On the first morning of a new term, Jared remembered the things he didn’t like about school: Jessica, maths and reading aloud.

Jared _______ to stay at home, but his mom sent him anyway. He had to sit next to Jessica. At reading time, Mrs. Thomas asked Jared to read. Reading aloud always made Jared _______ . As he picked up the book, his hands shook. “He can’t read,” Jessica said. “I didn’t call on you, did I?” asked Mrs. Thomas. Jared made a _______ .                      

During the break time, Jessica whispered to him, “When Mom brings my cute kittens（小猫） to school for show-and-tell, don’t even think about _______ them.”

The four kittens arrived in a box covered with a piece of screen. Everyone except Jared held them. When Jared picked up his pen from the floor, he looked into the box, saying, “Stupid kittens.”

After show-and-tell, the children took out their maths books.

Then Philip said, “Hey, where are the kittens?” The box was _______ .

“Oh no!” Jessica cried and told Mrs. Thomas. “Jared said they were stupid.”

“I didn’t _______ it.” Jared’s face turned red.

“Look at the radiator（散热器）!” Angela said. Tiny grey paws pushed out from under the radiator cover. Alex yelled, “Kitten!” But the kitten disappeared at once.

The bell rang, and the class went out for a break. When Jared passed the empty box, he saw kitten treats. He then had a(n) _______ . He threw the treats on the floor. A kitten came out. Jared waited until it was eating. Then another... Soon the other kittens were eating. Jared gently put them in the box. Mrs. Thomas put a book on the screen so they couldn’t run _______ again.

“Class, Jared helped the kittens out,” Mrs. Thomas announced. Everyone _______ .

“Thanks,” whispered Jessica. “You’re the greatest.”

Jared was so ________ that when he read, his hands didn’t shake. That day, Jared felt the new term might not be so bad.

Studying is not always the most interesting task within your day, but it is a necessary one. Even though it is required, everyone has got bored at one time or another while studying. Although this is a common problem, here are some tips for you to keep boredom away while you are studying.

Make sure you are in a place that is free of distraction (分心). Distractions will actually cause you to become more bored because you are reminded of the things you could be doing other than studying.

Plan first. List what you need to get completed and how long you need to complete it. If you know when you can go back to play sports or talk to your friends, you will be more likely to fix your attention on studies.

Change up the topics that you are studying. Mix up what you study every half an hour to an hour or so to avoid boredom. For example, study history for 45 minutes, maths for 45 minutes, and English for 45 minutes. Make sure you don’t spend all your time on one subject.

Take a notebook out and write down important notes while you are reading an article in a textbook. Not only will it help keep you engaged, you will also be learning more because you process the information once as you read it and then again as you synthesize the information to write down.

Lupe Medrano, a shy girl, was a straight-A student. Though Lupe had a sharp mind, she could not, no matter how much she tried, run as fast as the other girls. The truth was that Lupe was no good in sports.       

“I’ll never be good at sports.” She felt angry one rainy day as she lay on her bed, looking at the shelf her father had made to hold her awards. “I wish I could win something, anything, even marble(弹珠).”

At the word “marbles”, she sat up. “That’s it. Maybe I could be good at playing marbles, and marbles is a sport.” She rushed out of her room and found the marbles in her brother’s room.

She practiced shooting softly at first. The marble rolled from her thumb(拇指) and clicked against the targeted(作为目标的) marble. But the target wouldn’t budge. She tried again and again, but the power from her thumb made the targeted marble roll only an inch or two.

She realized her thumb was weak and then decided to squeeze(捏) a rubber eraser one hundred times, hoping it would strengthen her thumb.

The weeks passed quickly. Lupe worked so hard that one day, while she was drying dishes, her mother asked why her thumb was swollen(肿胀的).

“It’s muscle,” Lupe explained, “I’ve been practicing for the marbles championship.”

“You, honey?” Her mother, Mrs. Medrano, knew Lupe was no good in sports.

“Yeah, I beat Alfonso, and he’s pretty good.”

