Teaching idioms (习语) is a lot of fun. Here are some good books that can teach children idioms.

    THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

    It has idioms that are widely used. Each idiom has a picture to go with it. It is for children in the 1st grade & up. It is written by Tamara James.

    THERE'S A FROG IN MY THROAT

    This book has 440 idioms about animals. Each idiom is given a short explanation to tell what it means. It is for children in the 2nd grade—6th grade. It is written by Loreen Leedy.

    BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH

    It shows a boy's first day of school through idioms. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Serge Bloch.

    MAD AS A WET HEN

    It is a book for teaching classic idioms. It is for students in the 3rd grade—5th grade. It is written by Marvin Terban.

    MY TEACHER LIKES TO SAY

    It is about idioms used by teachers. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Denise Nelson.

    Sitting on the sofa in her family's Michigan home in 2009, looking through the Guinness World Records, 10 year-old Winter Vinecki was surprised to find that the record for the youngest person to complete a marathon on every continent was held by a 27-year-old man. “I can beat that,” she declared. “For Dad. ” And she had every reason to believe she could.

    A natural athlete since the age of 5, Winter had been running together with her mom and uncle, both athletes, and competing in races across the country. Soon, her name was appearing in national competitions. Trophies (奖牌) lined her walls.

    But in 2008, at the age of 9, Winter stopped racing for medals. In May of that year, her father found out he had caught a rare cancer. To raise awareness and funds to fight the disease. Winter started an organization called I earn Winter. Just 10 months after his diagnosis, her father passed away.

    Over the next three years, Winter came first in 20 of the 37 races in which she competed, including four Junior Olympics Cross Country Championships. Along the way, she raised over $ 400,000 to help find a cure for cancer.

    Now 14, Winter is working on her world record to win her cause a place in the Guinness World Records. She recently completed her first marathon in Eugene, Oregon, a race normally limited to runners over 16, finishing in an amazing 3:45:04. “I'm used to racing with adults, and I think it's kind of fun to race past them,” said Winter before the race.

    With six continents to go, Winter has just begun a journey that will take her two years. “Every time I step to a starting line,” Winter says, “I have one thought in mind: keeping my dad's spirit alive.”

    People are less willing to rely on their knowledge and say they know something when they have access (接近) to the Internet, suggesting that our connection to the web is affecting how we think.

    Professor Evan Risko, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, led a recent study where the team asked about 100 participants (参与者) a series of general-knowledge questions, such as naming the capital of France. For half of the study, participants had access to the Internet. They had to look up the answer when they responded that they did not know the answer. In the other half of the study, participants did not have access to the Internet.

    The team found that the people who had access to the web were about 5 percent more likely to say that they did not know the answer to the question. Furthermore, in some cases, the people with access to the Internet reported feeling as though they knew less compared to the people without access.

    “With the popularity of the Internet, we are almost frequently connected to large amounts of information. And when that data is within reach, people seem less likely to rely on their own knowledge,” said Professor Risko.

    Studying the results, the researchers thought that access to the Internet might make it less acceptable to say you know something but are incorrect. It is also possible that participants were more likely to say they didn't know an answer when they had access to the web because online searching offers an opportunity to confirm their answer, and the process of finding out the answer is rewarding.

    “Our results suggest that access to the Internet affects the decisions we make about what we know and don't know,” said Risko. “We hope this research helps us understand how easy access to large amounts of information can influence our thinking and behaviour.”

    The insects are important to farmers. When a honeybee lands on a flower in plant, pollen (花粉) sticks to its legs. When the bee lands on another flower, some of the pollen falls off and fertilizes the second plant.

    The act of spreading pollen is responsible for many fruits, vegetables, nuts and other crops. Yet about 30 percent of honeybees in the United States and other areas have died in recent years.

    Mike Leggett is a researcher at the University of Maryland. He wants to learn why so many bees are dying. “The number of colonies (蜂群) that die every winter has been one in three. So on average 30 percent of the colonies have died every winter over the last six winters. And that's a huge number.” His research team examined the pollen that honeybees carried to their homes. They found that the pollen contained high levels of 35 different pesticides (杀虫剂), which are chemicals used to protect plants. “Pesticides are used, and have been used, pretty widely, for centuries, to protect plants from diseases,” says Mr Leggett.

