People think that even less than 2-year-old children can help with chores (家务). _______ parents say to those children, “Just look at the paper on the floor.” they will pick it up.

Some parents think childhood is just for playing, so they don’t ask their children to do chores. Other parents say, “I know it’s not _______, but it’s quicker to do it by myself!” However, most parents believe that doing chores is a way of teaching kids responsibility. Doing chores helps _______ children’s independence. Children learn to help, share and care about _______ by doing chores. And they can _______ the importance of working hard. Things like _______ a pet or a baby and helping make meals are some examples of helping others.

Here are some reasons for doing chores:

Doing chores is good. Anyway, it is also a kind of ________. So start to help your parents with the chores. You will learn a lot by doing them.

Jane Eyre (简爱) tells the story of a good and independent woman, who does not depend on others and does not give up even facing many difficulties. Jane is poor and an orphan (孤儿) and is treated badly by her rich aunt and cousins. She is sent away to a school where the pupils are treated very badly. Jane remains strong, because she knows she is good. And when she had the chance to run away, she does. Jane takes a job in the house of a rich man called Mr Rochester.

Jane falls in love with Mr Rochester who is twenty years older than her. Jane is sad when Rochester brings a beautiful woman Blanche to his house. Jane thinks Rochester will marry Blanche. So she decides to leave. Rochester asks her to stay but she will not. She tells him she loves him and says that she is poor and not beautiful, but it does not mean that she has no feelings. She speaks to Rochester as a ‘spiritual equal’.

Rochester asks Jane to marry him and she agrees, but on the day of the wedding she finds out that Rochester is already married. Jane decides to leave and even though Rochester says his wife is mad and begs Jane to stay, she cannot. Jane will not stay with a man who is already married. She has no family to protect her and no money, but she is proud and she wants to do the right thing.

When Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte was first published, it was called an autobiography (自传) . In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, like Charles Dickens, shows the double-standards in Victorian Britain. The poor and especially orphans were not given any protection by the law, they were seen as animals not humans. The rich lived a life of luxury (奢侈) and by giving a little money to charity, they thought they had done their best.

“Where’s Papa going with the ax(斧子)?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

“Out to the pig house,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.”

“I don’t see why he needs an ax,” continued Fern, who was only eight.

“Well,” said her mother, “one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never grow up to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.”

“Do away with it?” screamed Fern. “You mean kill it? Just because it’s smaller than the others?” Mrs. Arable put some cream on the table. “Don’t cry, Fern!” she said. “Your father is right. The pig would probably die anyway.”

Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime. Fern's sneakers(运动鞋)were all wet by the time she caught up with her father.

“Fern,” he said gently, “you will have to learn to control yourself.”

“Control myself?”cried Fern. “This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself.” Tears ran down her face and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father’s hand.

“Fern,” said Mr. Arable, “I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along!”

“But it’s unfair(不公平),” cried Fern. “The pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?”

Mr. Arable smiled. “Of course not,” he said, looking down at his daughter with love. “But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another.”

“I see no difference,” replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. “This is the most terrible case of injustice(不公正) I ever heard of.”

A queer look came over John Arable’s face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.

“All right,” he said. You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. I’ll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby. Then you’ll see what trouble a pig can be.”

Hello and welcome to "Words and Their Stories". We will research into some commonly used words and expressions. As with other languages, American English is rich in expressions that come from animals. Today we will talk about the wolf.

Wolves are important animals in the traditions and stories of America. Before the Europeans arrived in North America in the 1500s, to native Americans, wolves often meant being brave.

However, in English, wolves are not to be trusted. Perhaps wolves attacked too many people or ate too many farm animals. Whatever the reason, wolves were killed in many places. So many died that they almost became endangered. They also became known as bad animals.

To begin with, there is an expression "lone wolf'. If we call somebody a lone wolf, he isn't a bad person, but he may like to do things by himself. In fact, he sometimes makes you think he doesn't want to be around people because he dislikes them.

Now, let's move on to the home. Parents tell their children not to "wolf down" their food. In other words, the child eats too quickly and without care. And if someone says a child was "raised by wolves", that child has bad manners and is behaving like a wild animal.

A "wolf call" is the noise made by a man to show that he likes the way a woman looks. But a wolf call is not a nice thing. These men sound rude. And trust me, most women really hate wolf calls. So, they don't help a man in the game of love.

By the way, there is a popular expression about wolf from a very old story: a wolf in sheep's clothing. A wolf in sheep's clothing describes someone who acts and looks nice on the outside but is bad on the inside. It tells us not to be fooled by appearances.

Life is filled with regrets (遗憾). Anyone around you will have no difficulty in telling his regrets.     33    What can we do to avoid future regrets?

Make better plans

If you start to do something, you need to make a plan before doing it. The earlier, the better. You will know what comes first and what comes last.     34     When changes happen, you can have more time to deal with them.

    35    

You can go around more often. More outdoor activities can keep you relaxed and active. You also need to be kind. “Thank you” can bring a smile to someone’s face. Learn to say “sorry” and don’t be angry with others.

Find the right friend

A friend may make your life better and he or she can break your life as well.     36     Good friends will always better your ideas.

When you get into trouble, ask others for help. That little help may get you good results.

Never fear failure

Everybody fails. Even the greatest person failed. We should not fear failure, because failure is not the end of the road.     37    .

Life is good. We don’t have to live in our past, but we do hope that we can plan better, live better and work better when we have the chance to do so.

When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

In the A, B, C, D and F grading system, the first four letters are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for "fail". The word "fail" happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E.

The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale;

A: 95-100% (excellent)               B: 85-94% (good)          C: 76-84% (fair)

D: 75%( nearly passed)               E: below 75% (failed)

We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

Gradually, the letter grading system became more popular all over the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F. There is no evidence(证据) to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for "excellent".

Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during a time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began, growing cities and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

Today, more and more people think that letter grades don't fully show students' learning. However, as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to prefer the letter grades they got as kids,   as they are familiar and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.