Some inventions are very important. They make our life easy. Some inventions are just fun. Life is much more interesting with these inventions.

☆A flower singing pleasant ( 令人愉快的) songs

A company in Japan invented a kind of singing flower. You can listen to music that comes through real flowers. 1. Customers in restaurants can not only smell the beautiful roses, but also listen to pleasant music while eating. People in the dentist’s office can look at pretty lilies (百合花) and listen to Strauss while having their teeth examined!

☆A cup keeping the temperature

Drinking hot coffee may cause burns sometimes. Luckily, a company has invented a kind of cup that can keep water from being too hot or too cold. This cup can allow you to choose your comfortable temperature. 2. You can even connect it to your phone to know about the temperature. It’s really amazing.

Do you have your own ideas about inventions now?

It’s not always easy to discover oneself. From a young age, I had a strong sense of who I was to become, _______ an accident made me redefine (重审) myself.

To me, skating was above all. There was _______ in this world that filled my heart with such joy (快乐). I spent twenty-four hours a week practicing my _______. It’s helpful. It brought me first place medals in nearly every _______.

Unluckily, in one show, I fell down and hurt myself badly. After several checks, the _______ told me that I couldn’t return to my sport any more.

As my passion (激情) was _______, I had little sense of who I was to become. And I became silent. I was afraid to speak in public. After eight months of suffering, something had to _______. Instead of wasting my days sitting around painfully, I began to put my energy into local community service projects. By working _______ a swimming teacher and summer reading helper for kids in my spare time, I got an idea of who I wanted to become. After a few months, I spent time on my interest in the arts. Little by little, I _______ out of the shadow (阴影) and rebuilt my confidence.

Sometimes, some large rocks block (阻碍) our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to climb over. My accident was a rock ________ failed to stop me from reaching success. Today I’m a very confident person.

How to be green

We all need a healthy environment, but we produce waste every day, and it is harmful to our environment. Repeat these
47． words daily: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Reduce means “use less”. Do not waste things. It saves money and
48． less pollution. Do not order more food than you can finish. Turn
49． the lights when you do not need them. Before you buy something new, think
50． it is really necessary because maybe the old one is just as good!

Reuse means “use again”. Use things for as
51． as possible. Look after them so that they will last. Repair them if possible. Do not throw them away and buy new ones. Do not use paper cups or paper bags. It is better to use china cups and
52． bags because they can be used many times.

Recycle means “change things into something else to be reused”. Although it takes energy to change things
53． something else, it is better than throwing things away or burning them. We throw
54． of rubbish away each year, and we have to make a change. Divide your rubbish into plastic, glass, paper and rubber.
55． a recycling policy for the whole community. Buy products such as recycled paper to help save trees.

We cannot hope for
56． change, but let’s take these simple steps today so that we will save the world for our grandsons and granddaughters tomorrow.

Walking

If you want to get healthy or stay healthy, there is one easy activity for you — walking. You may think that simply taking a walk is not enough to make a big difference. You may think that you need to do something like running to stay healthy. Well, a new study says that is not true. It finds out that walking may be as good for us as running.

Running is a high-impact (高强度的) activity and can be hard on the body. So, many people cannot run. Walking seems to have all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages of running.

Dr Russell Pate is a professor of exercise science at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. He says, “Walking is one of the easiest and safest exercises a person can do. You do not need to learn a lot to get results.”

Walking needs no special skills or equipment. You can do it anywhere. It fits easily into your daily schedule (日程表). You can walk at work. You can walk if you want to go shopping. You can take the stairs instead of the lift.

Walking is a great exercise for beginners. If you are out of shape or getting back into shape after an illness or accident, walking is perfect. You can do a little at a time, or as we like to say, take baby steps.

Becoming a Minimalist (极简主义者)

I have too many things. My bedroom is often in a mess. I have shelves with dirty books I never read and CDs I don’t listen to. My drawers are filled with clothes I never wear. I was getting upset (心烦意乱的) that I never had any space in my bedroom. Then I read about minimalist. Minimalist suggests that you only keep the most necessary and important things and get rid of (处理掉) everything else. After reading about minimalism, I felt encouraged to solve my problem.

I started clearing out a lot of the things which I didn’t use. I collected bags of clothes to give to charity (慈善机构). I sold some of the CDs and books online. Although I knew that I would never need these things again, I still found it very difficult to get rid of them. My brain tried to stop me from letting them go. I said to myself “I might need that in the future!” or “Won’t I be sad if I lose that?” But the thing was, I knew I couldn’t keep everything.

After getting lots of things out of my room, I actually became quite excited to see the tidy room with some fresh space. And a tidy room also makes me have a clear mind! The main idea behind minimalism is to cut down what you own and really value the things you have. It’s not easy to be a minimalist. We are often told that it is better to have more things. Advertisements try to make us believe that we will only be happy by spending more money buying more things. Of course, I’m not a perfect minimalist — I’ve only just started. I still own a lot of things which I don’t really need, but I think this was a good start. In the future, I will be more mindful of what I buy. And I will continue to make an effort to get rid of what I don’t need.

   During ancient times, children didn’t have much to enjoy themselves. What did they do for fun in their childhood? Let’s have a look!

	★Playing diabolo Diabolo passed down to ordinary people during the Ming Dynasty. It was always made of bamboo and wood, and was hollow (空心的) in the center. By throwing and catching diabolo on ropes, the high-speed rotating (旋转) diabolo would make a sound.
	★Playing stone balls During the Qing Dynasty, kicking a stone ball around was a popular sport in the northern part of China, and it was often played in winter to keep warm. Stones were carved (刻) into small balls and kicked.
	★Kicking shuttlecocks Shuttlecock kicking appeared in the Han Dynasty. People used chicken feathers (羽毛), coins and cotton cloth to make a shuttlecock. It was kicked in groups of three or four during walking or running.
	★Watching shadow plays Watching shadow plays was very popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. Shadow puppets (木偶) were made from the leather of donkeys (驴皮). There was light behind a large white screen on the table, the player controlled puppets and told stories. The movement could be seen from the other side of the screen.

难忘的初中生活即将结束，回顾这段时光，相信你在许多方面取得了不少进步，比如，生活技能的获得、学习方法的掌握、良好习惯的养成…… 请你根据自己的经验，以“How can we have a successful middle school life?”为题，结合以下要点与即将步入初中的学弟学妹们谈谈如何成功地度过初中生活。

How can we have a successful middle school life?

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