I have a problem with my homework. We have to do it in a group. It has to be finished before this Friday, but Gary, a boy in our group, isn’t doing his part. He just keeps rocking the boat (捣乱).

Every time we talk about the work with him, he always says, “Don’t worry. I’ll do it later.” But he seldom does his job. And when he does, he doesn’t do a good job. Someone has to do it again. What’s worse is when Ms. Lin asks about our group, Gary always tells her that we others don’t work hard enough. I’m really mad at Gary about this. We’re in the same group. Shouldn’t we help each other to do a good job?

Kate

It is important for students to learn how to work together in a group. In my opinion, you can talk to Gary about the problem and tell him you all need his help. If he still doesn’t change, talk to your teacher. I believe she can make Gary do his job.

Aunt Tara

Alexis is ten years old and lives in a small village on a beautiful Greek island. Like all children his age, Alexis has just completed Year 4 in primary school. But Alexis is different from other children his age. He doesn’t spend the summer on the beach or playing video games. In the busy summer months, Alexis spends his days in his family’s restaurant. In July and August, the restaurant is very popular with tourists from all over the world. Because he is the only person in his family who can speak English, it is his job to look after the tourists when they eat at the restaurant. He explains the menu to tourists and takes their orders.

Where did he learn his English? There is no school in Alexis’s village, and during the school year, he travels 12 kilometers every day by bus to a nearby village to go to school. Together with his classmates, two evenings a week, he attends English classes at a learning center in the same village. There is no bus service when his classes end, so his mother picks him up and brings him home. Alexis doesn’t mind. He enjoys learning English. He wants to be a journalist (新闻工作者) so he knows languages will be useful. He is very happy that he can help his family with their business and the tourists are very happy that they can order their meal in English. He’s also learned a lot about cooking and loves the food at the restaurant.

During the Jin Dynasty, there was a child named Che Yin. He     43     (be) smart and loved reading. He grew up in a poor family and couldn’t afford lamp oil to study at night.

One night, he saw fireflies (萤火虫) outside     44     (he) house. He caught some fireflies in a cloth bag and     45     (hang) the bag up as a lamp. It is said that he spent all of summer nights     46     (read) like this.

Another child called Sun Kang also loved reading. One night during winter, Sun’s lamp oil was used up     47     (complete) and he couldn’t study. When he woke up at midnight, he saw the snow reflecting the moonlight outside the house. “Oh, I can use the reflected light to read!” he thought. He took out his books to read, even though he was very cold.

Both of the two kids later became     48     (succeed) government officials. People were touched by their hard-working spirit and turned their     49     (story) into the Chinese idiom nangying yingxue (囊莹映雪).

After the Trojan War, one of the soldiers inside the wooden horse told his story to his family.

We tried to capture Troy for ten years, but did not succeed. (A)然后我们想到了一个主意。

We built a huge wooden horse and left it outside the main gates. (B)________ the night, our army disappeared, but they didn’t go far away. In the morning, the Trojans saw the horse. I was inside the horse with another five soldier, (C)________ the Trojans did not know.

The Trojans opened the gates and pulled the horse into the city. (D)That night they celebrated and made jokes about us. Then they locked all the gates and went to sleep.

When they were asleep, we climbed out of the horse. We opened the main gates and our army (E)went into the city.

Then we went to the captain’s room. We (F)captured him.

I am a plastic bottle. A week ago, I was on a supermarket shelf. I had a normal life,     60     all my brothers and sisters. I felt really happy.

Then a tall woman picked me up and put me in her basket! The woman took me home and put me in the fridge. It was cold, but I soon     61     the cans and bottles in it. However, only a few hours later, she took me out of the fridge and drank the water inside me. Then she threw me into a dustbin.

Early in the next morning, a man took me out of the dustbin. He threw me into the back a truck. There were     62     horrible smells.

I slept for a while. When I woke up, I found myself     63    . Everything around me was ugly and had horrible smells. I kept hoping that I would be moved     64    . Then huge trucks came and covered us with a layer of soil. I knew we would have to stay here for thousands of years.

“Why can’t people reuse or recycle us?” I cried.

The Student Union