Tom does well in sports, but he isn't good at        (play) chess and he is tired of        (watch) soap operas. He prefers        (go) out to play sports to        (watch) TV even though on a rainy day. One day his mother asked him to go shopping with her. He told his mother that he would rather        (watch) sports shows than        (do) some shopping. He asked his father to teach him how        (play) chess well. But his father is busy        (repair) his car.

— I would rather        at home than        football. It's too hot outside.

— _________, but I might be a little late.

— ______. What a great experience we had!

Pisces (February 20 to March 20)

      It's the sign of the fish. Pisceans are very free-flowing（自由散漫的）people. They often feel bad when they cannot do the things that they want to. When things don't run well, they will often become very angry. A Piscean can usually make the best of a bad situation if they really want to. They can easily get along with other people and the outside world.

      Quality: Negative（阴性）          Ruler: Neptune （海王星）

      Triplicity: Mutable （变通型）     Quadruplicity: Water （水相）

      Pisces can be given cameras, socks and shoes as presents. Music of all kinds is welcome, such as CDs, piano and concert tickets. Anything that makes a Pisces think of water and seas is great, such as ships, going boating, a trip to the sea and a hot bath.

    An idiom is a phrase that we can't understand from the m       of each word. For example, if an American boy asks his mom what's for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I'll play it by ear”, that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will d       later.

    “Play it by ear” used to mean playing music w       using the sheet music (乐谱), but now people often use it when they're not talking about music!

    There are many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be much more vivid (生动的) and colorful.

    Have you ever heard the idiom “He bought the farm”? It means he died. Do you know how it became p      ? It was first used in World War I. When a soldier died, the government gave his family enough money to buy a farm.

    In the early 1930s, people in the US often didn't know when or where their next meal was. So once they got something in their hand that could be e      , it would go into their mouth. That was how people began to use the idiom “living hand to mouth” to mean “living a p       life”.

    And don't be a       if your English friend says this to you, “Break a leg in your game!” He is wishing you good luck! Hundreds of years ago, people believed in sprites (小妖精). Sprites enjoyed causing t      . If the sprites heard you ask for something, they would make the o       happen. Tell someone to “break a leg” and the sprites would make something good happen.

    Aren't English idioms interesting? And break a leg in your next football m      !

Thumbs Down to Texting （屈指发短信）

       Do you have a mobile phone? Do you send text messages to your friends and family?

       Text messaging or “texting” is becoming very popular. But, scientists have discovered that texting can give us problems with our hands. Be careful! Too much texting can cause swelling in our thumbs. Our thumbs were not made for pushing small buttons, over and over. Scientists call this problem RSI. We spoke to a doctor called Harriet Wilson, who treats many sick people with RSI. She says we need to see how much time we are spending in typing text messages. If we are spending more than 10–15 minutes at once, we could have problems in the future.

       As mobile phones develop, they are getting smaller with buttons closer together. Texting with a smaller phone is worse than using a larger phone with bigger buttons. Using a computer keyboard and playing video games can cause the same problem. So more and more people could find themselves with RSI. Among them, most are university students and teenagers, as they do not know the risks of spending so much time using computer, video games and mobile phones. If we don't do something about this, too many young people could grow up in terrible pain.