When I was fifteen years old， I became very interested in shopping.After a while being just a buyer， I wanted to ______ something.I had many things that I no longer needed at home.I knew with the help of my father I could make money.So for months and months I ______ myself by selling things on my dad’s bank account(账户).

On July 18th， 2015， I made my own account and began to start my own ______ .Things were going great and then I realized that selling things around the house wasn’t ______ for me， so I decided to expand (拓展)my business by running a re—sale shop.I went around to the yard sales and bought things at low prices and sold them at ______ prices to make money.

Last October.I went to a yard sale that was a little bit different.A lady had many nice things to sell.I went up to her and had a ______ with her.Through the communication， I knew she was jobless at that moment and needed money to feed her family.I thought I could do it better and more quickly for her.So I made a decision to help her out.She looked at me for a while and then said ______ .After that I took away some of her things and over the next month I made ￥1，500for her! When I gave her the money， she broke down into tears(眼泪) ______ .

I have never felt so ______ to help someone in my life.I know my skills could be used to help those in need and that even one small act of kindness could ______ .

After wandering (闲逛)around in the city for a long time， Tom finally found himself standing in front of the palace.He looked through its golden gate， hoping to take a look at a real prince(王子).

There were some guards(卫兵) standing at both sides of the gate Tom， dressed badly， was moving nervously past them when he suddenly caught sight of a well—dressed boy who was followed by several servants.He was no doubt the prince！

Tom was excited.He wanted to get close to the prince and have a good look at him.However， a guard saw him and stopped him rudely(粗鲁地).

The young prince， whose name was Edward， was angry with the guard for his rudeness.He asked the guard to open the gate and took Tom to his room in the palace.

The two boys became good friends.They even exchanged their clothes after Tom told Edward that he had dreamt about dressing like a prince， As they stood side by side in front of a great mirror， they were surprised to find that they looked almost like twins!

The two boys were in each other’s clothes when Edward suddenly noticed a bruise(淤伤) on Tom’s hand.He soon realized that it was caused by the guard who had stopped Tom rudely.In a moment， the young prince ran out of the room.He decided to punish the guard.

However， the guard didn’t realize that the prince was in Tom’s old worn clothes.He hit Edward heavily on the ear and threw him out of the palace.

Elephants are the largest land animals alive today.African elephants live in family groups called herds(群).All of the elephants in the herd take care of each other.The leader of the herd is an old mother elephant.She is the matriarch (族长).A herd may have as few as eight or as many as 100elephants.The other elephants follow the matriarch because she knows how to keep them safe from coming danger.

Elephants learn by watching and copying other elephants， and also learn from life.Baby elephants stay with their mothers until they are fully grown at about ten years old.Elephants live to be 50or 60years old.Elephants are smart animals with long memories.In the dry season， a matriarch can remember where water was found in the past.The herd will follow her there.She can also remember the safest place for baby elephants to cross a fast—moving river.

Elephants talk to each other with rumbling sounds.Some rumbling sounds are so low and deep that people are unable to hear them.Elephants hear sounds not only with their ears， but also with their feet， and even trunks (long noses of the elephants).They also greet each other by touching with their trunks and feet.If danger appears， mothers beat their ears to call their babies to them.

Other animals don’t usually attack(攻击) elephants.However， a lion might try to attack a sick elephant or a baby.If this happens， the adult elephants circle around the baby elephants.The adults make louder sounds and hit the ground with their trunks.The matriarch puts herself between the lion and the herd.She beats her ears out to make herself look even larger.Then she lowers her herd and attacks the enemy(敌人) in a big cloud of dust(灰尘).

A good memory is often seen as something that comes naturally, while a bad memory as something that cannot be changed. In fact, there is a lot that you can do to improve your memory. Here are some tips(贴士) for you.

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We all remember the things we are interested in, and always forget the ones that bore us. This explains the reason why schoolboys remember football results easily but struggle(挣扎) with dates from their history lessons! Develop an active interest in what you want to remember. One way to make yourself more interested is to ask questions-the more, the better!

◆ Repeat things in chunks(块).

Repeating things in chunks is the best way to remember things for a short time, for example, remembering a phone number for a few seconds.     57     The following numbers would be impossible for most of us to remember: 1492178919318483. But look at them in "groups" or "chunks" repeatedly, and it becomes much easier: 1492 1789 19318483.

◆Invent a story.

To remember long lists, try inventing a story which includes all the things you want to remember. In experiments, people were asked to remember up to 120words using this way. When they were tested later, they could remember about 90% of them.     58    

◆Take physical exercise.

Physical exercise is important for your memory, because it increases your heart rate(心率) and sends more oxygen(氧气) to your brain, and that makes your memory work better.     59     As we know, too much pressure is very bad for the memory.

In Hebei， there is a small village called Yeli.Through the village，you can see green trees along the riverbank.However， you can hardly imagine that， about 16years ago， this area was covered with rocks and weeds(杂草).The big change is all because of years of hard work by two best friends: Jia Haixia， who is blind， and Jia Wenqi， who has no arms.

The two friends decided to plant trees to make a living back in 2002.Although both are disabled， they learned to work together by becoming each other’s eyes and hands.With little money to buy young trees， they had to collect and plant cuttings(插枝，插条).Every morning， they went to the riverbank together.Jia Wenqi walked in the front and Jia Haixia followed him by holding one of his friends empty sleeves (衣袖).After they arrived at the riverbank， Jia Haixia would climb on his friend’s shoulders to get cuttings and Jia Wenqi would tell him which cuttings were the best.After that， they dug holes on the ground and watered the cuttings together.

They planted 800trees in the first year， but only two survived (存活).They didn’t give up.Instead， they continued to plant more in the next few years.The riverbank is now home to over ten thousand trees.

Today， the two friends no longer need to make a living by planting trees， but they have no plans to stop.They aim to plant as many trees as possible in the area so as to protect the village from flooding (洪水)and to improve the local environment.

People have been trying to find out if homework is good or bad for school children， and they have different opinions.

Some people think that homework is an important part of learning for students.They believe it not only enables children to practice what they have learned in class， but also helps improve their handwriting.They also say that homework helps teach children how to work on their own.Also， it’s a skill which is useful to them in future life.

Others disagree， though.他们认为家庭作业给孩子们太多的压力.And the time spent on homework could have been used to do other activities like reading and playing sports.To back up their opinion， they give the example of Finland(芬兰).在芬兰， 学生几乎没什么作业.But the country remains one of the most educationally successful countries in the world.

Here is my point of view(观点) on this matter.Whether the homework is good or bad depends on the purpose of it.If there is no clear reason for giving homework， the students won’t get anything from doing it， so it should not be set.However， I still believe that homework can really help with children’s learning， if teachers clearly tell them why they should do the homework and let them know how they have done in their homework.