1 . Welcome to the Painting Competition for Woodlands Students

The International Anti-Drug Day this year is coming soon. In order to raise teenagers’ awareness to fight against drug taking, the City Art Council is going to hold a painting competition for the students in our city. Students who want to take part in the competition can hand in their own 2D paintings in either of the following two ways:

Each school will be provided with a box for students to put in their paintings. Boxes will be picked by the City Art Council on Thursday, June 23rd, 2016, before the end of the school day.

Paintings can be also handed in on Friday, June 24th, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am at the Woodlands Art Hall (175 Riverside Street).

All paintings are required to be 60 cm wide by 80 cm long or smaller. Larger sizes will not be accepted. Each student can only hand in one painting. The final decision on the competition results will be made on June 26th, the Anti-Drug Day. The name list of the winners will be made known on the website of the City Art Council on the same day. All winning paintings will be shown to the public at the City Youth Park from June 27th till the end of July.

Prizes:

1st Prize (10 students) ＝$ 300 Gift Card each

2nd Prize (20 students) ＝ $ 200 Gift Card each

3rd Prize (30 students)＝ $ 100 Gift Card each

For further information:

Visit http://www. woodlandsartcouncil. org or call 2569-8632.

3 . I can’t remember if I was nine or ten years old. I do remember that it was the last day of the Boy’s Camp.     1     It hurt a lot. The day before for some silly reason I had gotten into a fight with another boy.

It didn’t take long for the bigger boys to pull us apart and call it a draw, but in truth I had lost.     2     We hadn’t talked since the fight either but only looked coldly at each other from across the room.

    3     I knew my Mom was bringing some of her homemade pizzas as a treat for my brother, me, and our friends. Soon I saw her walking up the sidewalk towards the steps of our cabin. She had been bringing these pizzas to us every Boy’s Camp for years now. I saw her smile as my brother and his friends all took the big pieces.     4     I thanked her with a smile and started to eat when I saw my fight opponent standing off to the side by himself. In that moment something moved in my heart.     5     We talked and laughed and ate. And for some reason unknown to me at the time, the pizza tasted better than ever before.

4 . A child plays many roles, such as friend, neighbor, son or daughter. Simply reminding children of that fact can lead to better problem-solving and more flexible (灵活的) thinking, finds a new research from Duke University.

“This is some of the first research on reminding kids about their many roles said lead author Sarah Gaither, a professor at Duke. “Such reminders improve their problem-solving skills and how flexibly they see their social worlds.”

In one experiment, Gaither and her workmates looked at 196 children, aged 6 and 7. All were native English speakers. The first group of children was reminded of their various identities, such as son, daughter, reader or helper. A second group of children was reminded of their many physical features. The rest of the children were reminded of other children’s many roles, not their own.

All the children solved many tasks. The first group of children showed stronger problem-solving and creative thinking skills. For example, when shown pictures of a bear looking at a honey-filled beehive (蜂巢) high up in a tree, these children had more creative ideas for how the bear might get the honey, such as turning over a bowl as a seat.

The second group of children also showed more flexible thinking about social groupings. When asked to group different photos of faces, they suggested many ways to do so. For example, they identified smiling faces VS unsmiling ones, and old VS young faces. The other children mainly grouped people’s faces by race and gender.

“We often only think about ourselves in connection with one important group at a time,” said Christopher Marlowe, a schoolmaster in Durham, North Carolina. “When we remind kids that they have various identities, they think more and remember that there are many other groups. They are more open-minded.”

5 . In the UK, there is a popular route for cyclists: the road from Land’s End in England to John O’Groats in Scotland, about 874 miles long. It covers almost the full length of Great Britain. The 12-year-old boy named Laurence Chandler became the youngest cyclist to finish the route.

Chandler took 20 days to finish the challenge. Each day, he cycled between 40 to 60 miles. He spent six hours on his mountain bike daily. Chandler had to push through rainy and windy days. Cycling uphill was also hard. “It was much harder than I thought. I wasn’t expecting so many hills and how busy the roads were,” Chandler said. “But if you put your mind to anything, then no matter how big, you can do it.”

