If you have learned some maths at school, you can quite quickly work out that one eleventh is about nine percent. However, do you know that nine percent is also the number of children     1     are not at school? That's right—one in eleven children is not     2     (study) and probably even cannot do the simple maths you just did very     3     (easy). They drop out of school because their     4     (family) are too poor and they have to work like adults. In 2013, millions of children and teenagers     5     (be) out of school. Most live in poor countries,     6     there are also some boys and girls unable to go to school in rich countries. If you are lucky enough     7     (go) to a senior high school, you should be grateful     8     the opportunity. So the next time you feel like you do not want to do     9     (bore), difficult homework or go to class, think about the unlucky children. They don't have the chance to get a school     10     (educate). Make the most of what you have learned and make the world a better place.

Britain has jumped up in maths in the Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA) tests, thanks     1     government efforts to import Chinese-style teaching into the classroom. Seventy-nine countries     2     (take) the tests last year, with the UK ranking 18th, up from 27th in 2015. Within the UK, the average score for maths among English pupils was     3     (significant) higher than scores for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Experts believe that the     4     (introduce) of Chinese teaching methods is likely to have driven up the UK’s test results. Countries in the Far East,     5     (include) China and Singapore, have long come at the top of the PISA tests for maths. In 2014, the British Department for Education set up     6     exchange programme between English and Shanghai schools so that maths teachers could learn about Chinese teaching methods. The programme was followed two years     7     (late) by a 41-million-pound project to train thousands of primary schools to adopt the Shanghai-style teaching method.

“It’s encouraging     8     (see) the students’ great improvement in maths,” said Professor Valsa Koshy, an expert in maths education at Brunel University, “Importing maths teaching from Far Eastern countries     9     (mean) there is a need for children to master the basic facts and traditional skills,     10     used to be laughed at as too old fashioned.”

We know lying is wrong, but everyone tells lies. Why? Maybe we comfort ourselves with the knowledge     1     most of the lies we tell are white lies. For example, we all have the experience of someone     2     (cook) a meal for us that we don’t like. Usually, we maybe don’t tell     3     truth and say that it is delicious.

One of the main reasons for telling a white lie is     4     (try) to make others feel better. Another reason is to give     5     (encourage). For example, when your friend     6     (ask) you how he sings, you surely say it is wonderful, despite     7     (secret) thinking that your cat can sing     8     (well) than him. However, your friend maybe want your frank comments so that he can improve. Finally, we also tell a white lie when we want to protect others     9     bad news.

Although we think that telling a white lie can be good for others, we shouldn’t hide the truth all the time.     10     would you feel if you discovered that the people closest to you had been hiding the truth from you?

Suddenly, old-fashioned road trips are in style again. Websites, newspapers, magazines and even     1    (book) are featuring road trips, even though they are actually     2    long-standing American tradition in pop culture, from the 1950s Beat Generation literary classic “On the Road” to the 1983 comedy movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation”. In some ways, the comeback of this 20th-century style vacation     3     (be) surprising in an age when “time has become far more     4     (value) than money”, writes Richard Ratay in his coming book, “Don’t Make Me Pull Over!: An Informal History of the Family Road Trip”. In other words,     5    do you spend 18 hours driving 1, 200 miles when you could get there in two hours     6     plane?

Here is why: flying is expensive, and the more people taking the trip, the     7     (cheap) it is to pile very one of your group in a car. Flying is also unpleasant. Getting to the airport, allowing time for     8     (secure) checks and dealing with delays and baggage an easily turn a two-hour flight into a trip that takes up most of your day and all of your soul. For some travelers, it is more appealing     9     (get) up early, hit the road and spend all day driving. At least you can bring more than one bag without     10     (pay) extra. And you can stop where you want and when you want.