Martin Murray is a school boy and he is fifteen years old. He used to (过去) be a problem child. He used to give his mother many problems. However, after his father’s death, Martin’s life became much more ________. His mother couldn’t afford to pay for her child’s education. She had to work, and so was often not at home.

His mother tried her best to look after him. Unfortunately, Martin still caused ________. He was not interested in studying and he often got into trouble with the police. Luckily, his mother was very patient and didn’t ________ trying to help him. In the end, she had an idea: to send him to a boy’s boarding (寄宿) school. Martin ________ it and caused a lot of trouble. One day, he told his teacher he wanted to leave the school. Even the teacher agreed that Martin was wasting his time.

The head teacher said it was ________ for Martin to talk with his mother. Martin called his mother, but to his surprise, this conversation ________ his life. “It was exactly what I needed,” he said. “I know how much my mother had given me. She also told me that even though my father was not with us, he was watching me and would always take pride in everything good I do. That’s when I decided to change.”

Now Martin has really changed. He works hard and gets “A’s”in all subjects. He is now one of the ________ students in his class. His mother helps him to feel good about ________. And as he says, “It’s very important for parents to be there for their children.”

Wonderful Experiences in Australia

Have you ever heard of ＂a ball of energy＂? People often use it to describe very active children. But today we tell about an invention called the soccket, that is a real soccer ball of energy. Julia Silverman explains that in fact the soccket is a portable generator(便携式发电机).

Julia Silverman and Jessica Matthews developed the soccket as part of a group project for an engineering class at Harvard University.

There are mechanisms(装置) in a soccket. When you kick, hit or throw it, energy is then kept in it by these mechanisms instead of disappearing into the environment.

Then the user can put something directly into the ball, like a lamp, or a mobile phone charger so that they can get energy from it.

For every fifteen minutes of the game play, the soccket can provide enough electricity(电) for an LED lamp for three hours, and the ball can store(储藏) up to 24 hours’ electricity.

The International Energy Association reported last year that nearly one and a half billion people in the world had no electricity to use, and most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and in India and other countries in Asia.

Julia Silverman and Jessica Matthews both had experiences in developing countries before they began the project. They knew that power shortages are a serious problem in really areas.

There’s an energy crisis in the world. One out of every five people in the world don’t have any electricity. And besides that, there are a lot of health problems because what people use instead of the electricity are harmful choices like kerosene(煤油) lamps, which produce a lot of smoke.

Julia Silverman says the soccket ball is one small solution(解决方法) to a big problem.

Jessica Matthews and Julia Silverman hope their soccket ball will shine more light on the problem of power shortages. It offers people a chance to put their energy into the world’s most popular sport and get some energy in return.

As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture.     30    

Let’s look at some words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”. “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have bad meanings.     31     In English, people use the dog to describe good actions. For example, “You are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person: and “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dog-tired” means very tired.     32    

But in Western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is unkind, There are many other examples of how “cat” is used differently as well.

The Rose is regarded as a symbol of love in both China and some Western countries. People think the rose stands for love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

    33    We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how some words are used.

Lei Haiwei, a takeout deliverer(外卖送货员), won the Chinese Poetry Conference(中国诗词大会)after beating a university student from Beijing University in the final. Many people said the result was a     45    , because they had not expected a takeout deliverer to win a national poetry competition.

Lei has become a big fan of Chinese poetry since childhood. This 37-year-old man has spent most of his spare time     46     and studying poems. He went to bookstores every weekend to read poems. He wrote down the poems from memory after returning home, and checked if he had remembered them     47     on his next visit to the bookstore. The Chinese poem-lover also liked reciting poems when he was waiting for food at restaurants. He said this made his job less boring.

Lei has learned many classic Chinese poems in this way. By the time he took part in the poetry competition, he had remembered 800 poems. And now he can remembered more than 1, 000 poems. He also writes poems     48     for a deep understanding of the Chinese language and history.

Many people may find it too hard to understand Chinese poetry. Some even think poetry is only for those who are highly educated. Lei’s story     49     that everyone can learn Chinese poetry well. Whether you are a student from a top university or a takeout deliverer who graduate from a technical school, you can read Chinese poetry and enjoy the beauty of its language.

Work hard to make it to the top

① While trying to become a top basketball player. Michael Jorden experienced many difficulties. When he had to leave the basketball team for being too short at 5.9 feet, Jordan still didn’t give up. He practiced longer and harder every day, and later he grew to a height of 6.33 feet. He went on to become an NBA star and an Olympic champion(冠军).

② Jordan was not the best player when he was young. He was not a genius(天才). But practice makes perfect. Instead of letting every difficulty bring him down, he worked harder and practiced longer.

③ Jordan not only worked harder than anyone else. He also tried to break his limits(极限) and records, even when he was already at the top. Finally, he became one of the best basketball players in the world. He also redefined(重新定义) basketball together with his team the Chicago Bulls. He played 15 seasons with the team in the National Basketball Association, winning six NBA championships. He could make amazing jumps to score slam dunks(灌篮), almost as if flying through the air. This skill gave him the nickname(昵称) “Air Jordan”.

④ All of this made him a part of pop culture for most of the 1990s. After he retired(退役), he said, “I succeeded! Because I work harder than anyone else.”