In real life, most people seem confident. But when they can't have things they want, they are upset and lose themselves. Do you want to learn how to be yourself? Here are some suggestions.

Be kind to yourself

Appreciate what you have done. Everyone has different talents which can help to make the world become a better one. Remember you don't need to satisfy everyone. No matter what others think of you, just be yourself.

Make good friends

Always make friends with people who are willing to make you feel better about yourself. Good friends neither talk about how great they are nor praise you a lot. They enjoy being with you, not because you are like them, but because you are yourself.

Think about your family.

The values of your family are to give you what really need. Maybe you can't get help when you have small problems. But you can learn how to depend on yourself. When you meet big problems, your family will always be with you.

Hold on to your dream

Holding on to your dream can make you braver and stronger. On the way of achieving your dream, you'll know who you are and what you want. Even though you can't achieve it, you'll find you are better and you can still live a normal life.

In a word, you are the only one. Accept yourself and be yourself. Being unsuccessful doesn't mean you're not good enough. You just need a long way to go.

If you want to become a better reader, what should you know about the speed of reading? Some people read very quickly, while others read very slowly. But which one is better? The quick reader may be a good reader when he reads a storybook for fun. But he may not be able to slow down to read instructions carefully. He may read so quickly that he does not take time to understand fully the ideas and information which are important to remember. The slow reader may be a good reader. But he may spend altogether too much time reading a simple story which is meant to be enjoyed but is not important enough to be remembered. So you see, neither the reader who reads everything quickly nor the one who reads everything slowly is really a good reader. Here are four important things to remember about the speed of reading：

Knowing why you are reading will often help you to know whether to read quickly or slowly.

Some things should be read slowly throughout(彻底地). Examples are instructions for making or doing something, math problems, science and storybooks which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important idea.

Some things should be read quickly throughout. Examples are simple stories for enjoyment, letters from friends, and bits of news from hometown papers.

In some of your reading, you must change your speed from fast to slow and slow to fast, as you go along. You will need to read certain pages quickly and then slow down and do more careful reading when you come to important ideas.

A little boy was playing in his sandbox on a Saturday morning. While he was building roads and houses in the soft sand, he discovered a large stone in the middle of the sandbox.

The little boy pushed and pulled, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the tone tipped(倾斜) and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy tried his best, but his only reward(奖赏) was to have the stone fall back.

Finally the boy cried. All that time the boy's father watched him from his living room window. At the moment tears fell, his father came to the boy and the sandbox. Gently but surely he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had?" The boy said sadly, "But I did, daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!" "No, son, you didn't ask me." With that, the father reached down, picked up the stone and removed it into sandbox.

Do you have stones in your life that need to be removed? Are you discovering that you are too weak to lift them? There is ONE who is always ready to give us the strength we need. Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things on our own?

Lanterns have been part of Chinese culture for centuries and play an important part in many celebrations. In ancient times, there were mainly three kinds of lanterns：

Palace lantern（宫灯）

    26     When making palace lanterns, fine wood was used. The palace lanterns were covered with silk or glass. Different kinds of pictures were drawn on the covers. These lanterns were not only used as lights but also as decorations in palaces.

Gauze lantern（纱灯）

Less expensive bamboo and gauze were used to cover the lantern. Red gauze was used when making them.     27     So red lanterns are always hung on important festivals such as Lantern Festival, Spring Festival and National Day in parks or along main streets. In some famous Chinatowns abroad, you can see red lanterns all the year round.     28    

Shadow-picture lantern（走马灯）

It was usually used for amusement.     29     There were two layers(层) of covers and pictures were drawn on the inside layer. When the candle was lit, the heat caused a paper wheel inside the lantern to turn around, so that moving pictures appeared on the outside cover.

Now more kinds of lanterns appear in festivals besides the traditional ones. More modern technology is used on making lanterns.     30    

Everyone wants to be successful. As a student, you also want to have success at school, no matter whether you're good at studies     31    . But it's difficult to learn all the lessons well because it requires good ways and habits. If you take right ways of studying, you can     32     great progress. Here I will offer you some     33    .

Firstly, be sure to make up your mind to work     34     and do well in everything you learn. It is wise of you to do your     35     in your studies.

Secondly, it's necessary for you to have a good study habit. While    36    , make sure to pay attention to it. After you finish your study, don't forget to find some time     37     in order to help you relax as well.

Thirdly, you should try to learn every subject well. If you are     38     in a subject, you need to encourage yourself to do well in it. You should often remind yourself why you need to study.

Finally, you had better     39     notes in class because you cannot remember everything. These notes will be     40     for you to review or remember what you have learnt. If you forget some points, you can go over them.

If you take all the advice, you will certainly develop into a better student in studies.

What Would You Do? is a TV program on American ABC.

The program     49    (start) by the news reporter John Quinones 3 months ago. He said, "It is popular with many people-both the young and the old. It tests what people     50    (do) when they see someone in trouble. We use hidden cameras to record what will happen. Its purpose is to tell us to help people in need."

Here is last week's program. In a cake shop, one actor acted as a blind woman named Pamela and the other as the shop worker of the cake shop. The shop worker looked down upon the blind. So when the blind woman came into the shop, bought a box of cakes and     51    (pay) for it, the shop worker cheated(欺骗) her when he gave her the change(零钱). He only gave her 6 dollars instead of 34 dollars.

Would someone be brave enough to help the blind woman? Yes! A woman customer stopped the shop worker from     52    (cheat）the blind. Seeing this, several other customers joined in too and asked the shop worker to return the rest(剩余的) money to the blind woman. At this time, John Quinones appeared. He explained, "We     53    (make) a program called What would you do?. We     54    (play) the experiment in 5 cities in the past 3 months. We are trying to calling on people to help the weak by doing this. Everyone should give a hand when they see the weak in trouble. " Then he interviewed the first customer who said that it is necessary     55     (give) a hand to the people in need.

A psychologist(心理学家) said, "It's difficult to take the first step to stand up. It needs courage."

CCTV reported that every year Chinese people throw away a lot of food. It can feed 200 million people for a year.

Do we have too much food? Of course not.According to the UN world Food Program, there were 925 million hungry people around the world in 2010. Six million children die of hunger every year.

Luckily, a number of people have realized the importance of saving food. Last November, Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Nanjing, lost her job because she took some leftover(剩余的) food home for her son. Many people stood by her side and criticized(批评) the waste of food.

What should we do in our everyday life to waste less food? Here are some tips：

1. Don't order too much food in a restaurant. Only order as much as you want to eat. If you cannot eat all the food you order, take the rest of it home.

2. Don't be too picky(挑剔的) about food. Some food may not taste great, but your body needs it.

3. Don't keep too much food at home, especially for vegetables and fruit.

"Every grain on the plate comes from hard work." It tells us everybody must save food.

61. 星转斗移，寒来暑往。你一定对学校的过去和现在有深刻的印象。请你以Our school in the past and now. 为题写一篇英文短文，谈谈你学校日新月异的变化。

My School in the Past and Now