It was summer, and my dad wanted to treat me to a vacation like never before. He decided to take me on a trip to the Wild West. We took a plane to Albuquerque, a big city in the state of New Mexico. We reached Albuquerque in the late afternoon. Upon Paul, my dad’s friend, picked us up from the airport and drove us up to his farm in Pecos.

His wife Tina cooked us a delicious dinner and we got to know his sons Ryan and Kyle. My dad and I spent the night in the guestroom of the farm house listening to the frogs and water rolling down the river nearby. Very early in the morning, Uncle Paul woke us up to have breakfast. “The day starts at dawn on my farm,” he said. After breakfast, I went to help Aunt Tina feed the chickens, while my dad went with Uncle Paul to take the sheep out to graze (吃草). I was impressed to see my dad and Uncle Paul riding horses. They looked really cool.

In the afternoon, I asked Uncle Paul if I could take a horse ride, and he said yes, as long as my dad went with me. I wasn’t going to take a horse ride by myself anyway. So, my dad and I put on our new cowboy hats, got on our horses, and headed slowly towards the mountains. “Don’t be late for supper,” Uncle Paul cried, “and keep to the track (足迹；踪迹) so that you don’t get lost!” “OK!” my dad cried back. After a while Uncle Paul and his farm house were out of sight. It was so peaceful and quiet and the colors of the brown rocks, the deep green pine (松树) trees, and the late afternoon sun mixed to create a magic scene. It looked like a beautiful woven (编织的) blanket spread out upon the ground just for us.

Suddenly a little rabbit jumped out in front of my horse.

We had no idea where we were and it was getting dark.

Grady and his family go camping every summer. As it was becoming hotter, here came the camping time.

Having planned the camp long, the family finally decided the destination --- the Great National Forest. With food, necessity and cookers loaded onto the car, the family squeezed into the car. The car door closed, heat was shut outside.

In the car, Jared, Grady's younger brother was playing with a toy dinosaur, making great noise. Grady's mother talked excitedly with his father. On settling in the car, Grady put on the earphone and turned on the music. He neither wanted to join his brother nor joined any talk. After what seemed to be hours, the car stopped where they headed. Grady threw down his backpack and slammed the car door.

“This will be a lengthy week,“ he said unhappily to no one in particular. He looked around the campground. Hundreds of tall and green fir trees, some as tall as church towers, covered the mountainside like a green carpet. The sun would be setting soon. Grady thought maybe the heat wouldn't be unbearable. But actually now in the mountain, the hot stickiness of July was closely attached to him.

Grady hated camping, but it was something his family stuck to every summer. His father liked cooking over an open air, telling stories about how to survive things like bear attacks and bites of bees. His mother and Jared liked to hike and take pictures of animals. Jared had a collection of bug pictures that he had pinned to the walls in his half of their room. Grady thought they were just scary and proof that Jared was a strange kid.

They set up camp - two tents, one for his parents and one for himself and Jared. While everyone else started preparing dinner, Grady, looking for some place to cool down, set off for the nearby stream, which was deep enough to swim in.

6 . Many of us live with a roommate at some stage． Sometimes， there can be problems． Who hasn't had an argument about whose turn it is to take out the rubbish or who should be the one to clear up after dinner？    1    

You know that there's always someone else around， which can help you feel safer． There is always someone to talk to， so you never feel lonely． Besides these obvious benefits， there are some you may not notice．    2    

To examine the effect of living alone， Australian university researchers did much research and found that people living alone tended to eat less fresh food， which can have a significant negative effect on long-term health． However， those living with others generally benefited from a more varied diet compared to those living alone．

    3    The researchers believe the social and cultural roles played by cooking， food preparation and eating may be important considerations． For example， those living with friends have someone else to go shopping with， and thus are likely to buy high-quality fresh food regularly．

    4    If people living alone find they do not have the knowledge required to prepare a particular dish or cook a certain food， they may fall back on ready-made， less healthy food． However， if they live with at least one other person， they may be able to ask for help．

In addition， people living alone can eat whatever they want at any time of the day or night． However， it's helpful to have someone around who questions your decision to eat frozen pizza at 3am．    5    

So， if you now live alone and find yourself fighting a losing battle against poor eating habits， why not consider sharing a home with someone else？ You could encourage one another on to greater health and well-being．

7 . In tough economic times, school counselors (顾问) don’t just wait for students to come to their offices in search of college brochures, health pamphlets or other help. These days, they are looking for at-risk kids to prevent personal or academic troubles before they arise. Nowadays, students and families need the guidance more than ever.

Counselors play a steadying role in schools as the economy weighs on families, college admission becomes even more competitive, immigration continues to reshape the population and state-testing pressures many students. They use computers to search through attendance data, grades and standardized test scores for kids who might need extra help.

