A science teacher wants to tell an idea to his students. He takes a large-mouth bottle and_______a few large stones(石头) in it. He then asks the class: “Is the bottle   _______ now?” They all answer: “Yes!”

The teacher then takes some small stones and puts them into the _______.The small stones go into the room _______ the big stones. He then asks: “Is it full?” This time _______ students give no answer, but most answer: “Yes!”

The teacher then starts to drop some _______into the bottle. The sand (沙) goes into the room between the small stones. For the _______time, the teacher asks: “Is it full?” Now most are thinking, but still, some say: “Yes!”

Then the teacher brings out a cup of water into the bottle and asks: “What’s the point of this _______?” One angry student answers: “You can _______ find time to do more things.”

“No,” says the teacher. “The point is that if you don't put the big stones first, you’ll never get them in. The big stones are the ________things in your life. If your life is full of small things, the sand and the water – you’ll never have the time for the important things.”

My daughter Maria is a girl of nine years old, She is in Year Four. Every evening we get into homework battles（争执）. Three afternoons a week, she has activities (net-ball, singing) after school and by the time we get home, homework is the last thing she feels like doing. The other two days, she gets home early and we argue（争论）about whether she should do her homework right after school, or if she should have some time to rest and play first. When Maria at last sits down to do her homework, she seems to want me there helping all the time. I do want to help her, but I'm sure that she is going to need to be able to do it on her own. And in fact, most of the time, I have other things I need to be doing. It seems that children these days have much more homework than we did, and some of it is really beyond（超越） their abilities（能力）. As you can see, I'm really worried about homework and I really don't know what I should do. Any ideas?

Almost every Chinese person can say the two lines of the famous poem, “Every grain on the plate comes from hard work.” But sadly, many of us don’t actually get the real meaning of these lines: Don’t waste food.

A CCTV program, News One Plus One, reported that the food Chinese people throw away every year is well enough to 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 2015, especially in developing countries. Six million children die of hunger every year.

Chinese people are well known for being hospitable(好客的) and generous. Many even feel that they lose face if their guests have eaten all the food on the table.

Luckily, plenty of people know the importance of saving food. Last November, Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Nanjing, got fired (解雇)because she took some leftover food home for her son. Many people stood by her and criticized(批评) the waste of food.

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

1) Do not order too much in a restaurant. Only order as much as you want to eat. If you cannot eat all the food you ordered, 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) Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don’t buy too much, especially for vegetables and fruit.

One day after school, I went to the teacher’s office to see my teacher, but nobody was there. When I was about to leave, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. I picked it up and saw the words "FINAL-TERM EXAM" at the top. I put the paper into my school bag secretly and ran out of the room.

After I came back home, I took out the paper quickly. It was the exam paper(试卷) of my History. I felt excited. I took out my History book and started working on the answer. I had never answered any questions so carefully.

On the day of the History exam, I went into the exam hall happily. When I got the paper, I dreamt of getting the highest mark（得高分）in the whole grade and could not help smiling. "My History teacher always told me to work hard and get better grades, but I let him down time and time again. This time I will give him a big surprise," I thought.

When the teacher said we could start, I turned the paper over. To my surprise, all the questions were different. In the end, I didn’t finish the paper. I felt very sad. After the exam, I ran to the toilet, took out the paper and carefully read it from the top. Oh! It was last year’s exam paper. I read all the questions but I didn’t read the date.

This is a lesson. Now I know I have to put my feet on the ground. I was sorry to do the wrong thing. Later, I went to the teacher’s office again… Now, I work harder than ever before.

56. 假如你是Tom, 想邀请朋友来你的新家。请你根据中文提示，用英语写一份邀请信。

I would like to invite you to my new home. ___________________________________________

I hope to see you.

Yours,

Tom