Haven’t seen you for some time. These days our sweet moments keep running into my mind. I think there can be magic in the touch of a hand that loves you. Since you were born, I remembered, as a _______ , you reached for me whenever you were hungry or just needed to be held. Sometimes, _______ you woke at night, just the touch of my hand would make you back to sleep. My hands picked you up when you fell, and I gave you a big hand _______ at your sports games. That’s the magic in the touch of a hand with love.

As you grew older, I _______ that you didn’t hold my hand much any more. I told myself it was part of growing up, and I should just be ________ you could do things on your own now. But when I’ve been needed so much for such a long time, it’s hard to step _______ and feel unnecessary.

On that day, I was visiting you in your city. As we were about to cross a _______ street that was filled with traffic, you took my hand suddenly and shouted, “Hang on to me, Mom,” then _______ me safely across. At that moment, I realized that my boy became a man and our roles changed. We still needed each other, but in different ways.

My dear son, you have taught me to depend on _______ just as you once depended on me. The loving hands “touch” us, even if we live miles away. That’s because there is always a silent _______ between us that says, “I am here and you are not alone.”

Love,

Mom

Once, there were two hard - working children, Che Yin and Sun Kang. They loved reading, but their families were poor and couldn’t afford lamp oil (灯油) for the children to study at night. How did they get over the difficulty? Here are their stories.

Che Yin’s story began on a hot summer night. He saw fireflies (萤火虫) flying and an idea came into his mind. He caught some fireflies in a cloth bag and hung it up as a lamp. He spent all of his summer nights reading like this.

The other story happened in winter. Sun Kang woke up on a cold night. He saw the moon shine so brightly on the snow and it made the night brighter. “I can read with the light!” he thought. So he took his books outside and read, even though it was very cold.

Later, Che Yin and Sun Kang became successful. Their stories were turned into Chinese words nangying yingxue. Difficulties cannot stop young minds from learning. If there is a will, there is always light on the road to knowledge.

Four Poems

A．

B．

C．

D．

I usually took a bus to school. I found that most passengers were silent and never had a conversation with anyone else.

About a year ago, an old man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver, “Good morning!”Most people looked up, wondering why, and the bus driver didn’t take it seriously and just replied in a cold voice, “Mm - hmm”The next day the man got on and again he said in a loud voice, “Good morning!” to the driver. Another “Mm - hmm”. By the fifth day, the driver finally answered him with a little happy “Good morning!” Then the man said, “My name is Benny.” The driver told the man that he was Sam.

That was the first time any of us had heard the driver’s name and soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Sam and Benny. Soon Benny spread his happy “Good morning!” to the whole bus. Within a few days, his “Good morning!” was returned by a lot of “Good mornings” and the whole bus seemed to be friendlier. People got to know each other.

“Benny truly showed friendship among us with a simple ‘Good morning!’,” I thought.

Then suddenly, Benny stopped showing up. Everyone began to ask about Benny, wondering what happened to him. No one knew what to do and the bus got quiet again. So, last week, I started to act like Benny and say “Good morning!” to everyone and the whole bus cheered up again. Hopefully, Benny could come back to see his “Good morning!” mattered a lot.

Sometimes we see some strangers so many times that we know their faces well, but we never even say hello to them. By saying hello, friendship starts to grow, and sunshine comes to the world around us, and love spreads over the community we are in. Why not start a “hello” today?

Do you like writing by hand or with a keyboard?

A new brain research, led by researchers at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, shows that choosing handwriting instead of using a keyboard results in better learning and memory.

“When you write your shopping list or class notes by hand, you simply remember what you wrote better later, ” said Audrey van der Meer, who did the study.

12 young grown - ups and 12 children took part in the study. This is the first time that children have taken part in such a study. Special machines were used to follow and record brain wave (电波) activity. Each person wore a special cap with over 250 electrodes (电极) on the head, and was asked to write by hand and use a keyboard. The sensors (传感器) in the electrodes picked up the activity that took place in the brain. Each examination took 45 minutes for each person.

The results showed that the brain in both young grown - ups and children is much more active when writing by hand than when using a keyboard. According to Van der Meer, plenty of senses become active by holding a pen and pushing it down on paper, seeing the letters written and hearing the sound made while writing. These build connection between different parts of the brain, opening the brain up for learning.

Van der Meer believes that the results call attention to the importance of children being asked to draw and write at an early age, especially at school. “Learning to write by hand is a bit slower course, but it’s important for children to experience the tiring step of learning to write by hand,” she said.

The hand movements used to form the shapes of letters are helpful in several ways. “If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand requires control of your fine motor (精细动作) skills and senses. It’s important to put the brain in a learning condition as often as possible,” Van der Meer added. For example, you might use a keyboard to write an article, but you should take notes by hand during a class.

There are many colors in nature. But do you think that a color has weight? Let’s do a test.

First, put two objects with the
56． weight into two boxes. Then cover the boxes. Third, wrap (包裹) one box with a red piece of paper, the other with white. Now hold the boxes
57． your hand one by one. Which one is
58． ? It is certain that you will think the red one is heavier. Why do you think so? A scientist did many
59． and found that different colors have different weights in a man’s mind.

Also, scientists say that people accept the colors they like, and
60． the colors they hate. So your body and mind will be
61． by using the colors you like. Or you’ll be nervous
62． even get ill. For example, you
63． blue and hate red. If you stay in a room with red windows and wallpaper for two hours, you’ll feel you have been there for
64． hours. But if the room is blue, you’ll feel you have been there for only an hour. And, if a person walks
65． of a blue room and into a red room, his temperature will rise. That means our body temperature will change with different colors.

校园处处都是美，校刊的英文专栏Sharing Beauty以“校园最美之地”为主题征稿，请你根据以下提示，用英语写一篇短文投稿。

The Most Beautiful Place in My School

My school looks beautiful everywhere.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________