Tom is my pen friend. Three years ago, his family moved to Australia from America. Now he _______ in a small town of about 20,000 people. He _______ it’s a good place for him to grow up. It is called Gympie and it’s on the east coast(海岸) of Queensland, Australia.

Tom is a middle school student _______ me. Each weekday morning he _______ at about 7:00 am. He usually has an egg and some corm for breakfast and then gets ready for school. His home is not far from his school. It is just ten _______ bike ride. He likes music and he has joined the guitar club. Some mornings he goes to school early to practice it _______ going to class. He’s _______ all subjects, but English and P.E. are his favorite ones at school.

School _______ at 3:00 pm. After that he usually goes to the _______ club because he loves basketball and swimming. Sometimes he plays tennis, too!

When he finally gets home, he is very tired. After dinner, he does his homework and reads a book Then he ________ goes to bed before 10:00 pm. He believes it’s a good habit to go to bed early and get up early every day.

One day, an elephant is walking in a forest (森林). She’s new here and she hopes to make some friends. She walks up to a frog and says. “Hello, frog! Will you be my friend?” The frog says, “You are too heavy to jump as high as me. So I can’t be your friend.”

The elephant then goes to a rabbit and asks the same question. The rabbit says, “You are too big to fit in my burrow (洞穴). So I can’t be your friend.” The elephant also goes to a monkey and asks the same question again, The monkey says, “ ▲ So I can’t be your friend”

The elephant is sad. She can’t make friends! A week later, she sees all the animals running into the forest. She asks a bear what’s wrong. The bear says, “The lion is coming for food. We are running away from him.”

The elephant goes up to the lion and says, “Please don’t eat these animals!” The lion laughs and asks the elephant to leave. Then, the elephant gets angry and pushes (推) the lion as hard as she can. So the lion is afraid and then runs away. All the other animals slowly come out and see that the lion is gone They go to the elephant and say, “You are just the right size to be our friend!”

My family love sports very much. Every weekend we would play some sports together. I still remember it’s a sunny Saturday afternoon. My father takes his two little boys to play soccer in town. He walks up to the salesman and says, “How much is it to get in?”

The young man answers, “20 dollars for you and 15 dollars for kids who are older than 6. If kids are 6 or younger than 6, we let them in for free. How old are they?” My father says, “The younger one is 3 and the older one is 7.”

The man laughs and says, “Hey, sir, did you win a lottery(彩票) or something? You can save yourself 15 dollars. You can tell me that the older one is 6. I won’t know the difference.”My father says, “Yes, that might be true, but my kids would know the difference. So I can’t follow your advice.”

He is right. I do learn the difference. In the end my father pays the full price for my ticket, and teaches me an important lesson.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Don’t tell others what to do again and again. Just do it for them. Never lie(说谎) and make sure you are honest (诚实的) in all that you do so that you can set a good example for everyone around you.

Do you play with your phone before bedtime? You’d better read a book instead. According to a US study, looking at electronic screens(电子屏幕) at night can’t help us to sleep well. Now let me tell you how we get bad sleep.

In the evening, our bodies make melatonin(褪黑素). Melatonin helps us feel sleepy and relaxed. It’s an important part of our sleep cycle(周期). But our electronic screens stop that cycle from working normally(正常地).

Why? Phones, computers and TVs make blue light. Blue light stops our bodies from making melatonin. Even just a little bit of blue light can have an effect(影响). Eight minutes of blue light can keep your brain(大脑) “awake” for an hour, according to the study. Even if you fall asleep, you may have lots of dreams. So your brain won’t have a good rest.

It’s even worse(更糟糕) if you play an exciting game before bedtime. Games make our hearts beat faster. So it will be harder for us to fall asleep. Then after we fall asleep, we don’t get enough “deep sleep”.

Don’t worry. Here are some tips for you to get a good night’s sleep. First, do something relaxing every night. Take a warm shower or read a book. Next, sleep in a dark, quiet room that is not too warm or too cold. Also, you can count sheep. It actually works! Besides, don’t eat a big meal or have coffee. You’d better drink milk. At last, don’t run around or exercise three hours before bedtime.