A man was walking through the woods with his axe(斧子) when a small tree called out to him. It said, “Hello friend. Can you cut _______ those bigger trees? They’re stopping the sun. It is so crowded(拥挤的) here that I have no room to spread my roots(根). I can’t _______ the wind.”

The little tree held out its leaves. It looked so sad. It continued, “If those trees were gone, I’d be _______ to grow. A year from now, I’d be bigger than any other tree here. But for now, I’m just a small tree.”

The man thought for a while and _______. He walked over to the bigger trees and started cutting them down. Soon he _______ lots of space around the small tree. Now it would grow bigger and become the biggest tree in that area.

_______, something else happened. The sun’s heat came first, burning the small tree which wasn’t used to so much _______. Heavy wind and rain came—without the bigger trees to protect it, the small tree was hit by the storm. Soon it was going to die.

“You are quite foolish,” said a snake that knew what had happened. “You brought this on _______. If you had left the bigger trees alone, the sun and storm wouldn’t have hurt you so badly. _______, they protected you. If you had just waited longer, you would have grown to be just as ________ as them. You’d be strong. But now…”

Toucans (巨嘴鸟), a colorful bird. Take a look at these facts about toucans, and you may learn something you didn’t know before.     

Where do they live?

Toucans can be found in the tropical (热带的) forests of South America. Their home is still in danger. The government asks people not to buy rainforest wood. It’s important to protect the habitat (栖息地) of toucans.

What do they look like?

Toucans have a black body and a white neck. The colorful beak is about 8 inches long. It makes up 1/3 of the bird’s total length. It may look pretty big, but thankfully, for the toucan, the beak is not too heavy. It is made of keratin (角蛋白), which makes it much lighter than you would think just by looking.     

What do they eat and drink?

Toucans use their beaks to eat different kinds of fruits, which happens to be the kind of food they eat most often. Sometimes toucans will choose to snack on insects, frogs, and the eggs of their birds. Toucans get most of their water from the fruit they eat, so they don’t need to drink too much water.

Believe it or not!

Toucans can be rather lazy birds and they like to stay in one place generally. They don’t fly high up in the sky or very far away from home. They enjoy staying in trees with their delicious fruit to eat.

Wild cats are the predators of toucans in the rainforest. Other predators include larger birds. Some snakes may attack smaller toucans but typically are more interested in the toucans’ eggs instead.

On 10 March, eight-year-old Tani won the New York Chess Championship（锦标赛）of his age group. But the boy, who was homeless at the time, began learning the game less than a year ago.

Tani and his family arrived in New York City from Africa in 2017. A church（教会）helped him enter a school. Here the boy was first introduced to chess by a teacher Makofsky, owner of a chess club. Interested in the game, the seven-year-old boy asked his mother to allow him to join the club. As she didn’t have enough money for the chess classes, she e-mailed Makofsky. To her surprise and joy, Makofsky agreed that Tani could learn it for free.

Though the chess club helps, it’s largely believed that Tani’s success lies in his hard work. The boy practices the game for many hours a day on the floor with his board. Every Saturday, Tani goes to a free 3-hour class to improve his game skills.

New York Times reported Tani’s story. This has brought him great support from the society. Soon after the young boy won the New York Championship, Makofsky began a GofindMe activity for Tani and his family. It raised $ 200,000 in just ten days, and the money goes on coming, far more than they expected. But the family donated most of the money to the church and other poor families.

While Tani is excited about his new life, he is ready to meet greater challenges（挑战）. He is busy preparing for the next National Primary Championships. Winning the competition will bring the chess player closer to his dream of becoming the world’s youngest chess grand master（最高段的棋手）. The Russian chess player Karjakin has kept the record for 17 years. He won the title at the age of 12.

That evening Holmes again wore different clothes, and a large, black hat. He changed his face, his hair—everything. He was a different man.

We walked together to Serpentine Avenue. “You see,” said Holmes to me, “I don’t think she wants others to see the photo. But where is it? At her bank? No. Such a woman likes to keep important things herself. I’m sure it’s in her house.”

“But how will you know?” I asked. He said, “She’ll show me. She’ll have to.”

Just then Irene’s taxi arrived. One of the men in the street ran to open the door and then another man pushed him. Other men were also pushing and shouting, and a fight began. Irene was in the middle of it, but Holmes ran to help her. Then suddenly he fell to the ground, with blood running down his face. Irene hurried to her front door, but she looked back. “How kind of him to help me! Is the poor man hurt?” she called.

Some people carried Holmes into the house. I waited outside the window and watched. Then Holmes put up his hand, and I threw the smoke-stick into the room. At once, the people in the street and in the house all began to shout “Fire!” very loudly.

The house was full of smoke. I walked away, and ten minutes later Holmes came to meet me.

“Well done, Watson,” he said. “Have you got the photo?” I asked.

“I know where it is. She showed me,” he answered.

“But why did she show you?”

“It’s easy,” he said, and laughed. “You saw all those people in the street? I paid them to help us. It wasn’t a real fight and the blood wasn’t real. When people shout ‘Fire!’, a woman runs to the most important thing in her house, her baby, her gold, or...a photo. Irene ran to find her photo which is in a cupboard in the living room. I saw it. But I did not take it. Tomorrow we will go to the palace and tell it to the King first. The King himself can take the photo from the cupboard. And then we will go.”

Your schooldays should be the best time in your life.     36     The following ways may help you．

Be active at school.     37     Try to find something interesting at school. Do difficult things actively. Put up your hands in class. If you are not working or learning, you are wasting your time at school.

Keep healthy. If you don’t eat breakfast, you will be hungry in class. If you don’t have enough sleep, you will be sleepy in class.     38     Exercise can make you strong.

    39     Everyone fails some tests, does wrong things and has bad days. Don’t make small problems very serious. Don’t forget to ask for help. You are young, and no one thinks you must do everything quite well.

Spend the weekends meaningfully. Don’t waste time lying in bed on weekends. Go and play sports, learn to play the piano or help someone with problems.     40     You can read a book, practise English or help your mother with the housework.

I’m very glad to hear from you. Our hometown—Yixing has changed a lot over the years.

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I hope to meet you soon.

Yours,

LI Ming