Ever since my Dad died, my life has changed. My Mom is always really busy at her work, and she doesn’t spend much time with me anymore. I have to go to a daycare every day after school.

One day, at dinner time, I asked Mom if we could go to the _______ together. “Can we please go to the fair this Sunday?” I begged.

“Lilly, you know I have to work that day,” Mom told me.

She _______ a plate in front of me and kissed my head. It was a delicious piece of cherry pie, which was my favourite. Then I looked into my Mom’s brown eyes and asked her, “Can’t you take this Sunday off?” Mom _______ down next to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry, Lilly! I have to go to work that day. “

Tears streamed down my face as I yelled, “You never have time for me!” Then I ran into my room and slammed the door. I _______ on my bed for a long time.

When I got out of my bed and went to the kitchen table where Mom left me a plate of pancakes, I _______ found a note under the plate. I grabbed it and read it.It said that Mom was really sorry that she couldn’t take me to the fair.

After Mom came back home that day, she put me down on the couch and had a _______ with me. She said,   “Lilly! I go to work so much not because I like it, but because I have to make money that can pay for food and clothes. It was much _______ when your Dad was not around. But now I’ve decided to take weekends off, and tomorrow I’m taking you to the fair.”

“Really?” I smiled.

“Really.” Mom _______ as she held me close and rocked me back and forth. Then she tapped me on my nose and said, “I love you, Lilly.” I laughed, “I love you too, Mom... And you are the best Mom forever!”

McKenna is in third grade. She likes going to the beach and learning about the world. The followings are her favourite things that she shared with her classmates. Please match the following sentences with her favourite things.

    21     These pictures are from other countries. I’ve never been to these places, but these photos are really cool to look at. I like to learn about places all over the world. I really hope I can go to visit these places some day in the future.

    22     On weekends I often go to the beach near my home with my parents. I’m proud of my first time boogie-boarding in the ocean with my dad. It was fun, and I went way out into the ocean where the waves were really big. I also went really fast on my boogie board.

    23     I found this rock when I went biking on a trail with my brother and my dad. We stopped for a water break, and I found a rock that looked like a trapezoid. I had gold specks, so it shined in the sun! I liked it so much that I took it back home.

When it comes to internet safety for kids, one important aspect that must be addressed is social media sites. Social media sites such as Facebook can be a great way for kids to interact with each other. But it’s also important for parents to be aware of（意识到）the negative effects and dangers of being on such sites.

Here are some tips to keep in mind about how to keep kids safe on social media sites. Think of the Internet as a Big, Open Space. You wouldn’t drop your child off at a big public place like a mall for the day and expect everyone he meets to treat him with kindness and protect his best interests, would you? That is a good analogy（类比）for What happens when a child goes online unsupervised. Be sure to keep a close eye on exactly who your child is talking to and when.

Be aware of the possibility for bullying（欺负）. While it is probably the case that many children online will have pleasant interactions with friends and peers, for the most part, the truth is that bullying—both online and off—is a reality among children. When you have more opportunity for social interaction, you have more opportunity for rejection or bullying by peers. Keep an eye out for signs that your child may be the one who is bullied, and educate yourself about bullying in school.

Know about something called facebook depression（抑郁症）. Researchers say looking at Instagram or Facebook posts of happy events in others’ lives can make some kids with poor self-esteem（自尊）feel even worse. That makes a certain amount of sense when you consider the fact that people tend to post happy news and photos of themselves at parties on social media sites. Be sure to explain to your child that what he sees on social media sites is definitely not what a person’s everyday real life is. People are not likely to post news about failures or mistakes or times when they are not feeling good about themselves. Images of shiny, happy people on such sites tell only a small pair of the much bigger story.

Just like a detective following clues that lead to the perpetrator (罪犯) of a crime, you as a reader must use context (语境) clues within a text passage to tell the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.Context clues are simply hints (提示) or additional information the author provides that can help you understand the meaning of a difficult word or phrase.These clues can be found in the same sentence as the vocabulary word or elsewhere in the passage, so be on the lookout whenever a new term presents itself.

With reading comprehension (理解) being as important to all aspects of life as it is today, it’s no wonder that language skills such as vocabulary are emphasized (强调). You will most definitely meet vocabulary questions in the reading parts of tests, and you’re going to have to use some skills to get you through.

Understanding how various types of context clues work can help you to understand difficult vocabulary words, even those brand new to you.There may be some words you can’t completely understand in a text, but you shouldn’t let that discourage you.Inside the passage, where all the interesting clues of vocabulary lie, you can figure challenging words out.

Context clues are also helpful when you’re trying to work out the main idea of a passage or struggling to make inferences (推断) about meaning because unknown words can help connect the dots in useful ways.

Every author writes differently, so a number of different types of context clues can be found in reading passages.Some authors offer very little explanation for difficult words, throwing difficult vocabulary into their writing wherever they can with little or no help, other authors carefully create their passages to make sure readers follow every step of the way, and most are somewhere in the middle.No matter what degree of help you’re given, context clues are your friend.

Generally, context clues can be grouped into four types:

•Definitions (定义) or restatements

•Synonyms (同义词)

•Antonyms or opposites

•Examples or explanations

After examining the context of a passage for clues, you should have at least a vague (模糊的) idea of what an unknown vocabulary word means.Use your estimate (估计) to come up with synonyms for the new word, then try these out in the sentence to see if it still makes sense. If not, keep searching for hints until you’ve found something that works.

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people. Many customs accompany Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.

Before the New Year comes, Chinese people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils (用具). Then people begin decorating their cleaned rooms. All the door panels will be pasted (粘贴) with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy(书法) with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners’ wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front door to ward off evil (邪恶) spirits and welcome peace.

The Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the “reveled fu” is homophonic(谐音)with “fu comes”, both being pronounced as ‘‘fudaole’’. What’s more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious (吉利的) meanings may be put on the wall.

People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded (把……排除在外), for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively “ji”, a “yu” and a “doufu”, mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is important entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will slay up to see the New Year in.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.