In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business .But he was not a good artist .So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden .That was the first photo.
The next important date in the history of photography was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room .He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world .people took picture of famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, photography was improved .Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things .That was not simple .The photographers had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard. Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people .The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike.
Photographers also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world .They showed feelings like other kinds of art.
【小题1】The first photo taken by Niepce was a picture of ________

What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.
The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.
Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.
Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.
But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.
【小题1】The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person
born in that year.

ASK THE BLOG!
Post your problems on the blog and get other bloggers’ advice!
★★★★★★
My problem is my parents. They never stop going on about how I should keep my room tidy, keep my hair tidy and wear smart clothes. They even make me do the washing-up after dinner every night! None of my friends have got such tenable parents.  What should I do?
Helen, USA
★★★★★★
Hi, Helen. I think you should do what your parents ask. They’re much older than you and you should respect them. It’s their house you live in and their money you spend.
Emily, Australia
★★★★★★
Helen, why should your parents do all the housework? You should help around the house. –it’s only fair. I don’t think you should change your appearance though. Teenagers should look like teenagers.
Simon, England
【小题1】What is Helen’s problem?

Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge(向…挑战)yourself. So you can not always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转)door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.
【小题1】When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will_________.

Everyone needs friends. Friends bring us happiness and hope in our lives. But the ability to make friends changes from person to person. To some people, making friends is easy, and to others it’s very difficult.
Making friends is a skill, and the first thing is to know how to get on with others.
If you have trouble in making friends, maybe I can tell you how to do it.
Realize your own good points. You have skills and talents(才能) that others will like.
Believe that you are a good person and have something nice to share with others.
Be humourous. Learn to laugh at yourself and your weakness. Remember to smile at others.
Respect(尊敬) the others. Everyone has his own idea. Learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept(接受) yours.
Be kind. If you are kind to others, they will usually be kind to you. There are hundreds of little things you can do to show your kindness. Open the door for someone. Wave to a friend and so on.
Don’t complain(抱怨). Learn to accept what you can’t change, and work hard to change what you can. No one is willing to hear your complaints all the time.
Never give up. Even if you are faced with some closed-minded people, never give up. And try to find someone who will understand you.
【小题1】Why do we need friends according to the passage?

请阅读下面这篇文章，完成下面表格。
I am Jay from Zhuhai Sunshine Middle School. Recently, we carried out a survey on who we prefer to share worries with. We got different answers.
　　 Acording to the chart, those who would like to share their worries with their classmates and friends account for about 71%. It is mainly because they believe that if people are at the same age, they are easy to communicate and understand each other better.
　　About 22% of the students said they would like to share worries with their teachers and parents. According to them, adults are rich in experience, and that they can handle their problems easily. The rest prefer to keep worries to themselves. As for them, it’s a struggle to get along well with others, some of them said they didn’t want to trust anyone.
　　As far as I am concerned, I am willing to share worries with my best friends because they’re always kind and understanding. However, if I meet with some serious problems, I’ll be likely to ask my parents and teachers for help, who, I believe, have more experience to give me valuable advice.
Information Card

Shopping used to mean actually going to shops, but nowadays, you can shop without even leaving your house. Just sit in front of your computer, click your mouse and your things will be sent to your house in a couple of days.
November 11^th is a big day for people who like shopping online. On that day last year, many online stores offered a big discount and free delivery service. The biggest online shopping sites in China,Taobao.com and Tmall.com ，sold things worth 19.1 billion yuan in total.
“Goods online are often much cheaper. It also saves me a lot of time. And we often have more goods on many online stores than in shopping malls,” Wang Xin, an online shopping lover in Beijing, said to China Daily. She stayed up very late for a lot of cheap goods online. She spent several thousand that day.
Another big advantage of online shopping is that it helps people get things from different cities, even different countries, with ease. “I like eating duck neck very much and I often buy it on Taobao from shops in Wuhan. It’s much more delicious than what our local (当地的) stores sell, but cheaper,” said Zang Xin, a girl in Yangzhou.
While enjoying online shopping, many people also have worries, especially for middle school student buyers. Young students are easily attracted by advertisements on the Internet and buy things they don’t need.
“Middle school students should pay more attention to their study. Searching for things wastes their time,” said Jing Chunling, an education expert. “Besides, online shop owners have no idea of the ages of their buyers. Anyone can easily buy things that they want to. Some of goods are even bad for young students such as cigarettes and wine.”
【小题1】Nowadays many people like shopping online instead of _________.

Be Thankful
Be thankful when you don’t already have everything you want.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something,
for it gives you the chance to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for each new challenge(挑战) ,
because it will build your strength(意志) and character(品格).
Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you important lessons
Be thankful when you’re tired,
because it means you’ve made a difference.
It’s easy to be thankful for the good things
A life of rich fulfillment(满足) comes to those
who are also thankful for the setbacks(挫折).
Gratitude(感激) can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.
【小题1】According to the poem, ________ make us grow.

When you hear birds singing, do you want to sing with them? When the light wind  1   , can you feel its friendly touch on your face? When you see the first little    2    from the ground in the early spring, do you feel   3    about that? These are wonderful feelings from the nature.
The nature can make our everyday life colorful. It    4   gives us lots of lovely surprises. We can find some time to  5  close to the nature. Let’s feel it from our heart. We can enjoy the simple, easy moments under the clear sky, along the  6   river, or just in the park near our houses. We can feel many wonderful things in  7  place.
Why not   8  away from your busy work and take a rest in Mother Nature’s arms? You can sing with the bird, dance with the wind or jump with the rain.    9  the same time, we can find out the magic of life.
The nature is always preparing some   10  for you. It has put the gifts in the sky, along the river or in the park. Can you find them?
【小题1】A. blows          B. falls           C. drops
【小题2】A. animal         B. flower          C. rain
【小题3】A. exciting       B. excited         C. boring
【小题4】A. never          B. hardly          C. always
【小题5】A. get            B. send        C. live
【小题6】A. dirty          B. noisy           C. quiet
【小题7】A. every          B. all             C. both
【小题8】A. make           B. stay            C. leave
【小题9】A. For            B. In              C. At
【小题10】A. drinks        B. vegetables      C. gifts

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
【小题1】Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.