An old man went to India. When he got there, he saw some fruit for sale, but most of it was very cheap. The cheapest thing was a basket of red fruit.
"1 is a kilo of fruit?" the old man asked.
"Two rupees(卢比), " the villager answered. Two rupees in India is almost nothing, so the old man bought many and started 2 it.
However, as soon as he started eating, his mouth began to be 3, his eyes began to water, and his face became as 4 as the fruit. As he coughed(咳嗽) and it was difficult for him to say anything, he jumped up and down, shouting, "Ah! Ah! Ah！"
But he 5 kept eating the fruit. Some people who were looking at him shook(摇) their heads and said, "You are feeling terrible? Those are chili peppers(辣椒)! 6 can't just eat them by the handful！"
The old man said to himself, "I 7 them, so I must eat them."
This old man looked like a fool. But are we so 8? All of us have spent money and time on something—maybe a friendship, or a job—and sometimes even though we know there's no 9, we still go for it.
What we can 10 from the old man is this: If you've lost a lot over something that doesn't work, let it go and move on.
Alex was a giraffe and lived in a zoo with his mom, dad and other giraffe friends. As Alex grew, he found his neck (脖子) was much shorter. He began to get worried. But his mother told him that he was special. She said it was OK how short or long his neck was.
Alex tried not to think about his short neck. But as his friends grew taller and taller, his neck stayed short. Sometimes the other giraffes laughed at(嘲笑) him, but his parents told him not to worry. They said that he should be happy with himself. He tried, but he could not even play in some giraffe sports. He was just too short.
One day, one of the zoo workers came and took Alex away. Alex was afraid. Would he have to leave the zoo just because he didn't have a long neck? The zoo worker smiled(微笑) at Alex and gave him some food. He felt better. Then he took Alex into another place in the zoo. There was a small door between the two places. Alex was the only giraffe that could come and go through it.
Soon Alex's parents came to see him. "I told you that you were special, " his mother said. "The zoo has made a place just for you because so many people want to see how special you are！" She was right. Visitors watched him and shouted excitedly. They looked happy to see something so special at the zoo.
Shelby played Bella in the film A Dog's Way Home in 2019. She looked just like a dog star. However, the dog was not born a movie star. About ten months ago, she lived on the streets and spent days looking for food in trash (垃圾).
It was in April 2017 that someone found her on the street and took her to the animal center. Then the dog's life changed(改变). The workers at the center named her Baby Girl and put her picture on the Internet to help her find a home. Luckily, the filmmakers of A Dog's Way Home were looking for a dog just like Baby Girl. So when the dog trainer(训练师) Miller saw the photo, she was quite interested. "It was a really good picture, and she was smiling beautifully," said Miller.
Miller gave Baby Girl a new name—Shelby—and also some tests. To Miller's surprise, Shelby did all the tests well. And it took Miller only three months to train Shelby to be a Hollywood actress. Of course, Shelby did a good job in the movie A Dog's Way Home. After the movie ended, Shelby found a home in California. She is now working as a therapy dog(治疗犬), spending her days visiting hospitals and schools. As a therapy dog, Shelby also does her job very well. Her owner(主人) said, "She just knows what she needs to do when she needs to do it. Not all dogs have that."
But, hopefully, Shelby's story will make more people bring dogs and other pets from animal centers home.
Do you know "Hey, are you phubbing me?" It means that you are playing with your phone and not paying attention to(注意) others.
"Phub" is a new word, and it is from two words "phone" and "snub(冷落)". "Snub" means you are not paying attention to someone or something when you should be. We often see it as an impolite(不礼貌的) way when we are eating or playing with other people. So, this new word means you only look at your phone and ignore people around you.
Now think about that you are talking to your friends, and they just start looking at the screens of their phones. Some of them even begin sending messages to other people and putting pictures on Facebook when you are talking. How does that make you feel?
However, many of us are doing the same thing to our friends without thinking about it. A group of people did a study in a college and about 1, 000 students joined in it. According to the result, 35% of students are phubbers, and 25% always answer their phones when they are talking with other people face to face.
Tired of seeing this kind of action when talking with others face to face, an Australian student, named Alex Haigh, started an activity to stop phubbing. He hopes that people can stop being phubbers all the time and spend more time talking with people around them.
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tomato activity take never wash |
—No, she is our clothes.
—He usually the bus.
Please look at this picture. It's (黑暗的). But it's about 35 meters tall, from Kelli and her husband, Pete. They made the picture at a park to remember Kobe Bryant. It was a good (想法).
"The face was from two different photos, and the body was from a different photo, " said Kelli Pearson. "It's a piece of art. I'd like to (享受) his beautiful smile." The picture only stayed in the park for some days, (穿过) from the river, but it was very popular on the Internet.
Kobe Bryant was an (极好的) basketball player. He started to play basketball when he was very (幼小的). And he played for 20 (年) with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe worked very hard and was one of the world's top basketball players.
In 2016, Kobe (离开) the NBA. He tried many new things. He wrote his first book, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play. (以后), he wrote a poem(诗) called "Dear Basketball" and it was made into a short cartoon movie.
Unluckily, he lost his life in an air crash(空难) in California on January 26, 2020. His fans were very sad about it and (想念) him very much.
Do you know Singapore(新加坡)? This small beautiful country is a great place to have a trip. Last December, my parents and I had good time there.
We lived in a nice hotel. On the first day, we went (taste) the food there. To our surprise, we found a lot of Chinese food like noodles and dumplings. My father liked Indian food very much, but it was too hot me.
On the next evening, we went to visit a special zoo. Why? Well, because it's a Night Safari(夜间动物园). There we saw lions, (tiger) and many other animals. They were walking or running in the zoo. These animals didn't sleep at night!
On the (three) day, we went shopping. At first, I was worried about my parents they couldn't speak English. Then we got a (surprise) to find that many people there could speak Chinese. Most of the time, I talked to (they) in English when buying things, because it was a good way to practice my spoken English.
On the last day, we went to the beach. The weather was very good—(sun) and warm. We (swim), ate seafood and played volleyball there.
All in all, it was an exciting trip!
What makes the perfect vacation? We asked a teenager:
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I'd like to go to Europe-France, Italy, the UK, Greece and Switzerland if possible!
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By plane, of course. It's a long way from Japan to Europe! I like to stay in really big, expensive hotels. But I wouldn't mind staying in small hotels if they were cheaper.
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I want to go sightseeing in the capital cities. I want to see all the famous places I've heard about. And of course I want to go to some lovely restaurants and try out European food!
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I never go anywhere without my MP3 player and my diary book.
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Because I can see so many new places and get chance to practice my English, too.
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A. Why is this vacation perfect for you? B. Where do you want to go? C. What do you want to do during the vacation? D. How do you want to get there? E. What do you want to take with you? |
