Riding a bike on the street, you might hear some people speaking Chinese aloud. Turning to the right, you see a Sichuan- style restaurant. After walking into a store, you see that Huawei smartphones are on sale.

But you're not in China—you're in Manchester in Britain. In fact, you might see similar things in many other cities. You can see Chinese products（产品）in foreign countries.

People in Western countries enjoy Chinese food for a long time, To meet local people's tastes, Chinese restaurants have made some changes to the dishes. Some Chinese brands（品牌）are also becoming more popular. In many cities in Europe, stores sell TCL televisions, Haier fridges and Lenovo computers.

More than half of US-owned drones（无人机）are Chinese models. They'rе not only made in China, but also designed and developed in the country.

In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap and unreliable（不可靠的）. But now, things have changed greatly. "Made in China" becomes cool.

We sometimes say the lion is "the king of the forest" because it is stronger and more dangerous than the other animals. It can run faster than most other animals and it can hunt other beasts. It is said that the lion is the highest animal in the land food chain（食物链）. In the sea, people say the shark is at the top of the food chain. I can swim faster than most of the other sea animals. It can also use its big teeth to catch other sea animals and eat them.

What is at the top of the world’s food chain? Human beings!We are not the biggest or fastest but we are the cleverest. We could not run faster than most animals, so we invented（发明）cars. We could not fight better than a lion, so we invented guns. Now we can hunt the beasts.

People’s inventions are clever, but they can be dangerous, too. For example, people used guns to kill a lot of wild wolves. The wild wolves usually eat sheep.

But in recent（近来）years, the number of wild rabbits is becoming larger and larger because the number of wild wolves is getting smaller and smaller. The wild rabbits competed（竞争）for the grass with the sheep and the cows. Much of the grassland became desert because the grass was eaten by the rabbits.

Remember that we are a part of the food chain, so we are in danger, too! If we love animals, we are loving ourselves.

Once upon a time, there was a man who loved fruit very much.

One day, he went to India with his friends. When he got there, he saw many kinds of fruits, but many of them were expensive. Finally, he saw a big basket of fruit. This kind of fruit was red and long. And it was the cheapest there.

So he went up and bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it. But after he ate some of it, oh, my god, his eyes watered, his mouth watered and burnt, and his face became red. He jumped up and down, saying “Ah! Ah! Ah!”

But he still continued(继续) eating the fruit! Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said, “You’re crazy, man. Those are chilies(辣椒)! You can’t eat so many! People use them as relish(调味品), but only a little bit to be put into food for taste. You can’t just eat them like that.” But the silly(愚蠢的) man said, “No, I can’t stop! I paid money for them, and now I’ll eat them up. It’s my money!”

We sometimes do a lot of things like that. We still continue just because we’ve put money, time, effort and love into it even though we suffer from(受害于) it.

So even if you’ve lost something, let it go and move on. That’s better than continuing to lose.

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    16     . As we know, we put food on a plate and water in a glass on earth. Gravity(引力) holds the food down and keeps the water in the glass. But in space, there is almost no gravity. So food can float away, and astronauts must eat and drink carefully.

    17    . In space, sleeping is very different. Some astronauts like to float in the air, but some astronauts like to be in a sleeping bag. They tie the bag to a wall so that they can’t float at night.

    18    . Exercise is very important in space. On earth, your legs carry your body, but in space, astronauts float, so they do not use their legs. This is bad for their legs, so they exercise for thirty minutes every day. They often use an exercise bike for this.

    19    . Many people can use computers, but few of them know how to look after them. Remember the following when you use computers: Keep your computer in a cool, dry room; do not put water or food near your computer; keep your screen clean and not too bright.

    20    . Some things can carry messages. For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. Signs on the door tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?

Gerald Christian is in Grade 8 at Ridge Road Middle School in North Carolina US. She is really good at playing _________ and she is a member of her school basketball team. Late last month the 14-year-old faced a big problem. Her mother lost her job _________ a shop assistant and was not able to find a new _________ because of economic crisis(经济危机). Christian was very _________ because she thought she couldn’t pay the $ 50 fee for the city’s sports meeting in the new year.

However, Christian was not the only one who had this _________. In fact, about one-fourth of the middle school players in the city had the _________ problem. It meant going to college was possibly a faraway dream. That’ s _________ a famous NBA player Michael Jordan gave $ 250000 to the city earlier this month. He wanted to _________ the poor students pay for the meeting. Jordn said, “I know there are kids who get an education by playing sports. We need to keep sports alive for _________.”

When Christian ____________ the news, she and her team were discussing how to get the free before the deadline(最后期限). She was excited. “Really? I can’t believe Michael did that for us. These days I go to bed thinking about it and I ____________ thinking about it,” she said. “Now the problem is ____________.” It seemed that her dream of becoming a college student was once again able to reach.

Christian wanted to say “____________” to Jordan. “Michael, thank you for ____________ me the chance to show myself. I will try my ____________ at the meeting.”

Danny isn’t strong or tall. Of all the boys around he is the     36     (thin) kid. So he is called Bones by his friends. He talks more and laughs louder than anyone     37    , he is always unhappy, because he is not good at sports.

One day, Danny watched the men’s marathon on TV. The runners needn’t go fast and they fast ran on and on. They didn’t have big muscles. They were more like Danny. He decided       38     (have) a try. “Boy, it’s     39    (good)to do a little bit each day, “ said his mother. The next day, Danny started his practice,     40     he kept on training in the park every morning.

When race day came, There were 109 runners and they were all bigger than Danny. They all started     41     (run). Danny tried to catch up with     42     (they), but he fell farther and farther behind. Halfway someone got tired. Danny passed     43     big runner with muscles. Suddenly, he felt like a switch had been turned on. He passed another one, then a       44     (three) one. All the runners looked tired except Danny. He didn’t see the crowds until he heard their cheers. Finally, Danny won the marathon. He raised his two     45     (arm) as he crossed the ending line.