Bringing water to Liberians 

Destinee Whitaker was in the fourth grade when she first knew millions of people in Liberia(利比里亚)didn't have clean water. “It made me feel _______ ,” the girl said. “Not everyone had what I had. Water, you know, is something you _______ manage without.”

After Whitaker entered high school, she did some research on the problem carefully. She really wanted to _______ something. One day after school, she talked to her classmates about the problem. They decided to raise money to buy water purification (水质净化)systems for people in need.

Together, Whitaker and her classmates thought about _______ to raise money. They organized(组织) a game where students bought tickets to guess how many pieces of candy there were inside a jar(罐子).In only a few weeks' time, they raised $ 800.

Whitaker then tried to _______ an organization that could deliver (递送) the water purification systems to Liberia. She connected with Joseph Sackor. Sackor runs an organization that provides medical services for Liberians.

“When I heard Whitaker's story,” Sackor said, “I was really surprised. I was moved that a girl of her age would think about other people's _______ that way” Sackor said that in Liberia, many young children died because they had to drink dirty water. Some students stay away from school because their parents cannot afford to buy them bottled water. Whitaker's water purification systems will _______ make a difference in their lives.

And this is not the end of the story. Whitaker says she will _______ working with Sackor. She wants to find more ways to help people in need.

Your complete guide

The Palace Museum

Facts about the Palace Museum

Numbers to describe the Palace Museum

Can laughing every day help keep the heart attack (心脏病) away? Maybe so. Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect people against the heart attack, according to a recent study from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

“The old saying that ‘Laughter is the best medicine.’ seems to be true when it comes to protecting your heart,” said Michael Miller at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

In the study, researchers compared the humor responses (反应) of 300 people. Half of them had suffered a heart attack. The other 150 did not have heart disease. Researchers provided people from the first group with a series of multiple-choice (多选的) questions to find out how much or how little they laughed in certain situations. And the second group were given true or false questions to help researchers know more about anger.

Miller said the most important study finding was that “people with heart disease responded less humorously to everyday life situations” They generally laughed less, even in positive (乐观的) situations, and they showed more anger. “We know that exercising, no smoking and eating foods low in fat will help cut down on the risk of heart disease. Perhaps hearty laughter should be added to the list.” Miller said.

It may be possible to put laughter into our daily activities, just as we do with other heart-healthy activities, such as walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift. According to Miller, every one of us is supposed to read something humorous or watch a funny video, and try to find ways to take ourselves less seriously.

   When I arrived at my class on the early morning, I suddenly felt upset and uncomfortable. Today was the day when our teacher would leave and move to another school. Mr. Smith was very easy to talk with and to have fun with. He was cool, relaxed and was always friendly when you would see him. I couldn’t even imagine how things were going to be without him.

“Thank you everyone for my time here. I will forever keep these memories and friendships I’ve made in the past five years.” He took a deep breath and said, “As a moment for me leaving, please look under your seats.”

Confused(疑惑不解的), I slowly checked under my seat to see a yellow block of wood that read “Love” on it. I quickly got it and began to study it. After seconds of watching the block, I realized that it was a Jenga block(积木块).

Tears ran down my face and fell on the Jenga block. I heard my classmates sobbing(抽泣). That was to say, everyone in my class had a Jenga block with the word “Love”. We hadn’t found a way to express(表达) our sadness and also we couldn’t find a way to express our love to the respectable(令人尊敬的) man. “This is a reminder(提示物) to always love others.” Mr. Smith said slowly.

Maybe that day wasn’t the worst day, and it was just a moment of my life and I was too young to understand Mr. Smith. What Mr. Smith taught us is that whenever and wherever we are, we should love others. The Jenga block acts as a reminder, encouraging me to give a hand to those in need of help. As time goes on, “Love” others has been a habit.

Good grammar matters

Why is good grammar important? Well, good grammar can save lives! Just consider the difference between “Let's eat. Grandma!” and “Let’s eat Grandma!” With the first one, you are inviting your grandma over for a lovely meal. The second one sounds like you are excited about cannibalism(同类相食).

Jokes aside, some people think good grammar is unnecessary. They think that as long as they are being understood, it should not matter whether there are a few grammatical mistakes or not.

34． I believe good grammar matters.

