It was a dark, cloudy evening when Father told us the news. Our family was gathered around the old dinner table. My father ______ from me to my 11-year-old brother, James, and finally to my mother. Her eyes looked ______ as she met his nervous face. They had been strangely quiet all through dinner. My brother and I ______ spoke at the table unless we were spoken to.

“Jack,” Mother said quietly. “We must ______ the children.”

“These past few years have been hard on all the ______ around here,” Father said slowly. I knew this was true. ______ my parents didn’t speak to my brother and me about it, we had heard them talking. “We’ve lost the farm,” he finally said. Then there was a long ______.

“Where will we go?” James asked, his voice shaking. “West Virginia,” Father replied calmly. “Last week there was a man in town from a coal mine (煤矿) down there. He said they have jobs, and the coal company will ______ our train tickets and give us a house when we get there. We’ll leave on a train next Wednesday.”

James and I silently got up from the table and ______ the dishes, as we did every night. He said in a low voice, “Anna, I don’t want to move.” I replied, “Neither do I. But there’s ______ we can do about it. At least we’ll all be together.”

Thousands of years ago, Shennong, who had an ox (牛) head and human body, lived in the south of ancient China. Seeing that local people were suffering from disease, he built ladders (梯子) and houses on a high mountain to store medical plants. To remember him, people named the place Shennongjia.

The story makes Shennongjia in Hubei an inviting place for tourists. Traveling there is a quite different experience, as you can see sceneries (风景) of the four seasons from different height. “When the bottom of the mountain is summer, the top is spring and while the foothill is autumn, the top is covered with ice,” local people say of the special climate of Shennongjia.

Shennongjia is also home to 5,000 kinds of animals and plants. Many rare animals live there, such as the golden monkey and the Asian black bear.

One intersting thing about Shennongjia is its story of wild men. Some people said that they saw big foot marks. Yet so far, scientists haven’t proved (证实) it is true and some say they are just bears.

The beautiful place has recently received a new title. It was added to United Nations World Heritage (遗产) list as a natural site. China now has 50 world heritage sites, only less than Italy in the world.

Many people like eating meat so much that they can’t enjoy a single meal without it. After seeing a new study, they may want to change their eating habits.

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that having too much red meat can cause a higher risk of early death. These “dangerous” meats are the ones that look red before they’re cooked, such as pork, beef and rabbit. Scientists published the study results in a medical magazine.

The scientists studied the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years. They did a survey on their diets every four years. During the 20 years of research, almost 24,000 people died, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,464 from cancer.

Scientists examined different lifestyle factors (因素) , including age, weight, physical activity and family history of heart disease. They also studied the amount of different foods they ate, such as corns, fruits, vegetables and fish.

The results showed that eating one meal a day of cooked red meat was connected with a 20 percent higher risk of early death.

“The message we want to communicate is it would be great if you could lower your intake of red meat to half a serving (一份) a day or two to three servings a week,” the study’s lead author, An Pan told the USA Today.

Chinatown is the name given to an area in the middle of London. It is a large Chinese community with a lot of Chinese restaurants, supermarkets and shops.

In the 1950s, it was a poor area and everything was very cheap. At the same time, the world rice market changed and thousands of farm workers in Hong Kong lost their jobs. They began arriving in London to look for work. They found jobs in the restaurants in this area.

These restaurant workers often worked 17 hours a day and had no time to learn English. As more Chinese arrived, more shops and businesses grew up. Wives came and joined their husbands and children came and joined their fathers. The community grew, and Chinatown was born.

In the 1970s and 1980s, British-born Chinese started to have a better education and this brought economic (经济的)success to the area. Many families moved out of Chinatown, and there was more space for businesses. Chinatown soon became a popular place for tourists.

Now everyone knows about London’s Chinatown. During the Chinese New Year, the streets are seen with flags and thousands of Chinese go into the streets. For most of the year, though, Londoners and tourists go there mainly for the food in the Chinese restaurants. The best restaurants are the ones where the Chinese eat.

Students often have a lot of worries. Sometimes they have problems with their schoolwork, and sometimes with their friends. What can they do about this? 1.让我们看看劳拉怎么处理她的问题的。

One day, Laura lost her wallet and worried for days. She was afraid to tell her parents about it. She kept thinking, “2.If my parents know it, how angry they will be!” In the end, she talked to her parents and they were really understanding. Her dad said he sometimes made careless mistakes too. They got her a new wallet and asked her to be more careful.

An expert called Robert Hunt says, “3.It is best for us not to run away from our problems. We should always try to solve them.” He thinks the first step is to find someone you trust to talk to. 4.学生们可以向老师或朋友寻求建议因为他们是愿意帮助人的。In English, we say that sharing a problem is like cutting it in half. 5. So you’re halfway to solving a problem just by talking to someone about it!

Tess was a little girl. Her brother was very sick. But her family didn’t have money to send him to the hospital. “Only a miracle (奇迹) can save him now,” said her dad.

Tess got out all the money she had saved. Then she walked a long way to the pharmacy (药店). “What do you want?” the pharmacist asked.

“Well, my brother is sick,” Tess answered. “My daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much is a miracle?”

“We don’t sell miracles here. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said.

“I have the money to pay. Just tell me how much it costs.”

A well-dressed man was standing nearby. He asked the little girl: “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?”

“He needs an operation. But my daddy can’t pay for it.” Tess replied with tears in her eyes.

“How much do you have?” asked the man.

“One dollar and 11 cents,” Tess answered.

“Well,” smiled the man. “A dollar and 11cents—that’s just the price of a miracle for your little brother.”

He took her money and said: “Take me to your home. I want to see your brother. Maybe I have the kind of miracle you need.”

That man was a famous doctor. He gave the boy the operation for free. Before long, the boy was home again and doing well.

“That operation,” her mom said to her dad quietly, “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost.”

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and 11 cents...and the love and faith (信心) of a little child.

假设你是李华。你们班将举行以My Dream Shop为主题的班会。如果你有足够的资源，你理想中的店铺是什么呢？鲜花店、书吧、宠物店、主题收藏店……？请你根据老师提出的问题并适当发挥，写一篇80词左右的英语短文。

My Dream Shop