In a far-away place, there was a village. The village was 1 in potatoes than anywhere else in the country. At the end of every growing season, 2 potatoes were dug out of the ground, and readied for market. In each home, men and women would 3 divide the potatoes into three groups, large, medium and small.

    One year, there was a young man 4 received his share of the potatoes. As the other villagers5 , he walked around the village laughing and talking. 6 villagers thought he was lazy, and they worried that this man would never get 7 potatoes ready in time. When it was time for the villagers8 to market, they were greatly surprised to find that the man's potatoes 9 perfectly into three groups.

    After 10 the man how he did it, they understood he was not lazy, 11 very clever. He had put all his potatoes in a cart and pulled it along the village's rough dirt road. As the cart moved up and down over the road, the potatoes moved 12 . The small potatoes moved to the bottom, the larger potatoes rose to the top and the medium potatoes rested13 the middle.

Life 14 like this too. The rough roads we travel along can also 15 us.

    Students who get tired of looking at the four walls of a classroom might like to take the nature course being offered by Carvel College again this summer. Groups of about a dozen students each, led by an experienced guide, will go on ten-day camping trips to the mountains to study the plants and animals that grow and live there.

    Students carry their own things, which includes sleeping bags, warm clothing, food and water, and other useful tools. And what do the students do all day? Well, as soon as the sun comes up, they eat breakfast and start climbing up the mountain trail to the next campground, which is five to ten miles away. As the students take notes, the guide points out different plants and animals alongside the trail. The climb is usually over by early afternoon, so the group spends the rest of the day resting or swimming in a mountain lake. Before dinner each night, they all come together and discuss the day's activities.

    At the end of the course, the students write reports using the information they have collected. But they don't mind at all. What they do mind is leaving the beauty of the wilderness and the good friends they've made to return to their normal lives in the city.

    "Save the whales!" That's what the picture on Jake Smith's bedroom wall said. Jake liked having a picture that said something important: that showed he cared. He just never expected to get a chance to save a real whale, one right in his own neighbourhood.

    It was a Saturday morning when the newspaper first reported the whales' coming. A group of the animals were swimming close to the beach in Jake's hometown. All the local people rushed out to the beach to see them. They were expecting a beautiful show, better than a movie, but nothing they'd have to do anything about.

    Then one whale swam in the direction, directly towards land. It came in with the waves, and when the waves receded. Its huge body on the sand. Suddenly, Jake and his family and all the others were no longer sightseers. They had to become rescuers. A few people ran towards the animal. They pushed and tried to force the whale back into the water, but it was no use.

    An animal rescue service team soon arrived in a truck with heavy lifting machinery, to help move the animal. Jack and his family couldn't do much on the beach, so they went back to their house and made sandwiches and hot tea for the rescuers. At least, Jake thought, they could help in some way.

    Back at the beach, they offered the food to the rescuers and were happy to see that it was needed. It was getting dark. Some people lined up their cars along the beach and shined the headlights on the sand. The rescuers would not give up. After trying many times they were finally able to lift the whale into the water. Everyone cheered when it headed out to sea. It swam out about a mile and then disappeared for a moment under the sea. Then, in what looked like a jump of joy, it rose high above the water—a thank-you to those who had worked so hard to save his life.

    It may be hard to believe, but the American Revolution(革命)—the war that freed the American states from British control—began over a cup of tea. Tea was not the only thing that caused the war, of course, but it played a very big part.

    The British people's love of tea is well-known. When the British won control over mush of North America in the early 1700s, they brought their tea- drinking habits with them. Tea quickly became the continents most popular drink. As tea could not be grown locally, just as in Britain, it was shipped into the country—mostly from India.

    In the early 1700s, the Britain government made a special deal with the East India Company, as an English trading company. They agreed that no other company was allowed to bring tea to Britain or any country controlled by Britain, including America. It was a great deal for the East India Company, since it meant that the company could decide whatever price it wanted for its products. And it always decided on a high price!

    In North America, the local people did not like having to pay such high prices. Instead of overpaying for tea from the British, they turned to Dutch traders, who secretly brought tea to the country that was just as good—and much less expensive. Although this broke the law, the American people didn't care. They got the same cup of tea at a much lower price.

    The East India Company, however, didn't like this at all. By the 1760s, they were losing millions of pounds each year to Dutch traders—a huge amount of money in a time when ￡60 a year was considered a good income. Instead of reducing their prices to compete with the Dutch, the company asked the British government for help and the government agreed.

    In 1767, the British introduced new law that increased the prices of all goods which were brought into America. These laws helped make the East India Company even richer and forced local people to pay much more for everything. The American leaders asked the British government not to do so, but the British refused to listen. These unfair laws increased Americans' anger about British rule and the rest, as they say, is history.

