Even before my father left us, my mother had to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, “Mom, I can't peel potatoes. I have only one _______ .”

“Get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes,”Mom said, without looking up. “And don't use that as a (n) _______ for anything again!”

One day, our teacher had each of us race _______ the monkey bars (攀爬架), swinging from one rung (横杠) to the next. When it was my _______ , I shook my head. Some kids behind me _______ , and I went home crying.

Hearing my story, Mom hugged me. The next afternoon, she took me _______ to school. At the empty playground, Mom looked carefully at the rungs. “Now, _______ up with your right hand,” she advised. She stood by as I tried hard to lift myself with my right hand _______ I could hook (勾住) the rung with my other elbow (肘). Day after day we practiced and she praised me for every rung I _______ .

I'll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked __________ at the kids standing there with their mouths

One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I __________ myself into the bed, crying. I could hear Mom come in, “Mom,” I said sadly, “__________ of the boys would dance with me.”

It was a long __________ before Mom said, “Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat.” Her voice was so __________ that I could hardly get it. I could see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she had suffered (遭受) in bringing me up. She had never let me see her tears.

Mother's tears are always there in my heart. I will beat any difficulty off with one hand.

   Homestays are becoming more and more popular, and people around the world are offering their homes as hotels. Homestays offer cheap places to stay and the chance for guests to see the area like local people. " They are very popular with students who want to stay in another country and learn a language. We asked three families who run homestays to tell us about where they live.

   “Late again, Mavis! How many times I have told you to come back in time to help me cook dinner?” asked Mrs. Muntari. 

“But, mummy, I can’t just walk out in the middle of a game!” said Mavis.

“You shouldn’t be playing the game in the first place.”

“But, mum, why can’t I? You never tell Adibe or Senze not to play football. I had to leave the game at half time and rush back so you wouldn’t get angry with me,”said Mavis.

“You are a girl! It is as simple as that. Boys and girls have different roles to play. I have 11 hungry mouths to feed and I need your help! You are the oldest girl not working, so it is your job to help me. That’s the way of our people. Now go and fry some more chicken.”

At the dinner table, Adibe and Senze were excitedly talking about today’s game, while eating the chicken Mavis had fried. They talked about how Mavis scored in the first half with a power shot from the halfway line. It was a great goal as their team was losing by 0-1 at that time.

Dad came home then and brought the boys a local newspaper, in which there was news about football scouts (球探) from England visiting Ghana (加纳). These scouts had asked to be allowed to visit schools to look for players of the future. Adibe and Senze looked at each other and cheered. “Wow, I’m going to be like Essien!” And they started arguing which one would make it as a superstar.

Mavis decided to take this chance. She stole out of home. When she arrived at the playground, one player happened to get injured (受伤) and the coach was worried. “I can take his place!” Mavis shouted. Though it was unbelievable to let a girl play, the coach agreed. During the second half, she made an amazing shot!

When the game was over, the scouts all stood up, cheering.

Earthquake rescue (救援) robots experienced their final tests in Beijing. The inventors of this robot said with this robot, rescuers would be able to buy more time to save lives during an earthquake.

This kind of robot is able to fly. It’s about three meters long, and it took about four years to develop the model. Its main function is to collect information from the air and send goods of up to 30 kilos to people trapped (困住) by an earthquake. It has an excellent camera which can provide very clear pictures. It can work day and night, and is also able to send the latest pictures from the quake area.

Dr. Qi Juntong, a researcher from Tsinghua University, said, “The most important character of this flying robot is that it doesn’t need a control from faraway places. We just set in it the information of the places where it should go, and then it takes off, and lands by itself. It flies as high as 3000 meters, and as fast as 100 kilometers per hour.”

This robot has a different function — it can change as the environment changes. Its main job is to search for any signs of life in places where human rescuers are unable to go. The camera, also acting as a detector (探测器) that finds trapped people and detects harmful gases, is placed in the robot, which can work in the dark. With its 10-meter-long pipe in the robot, people who are trapped in the fallen buildings will be able to get supplies including oxygen (氧气) and water.

