I’d been proud that I’d never lost my mobile phone until my husband Jack got a call one evening.

We went to visit a friend in hospital last year. When Jack’s ________ rang, it was my mother calling from my home. She asked if I had ________ my phone. I checked my purse. It was gone!

I used Jack’s phone to call my number. Then a boy, whom I would call Rhys, answered it. “I found your phone!” he said, excitedly. “I have been trying to find you, but because it was getting late, I decided to leave.” He gave me the address of a coffee shop near his home.

Later that evening, I went to ________ him there. I didn’t dare(不敢) to go alone, worrying this was some cheater(骗局). So Jack came along. After driving 10 km, we got to the coffee shop which Rhys ________.

My ________ were gone. Rhys was just a young boy. “How did you tell my mum?” I asked. He ________ that when he found my mobile by the roadside, he started calling people in my list of contacts(联系人). But all they ________ was my mobile phone number—which didn’t help. He’d called many names, starting with the letter A. Finally he got Adam, one of my friends, who ________ my house.

I was ________ to get my phone back with all the contacts, messages and photos I could have lost forever. I was so ________ to Rhys and offered him some money, but he refused.

As we drove back, we praised Rhys for his honesty.

Today many shops and supermarkets play music. You might even hear music in a street or on a farm.

Many people think that music is able to change the way people behave. Some people think the sound of western classical music can make people feel richer. When a supermarket plays modern music, people spend less money. With no music, people spend even less. But when a shop plays classical music, people spend more money on things.

Some people also think that music makes them think and learn better. Some students say that music helps them to be more active. It is true that people learn better when they are relaxed. And listening to music can help people relax.

Next time you hear music somewhere, be careful. It might change the way you do things.

Some of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction(破坏) of our environment. Brown clouds, polluted water, wild animals in danger..., these problems seem so huge.

So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to drive...

But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the market with a cloth bag, am I doing any good? Does my walking to stores make any real difference to the world?

I recently learned something about flamingos(火烈鸟) which like to get together in groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time comes for migration(迁徙), a few of them first take off from the lake. But none of the others seem to notice, so the small group returns. However, the next day they try again. This time a few more fly along with them, but most of them still pay no attention, so they return again. They try for several times. Every time a few more birds join in but, since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more stopped.

Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before, then more. Finally, they all take flight and the migration really begins. What a spectacular sight it must be—thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at once!

A few can make a difference. Even if you’re the one to take the first step, and continue trying, others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems.

Reading is a good habit, but the problem is, there’s too much to read these days, and too little time to read every word of it. There are many skills to help you read more in less time. Here are two skills that I think are quite good.

Preview — if it’s long and hard. Previewing is very useful for getting a main idea of heavy reading — like long magazine articles and business reports.

Here’s how to preview.

Read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs carefully.

Then read only the first sentence of the other paragraphs.

Previewing doesn’t give you all the details (细节). It keeps you from spending time on things you don’t really want or need to read.

Skim — if it’s short and simple. Skimming is a good way to get a main idea of light reading — like popular magazines or the sports and entertainment of your daily paper.

Here’s how to skim.

Get your eyes to move fast. Sweep them across each line.

Pick up only a few key words in each line.

Everybody skims differently. You and I may not pick up the same words when we skim the same piece, but we’ll get a similar (相似的) idea of what it’s all about.

One day, a lovely girl found two weak birds while she was walking in the woods. She took them home and p    56     them in a small cage (鸟笼). She fed them with love and the birds grew strong. Every morning they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl loved them very much and wanted their singing to l    57     forever (永远).

One day, the girl left the cage’s door o    58    . The larger and stronger one of the two birds flew out of the cage. The girl watched worriedly as it circled high a    59     her. She was afraid that it would fly away and she would never see it a    60    . So when it flew close, she grasped(抓住) at it wildly. She was so h    61     that she held it tightly (紧紧地) in her hand! Suddenly, she felt that something happened to the bird. She was surprised to find the bird was d    62    . She was very sad.

She noticed the other bird jumping up and down in the cage. She could feel that it wanted to be free. It hoped to fly in the clear, blue s    63    . She lifted it from the cage and flew it into the air.

W    64     the bird was flying happily in the sky, she was so glad. She watched the bird circling once, twice, three times.

To her surprise, the bird flew back closer and sat softly on her s    65    . It sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold it tight. The best way to keep love is to let it fly.