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　　If you stay in an Indian home, bring something from your home country as a gift．Although it is not expected, it would be much appreciated．But find out the social position and religion of your hosts before you choose the gift．A bottle of foreign whisky would be the perfect gift for some, and not at all suitable for others．If you know the people you are going to stay with, it is a good idea to ask them what they would like．Some things are just not available in India．

　　It is not necessary to bring a gift when you are invited to dinner．After all, you are the honored guest．Until recently, it would have been almost disgusting to bring sweets or a bottle of wine．But this is not true today．Nowadays it is a custom which is becoming popular with many Indians．Fruit, flowers of a box of sweets are perfect gifts on such occasions, and will offend no one．

　　In all classes of socially, both in the city and in the country, food is only taken to the mouth with the right hand．This is the most important part of the etiquette of eating in India．When you watch Indians eat you will see that they keep their left hand on their lap．

　　If you are stuck for a conversation topic in India, talk about families．Another useful subject to start with is cricket(板球)．But once you get to know a person better, any topic is acceptable．Indians love to talk about politics and religion．They enjoy heated discussions and not just polite conversations．Conversation is an art form and people take the time to really talk．

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　　Computers are very important to modern(現(xiàn)代的)life．Many people think that in the future computers will be used in lots of everyday life．It is thought that we won’t have to go shopping because we will be able to get most things which are sold in shops on the internet．There will be no more books because we will be able to get all texts from computers．The internet will be used to play games, see films and buy food．Most telephone calls will be made by computers．

　　Some people are glad about these new ways of shopping and communicating(交流)．Others do not think that computers will replace(取代)our old ways．

　　Let’s look at books, for example．Some people think that one day we will not read books made of paper．Instead, we will buy and read books using computers．We will read texts on small pocket computers．The computers will keep many different books in them at the same time．We won’t need to turn lots of pages and paper will be saved, Computerized(計算機化的)books will be used more and more．

　　Is internet shopping such a pleasure as going to the shop?Many people say it is not．It is a pleasure to go into shops and look at things you want to buy．Also probably people won’t like to read large texts on our computers．Because paper books seem to be more friendly．Maybe computers won’t change these two habits(習(xí)慣)．

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　　HongZhanhui is a 23-year-old college student．He has raised an abandoned(被遺棄的)child for 11years．This story moved millions of Chinese people．

　　Hong was born in a small village in Henan Province．When he was 12, his father suddenly went crazy(瘋狂的，古怪的)and killed his lovely sister．Hong was very sad．He missed his sister very much．Then the family adopted(收養(yǎng))a baby girl called Chenchen．

　　The illness of Hong’s father became worse and worse, He often hit his wife．Later, Hong’s mother ran away from home．Hong had to support the family and bring up Chenchen by himself．

　　In 1998, Hong entered Xihua No．Senior High School, about 20 kilometres from his home．Hong took Chenchen along with him．He never talked to others about his hard life．He put his part-time into many things： working to get money, looking after his adopted sister, and sending medicine home for his father．He sold, pens, books, tapeds and phone cards after school．“Many people looked down on me for that,”Hong said, “But I didn’t care．”

　　In 2003 Hong entered Hunan huaihua College．Hong sent Chenchen, now 12, to a primary school in Hunan with the money he got．When Hong’s story became public, many people wanted to gave him money．But Hong refused．

　　“Poverty(貧窮、貧困)and suffering(苦難)should not be an excuse for begging sympathy(同情)and help from society,”said Hong．“I think it is most important for a man to support himself and be strong．”

　　What a self-supporting man he is!We should learn from him all．

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　　Reading newspapers has become an important part of everyday life．Some people read newspapers as the first thing to do in the morning, others read newspapers as soos as they have free time during the day so that they can learn what is happening in the world．

　　Sometimes, we do not have enough time to read all the news carefully, so we just take a quick loot at the front page．At other times, we may be in such a hurry that we only have a few minutes to look at the headlines(標題)of the passage．

　　Newspapers can be found everywhere in the world．We can get many different kinds of newspapers in big cities, but in some mountain villages we can see few newspapers．

　　Some newspapers are published(出版)once a week, but most of the papers are published once a day with many pages, some even published twice a day!You know different people enjoy reading different newspapers．Some like world news, and others prefer short stories．They just choose what they are interested in．

　　Today newspapers in English have the largest numbers of readers in the world, The English language is so popular that many Chinese students are reading English newspapers such as China Daily or 21^st Century．Also they bring us more and more information with internet．

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　　A new school term begins, Is anything new at your school?Sichuan students are getting an extra(額外的)hour to sleep in the morning．

　　This year, Sichuan schools decided that students should start classes later．This should help them feel less tired, For Junior high schools, the first classes will begin no earlier than 8∶30 am．

　　The changes have made students happy．

　　Liu Xian, 15, said his class was exacted by the news on the first day of school．“It’s so good we can get up later!”said Liu．

　　Liu studies in Chengdu No．4 Middle School．He used to get up at 6∶40 am．Now he can get up at 7∶40 am because class doesn’t start until 8∶40 am．

　　Wu Hongli, 15, said the new timetable is good for her health．“I used to drink coffee every night or I would feel to sleepy to finish my homework, ”said Wu．“Now I can finish it without coffee．”She used to get up at 6∶30 am．Now she can get up at 7∶30 am．

　　Wu Hongli’s mother was happy, too．She thought more sleep would help her daughter grow taller．

　　But some parents worried that more sleep would mean less learning．There used to be five classes in the morning．Now there are only four．

　　Many teachers, though, say the changes will help students learn better．

　　“Students used to doze(瞌睡)for the first two classes in the morning,”said Wu Zongping, an English teacher at Chendu No．12 Middle School．“But now they look fine and they learn much better than before．”

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　　“I hate school, and I’m not going back!”Have you ever had that thought?