Chandler first thought of trying the route when he read an article about it two years ago. Later, as his father’s 50th birthday came around, he decided to go for it. He was already used to cycling around his village and to school before starting his journey.

During his ride, Chandler raised 600 pounds for Smile Train, a children’s organization that pays for treatment for children in developing countries who have deft lips (兔唇).

8 . A man was employed to paint a boat. He brought paint and brushes and began to paint the boat as the owner wanted. While painting, he ________ there was a hole in the body of the boat and decided to________it. When he finished painting, he received his ________and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat visited the painter and ________him with a cheque（支票）, much higher than what he was paid for the painting work. The painter was ________ .

"You've already paid me for painting the boat, sir!" he said.

"This is not for the paint job. It's for repairing the________ in the boat."

"Ah! But it was such a small service." The man said, "Certainly it's not worth paying me such a high amount for something so ________ !"

"My dear friend, "the owner said, "You don't understand. Let me tell you________happened. When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention the hole. When the boat dried, my kids took it and________a fishing trip. They did not know that there was a hole there.

“I was not at home at the time. So when I ________and noticed they had taken the boat, I was________. Imagine my________ and joy when I saw them returning safely from fishing.

Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole! You now see what you did? You ________the life of my children!"

Each of us has a moral duty to offer help, wipe tears, listen carefully and repair all the "holes" we ________ in our life journey, because a small act will make a big ________in the future.

9 . Hard work really does pay off. Scientists find that perseverance（坚持不懈）leads to better grades and higher achievements in school.

“Being passionate（热情的）is not enough to ensure academic success,” says researchers, who ought of "courage" as a key to success. This is also regarded as effort in reaching long-term goals, and determination to continue one's efforts in spite of hardships.

Researchers think that the finding could help create new training to help children develop the skill and help ensure their future success.

Researchers from the Academy of Finland studied more than 2,000 students from Helsinki. They were followed through their academic career from 12 to 16, the sixth grade until the ninth grade in local school years. Researchers found that the factor that best predicts courage was related to goals, with previous academic achievements playing no role in developing the skill.

Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro, who led the study, said, “Courage means a young person is really interested in his or her studies and does not give up easily. A key element of courage is high perseverance when facing difficulties and hardships. The important finding is that these factors are the key to success and well-being. Our study shows the power of courage.”

Professor Salmela-Aro also thinks it is important to develop new practices and qualities to improve courage in teenagers. She added, "Young people should see everyday school work as part of their life in a broader context and establish achievable goals for themselves. Schools must also serve as a place where it is safe to fail and learn to deal with setbacks. One must not be discouraged by setbacks, but draw strength and new energy from them.

10 . Waiting for the airplane to take off, I was happy to get a seat by myself. Just then, an air hostess came to me and asked, “Would you mind _______ your seat? A couple would like to sit together.” The only _______ seat was next to a girl with her arms in casts (石膏绷带), a black-and-blue face, and a sad expression. “_______ am I going to sit there.” I thought immediately.

But a soft voice spoke, “She needs help.” Finally, I _______ to move to that seat. The girl was named Kathy. She was injured in a car accident and now was on her way for _______ . When the snack and juice arrived, it did not take me long to _______ that Kathy would not be able to _______ herself. I considered _______ to feed her but hesitated (犹豫), as it seemed too _______ to offer such a service to a ________ . But then I realized that Kathy′s need was more ________ than my discomfort. I offered to help her eat and although she was uncomfortable to accept, she ________ as I expected. We became closer and closer in a short period of time. By the end of the five-hour trip, my heart had ________ , and the time was really better spent than if I had just sat by myself. I was very glad I had reached beyond my comfort zone to sit next to Kathy and feed her. Love sometimes flows beyond human borders and removes the fears that keep us ________ . When we are trying our best to ________ another, we grow to live in a larger and more rewarding world.