My wife Denise and I had a yard with a lot of rocks. Very often when we had flowers, we would plant some between the rocks, just to add some _________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard but I could not tell what it was at first. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could _________ what it was.

Weeks passed and I made my way back to the strange plant, it turned out to be a sunflower. I decided to remove(移除) the weeds(杂草) around it. _________ I pulled rocks from the area to cut the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The sunflower didn’t grow up in a common way. _________, it went around the rock to reach the sun.

That’s when I realized that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock get _________ its way of developing, we should also have the ability of doing the same thing. It seems that we learn _________ from the tiny little sunflower. We need to believe in ourselves, knowing we have the ability to _________ our goals. Like the sunflower, it was able to get over(克服) the rocks _________ it believed that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be _________ who and what we are, then the environment will begin to support us as well. We will find a __________ to reach where we wish to go and get what we need for growth.

The balalaika, also called the “Russian guitar”, is a traditional Russian musical instrument. It has a long neck, a wooden triangle-shaped(三角形) body and strings. It is usually used to play Russian music by plucking(弹拨) the strings with fingers or a pick.

Russians like the balalaika. If a Russian moves to live or work abroad, he will probably take a balalaika with him. When he feels lonely and sad, he will play it to cheer himself up.

The balalaika was first played by the poor in Russia. At that time, balalaikas were made by the players themselves. They were rough(粗糙的), simple and cheap with different numbers of strings, from two to even six. Later a Russian musician Vasily Andreev (1861-1918) improved the balalaika. He created a whole family of balalaikas of different sizes, all with three strings. The smallest balalaika is called Prima. It is 60—70cm long. The biggest, Contrabass, is almost 2 meters high with a leg to sit on the floor. Andreev founded the first balalaika band in the world, mainly using balalaikas to perform. He gave concerts at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889, which was a great success.

Today, there are balalaika groups performing around the world. More and more people get to know the balalaika and fall in love with its Russian style music.

Life is competitive—some kids can do something faster or better than other kids. This might not seem fair, but all people are different and how well you can do something is different to others. This means there are “winners” and “losers”, and lots of people are neither winners nor losers but in-between. You can choose to be a good winner or an even better loser whether you are competing against others or yourself.

Being a “good” winner

No one likes a “show off”.

No one likes someone who takes all the praise for the efforts of a team.

No one likes people who put others down to make themselves look good.

To be a good winner you need to:

◆ Be modest(谦虚的).

◆ Thank those who helped you for their efforts.

◆ Keep trying to improve your skills.

◆ Aim for the next step up in whatever you are doing well.

Being an even better loser

Of course it’s disappointing to lose, especially if you are close to winning. Behaving badly or angrily, name-calling and going on about things being “unfair” won’t change the final result and will only make you look like a bad sporter. And no one likes bad sports either.

To be an even better loser you need to:

◆ Behave politely, nicely and kindly.

◆ Congratulate the other team.

◆ Keep any negative (消极的) thoughts to yourself—at least until you are away from the game.

It’s OK to let out your negative thoughts to your best friend or parents later. And if you don’t do very well in a game, try harder to learn for the next one. Improving yourself makes you a winner too.

After having two more glasses of cordial(甜果汁饮料), Diana turned pale suddenly.

“I’m sick,” she said, “I must go home.” And she left Green Gables and ran all the way home.

On Monday, Anne went to see if Diana was better. She soon ran back home with tears rolling down cheeks.

“What has happened, Anne?” asked Marilla.

“Mrs. Barry says that I sent Diana home drunk on Saturday. She says she’s never going to let Diana play with me again!”

Marilla went to the cupboard and then came back to the kitchen with a bottle of wine, trying not to smile.

“Anne, you gave Diana wine instead of raspberry cordial. Didn’t you know the difference?”

“I never tasted it,” said Anne. “But Mrs. Barry will never believe me. And now I’ll never be able to play with Diana again!”

The following Monday, Anne surprised Marilla by coming down from her room with her books.

“I’m going back to school,” she said. “That is all there is left in life for me, now that my friend is gone.”

Marilla tried not to show how happy she was to hear this. “You’d better work hard,” she said.

One evening Anne did work hard, and soon she was top of the class with Gilbert Blythe, whom she still found very annoying.

Anne was at home doing her homework. Matthew was home, but Marilla had gone to town with the Barrys and Mrs. Lynde. Suddenly, Anne looked up and saw Diana standing at the door. She looked very worried.

“What is the matter, Diana?” cried Anne.

“Oh, Anne, do come quick,” said Diana nervously. “Minnie May is very sick. Father and Mother are away in town and there’s nobody to go for the doctor.”

Matthew quietly got his cap and coat and went for the doctor.

An excerpt(节选) from Anne Of Green Gables

When we think of famous inventors, we usually think of men like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.     41    

Let’s take the dishwasher(洗碗机) as an example.     42     She was a rich American who gave a lot of dinner parties. But she was mad that her servants used to break plates and glasses when they were washing the dishes after a party. So, Josephine decided to try and invent a machine which could wash a lot of plates and glasses safely. She said, “    43    ” She designed the machine, and then she found a company to make it. At first only hotels and restaurants bought Josephine’s new machine, but today the dishwasher is used by millions of people all over the world.

The car was invented by a man.     44     Her name was Mary Anderson. Before her invention appeared, it was impossible for drivers to see where they were going when it was raining or snowing.     45     So what’s the name of Mary’s invention? Windshield wipers(雨刷).

Can plants talk? Modern research has found something amazing: they do communicate with each other.

It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals (化学物质) to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets hurt from insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help: “I’m getting hurt!” When another plant gets the chemicals, (A) it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Others draw the attention of the wasps (黄蜂)! The wasps kill the insects that are eating the plants. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warning system, so that we can use it to grow more crops (庄稼).

More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can’t hear these sounds; but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots. Chili (辣椒) plants do this. Some trees make noises when there is not enough water.

Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can connect nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. The wood wide web is connected underground by fungi (霉菌). It connects the roots of different plants with each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However, it may lead to bad results. Plants may use it to steal food from each other, or spread chemicals to hurt other plants. Perhaps one day scientists will learn how to create a “firewall” to help stop the “action” within the wood wide web.

Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to talk with them ourselves.