A father and his son went to a kite-flying festival. When they _________ , there were many parents and children playing in the park. The son was happy when he saw the sky was full of colourful _________ . He wanted to fly a kite, too. So they went to a kite shop and _________ a beautiful one.

The father is _________ at flying kites. Soon the kite was high up in the sky. After a while, the son said, “Dad, it _________ that the string (线) is stopping the kite from flying higher. _________ we cut it, the kite will be free and fly even higher. Can we cut it?” The father said _________ but just cut the string off. The kite _________ went higher. This made the little boy happy.

But then, after a few minutes, the kite started to _________ slowly. And it soon fell onto the ground. The son was __________ to see this. He asked his father, “I thought that after cutting the string, the kite would fly higher. But __________ did it fall down?”

The father smiled and said, “The role of the string was not __________ the kite from going higher, but was helping it stay in the sky, because the kite __________ couldn’t fly up. When you cut the string, it could no longer support the kite.”

In our life, we may sometimes feel like there are some things that are holding us back and stopping us from __________ .But in fact, these might be the things that support us the __________ . We can really grow up and become better by knowing the importance of these things.

A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow (乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain (鄙视).

“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans.

“All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”

One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.

Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments (评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.

The swan pretended (假装) not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick?”

“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition.

“I’m in trouble because of my pride! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life...”

The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.

Jack thinks every day is the same. It is hot before the sun rises. It is hot after the sun falls.

That day, Jack lies on his bed in his bedroom. He lifts a heavy hand and looks at his mobile. This time, Zadie sends a message to Jack. She hopes Jack has a great summer. But Jack thinks he is bored during the summer holiday.

A few days later, he goes to a swimming pool to swim with his friends, but when one of them jumps into the pool, the water splashes (溅到) on him. He is afraid and his friends laugh at him.

Then one evening, Jack is sitting in his room looking out of the window. It is a quiet and cool evening. For once, nobody is playing loud music. Jack can only hear the distant sound of the traffic on the road around Westbourne.

Suddenly there is a noise in the back garden. Nemo, a cat, jumps onto the fence, looks up at the sky, and meows.

“What is he looking at?” Jack thinks.

And then he hears a distant cry. A strange cry. A familiar cry.

A bird is flying in circles across the sky. Its black shape moves above the trees and houses. Jack knows that shape. He knows that cry. It is Falco. He watches it fly, happy and wild and free.

Jack checks his mobile. He has one new message：

—Adapted from Jack’s Endless Summer

Who is the greatest teacher in Chinese history? Many people would think of Confucius (孔子) whose birthday was September 28. Although he lived over 2,000 years ago, people still remember and respect him for his contribution (贡献) to the education today.

Confucius lived in the Kingdom of Lu, which was in Shandong Province. He lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. He had a hard childhood. His father died when he was only 3. His mother brought him up. As a child, he had to work to help his mother, but young Confucius didn’t give up studying. He visited many famous teachers and learned music, history, poetry and sports.

Later, he became a teacher and started the first public school in Chinese history. At that time only children from wealthy families could go to school, but Confucius believed everyone should go to school if they wanted to learn. He had about 3,000 students in his lifetime and traveled with his students from state to state.

Today, people still follow Confucius’ lessons. He told us that we all have something worthy to be learned. “When I am with three people, one of them must be better than me in some areas. I choose their good qualities and follow them.”

He also taught us that thinking is very important in study. “All study but no thinking makes people puzzled (困惑的). All thinking but no study makes people lazy.”

Confucius is not only a great teacher, but also a famous thinker with wise thoughts about the world and society. His most important teachings are about kindness and good manners. “A person should be strict with himself, but be kind to others.” he said.

There are some skills for students to listen to the teacher in class, which means you’re going to have to practice it. Just as you would have to practice playing basketball to be a better player, you also have to practice listening. How to listen in school?     46    

One of the things you need to do is to make sure that your mind doesn’t wander（漫游）. It’s easy to start thinking about other things, especially when you’re not interested in the subject.     47    

Next, listen to the main ideas. If you want to catch every little piece of information, you’ll feel tired and bored.     48     This not only shows respect to the teacher, but also helps stop your mind from wandering.     49     Or it could just be someone talking to their neighbors who shouldn’t be. It can even be some birds outside the classroom window, or a group of kids who are talking loudly as they pass the door to your room.

Finally, you need to take notes because you will not remember everything the teacher said. You’ll have to take down the notes so that you can study it after class.     50    

Listening isn’t always easy, but if you follow these simple steps, you’ll be much more successful in your classes.

What will our world be like if there are no insects? It might sound nice in the     61       (begin). There would be no bugs or flies in your room. But in fact, this could cause really serious     62       (problem).

The bad news is that the number of insects keeps     63     (drop) these years. Scientists say it’s mostly because of the use of pesticides (农药). They destroy the places that insects live in.

What will happen if all insects     64     (die) out? It’s almost impossible to predict (预测), but the results will be terrible. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops. They also break down dead plants and animals and turn them into new     65     (use) things. We need them     66       (keep) the soil (土壤) healthy.     67     (with) insects, many animals would have nothing to eat. They would go hungry and die.

The first thing we need to do is to let more people understand the     68     (important) of the natural world, both for what it does for us and for     69     (it) .The best place to start is with our     70     (child) .We should teach them environmental awareness (环保意识) at an early age.

Yours sincerely,

Andy