Home-made vanilla ice-cream

This is the easiest and quickest way to make vanilla （香草） ice-cream at home. It’s great fun, too!

What you need：

1 spoon of sugar        1/2 cup of milk

1/4 spoon of vanilla extract （香草精）        6 spoons of salt

1 small plastic food storage bag （塑料食品储存袋）

1 large plastic food storage bag       50 ice cubes （冰块）

What to do：

♦Take the small bag and add the milk, the vanilla extract and the sugar. Seal （封） the bag.

♦Take the large bag and put the ice cubes and the sail in it. The bag should be about half full of ice.

♦Put the small bag inside the large bag, and seal the large bag.

♦Shake the large bag for about five minutes.

♦Open the large bag and take the small bag out.

♦Clean the small bag and open it carefully.

♦Your ice-cream is ready to eat!

Few students like homework, but it is an important part of middle school life in the UK.

The UK has these rules for homework: Grades 7 and 8 （ages 11 to 13）: 45 to 90 minutes per day: Grade 9 （ages 14 to 15）:1 to 2 hours a day.

Today, many homework tasks are done on a computer. For example, preparing reports, using the Internet or doing online tasks. So schools are usually open before and after normal hours. In this way, students without computers or the Internet at home can use the school’s facilities （设备）.

Sometimes, students are given extended learning tasks. That means they need to do more research and analysis（分析）. But however big a task is, teachers always give feedback（反馈 意见）to help students find the areas where they can improve.

Some schools send home diaries to students’ home. They advise parents to check on their children’s progress. Sadly, not every parent takes much interest. In a survey of 1, 000 students aged 11 to 18, over 10 percent said that they did not have space at home to do homework. Almost 15 percent said their families did not support them enough.

An old man was sitting on the sofa with Mike, his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a dove（鸽子）landed on the ground.

The father asked his son, “What is this？”

The son replied, “It is a dove. ” After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this？”The son said, “Father, I have just told you. It’s a dove. “After a little while, the old father asked his son for the third time, “What is this?” This time Mike could not control his anger and shouted, “It’s a dove, a dove. Why do you keep asking me the same question? I have told you so many times. ‘IT IS A DOVE!’ Don’t you understand this?” The old man silently took out an old diary, turned to a page and showed it to Mike. Though a little impatient（不耐烦）, Mike began to read it.

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a dove landed on the ground, and my son asked me what it was. I smiled at him, said it was a dove and hugged （拥抱） him. After a while Mike asked me again and I did the same. Pointing to the same dove, little Mike asked me what it was 23 times and I kept on answering his question and hugging him every time. “Something gently touched Mike’s heart. His face turned red with shame for being so impatient with his father and he hugged him warmly.

Your parents have given you many things in their lifetime, but you may not realize that until they are gone.

Do you love this lovely rabbit in the picture? Now you can find her on some of your pens, erasers and rulers. Miffy is a little girl rabbit in a series of picture books drawn by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. Miffy was created in 1955. After Bruna told his one-year-old son stories about a little rabbit, he drew a rabbit. He didn’t draw trousers on the rabbit. Instead, he drew a dress on the rabbit, so Miffy became a girl.

Bruna drew Miffy in a very simple way with only a few lines and colors. He drew more than 100 books. Each book tells a story and has 16 pages. The stories are about things that children can understand, or situations they will face, such as having meals, going to school and sleeping. The stories always have happy endings. Children love the stories.

Miffy was a character in a children’s book at first, but pictures are now used on many other things like clothes, stationery, toys and so on.

Boys, like girls, need friends. Many people believe that boys need fewer friends than girls do. In fact, boys are much happier and healthier when they have good friends.

There are some differences in friendships between girls and boys. For example, Amy and Sarah are the best friends. They ride bikes to school together every morning, and always eat lunch together. While they sometimes read books, play games, their heads are always close together. They talk about everything. Jason and Leo are friends. Jason sometimes talks with Leo about his parents’ divorce（离婚）because he knows that Leo’s parents are divorced, too. But they only talk to each other and keep the secret. When the other boys are around, they play ball games or talk about other things like their favorite films.

People believe that girls are better at making friends, but most boys think making friends is an important part of their lives. Boys may be better at keeping friendships than girls.

Students these days often have a lot of     41     (worry). What can they do about this? Laura thinks talking to someone helps a lot. Laura once lost her wallet,     42     worried for days. She was afraid     43     telling her parents about it. When she     44     (final) talked to her parents, they were really understanding. Her dad said he sometimes     45     (make) careless mistakes himself. They got her     46     new wallet and asked her to be more     47     (care). Robert also thinks the     48     (one) step is to find someone you trust to talk to. This person doesn’t need to be an expert. Students often forget that     49     (they) parents have more experience, and     50     (be) always there to help.

56. 校英语报发起了“A Helper at Home” 主题征文活动，请用英文写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你经常做的两项家务及你的收获。