Mary Armstrong was a pretty little girl, but she did not pay attention to her things. She usually left her books and playthings everywhere, and it gave her mom much trouble in picking them up and putting them in the proper places. Some of her books and toys became spoiled (损坏). Her mom had often told Mary the bad result of being so careless. The growing habit of carelessness would make her unhappy, and sometimes annoy her friends. Even worse, it would be of great harm to her all her life. But Mary didn’t listen to her mom. So they argued a lot.

One day, Mary made a beautiful toy, a gift for her best friend’s birthday. When her mom asked her to go out into their yard to play, Mary put the toy in her room casually (不经意地). She ran around and played happily there. An hour later, it was time to go to her friend’s birthday party. Mary went back to get the toy. But she couldn’t find it anywhere. Finally, she found the toy broken in the corner. At once she realized that Dash, her pet dog had done this, and she was very angry. Carrying the broken toy to her mom, she couldn’t help crying.

Mrs. Armstrong asked Mary if she had left the toy in the place where Dash could easily get it, and Mary answered, “Yes, mom.”

“Then you should not be irritated, Mary, because the dog does not know it is wrong to play with your toy. I hope this will be a lesson to you, to put your things away when you finish.”

“I will try,” said Mary. And her mom promised to repair the toy as well as she could.

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy, in 1564. His father taught music while his mother cared for kids at home. The family was not wealthy, but Galileo’s parents paid for him to go to school.

At first Galileo planned to become a doctor, but he changed his mind. He liked a different kind of science—physics. In Galileo’s time, not much was known about how objects moved. Centuries earlier, a Greek named Aristotle had written down his ideas about movements, and everyone seemed to believe them. Galileo questioned those ideas and did experiments that showed how things really worked. For example, Aristotle thought that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter one of the same size and shape. No one had ever really tested this idea. It just seemed to be true. Then Galileo came along, dropped two balls from a high tower, and discovered that they hit the ground at the same time!

In later years, Galileo became interested in how the stars and planets move. He watched the sky with a telescope (望远镜) he built himself. Once again, he saw things no one had ever seen before. For example, he saw that the moon was not smooth. Then he noticed that the sun had spots(斑点) that seemed to move. Galileo realized from his observations(观察) that the earth was moving around the sun. A Polish(波兰的) scientist named Copernicus had said this recently, but no one believed him. Galileo knew that Copemnicus was right. Unluckily, Galileo’s announcement got him into trouble with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church said that the earth was at the center of the universe with the sun traveling around it. This was what people had long believed, but Galileo said it was untrue. So he was sent to prison. He was soon set free, but for the rest of his life he had to stay in his house and yard.

Galileo died in 1642, but his work helped to change the world. He is sometimes called the “father of modern science”, because he showed us how important it is to look carefully at things and to test out ideas with experiments.

Einstein and the little girl

One afternoon, Einstein was walking home from work. At the same time, a 12-year-old girl was walking home from school. They were soon walking side by side. The girl looked at him curiously from time to time.

“Pardon me,” the girl said, “but you look just like Albert Einstein.”

“That’s because I am Albert Einstein!” Einstein said.

“I don’t believe you,”the girl said. “Everyone knows that Einstein is a genius. But you’re wearing your sweater backwards, so you can’t be very clever.”

Einstein began to laugh. “You’re the first person to be so honest with me,” he said to the girl.

“It’s a pleasure to hear someone tell me the truth about my look.”

After that day, the girl often went to visit Einstein’s house after school. One afternoon, the girl’s mother went to visit Einstein. She asked him why he spent so much time with her daughter.

“Our friendship is easy to explain,” Einstein said. “Your daughter tells me the truth about my look and brings me cookies. In return, I help her with her Maths homework.”

The sweetest memory of my childhood is about a round table. When I was still little, my whole family would get together on different traditional     43     (festival) to have dinner. We kids would be sitting around or playing hide-and-seek under the table while the grown-ups were having a     44     (discuss).

When I got a bit older, my aunt brought back her boyfriend and my grandma happily added another seat to the table. It seemed a little more crowded, but we all felt much     45     (close) to each other. When I was twelve, my grandpa passed away. That made us feel sad. However, when the whole family got together once again, we     46     (total) agreed that his chair, his bowl and his chopsticks should remain the same, even though his seat was empty, we felt like that he had never left us.

We all have a table like this in     47     (we) homes. It is a sign of reunion of our family showing our feelings. Although the reason why we come together may be different, the feelings behind it are the same. Usually different cultures     48     (accept) by us around the table. What’s more, we express the love not only for our family, but also for a community, our nation and even the whole world.

The history of our nation has been the stories of     49     (look) for or running to the round table which we belong to. The round table has been a symbol of the Chinese feelings. It was, it is and will always be.

Problems between parents and children are common. If you need to improve your relationship with your parents, you are not alone. To develop a better relationship with your parents, you should change how you think and do things. Here is some advice for you to improve your relationship with your parents.

Act first. Don’t wait for your parents to try to improve the relationship. You should take action first. ①

Be thankful to your parents. Think about everything that your parents have done for you. You are sure to feel thankful to them. ② Give them a nice gift or do some housework without being asked. (A) 他们会对你感到满意for these actions.

③ Be open and honest. Talk to your parents about things that you care about and your feelings about these things. (B) Often talk to them, and your parents can understand you better. If so, it’s easy for them to discuss things that you are interested in and develop the relationship.

Accept that your parents are different. They grow (C) ________ in a different situation. So, they think in a different way. Try to remind them of any problem in their relationships with their parents because (D)________ these differences. Use this information when you talk to your parents to improve your relationship with them.

Many newspapers and magazines have an advice page. People write to ask for help with their problems. The following Internet posts were written by two teenagers to an online newspaper:

Peter: I went out with     60     friends yesterday. We saw a lady lying in the street. She looked very sick. My friends made jokes about her and laughed. Though I wanted to help her, my friends told me not to. It was     61     them to laugh at her, and I regret not saying anything. I feel ashamed of myself. What should I do       62    ?

Simon: I’ve just started     63    , but I hate them. I don’t see any advantage in wearing them. My friends all laugh at me and say bad things about me. I     64     when I smile or open my mouth. The braces hurt my teeth, and it’s difficult for me to eat. I feel it was a mistake for my mother to make me wear these ugly braces. What do you suggest?

65. 假定你是李华，在九年级的紧张学习生活中遇到了一些问题，请你给Aunt Linda 写一封电子邮件向她求助，内容包括：

I read your advice page every week. Your advice is very useful.

Yours,

Li Hua