1 . Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.

But is it possible that Catherine’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.

Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not words with friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.

Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platform.

In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger. “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.

Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual world, we will have little time for our real-world friendships,” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need anyone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.

4 . This is a talk by a London taxi driver.

“I’ve been a taxi driver for nearly ten years. Most London taxi drivers have their own taxis.” “It’s a nice job most of time. you meet a lot of people. I always work at night, because there is too much traffic during the day. I live twenty miles outside London and I go to work at 5:30 in the afternoon.”

“I usually go home between 2 and 3 in the morning.”

“Some very strange things happened late at night. The other day I was taking a woman home from a party. She had her little dog with her. When we got to her house, she found that she had lost her key. So I waited in the car with the dog while she climbed in through the windows.” “I waited and waited. After half an hour of ringing the bell I decided to find out what was going on. I tied the dog to a tree and started to climb in through the window. The next thing I knew was that the police came.” They thought I was a thief.

“Luckily, the woman came downstairs. She must have gone to sleep and forgotten about me and the dog!”

8 . A man came home from work late, ________, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

“That’s ________ of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said ________.

“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”

“If you ________ know, I make $20 an hour.”

“Oh”, the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?” The father got angry immediately and flatly ________. After about an hour or so, the man had ________ and started to think: maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he didn’t ask for money very often anyway.

The man stepped into the little boy’s room ________. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier.” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I was just in a bad _________. Here’s the $10 you ________.” The little boy sat ________, smiling. “Oh, thank you, Daddy!” he ________. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled (皱巴巴的) bills.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to ________ about his purpose. As the little boy slowly ________ his money, the father asked ________, “Since you already have the money, why do you want more money?” “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I ________ an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

10 . Mary worked here as a temporary secretary and________getting a full-time job with the company last year.