    Keith Oh linger, a farmer and beekeeper in Maryland, has watched many of his bees die every winter. Mr Ohlinger thinks widespread bee death is caused by several things happening at once. But he does not feel sure that pesticides are a part of the problem, “I felt it was the result of a lot of little things. I didn't feel that there was probably one smoking gun. But there's a division (分歧) there, some people feel that it is just one thing.”

    Honeybees are important to agriculture. This makes the search for an answer to their death very important for Mr Leggett's team. As he knows, one in every three bites of food we eat is somehow pollinated by honeybees.

New Year's Day in China

    National holidays in China are those festivals decided by the government that everyone gets to enjoy.        These holidays fall into two types: those that all citizens enjoy nationwide, and those that some citizens enjoy. New Year's Day is one that is enjoyed by people all over the country.

           They celebrate the New Year like people all over the world. Since ancient times, the day has been called “Yuandan” by the Chinese.        “Dan” means “day”，so joined together the words mean “first day of a year”. For 3,000 years，China has greeted Yuandan with joyful ceremonies.

    Because of the different longitudes (经度) upon which countries lie in the world, the time of the celebration changes. China is the twelfth country to celebrate the event and the people are rewarded with one day's vacation.        And organizations and schools hold parties to let everyone enter the joyful atmosphere of the festival. Sincere good wishes are sent by people's smiles and wonderful performances at parties.       

A. “Yuan” means “at the beginning”.

B. Many colorful programs are shown on TV.

C. It's a day for the working people worldwide.

D. New Year's Day is a big holiday for the Chinese people.

E. Everyone has the right to get off work during these holidays.

F. You can read about how, where，and when to watch the program.

G. Great hopes for an excellent year are planted in everyone's mind.

    I was living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is a huge city, with more people living in it than in my whole 1. We rented a flat in a community, but there was a favela (贫民区) quite near. For several months I didn't have a 2, so I used public transportation to go to the city centre. During these 3, I would ride with the people who took the 4 bus from the favela to go to work.

    When I got on the bus, all the 5 were already taken. But when people saw that my bag was 6, they offered to hold it on their legs to make me lighter 7. At first, I was 8. Then I realized that these people certainly had no 9 to steal from me: they only wanted to 10.

    Once, on my way back, I had to wait for a long time at a bus stop. I was alone, except for a woman who was 11 very poor. She carried a small paper bag of popcorn (爆米花) and nothing else.

    While we were 12, she walked over and 13 me some popcorn. I thanked her, but didn't want to help myself to it. She then repeatedly 14 that I take from what was her only 15.

    That was the first time I thought about how people who have almost 16, are sometimes able to 17 the little they have so much more easily than those who 18 a lot.

    I was so moved by that woman s simple 19 that day. I clearly had more than she did, but she 20 and joyfully shared what little she had with me.

    The following is just a short story but it really brought home to me how very small acts of kindness and even polite behavior have        (big) effects than we realize.

    I have a bad back        flares up (发作) from time to time. Yesterday I was out walking in the street while        (carry) shopping bags and my keys. My keys        (sudden) slipped from my hand and fell to the ground. The problem was that because of my back I couldn't bend down        (get) them. I was just thinking of how to get around this        two teenage girls came up beside me. Without even speaking to me, one of the        (girl) just reached down, picked up my keys, handed them       me and went on her way.

    While it was        small gesture and she couldn't have known that I was in too much pain to bend down, it        (mean) a great deal to me at that moment

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在其下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Once a woman came to Mahatma Gandhi, known for the father of the Indian Independence Movement. She asked Gandhi to persuade her son give up eating sugar, that she thought was bad for his body. Gandhi asked the woman to bring a boy back in a week. Exactly one week late the woman returned, and Gandhi said to the boy, “Please give up eating sugar.” The boy agreed willingly.

    The woman thanked Gandhi and as she turned to go, she asking him, “Why didn't you say those word a week ago?” “Because of a week ago, I myself have not given up eating sugar.” Gandhi replied in a calmly voice.

1）完成老师布置的家庭作业；

2） 帮助父母做家务；

3） 观看电视节目《跟我学》（Follow Me），练习英语口语。

注意：1）词数100字左右；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯

3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Jerry,

    The summer holiday is coming near, and I am happy to tell you about my plan for the holiday.

Yours truly,

Li Hua