I grew to be a tall girl but I tried to be as ordinary (平常) as possible. At school, I always chose a 1 in the back of the room, and never put up my hand in class. In my last year in high school, we were 2 that a new English teacher, Oliver Bascom, was going to 3 us.
Oliver Bascom! The girls laughed as we imagined a short and bald (秃头) man. But this was in fact not 4 , because this man would teach us for the whole year. 5 , after we opened the door, there in front of the blackboard, we 6 a young and handsome man.
All at once the seventeen-year-old girls flew to get to the 7 seats in the classroom. And I managed to 8 a front and center desk. I really wanted to make a good impression (印象) on my new teacher, 9 I usually kept quiet.
One Friday Mr. Oliver Bascom asked us to write an essay (文章) as our first writing homework, which I was good at. And then I worked the whole weekend 10 the essay and waited nervously for Mr. Bascom's evaluation (评价).
Three days later, he arrived in class holding the papers that he had 11 . "I've chosen the ten best essays for class discussion." he said.
Twenty minutes later, I was most 12 when he got to the last essay. I didn't hear my name.
"These are all great essays," Mr. Bascom continued, "However, I am now going to read you the most successful of all…." We were all surprised as I was the writer of this unusual 13 !
A 14 girl walked out of the classroom that day. I knew that I had a new set of standards to follow and that thing was possible in the future. Finally, I raised my 15 .
If you want to find more about chocolate, you can go to hundreds of special shops, museums, and visitor centers in different countries.
Barcelona, Spain
One of the most interesting chocolate museums is in Barcelona, Spain. You can find some of Barcelona's most famous buildings here, but of course, they are all made of chocolate. You can also learn how to make it. If the wonderful smell makes you hungry, do not worry. You get a good ticket when you arrive—it is a bar of chocolate and you can eat it while you are walking around!
Prague, Czech
Visitors to Prague in the Czech Republic can also go to an unusual small museum. It has pictures by the artist Vladomir Cech and he made them all in chocolate. At the museum, you can try making a picture yourself. But be careful it is not easy!
Birmingham, UK
Cadbury Warld center in Birmingham in the UK is also a famous place with chocolate lovers. Over 500,000 people go there every year to find out about the Cadbury story.
The visitor center is next to their famous factory. You can stand in the corner of the building and watch while people make real Cadbury Dairy Milk. Hundreds of bars go past your eyes every minute—it is very exciting!
Hershey, USA
Hershey's Chocolate World in the USA is even more popular, with around three million visitors every year. It is a lot more than just a museum because you can visit a special 4D cinema here and go on a ride too. People sit in little cars to move from room to room, and on the journey they learn all about Hershey's chocolate.
This big-sister thing wasn't pleasant. I was five, and my sister Lisa was two years younger. Every time we did something that we shouldn't do, I got into more trouble. It seemed everybody paid attention to her.
One day I was playing with the kids next door, and found out that in other people's houses, the older kids had later bedtime. Going back with my new-found information, I asked my mother to make a change and she said no.
So I went to my room and started to pack. Into the suitcase (行李箱) went my books and some toys. Putting some more clothes into, I went downstairs. Mum looked up and asked if I was running away. As I told her yes, she wasn't nearly as upset as I expected.
"Are you going to Grandma Sylvia's?" I couldn't believe she would know this. She was like a witch (女巫).
Without answering her, I went out, pulling the suitcase with great difficulty, not knowing Mum was following behind.
Finally I got to Grandma's house about two kilometers away. Before I knocked, the door opened. Grandma told me she was happy to see me , and I realized Mum had already called ahead.
Soon Mum came in; sat in my grandmother's chair, took my hot little face in her hands and said, "Sweet-heart, I don't want you to be so unhappy. If it's hard for you to live with Lisa, tomorrow I'll call the orphanage (孤儿院) and send her away."
Knowing what an orphanage was, I started to cry. "Don't send my sister away!" Mum unwillingly agreed that we would all go home and give it another try. That night, Mum fed us, gave us a bath and sent us to bed at the same time.
In the following years, once in a while Lisa and I would have a fight, and to this day, if I turn over my shoulder and say, "Mum, Lisa's being mean (坏) to me!" Mum always answers in the same way, "You had your chance."