Experts have said that the robots would enter production and serve as part of the national earthquake rescue team as soon as possible.

   A few years ago, my sister in-law started to feel worried about her teenage daughter. What was she doing after school? Where was she spending her time? Her daughter was an excellent student, and took part in all kinds of after-class activities. Even so, she decided to put a tracking (跟踪) app on the kid's phone.

At first, this made my sister-in-law “feel better”. Then the good situation suddenly ended, She recalled, “I found out that she was someplace that she said she wasn’t. I went out in the middle of the night and found her walking without shoes in the middle of the street with some friends,”Things went quickly downhill for the mother and the daughter after that.

With 83% of teens having their own phones now, according to a study in 2020, more and more of their parents are facing the question to watch or not?

Ann Homayoun, expert from Harford University, has advised many parents and their kids about this. “I’ve found tens are more acceptable to tracking apps when it is included as part of a family agreement to improve safety than when it is placed as a secret tool to watch them,” she said.

Mark Bell, a father of a teenage girl, said, “We don’t have tracking apps, but we have set some ground rules that my daughter must follow in exchange for us providing a phone,” he said. For example, his daughter must “friend” him on social media (媒体) so that he can read posts, and must share all passwords. When you’re trying to build trust, you need to create an environment that encourages it. So, to win their trust, you always need to be straight with your children,

“Parents must let children know how and when they’ll be watching them,” said Doctor White. “If they’re not open about it”, he warns, “it can greatly harm the parent and child relationship.”

When I was in school, I volunteered to work in a hospital for some time.

On one visit, I carefully entered a dark room to find an elderly man
41． (lie) in bed. I firstly thought he was sleeping. When I moved
42． (close), however, I realized he was very much awake. He wanted to communicate something; but I couldn’t make sense of what he
43． (say). He seemed quite weak, and I couldn’t tell if he was in pain, or just frightened. I knew nothing about him, and I felt totally helpless. He clearly didn’t want me
44． (leave) him, but I felt so lost and uncomfortable that I had to leave the room after only a couple of
45． (minute).

The next time I was at
46． hospital and saw him again, I was certain he didn’t remember me. But he
47． (immediate) said, “I remember you. You gave me hope in my darkest hour that evening!” I was so
48． (amaze) that I didn’t know how to answer.

In the short moment of my staying there, I did nothing at all.
49． surprisingly he found in me something he needed, just because I was there.

I have thought about this thing often over the past years.
50． makes me want to offer whatever kindness I can to others, and I try to make it out and appreciate (赞赏) it.

Farmer Pak Sadiman has made it his task to do something about Central Java’s water shortage problem, little by little.

He has changed his dry village into a place rich in ground water by planting trees on nearby land for the last 19 years, and he is encouraging others to join in, too.

Sadiman realized that the land was in need of some water when the Gendol River - previously (以前) the source of water for villagers — was quickly drying up: Even rubber trees, the local people’s main source of income (收入来源), were so dry that they could no longer produce rubber latex (橡胶乳). It was then that Sadiman took action so that his children and grandchildren could take advantage of the planted trees,

“Banyan (榕树) trees, unlike rubber trees, can keep groundwater. The more banyan trees are planted, the more clean water villagers will get,” he thought. Although he went through a hard time, the farmer never became discouraged from achieving his goal — providing his village with a clean water source.

He’s planted at least 11,000 trees over the last 19 years, and his village seems to have escaped from the dry season. Villagers have joined in Sadiman’s efforts and worked alongside him to plant the trees. “Pak Sadiman is our hero. This village used to fight with water shortage, but now we have enough water because of him,” said the head of the village.

Sadiman said as long as he’s healthy, he’ll continue to plant trees to help provide clean water for his villagers.

你班计划本周末乘大巴车到西山（West Hills）郊游，你校交换生吉姆愿意一同前往。假如你是李华，请你用英语写一个电子邮件，将活动事宜告知吉姆。

Yours,

Li Hua