　　Lots of kids have had．Usually this feeling doesn’t last long．But what if you feel this way too much?

　　If you are stressed out, you might have a hard time making decision．In the morning, you can’t decide what to eat, what to wear, or what to take for lunch．

　　Sometimes it’s a problem with your classes and schoolwork．Maybe the work is too easy and you get bored．Or maybe the work is too hard, or you don’t feel as clever as the other kids．Reading may be difficult for you, but you are asked to do a lot of it．

　　You may be getting farther and farther behind, and it may seem that you will never catch up with others．

　　When you know why you don’t like school, you can start taking steps to make things better．It’s a good idea to talk to someone about your problems at school．Your mom, dad, friends, teachers, or even classmates will be able to help you．

　　Another good idea is to write down your feeling about school．For instance, keep a diary or just write in a notebook．It’s a great way to let out emotion that may be stuck inside you．And you don’t have to share(分享)what you have written with others．

　　The next time you find yourself disliking school, this will also help you：

　　Make a list of everything you dislike or enjoy－even there is only one thing．See what you can change on“don’t like”list．Could you find a way to show off your special interests and talents on what you like? Which activities could you try that would help you solve these“don’t like”problems? Focus on what you can change and you might be able to put the good feeling back in school!

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　　Mrs Weeks was reading a newspaper story to her class．The story said：

　　Were you ever in a hospital when you were small? How did you feel? The doctors in Children’s Hospital are asking for money for children’s toys．Some children in the hospital must stay in bed for many weeks．Toys are needed to keep these sick children happy and quiet．Money for them can be sent to the hospital．

　　After Mrs．Weeks read the story, she said,“This story gave me an idea．”

　　“You want us to bring some money for the toys．”“We could bring some of our own toys for the children in the hospital,”said the boys and girls one after another．

　　“Well, your ideas would be nice,”Mrs．Weeks said,“but mine is different．”

　　Mrs．Weeks smiled．“Do you think you could make toys?”she asked．

　　“Yes, yes,”the whole class answered．

　　“Great! Let’s begin to make toys tomorrow,”said Mrs．Weeks．

　　On Saturday afternoon, Mrs．Weeks took the children to the hospital with the toys made by her students．The children in the hospital felt very happy to see the toys．The children in the class felt happy, too．

　　A few days later, Mrs．Weeks read another newspaper story to the class：

　　Some school pupils brought toys to Children’s Hospital last week．The toys were made by the pupils of Grade Three in Green Street School．The doctors said,“We have never had so many wonderful toys．Our children are very happy with them．They say, ‘THANK YOU, GRADE THREE’”

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　　M r．Ellis is very old．He has seen many changes in his home town．

　　He knows that things are different now．But he never forgets the old days．He likes to talk about them．He often talks about his favourite birds, the robins(歐洲的一種小鳥)．“When I was a boy, these houses were not here．There were wide fields and tall trees．Every spring the robins would come．Thousands of them would fly up to the north from the south．They spent the winter in the south．Some would build their nests(巢)in the trees near our houses．Then people started to cut down trees, and they built more houses．The robins stopped coming．They couldn’t build their nests near our houses because there were no trees．”

　　“Now there are too many houses and too many roads．There are no places for the robins．They do not come any more．”

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　　Mrs．Liu worked in a big school in America．She had boys and girls in her class．She liked teaching them, because they were quick and thought everything carefully．One day she said to the children．“People in a lot of countries wear white clothes at funerals(葬禮)．But people in America and in Europe wear white clothes when they are happy．What colour does a woman wear in this country when she marries?”

　　Mary said,“White, Mrs．Liu, because she is happy．”

　　“That's good, Mary,”Mrs．Liu said,“You are right．She wears white because she is happy．”

　　But one boy in the class put his hand up．“Yes, Danny! Do you want to ask something?”said Mrs．Liu．

　　“Yes,”Danny said,“Why do men wear black in this country when they marry?”

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　　One day Einstein is walking in a street in New York．His friend meets him and says to him,“Einstein, you should buy a new coat．Look, your coat is very old．”

　　But Einstein answers,“it doesn't matter．Nobody knows me here．”

　　After a few years, Einstein becomes a famous scientist(著名科學(xué)家)．But he still wears the old coat．

　　His friend meets him again and asks him to buy a new one．

　　But Einstein says,“I don't need to buy a new one．Everyone knows me here．”

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