When her father, Mr. Medrano, heard this, he was very happy and encouraged Lupe.

Practice, practice, practice. Lupe got better and better. Then the day of the championship came. She beat her first competitor easily, and won one marble, and then one after another. At last, Lupe was in the final to play against a girl in a baseball cap. The girl never even looked at Lupe.

“I don’t know, Dad. She looks tough.”

“You can do it,” her father encouraged. “Just think of the marbles, not the girl, and let your thumb do the work.”

It was a tough fight. But finally Lupe won the most marbles and became the winner!

“I did it!” Lupe said under her breath. She rose from her knees, which hurt from bending all day, and hugged her father.

Back home, in her own bedroom, she was happy. She had always won praise because of her brains, but winning in sports was a new experience. She thanked her tired thumb. “You did it, thumb. You made me champion.” As its reward, Lupe went to the bathroom, filled the bathroom sink with warm water, and let her thumb swim as it pleased. Then she climbed into bed and fell into her sweet dreams.

Have you ever watched a show about the wild? A shark (鲨鱼) eats a seal! Lions run down a gazelle! Is all nature like that? All about eating and blood? Or is that just what keeps our eyes glued to the TV screen? Let’s look at sonic living things who work with each other instead of ripping each other apart.

When a lion kills a gazelle, it wants to eat as much as it can and maybe share the rest with its family. There are some living things that will take small pieces of another living thing’s body. Parasitism is when one living thing gets its energy from another living thing, does not give anything back, and hurts the thing it’s taking things from.

Now let’s get a little nicer. Sometimes a living thing will live off the body of another living thing without hurting it. They do not steal anything. They do not bite. Commensalism is when two living things live together and one gets good things out of it while the other is not hurt by it. Have you seen a picture of a whale (鲸) with rocky white things stuck to its skin? Those are barnacles(藤壶). They attach themselves to the whale, so nothing will try to eat them and they can eat things that float by.

Now let’s get really nice. While sharks are biting and lions are fighting, are there any animals that just get along? Yes! Actually, there are many. Mutualism is when two living things work together and both get good things out of it. Bees and flowers are the most common example. Without flowers, bees could not make honey. Without bees, flowers could not make new seeds. It’s win-win for these two. There are lots of animals that get along. Birds will live on the backs of zebras and eat the ticks that are drinking the zebra’s blood. The bird gets food. The zebra gets its ticks taken away. In some of these cases, one animal could not live without the other.

We use the word “Symbiotic (共生的)” for all of these kinds of relationships. Sometimes it’s good for one and bad for the other. Sometimes it’s just good for one. Sometimes it’s even good for both. So, it is nice to know that there are some living things out there that are finding ways to live together. We could pay attention to the animals that do not always make it on TV.

Beginning of Summer, one of the Chinese 24 solar terms, usually falls each year on a day between May 5 and 7 according to the calendar. For centuries, people of the Banshan neighbourhood in Hangzhou, Zhejiang hold a lot of events. Celebrations usually begin with parade made up of people dressed up in traditional Chinese clothing, Hanfu. After the parade, local people take part in some activities at the square.

Eating black rice: A few days before Beginning of Summer, people of Banshan begin busying themselves with cooking black rice. They mix rice and the juice of fresh-picked sea bilberry leaves. Black rice culture started from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is believed that children who eat black rice will not be bitten by insects and will be fit the whole summer.

Weighing people: Local people of Banshan developed the interesting tradition of weighing people on this day to check the changes in their bodyweight over the past year. People of all ages take part in the activity. Locals believe that people who weigh themselves on this day will not only have good luck, but also guard against weight loss during the coming summer.

Egg fights: Children are undoubtedly crazy about this game. With a boiled egg, each child tries to break the egg of their competitor. Whoever’s egg breaks first is the loser, and needs to eat the egg as a punishment. The champion in the game is awarded the title of “Egg King”.

Today these activities have given birth to a series of special customs in Banshan on Beginning of Summer.