gair invented the cardboard box. He could make a lot of cardboard boxes very quickly, and so for the first time, food companies could use cardboard to hold food. In 1906, the Kellogg company started using very thin cardboard boxes for its cereal. This was the first time that a box had the name and picture of the food on the outside!

Today, we use cardboard boxes for many different things because cardboard is so strong.

Do you know why cardboard is so strong? Inside each piece of cardboard here are a lot of triangle. Triangles are really strong: they can carry a lot. Do you sometimes make a house of cards? If you use triangles, it works. If you try it with square shapes, it doesn't work. Try it and see! The triangle shape is the strongest.

I learned that there are triangle shapes everywhere: in bridges, in houses, on bikes and even on kites! Look at these pictures. Can you find the triangles?

Wherever Paul Horton goes, his six year-old dog Yogi walks closely behind him. They have always been best friends.

One October morning, Horton was1 his bike in the neighborhood. Yogi ran2 beside his master(主人). Yogi had done it every morning for nearly three years. 3 they came to a tall stone edge (边缘), Horton wanted to jump down from his bike. But the wheel hit the stone and Horton fell down4. As Horton tried to rise, he5 the situation was very bad. He couldn't feel his legs.

When Horton was6 on the ground, Yogi was by his side nervously. Horton said, "Go home, Yogi. Go and get7 to help. "Horton said the words slowly, again and again. 8, Yogi refused to leave. But Horton continued asking Yogi to go. Finally, the dog9.

That morning, Bruce Tate and Maggie Tate, two of Horton's neighbors, were taking a walk. When they saw Yogi running down the street alone, they thought it was very10. The dog never did that before. So they decided to11 Yogi to see what happened.

The wait was agony (痛苦) for Horton. When he heard the sound of Yogi, he12 his eyes and saw the Tates. They were surprised at Horton's condition and they sent him to the hospital quickly.

13he has to move in a wheelchair (轮椅) now, Horton feels better. Horton says that Yogi and he are much closer after the14. "I'm very thankful to Yogi. He played a very15 role in saving my life. He's my watchdog and my hero," Horton says.

My name is Janet, and I'm from a town where it hardly ever (rain). The weather is almost sunny all year round.

However, yesterday was different. I woke up late because the clouds madeseem like nighttime. I was so hurried(匆忙的) I left house without taking an umbrella.

While I(wait) for the bus, it began to rain. A car passedand splashed (溅) water on me. My school uniform was really dirty when I got to school. Then during lunchtime, I opened my lunch box and found it was wet. I had to eat three cold and wet (sandwich).

After school I found I didn't have enough money for the bus ride, so I had to walk home. I was walking, I realized that walking in the rain wasn't(bad) than taking the bus--there were two car accidents. Walking might be much safer.

When I got home, I got wet through. (lucky), my mom was already home. She felt sorry for what happened to me. Then she made some hot chocolate(cheer) me up. It was not a bad day, was it?

—Me n . I just like to watch action movies.