Thinking about your grammar when you are writing makes you easier to be understood. You may think a grammatical mistake doesn’t matter. But think about it from the reader’s point of view(观点). Even a small mistake can make your reader stop and read the message again.
35．

36． Being able to speak and write correctly, over time, builds your confidence while using English. This will encourage you to increase your vocabulary. With good grammar and a wide vocabulary, you will find it easier to express your ideas and communicate with native speakers(讲母语的人) .

Good grammar can also make you appear more reliable(值得信赖的). Just think about your attitudes(态度) towards a newspaper that has many grammatical mistakes in its articles. You will doubt (怀疑) if the information in the newspaper is reliable, won’t you?

The same is true on a personal level. If there are many careless mistakes, then it appears to readers that you don’t care about your work. This makes them less likely(可能的) to trust you.

37．

“Which is the right bin(垃圾箱) for my garbage (垃圾).” This may be the most-asked question in Shanghai since it started a new garbage-sorting(垃圾分类) program on July 1. When learning about the four 
49． of garbage-wet, dry, recyclable and harmful, many people might not be clear about how to 
50． sort it.

To help people work it out, China’s tech companies are giving a hand. For example, if you want to throw away a milk tea cup, you can just open a mini app(小程序) in WeChat or Alipay and 
51． “milk tea cups”. The app will give you the answer right away. Soon, you might do it in an easier way. Maybe you can just take a photo of the garbage and then be told where it should go.

This kind of technology 
52． image recognition(图像识别). It uses artificial intelligence(AI,人工智能). Many companies around the world are making garbage-sorting robots that use this technology. For example, AMP Robotics in the US has made a robot that can sort food and drink packages (包装) . By “seeing” pictures on the packaging, the robot will 
53． the rubbish and put it in the right place.

Why should we sort our garbage? The answer lies in the increasing amount of waste we are producing. Chinese cities produce over 200 
54． tons of waste each year, according to China Economic Net. Most of this waste is buried(填埋) in landfills(垃圾填埋场), which may pollute water and soil. What’s more, we are running out of space for new landfills.

In fact, more than half of our waste can be recycled. Recyclable garbage can be made into something 
55．, while wet garbage can be used to make gas, heat and fertilizer (肥料).So we need to sort our garbage.

Can’t garbage-processing companies do the sorting job for us? They can. But that requires a lot of 
56． and costs lots of money. Things will become much 
57． if each of us can sort our own garbage. Also, the task of sorting encourage people 
58． less waste.

Orphan elephants

When an elephant calf is born, it stands quickly on its feet. It drinks milk from its mother for a few years. The mother elephant teaches her calf how to use its trunk(象鼻). She teaches it many things. The mother elephant is very important to an elephant calf.

Elephants travel a lot. Sometimes they have to cross rivers. A calf can be washed down a river. Or it can fall into a hole. When a calf is separated from its mother, it becomes an orphan. Sometimes a calf becomes an orphan because its mother has been killed.

In the wild, an elephant calf needs its mother. It can’t live without her. It can get sick. Some people called keepers, take care of the orphan elephants in a park. The keepers take care of the elephants until they can take care of themselves. Then, the keepers take the elephants back to the wild.

The keepers need to teach an elephant calf how to feed. To make it more relaxed, they rest its trunk against a huge blanket (毯子) , which feels a little like its mother. In the wild, an elephant calf will go under its mother to find shelter (庇护处) from the sun. At the park, the keepers put an umbrella over them.

One day, the keepers found Dika. He was all alone. Some people had killed Dika’s family, and he had run away. The keepers took Dika to the park. He was taken care of, but he cried for his mother. It was a long time before Dika was happy again.

Dika was ten years old before he could live in the wild again. Many years later, he came back to the park. He had some wire (电线) around his leg. He needed the keepers to help him. Orphan elephants don’t forget where they were cared for.

   人生的道路上我们总会因为遇到各种问题而感到烦恼，越是烦恼时越需要用积极、乐观的心态去面对。假如你是初三学生李华，收到了笔友Paul的来信，在信中他提到了自己生活中的烦恼，并想知道你的类似经历。请你用英语写一封回信，结合你自己的生活经历谈谈你对烦恼的认识，并给予他鼓励。