Learning in class is a way for students to study. Students sit in the classroom and     1     to the teacher. Is this the     2     way for students to learn something? Of course not. There is another way to learn, that is, students can teach     3    .

How do you teach yourself? The     4     thing you must do is reading. Read something you are interested in,     5     what you have to read. The second is that you must ask yourself     6    . You can write down the questions. A clever student is usually good at     7     questions. The third is to answer the questions yourself     8     thinking hard, by reading the text or other books, and sometimes by asking     9     people. This is the way of teaching yourself. And you must do all these by yourself. If you keep doing like this for a     10     time, you are sure to get good grades in your study.

Do we have enough sleep? How many hours should we sleep every day?     1     we were babies, we slept for about twenty hours. As     2    , we should sleep for at least eight or nine hours each night. Why is sleeping important for us? Experts tell us that if we get enough sleep, we won′t feel upset or tired and we can do our work better.

Now we are     3    studying, and it may not be easy for us to fall asleep at night. How can we     4     the problem? Here is some good advice. First, the     5    in the bedroom should be good. It shouldn′t be too high or too low. Second, we should be     6    a good mood(情绪). It′s difficult to fall asleep when we are    7    . Third, do not sleep too long after lunch. It′s     8    to have difficulty in sleeping at night if we sleep for more than two hours after lunch. Fourth, if your mother advises you     9    some milk before going to bed, listen to her. It′s a useful way. It is         10    true that there are many other ways to help us fall asleep at night. If necessary, try one of them.

My little sister is in Grade Seven this year. Her favorite subject is math and she is very good at it.

One day, a friend of my father’s from America showed us some     1     about America and invited us to his home. My sister wanted to go there very much, but my father said she must speak English very well. From then on, she     2     to work hard. She kept reading English for about half an hour every morning. In class, she listened very     3     and answered the teacher’s questions as soon as possible. There was an American teacher in her school. After school, she talked to him in English as     4     as he was free. Now she always says, “My dream is to be a diplomat (外交官).” I am sure her dream will come     5     one day.

Final exams are just around the corner. Liu Haoxuan, 14, who studies at Beijing Dayu School, is quite busy. However, he had to find time to     1    his spoken English. That’s because all students who are taking senior high school entrance exams have to take an English listening and speaking test. The test is taken on a     2    . They can take the test     3    – once in December and again in March – to try to get the highest score possible.   

During the 30-minute test, students have to fill in blanks, answer questions and retell stories after listening to different materials. “It pushes us to speak. Though it was     4     at the beginning, it’s a good thing,” Liu said.

Liu Tianyou, 14, has his own     5     to get ready for the spoken English test. He uses apps every day. “The apps will score your     6     so that you can improve accordingly,” he said. “Also, the practice tests help me learn to grasp topic sentences and connection words.”