Schlatter, director of guidance and counseling at Prince William County’s Woodbridge Senior High School, has checked attendance records against grades and test results to start peer groups (同年龄群体) for students who are failing classes but not skipping them. She said group counseling is another way to reach more students though it can be difficult. “Kids really do start helping and sharing with each other.”

At Fairfax High School, counselors found through surveys that students who transferred (转学) to the school after ninth grade enjoyed school significantly less than those who had been there all four years. The counseling staff set up a special program and group for new arrivals in response, said Marcy Miller, the school’s director of student services. Counseling staff members also have started small study groups for students to prepare for state Standards of Learning exams, which Miller said have helped raise test scores. She said that some of the newest counselors have had some of the freshest ideas.

8 . Brooke Ochoa was going to enter a restaurant for lunch when she saw an elderly lady approaching. The 30-year-old woman ________ to keep the door open for her. She thought she was just doing something ________. She didn’t know, however, that a —________— that the lady would make a few seconds later would produce a chain of events that would cause her to get countless likes on her Facebook post and ________ on social media suddenly... As Brooke entered the restaurant, she ________ the elderly lady ask for a “table for one.” Then she decided to do one more act of ________. Brooke walked up to the woman’s ________ and asked, “I also ________ alone, would you like to have lunch together?”

The lady, named Dolores, not only accepted Brooke’s ________, but she was very pleased to have ________. The two ________ up an instant friendship during their meal.

Dolores told Brooke that she’d been having a ________ time. “She spent the last decade living with her mom, who recently passed away,” Brooke wrote in a later Facebook post about the encounter. “She just kept smiling and saying ‘thank you for listening to me’, which made me ________ too!” Brooke and Dolores enjoyed their conversation so much that they ________ to have lunch with each other every Thursday from that point on. In a later ________, not long after their first meeting, Brooke ________ that Dolores had passed away.

If nothing else, this chance ________ is evidence that the smallest ________ of goodwill can quite exactly change a life. Neither of the two women knew that Dolores days on this Earth were ________, but they found ________ in each other, and that’s what matters.

9 . Dry ice is carbon dioxide in frozen form, with a temperature of about -78.3℃.     1     Instead, when dry ice melts, it turns into a gas. So when you see dry ice “smoking”, it’s frozen carbon dioxide melting into its gaseous state. Dry ice is a popular matter in science experiments and for a good reason. It creates projects that look cool.

Experiment: Healthy Dry Ice Yogurt Popsicles (冰棍)

This dry ice experiment is a simple project, but it’s certainly wonderful.     2     Even kids as young as five will at least appreciate the observations. It should take you about 10 minutes or less to have a frozen treat to enjoy.

Materials

One large block of dry ice

Large spoon or tube-shaped piece of metal

Four Popsicle sticks

One cup of your favorite juice

Tall glass filled with water

Directions

Use the large spoon, or tube-shaped piece of metal to make a Popsicle-shaped hole in the middle of the block of dry ice. You can set the ice on a towel on your counter to do this work.     3    

Add a Popsicle stick to the middle of the space so that when you pour in the liquid, it will freeze around the Popsicle stick.

    4     After several minutes, remove the Popsicle from the block of dry ice and dip it into a tall glass of water. Do this to warm up the Popsicle just a bit first.     5     You are sure to succeed!

10 . Harry is a vehicle called a pod—in other words, something like a car. But Harry has no steering wheel or brake pedal. Harry does not even have a driver. Yet Harry is carrying passengers around London for the next few weeks.

Harry is part of an experiment called GATEway that is testing how people react to driverless vehicles. The name GATEway is short for Greenwich Automated Transport Environment. The experiment aims to help cities prepare for the future of transportation. The GATEway experiment does not test new technology. Instead, it tests the way existing technology can work in society.

The pod operates in an area of London called Greenwich, home of time and navigation museums. Other places where pods will be tested are Coventry, Milton, Keynes and Bristol. The pods run using sensors and a 3D map of the area. A safety operator rides along to take control in case of an emergency.

GATEway is intended to see how pedestrians and cyclists may adapt to driverless vehicles. Harry holds up to four people (three passengers and a safety operator) and can travel at speeds up to 16km/h. It is being tested in Greenwich on pedestrian paths, but not on roads with other vehicles.

If you are in Greenwich during the next few weeks you may see Harry, but you cannot ride in it during the trial. Over 5,000 people applied to be a passenger in Harry but only about 100 were chosen.

You can, however, ride in a similar pod at Heathrow Airport in London. The Heathrow pods run on tracks so they are not being tested with pedestrians, cyclists or other drivers. If the trials are successful, the first pods could be operational on the roads of the UK in 2020.