How do you spend your free time? Playing sports or seeing movies? Do you want to live a different after-school life? Here are three traditional Chinese students’ free time activities.

	Li Chenxi is at the No.2 Primary School in Yunnan. Her school brings traditional Chinese culture into the after-school care services. She is interested in tie-dye (扎染). She can make dolls and dresses after learning for more than a year. “In the past, I had too much homework to do. But now I can do what I want to do in my free time,” she said.
	When Antoine, an international student from Rwanda, first watched the dragon dance, he was surprised and can’t wait to join in it. Although the training was not easy, he worked hard. He built a dragon dance team in his school. Now his team has about 100 students from different countries.
	It is on Saturday afternoon. A group of children of all ages are following Zhu Wei, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, to learn tai chi. These children like tai chi. In their opinions, tai chi helps them keep healthy and focus on studies. It’s mind-body exercise.

Years ago a farmer owned land along the seacoast (海岸). He often asked people to work on his farm, but most people didn’t want to work on farms along the seacoast. They feared (害怕) the terrible storms across from the Atlantic Ocean.

Finally, a short, thin man, about forty, got to the farm. “Are you a good farmhand (农场工人)?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man.

Although surprised at this answer, the farmer still had to take the man. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from morning to night, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work.

Then one night the wind cried loudly outside, jumping out of bed, the farmer took a lamp, rushed next door to the farmhand’s sleeping room. He shook the little man and shouted, “Get up! A storm is coming! Get everything ready before they are blown away!”

The little man lay in bed and said quietly, “No, sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Annoyed (恼怒的) at the answer, the farmer decided to let him go away. He hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his surprise, he found that all of the things had been covered with tarpaulins (防水油布). The cows were in their houses, and the chickens were in their houses, too. Everything was ready for the wind. Nothing could be blown away.

The farmer then understood what the farmhand had meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep again while the wind blew.

Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The farmhand in the story was able to sleep because he did well in his work and kept the farm safe in the storm.

Let’s imagine you are taking a walk along the road and you happen to see one or two waste bottles lying on the grass beside the road. What would you do?

    16    . Firstly, you can leave the bottles there as they are. It was not you who threw them away. Why should you do something about it? This is quite OK. Secondly, you can pick them up and throw them into a dustbin (垃圾桶).     17    . This action is a better choice. Thirdly, you might want to pick them up and give them to someone who collects waste for a living.     18    . You’re not only thinking about doing something for the environment. you’ re also developing yourself to be a person who would think of others and help them.

As for young kids, they may always have such a question, “When do I grow up?”     19    .

As for us, fourteen-year-olds, who are finishing middle school, we’ re no longer younger children. We should know whether or not we have grown up. When we start to have a sense of offering a helping hand for a cleaner city and greener world, and when we have a loving heart to think more of others than of ourselves and are ready to help them, we can say that we have grown up.

    20    . If we do our best for nature, nature will offer its best to us in return!

Long long ago, there were three trees. One day they were talking about their ________. The first tree said, “I hope to be a treasure (珍宝) box with lots of ________ in it.” Then the second tree said, “One day I will be a big ship. I will take the King across the waters and sail (航行) to all corners of the world.” Finally, the third tree said, “I want to be the ________ tree and make many people look up to me.”

However, things did not go as they ________. A woodcutter came to the three trees and cut them down. The first tree was made into a feed box for animals. The second was made into a small fishing boat. The third was cut into large pieces and left ________ in the dark. No one looked at it. The three trees were ________, but they could do nothing.

One day, a woman put her baby in the feed box to rest. At that time, the first tree thought its dream had come true, ________ it had the greatest treasure in the world. A group of people ________ the fishing boat. Suddenly, a big storm came. Surprisingly, when one of them stood up and said “Peace”, the storm stopped. The second tree realized that it carried the King of Kings.

Someone built a wooden tower on the top of the highest mountain ________ the pieces of the third tree. The third tree finally stood taller than any other tree.

Each tree finally ________ what they wanted, just not in the way they imagined.

When Nancy Green was five, her older sister, Anitha was ill and had to stay in hospital for a month. Nancy and her parents often stayed close by, and a small restaurant near the hospital served them meals. 1. This restaurant also provided a homelike place, so people could have a warm time there. Nancy remembered eating meals prepared there by kind and friendly volunteers.

Her family felt thankful for the kindness they got. 2.阿妮塔病情好转后，他们在那做志愿者并希望对那些需要帮助的人产生影响。They helped out there by preparing meals every Sunday for 50 to 70 guests (客人). They made lots of friends. Most of these friends also came to help others like her family.

They also tried to make guests feel warm in many ways. They handed out caring cards for those kids in hospital. At the same time, they made some welcome bags by hand for guests. In the restaurant, they put up a “Happiness Wall” with different exciting messages from different people. 3. Besides those, Nancy and Anitha often played music when the guests were eating.

When helping others, 4.格林一家能够得到一种强烈的满足感。This kind of feeling keeps them volunteering. As Nancy said, “This brings much more happiness. 5. I will try my best to give back to the world.”

51. 生地会考在即，八年级的同学们既要做好生地会考的复习迎考也要兼顾到其他科目的学习，骤然压力倍增。Lisa正是其中一位，她正为她的英语测验成绩下降而感到焦虑。假设你是她的好朋友Lily，请你给她写封信，安慰她并给出一些缓解焦虑和压力的建议。

I’m sorry to hear that you are feeling a little nervous about your English exam.

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Yours,

Lily