I had been swimming competitively for about five years and was ready to quit (退出), because I _________ receiving “Honorable Mentions (鼓励奖)” at each competition, which simply means, “Thank you for coming. You didn’t even get the first, the second _________ the third, but we don’t want you to go home with _________ .”

The very day before a big swim meet, I decided to tell my grandma that I was leaving the swim team. When I told her about my decision, she asked me to stand straight and said to me seriously, “Baby, remember these words! A quitter never wins and a _________ never quits. I never bring up losers or quitters. You go to that swim meet tomorrow, and swim like you are a grandchild of mine. Do you hear me?” I was too _________ to say no. The next day I _________ at the swim meet. I realized the other girls were here to do one thing—beat me. The competition began and I was swimming _________ than before. I noticed I was tied with one person. I thought we were competing for the eighth place and I refused to _________ dead last(排名最后), so I added more energy on the last two hundred meters. I hit the _________ and looked to the left and to the right __________ the swimmers who had beaten me, but no one was there. That day, at age fifteen, I broke the national 16-year-old 400-freestyle record.

What do you call a school with no tests, no grades, no classes, and no teachers? Students of the Met School and their parents think it to be the best school in the world.

The school is in Rhode Island, the USA. Dennis Littky opened it in 1996. He was fired from two other schools, because many parents of the school students were happy with his unusual ideas. The school takes poor kids who are failing (失败) at schools. Nearly (几乎) everybody has already given up these students and their parents want to try anything. The Met School gives Littky a great place to try out his new ideas.

“The word that most kids use when they talk about high school is ‘boring’.” says Littky. “But no one would say the Met was boring.” Advisors (指导老师) ( not teachers) work with small groups of students for four years. Students spend almost half of their school time learning real-life skills, such as working for business, spending time with government (政府) people, and helping teach younger children. Instead of tests, the students give shows about their work outside school.

In fact, students work harder here than in other schools. All the students from the Met School graduate (毕业) and can choose to go to a good university (大学). Now, Bill Gates is starting schools like this one around the USA.

Mom and dad are two of the most important people in your life. You probably see at least one of them every day. And, they're likely to influence (影响) you more than anyone else you will meet in your lifetime. So if your mom loves to read, you just might grow up carrying a book wherever you go, just like she does.

But parents do a lot more than just passing on their hobbies. Moms and dads care for their children from the minute they were born. They are the people we should respect and love best. It is very important to stay close, get along, and build a strong relationship with your parents. But not every child knows how to do this. Here are some ways to help you:

Spend time together. Don't spend much time playing a computer game or watching TV. Ask your mom and dad to play with you. Go outside together, or read a book out loud.

Be kind. Little things might mean a lot to your mom or dad. You can brighten a parent’s day with a hug, a card, or joke. It's also lovely when a kid cleans up his or her room without being asked, and if you try not to fight with your brothers or sisters might be very happy!

Do your best at whatever you do. You don’t have to be perfect, but when you do your best, you make your parents proud. It makes them happy to see how you're turning into a great kid. Why? Because it lets them know you’re doing a good job.

Once there was a forest where all the animals lived together happily. One day a family went to spend the day in the forest, and the son left his socks there. After the family left, a bear came by. He found the socks and decided to try them on. They fit so well, and he liked them so much that he wouldn’t take them off.

All the other animals talked about the bear’s new look. Soon, in that forest, squirrels in shirts, rabbits in shoes, and even rats (老鼠)   wearing hats began appearing! The forest doctor shook his head, telling animals, “This can’t be good. Animals don’t need clothes!”But no one listened to him. They said he was just out of fashion.

However, soon the animals had accidents because of the clothes. Several times the squirrel got caught on trees because of his shirt, making him fall to the ground from a tree. The rat couldn’t go into his hole without taking off his hat first. because of the socks, the bear slipped（滑到） from the river rock and almost killed himself.

When the animals came to see the doctor, he gave them all the same advice, “Take off those clothes before they kill you.”   Then they listened to the doctor’s advice and stopped having accidents. And the animals realized that they didn’t need clothes at all.