I have had thousands of classes since I started school nine years ago. But only one1was the most important.

    It happened last term just after I had got a 2  result in an exam. I was sad and had lost my confidence. I decided to go to a class which can tell me how to be 3.The speaker walked   into the room. But he did not start talking  4  a teacher. Instead, he held up a twenty yuan note（钞票）! "Who wants this?" he asked. Unsurprisingly, 5of us in the class held up our hands.

    The speaker smiled. Then he put up the note on the blackboard and asked the same question. Again, we all put up our hands. The speaker smiled again, but 6  nothing suddenly, he threw the note onto the floor! Then he asked the same 7 a third time.

    I didn't8 what the speaker was doing. Why was he asking the same question again and again? I didn't know what to do. I wanted the note, 9 I put my hand up again. After a while, he 10 the note and started to laugh. "You have all just told me how to become successful," 11said to us with the note in his hand.

    “The note is worth twenty yuan. It is 12 worth twenty yuan, even though I throw it on the floor. You are like the note. No matter 13 happens to you, you still have your worth.”

    When I heard those words, I was deeply moved. Suddenly, I 14 I was worth a lot. I may have done badly in  an  exam,  but it doesn't15 I can't do  well in the future. If I believe in myself, I will be successful!

    When I was ten, my mother worked all day so I had to take care of my younger brother. At that time my little brother was about four years old and he missed mum all the time.

    One day, after I had given him his dinner, he started crying for mum. He was so young and really needed mum. So I dressed him, put on his shoes, carried him on my back and walked out. Soon he fell asleep. About half an hour later, I found that he had lost a shoe while sleeping. I took him off my back and put him down. I knew we needed to find that shoe, for our mother couldn't afford new shoes. We had to go back to find it, so I told my brother to wait right there. A man heard it and stopped me just before I walked off. He asked me, "You are leaving your brother here to find the shoe? What would you do if he is not here when you return?" I did not know how to answer that question. He continued, "It's OK if you can't find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother." Then he sent us to mum's workplace by taxi.

    I have depended on（依靠） the kindness of many strangers in my whole life, I feel regretful that I can't find them and say thank you. I do not even remember what the man's face looked like, but he taught me a lesson—people are more important than things.

    I was cute, active and happy until that day when I was 15 months old. I had a bad fall. I landed on a glass rabbit and cut one of my eyes badly enough to blind me. The doctor said that if the eye was taken out, my face would look worse, so my scared and blind eye lives on with me.

    People often ask me uncomfortable questions about my eye or even play jokes on me. When the kids played games, I was always the "bad guy". Everyone looked down on me. Yet every time mom noticed I was unhappy, she would say to me, "Hold your head up high and face the world." It helped me move on in life.

    As a child, I thought mom meant: "Be careful or you will fall down or knock into something because you are not looking." As a teenager, I always looked down to hide my shame, but I found that people liked me when I held my head up high. In high school I was even made monitor, but outside I still felt like a freak（怪物）. All I really wanted was to look like everyone else. When things got really bad, I would cry to my mom and she would look at me with loving eyes and say, "Hold your head up high and face the world. Let them see the love that is inside."

    Mom's love gave me confidence. Finally I was able to look people in the eye. I learned not only to appreciate（欣赏） myself but also to have deep love for others.

    A businessman was once deep in debt（债务） and could see no way out. He sat on a park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.

    Suddenly an old man appeared in front of him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the businessman's trouble, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."

    He asked the man his name, wrote out a check（支票） and pushed it into his hand, saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared.

    The businessman saw his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller. One of the richest men in the world.

    "It can solve my problem at once!" the businessman realized. But instead, he decided to put the check in his safe. Just knowing it was there that might give him the strength（力量） to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    After that, he did better in his business. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the check. At the agreed-upon（约定的） time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to hand back the check and share his successful story, a nurse came running up and caught the old man.

    "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been troubling you. He's always escaping from the hospital and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller."

    And then she led the old man away by the arm. The businessman just stood there, suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence（自信心） that gave him the strength to achieve anything he went after.

    Do you love a tomato fight? Come to Spain and enjoy its famous tomato festival, La Tomatina. The Spanish love to eat tomatoes. Tomato sauce is served on the side with fried eggs, chicken, meat and omelets at most Spanish dinner table.

    There was a parade in Bunol on the last Wednesday of August of 1945 when a fight broke out between some young men. Taking advantage of the nearby fruit and vegetable stall（货摊）, they threw tomatoes at each other. The following year the young people brought tomatoes with them to the parade and started a tomato fight again. Each year the fight continued, and in fact, since 1980 the city government has provided the tomatoes.

    Today, La Tomatina is celebrated on the last Wednesday in August in the small town of Bunol in eastern Spain. The festival starts at 11:00 am with the sound of a cannon（大炮）shot being fired and ends one hour later. Last year 40,000 people took part in throwing over 100 tons of tomatoes in the streets and this year even more are expected.

    During the tomato fight, you must not bring bottles or other kinds of objects which could cause an accident. You must not tear or throw T-shirts. The tomatoes must be squashed（压烂）before throwing them to avoid hurting people. You must be careful of any lorry (truck or van). When you hear the second shot, you must stop throwing tomatoes. When the fight is over, everyone then sets off to the river to clear up. Sounds like fun！

    In order to learn how the students in our school spend money, we made a survey by asking them some questions. First, we asked them how much money they spent last month. And then we asked how much money they spent on snacks, books, movies, computer games, phones, transportation and other things last month. Our maths teacher helped us make a graph（图表） of their answers as follows.

    In our school, each student spent about       yuan on average（平均）last month. According to the graph made by our       teacher, we know how much money the students spent on different things in our school. As the graph shows, they spent most on       , covering 22% of all. It was followed by computer games and movies. Each of them was         . But to our surprise, he students spent        on books, only 6%.

    Recently, more and more students have       （意识到）that it is necessary to learn to       （管理）the time well. Some students think it's a good idea to make a list of today's       （任务）. Teachers point out if students are good at        （比较） their own experience with other's good ways, they will find it easy in the       （接下来的） days.

    David, a student from Class 9, says, "I don't think doing homework until      （ 午 夜 ）is good for my study. And in my      （观点）, though there is always much homework, we should do it by       （我们自己）. To be       （诚实的）is the most important, or we'll lose more. If we pay attention to these basic       （规则）, we will certainly make great progress."

    Gina's mother found that her daughter never shared anything with her        (friend). She also found other children didn't like playing       her daughter. They said Gina always made them unhappy. Then Gina's mother told her a story of an ant and a dove（鸽子）.

    “One day an ant fell into a river and tried       (save) itself. A dove got a leaf and let it fall into the river close to the ant. The ant climbed onto it         went to the bank safely. Later, a man came and        (want) to catch the dove. The ant stung（蜇） him on the foot. The man cried out and the sound made the dove fly away. It told us that         you are kind to others, you will be treated well.”

    Gina remembered         story from then on. Later, she helped her classmate Rita with math         Rita was not very good at it. Rita also helped Gina. One day, Gina was        (tidy) up the classroom. It was hard for        (she) to finish the work herself. Rita decided to help Gina clean the classroom. This made Gina think of the story of the ant and the dove. From that day, Gina realized the importance of the friendship, and she began to enjoy helping others.

Dear Diana,

    How is everything going?

    I have a problem with my mother. She talks too much. "Turn off the computer." "Do your homework first." "Get up quickly." "Be careful while crossing the street." "Put on more clothes.” I'm really bored with her orders. What shall I do? Can you give me some advice? I'm looking forward to your reply.

Yours,

Alice