Mary was afraid of the dark．When the lights were off at night，everything in her bedroom seemed1 ． Many times her parents explained that people could not see clearly in the dark, 2everything looked strange．But Mary 3had a bad feeling in the dark．
    One day, her aunt came for a visit. She was famous for her bravery and for her many adventures(冒险经历)．Mary asked her aunt for4Her aunt told Mary a secret: when you are afraid of the things in your bedroom in the darkness，close your eyes and touch5with your hands．You'll know there is6to be afraid of．
    That night, Mary turned off the light. After a few minutes, she feIt afraid of the things in the bedroom again．7her aunt's advice,she closed her eyes and tried her best to move forward．Then she8something soft! A big smile appeared on her face. She knew that it was her favourite toy bear. Excited, Mary touched everything in her room with her9closed. All the things that seemed terrible were actually her toys. Mary was very 10.She was not afraid of the dark any more.

    Daniel was always making excuses(借口)for forgetting to do things．His usual excuse was"I was too busy．"
    Daniel's parents w        about him a lot．"He shouldn't go through life making excuses all the time．"his father said．"No one will trust h        to do anything．He won't be able to keep a job．"
    "I don't know w        we can do，"his mother said．
    "I have an idea．"his father said．"If this doesn't work,nothing will．"
    The next day was Daniel's birthday．He was really looking  forward to getting exciting g       . He woke up, expecting his parents to wish him a happy birthday．But all day what they s        was"Good morning，Daniel. Hurry, or you will be late for school."He was really sad．
    "Never mind," he t       ．"There'll be a surprise for me after school."
    B        there wasn't．Sadly he said to his parents at dinner, "Today is my birthday."
    "Oh," his father said．"I f       ."
    "So did I."his mother said.
    "How could you forget?"Daniel asked．"There m        be a reason."
    "Well, yes," his father said. "It's nothing special, Daniel. We didn't remember your birthday because we were too b        ."
    Poor Daniel!He never had a silly excuse for not doing something again.

    I'm Rodd．Last Friday,I planned to go to the national forest park to       ．Expecting to have someone with me．I called Mike and he        to go the next day．I got up early the next morning and arrived at the appointed (约定的)time，      Mike didn't show up．So I called him and he said he missed the first bus and would be late for half an hour．When he       ,we set out (出发) for the park．The national forest park was a nice place and we enjoyed fresh       and beautiful natural scenery(景色)there．At noon，we ate some food that I had prepared.After lunch,we climbed a mountain       ．It was so tiring—I kept jogging(慢跑)in the university but gave up doing it after       university for busy work．At about four o'clock，we reached the top and shouted with excitement．What a(n)      day!But I forgot to take a camera with       and I felt a little sorry for not taking photos．From that day on，I decided to go       every weekend instead of(而不是)staying at home．

    Jack Thomson  and  Chloe  Brooks  are neighbours (邻居)．They are both 14 years old．They like doing different things，but they both enjoy their hobbies．They are also very good at what they do．
    Jack spends about three hours every day with a pen and a piece of paper．He loves drawing!He likes drawing people，buildings and cars，but his favourite is drawing animals．He usually uses photos of animals for his drawings，but during the holidays he sometimes goes to the zoo．He watches the animals there and he draws them．Jack's drawings are very good．He puts photos of them on the Internet and people sometimes buy them．He's happy to sell his drawings，but he feels a bit sad when someone buys his favourite ones! Jack has art classes every Wednesday and Friday afternoon．His dream is to draw pictures for children's books．
    Chloe has a very different hobby．She loves playing chess．She plays for about three hours every day．She also reads books about chess and she watches videos of famous chess games online．Chloe is a member of a chess club and she plays in competitions against players from other clubs．She often wins!At home，Chloe usually plays against her computer．It isn't easy to win against the computer,but Chloe sometimes does．Does she have a dream?Yes．She wants to play chess for her country!
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    What do you think is the most useful invention(有用的发明)?

    9：10 pm,16th February

I think the mobile phone is the most useful invention．The mobile phone has really changed our lives．We can talk to people far away,send messages，take photos and do many other things with the mobile phone．What do you think?

    Rachel

9：15 pm.16th February

    There are many useful inventions—the train，the car,the plane．．．However,as for the most useful one，I choose the air conditioner (空调)．I live in Hong Kong，and during the summer the temperature can reach 35℃ or higher．It's so hot!I'm not joking when I say that，without an air conditioner, people here cannot work or study．A lot of people might be ill without cool air．

    Laura

    9：25 pm，16th February

The most useful invention is surely the Internet．My wife Judy and I have a clothes store in Mexico City,and there's a lot competition．We also have a website(网站)．Now,people from all over the world can buy our clothes through our website．We often keep in touch with friends and family by email．It's faster than usual mail，and it's cheaper than using the phone!

Jorge

    9：29 pm，16th February

Jorge,I also think that the Internet is useful．But,I think there is an invention that is even more important，and that's electricity(电)．Without electricity,many of the world's most important inventions would not work.Do you agree with me?

    Billy

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    I've never been much good at languages．But next month，I'm travelling to the Congo，a country in Central Africa．So I want to know enough Lingala—one of the local languages—to talk with people there．I wasn't sure how l was going to learn it till I found Memrise，an app that is a helpful tool(工具)for language learning．

    "People often stop learning things because they get frustrated ． They feel they're not making progress or because it feels like too much hard work．"says Ed Cooke，one of the people who created Memrise．"We're trying to create an app that is fun and is something you'd want to use．"

    Memrise is fun．It gives you a few new words to learn and these are"seeds (种子)"which you plant in your"greenhouse"．When you practise the words,you"water your plants''and they grow．When the app believes that you have already remembered a word．it moves the word to your"garden"．You get points as your garden grows，so you can compare yourself to other Memrise users．And if you have been away from Memrise for too long．the app will send you emails that remind (提醒) you to"water your plants"．

    The app uses two principles(原则)about learning．The first is that people remember things better when they relate(联系起来)them to pictures in their mind．Memrise translates words into your own language，but it also encourages you to use"mems"——pictures that help you remember new words．The second principle is that people need to stop after studying words and then repeat(重复)them again later．Memrise helps you with this．It not only offers you a number of lessons to learn,but also tells you when you should go over these lessons to improve your memory．

    Memrise really helps me a lot．I've learnt hundreds of Lingala words with it．I hope l'll be able to do more than just smile when I meet people in the Congo．

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