When you do some running, you have a lot of energy which comes from the movement of your body. When you suddenly stop, your body loses this energy. We already have watches and small medical devises (设备) which can use energy that we make when we move. In the future, people like police officers and soldiers may wear devices on their legs to "catch" this lost energy and keep it in batteries (电池). They could use the power for computers, radios or other devices.
In December 2008, most people walking across Hachiko Square, Tokyo, probably did not notice four yellow squares on the road as they hurried to work. The squares were made of special materials that make electricity when they change shape. When people stood on the squares, the shape of the materials changed and they produced electricity. The squares were only there for twenty days, but in that time they produced enough power to make a TV work 1,400 hours! Imagine putting these squares under all the streets in Tokyo. One day, we may turn our streets into power stations!
We can also use body heat. Every day, 250,000 people use Stockholm's Central Station. They eat and drink, carry heavy bags, and run to catch trains—and their bodies produce a lot of heat when they do these things. Inside the station, the heat is taken from the air and used to heat water for a nearby building.
It is a great way to get free energy—all you need is a lot of people.
After work, you go back home, open an app, place your order, and wait for your food to be delivered (投递) your home. This is how many young people eat in China these days. According to the latest report from the China Internet Network Information Center. 421 million Chinese people use online food delivery services. That's just half of the total number of Internet users in China.
Which group of people is ordering food online the most? For sure, it is mainly young people. A recent report by Meituan, a food delivery service, showed that 86.3% of the service's users are between 20 and 34 years old. These people are the main force driving the development of the food delivery industry.
Small families depend largely on food delivery services, Chinese families have changed in size over the past ten years. In 2002, only 7.7% of families have only one person. But this number increased to 15.6% in 2017. Two-person families rose from 18.4% in 2002 to 27.2% in 2017. For small families, cooking always takes a lot of time and energy, so ordering food online has become more popular.
The improvement of China's food delivery services has also made more customers interested. According to Meituan's report, the average (平均) time it takes to make a food delivery dropped from 38 minutes in 2016 to 29 minutes in 2020. Many delivery apps are also offering more services, delivering products such as fruit, vegetables, medicine and even flowers. As their services continue to improve, it's certain that the food delivery industry will keep growing in the future.
In America hitching a ride（搭便车）is very common. Many people there love hitching a ride during (they) trips. I also once hitched a ride when I was travelling in America.
I (drive) on the road when my car stopped. I was going to a town that was (far) than I had expected. My tank（油箱）became empty I got to the town. Standing there, I didn't know what to do. I just knew I needed help. But I could see nobody around. Who could I turn to? Then I thought the scenes that I had seen in Hollywood (movie). I remembered that people in America loved hitching a ride. I told myself that I could do that too.
So when a car was coming, I tried to hitch a ride. To my joy, the car (real) stopped in front of me. The driver was old man. After knowing my problem, he said he could help me out. He took me to the nearest gas station. But then he left as he had something important (do).
I couldn't walk all the way back to my car. Therefore, I tried to hitch a ride and I was (help) out once again. I was greatly moved.
Anne of Green Gables has been a favorite book of teenagers all over the world since it came out in 1908. What it teaches us is simple: How to grow up to be a happy and useful person.
Anne is an 11-year-old orphan who arrives in the town of Avonlea, Canada. She helps Mathew and Marilla Cuthbert, a brother and sister, on their farm.
At first, Mathew and Marilla hope to adopt (收养) a boy, not a thin girl. Will she be of any use on the farm? It seems unlikely: Anne is very imaginative, talkative and easily distracted (分心的). That's not what is needed on a farm.
And yet, Annie proves (证明) that she can actually be useful. She works really hard. But she doesn't lose her great sense of fun and this is why readers love the story. She doesn't become "a good girl", if "good girl" means knowing only how to work and live unhappily. We see Anne's love for life everywhere. She knows how to enjoy herself, whether it's by eating ice cream or trying on a new dress.
Many stories for children are written to tell them how to be good. Usually, it means doing one's duty (责任) and not having any fun. But that's not the kind of story Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery wanted to tell. The book gives readers a helping hand rather than try to scare them into being "good" girls and boys.