    Getting electricity has always been a problem for the 173 people living in Nuevo Saposoa, a small village in Peru, South America. However, things went from bad to worse in March 2015 after heavy rains damaged the only power cables in the area. The villagers were forced to use oil lamps, which are not only expensive but also dangerous because of the harmful gases they produce.

    Luckily, researchers at the University of Technology (UT) in Lima, Peru heard about their problem and found a wonderful solution. They made a lamp that can be powered by plants and soil, both of which can be easily found in the Amazonian rainforest where the village lies. The lamp takes energy from a plant growing in a wooden box and uses it to light up an LED light bulb.

    While that may sound amazing and even impossible, the science behind the ides is quite simple. As plants create their food (using the sun's energy, water and chemicals from the soil), they also produce waste which they return to the soil. Tiny animals in the soil eat this waste and they produce electrons – the building blocks of electrical energy. The UT team put special sticks inside the soil to capture the energy and keep it in the lamp's batteries for later use. The researchers say a single charge can power a 50-watt Led light for two hours - enough time for local villagers to get their evening work done.

    The university gave ten Plant Lamps to the villagers of Nuevo Saposoa in October 2015. So far, they have been a huge success! Elmer Ramirez, the UT professor who invented the lamp, believes the Plant Lamp could help improve the lives of many people, especially small rainforest communities, 42% of whom have no electricity.

    "I think Chinese is difficult but not that difficult to learn," said Petitfancy, a Frenchman, " but my handwriting is terrible even now. "The biggest difficulty for him is that Chinese and his native language belong to totally different language families.        

    "Chinese pronunciation is hard for foreigners." Petitfancy said. He described how a class of 30 became smaller until only one student (himself) left in one term even though the teacher sometimes used English ,German and French to teach them.        We were ready to move on with the rest of the study. But when it came to the four tones（声调), some of us gave up. We wondered what kind of intelligent brain was needed to learn and use these difficult tones.

           A book priced at 38 yuan (about €4. 9)in China can be sold for €40 in Europe, which puts more pressure（压力） on him to learn the foreign language well.        

    Even though he speaks broken Chinese, they praise and encourage him. More importantly, he has found pleasure in learning Chinese. The grammar is really easy, though there are lots of idioms (习语) that are ill-formed sentences and take time to master.

           For example, he once read Jing Ye Si (Thoughts on a Quiet Night) by famous poet Li Bai (701-762)several thousand times before he was finally able to remember the poem.

    I'm sure many people are working hard for a lot of money, a big house, a new car, expensive clothes and so on. Those are considered to be symbols of       （成功）on the material level. When I was young, I was also      （疯狂地）reaching for material success. So I chose a job as a salesman and I did make some pretty good money.

    But later I realized that was not what I wanted, because I was often forced to sell products that might not be good for customers. I become very      （不开心）also I could make a lot of money. I no longer      (感到) proud of my job and even looked down upon myself for doing things like that. So I      （放弃） up my job and took another job, this time helping people      in need the poor and the        (弱者). The sense of belonging was great and suddenly I felt successful in my life again, I made less money but I was       （满意的）with myself.

    For my own past, success comes from the feeling of satisfaction and joy. I feel successful when I love what I do, not caring so much about       （金钱）. And I feel the most successful when I      （播撒）my kindness everywhere go.

    So, be true to yourself: learn to listen to the voice from the bottom of your heart. And find your own way with a happy heart to achieve your own success.

    Lao Tzu was a philosopher (哲学家） in ancient China. He        (work) as an archivist（档案保管员）in imperial library, which gave him the chance to read more and learn a great deal of knowledge. As a result he got a large        (number )of students and fans. And it is said that even the famous Chinese philosopher,Confucius, heard about Lao Tzu, and came to        (visit) him.

    Lao Tzu believed that the human life, like everything else in the world, is influenced by outside forces. He believed "simplicity"to be the key to        (true), encouraging people to watch and think        (careful)to understand the laws of nature.He also advised people to build up        (person )power, and use it for leading a good life with love.

    Here are several        ( amaze) /quotes (语录）of Lao Tzu. I believe you will learn a lot from them.

    When you accept        (you), the whole world accepts you.

    He who talks more is sooner tired.

    A journey of a thousand miles begin        one step.

    If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

    Knowledge is a treasure,        practice is the key to it.

    To become learned, each day add something.

要求：⒈短文内容应包括表格中的所有要点，可适当增加一些细节，以使行文连贯

⒉词数80-100左右，短文的开头已给出，但不计入总词数。

参考词汇：方面 aspect；使平衡 balance 自信的 confident

    Is it good for students to take many extracurricular classes? Different students have different opinions about it.