13．A Birthday Present for Brandon
　　Brandon went to the pet store with his mom and his brothers, Isaiah and Matt. Isaiah needed food for his rabbit. Matt wanted a toy for his bird.
　　Brandon looked at a red-and-blue-striped fish while he waited. Air bubbled (冒泡) to the top of the fish tank. Brandon leaned close to the glass. Could he hear the bubbles pop (爆裂)?
　　"May I have a pet?" Brandon asked.
　　"You can't take care of a (1)      " Isaiah said. "You're too little."
　　"I'm almost seven." said Brandon. "I can take care of a pet."
　　"You won't be gentle with a pet." said Matt. "You're too little."
　　Mom smiled. "It's (2)      to keep a pet's cage neat."
　　Brandon stood tall. "I can be neat."
　　When they got home. Brandon went to the room he shared with Matt. Brandon's blocks dotted the floor. Toy cars covered the top of his desk. Books were flopped on his bed. Brandon's pajamas hung from the back of his chair. "My side of the room is not neat," Brandon said.
　　He dropped his blocks into a bin. He (3)      the cars on his shelf. He stacked (堆放) the books, leaving One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, on the top.
　　Brandon put his pajamas away. He smiled. He could be (4)      .
　　The doorbell rang. Brandon heard Uncle Jay say hello to Mom. He heard his baby cousin, Rubie, crying. "Hi, Uncle Jay," Brandon said. "Why is Rubie (5)      ?"
　　"She's hungry, Brandon," Uncle Jay said. "Can you get her baby bottle?"
　　Brandon found the bottle in Rubie's bag. Uncle Jay put Rubie on a blanket. Brandon sat in front of her. He (6)      his face with his hands. "Peekaboo (躲猫猫)," Brandon said, lowering his hands. Rubie stopped crying.
　　"You're very gentle," said Uncle Jay. "Do you want to feed Rubie?"
　　Brandon nodded.
　　Rubie helped Brandon hold the bottle with her little fingers. She looked at him as she drank. Tiny white bubbles floated in Rubie's (7)      , then popped.
　　"Thank you for helping take care of Rubie," Uncle Jay said to Brandon. "You're really growing up."
　　Mom looked at Brandon (8)      Rubie. "Yes, he is," she said and kissed the top of Brandon's head.
　　That night, Mom and Dad told Brandon he could have a pet for his birthday.
　　"Wow, thanks," Brandon said. "I know just what I want. A fish. And a tank full of bubbles."

14．　　If you have problems describing people, don't worry!We'll use popular film characters to help you learn some useful words.

15．Three Fingers of Patience
　　Once there was a farmer with his wife and children living a happy life by earning from their own land in a village. The family planted the crops in spring, and harvested the crops in autumn. The only issue (问题) faced by the farmer was a lack of water for the fields. After discussing with his family, the farmer decided to dig a well near his land.
　　After managing to get all the materials prepared, he went to visit an expert to ask for advice on where he should dig one. Under the guidance, he started the project at the edge of the land with great expectation. He worked very hard to dig day and night. But his hard work was not rewarded. The whole family advised him not to lose hope. He didn't want to disappoint anyone, especially himself, and began his project again. Another two days went by, and there was not a single drop of water coming from the well. He was completely tired, lost patience and went home thinking that everything was a waste of time. In case passers — by fell into the hole by mistake, he put a piece of wood which was the size of five fingers long near the unfinished well.
　　One night, a villager walked beside the well and hit his leg on that wood by mistake. This man became so annoyed that with all his frustration and anger he lifted the piece of wood, and with full energy threw the wood inside the well. The moment the man threw the wood, it went and hard hit the ground nearly three fingers deep.
　　Water sprang up (涌出) from the well as soon as the wood was hit down and rose to a certain level. When the farmer heard about this, he rushed to his well. Seeing water rising up from the well, he was too choked with emotion to speak. His eyes filled with tears as his hard work eventually paid off. He knew if he had a little more patience he would have succeeded earlier. He was delighted that it helped him realize one requires more patience in any task being accomplished.

16．How Music Changes Your Life
　　There was an amazing video I watched online the other day about a man playing the piano in the middle of the airport. And without a single ounce of communication, another guy randomly sat next to him and started playing along. Why would a person want to get involved in music?Here are four reasons.
　　Music helps you gain friends.
　　It didn't matter who the people were, where they belonged to, or what their appearances were, the music that was being played had united them all. Even musicians who barely know one another have situations where they get together through music.
　　Music helps you find out who you are and what you're meant to do.
　　Because I didn't have much support in school, I often felt rather lonely. Without music to stir my thoughts and dig deep into my emotions, discovering what my passions were would have been nearly impossible. But after beginning my life as a musician it suddenly made life clearer. My decisions and thoughts became easier to understand and who I was began standing out. You see, when you play an instrument for a given time period, you stop questioning what keys you have to stroke next. Your fingers and hands are guided by your emotions and natural instincts.
　　Music has the uncanny ability to heal (治愈) you.
　　A key note I've taken while either playing an instrument or listening to others play theirs is that the melodies and beats are what helps regulate your heart rate. This is why listening to classical or soft music can lower people's anxieties and calm their nerves. Your brain responds to music by releasing the chemical dopamine (多巴胺), which is associated with (与……有关系) pleasure and relief. That is why music is repeatedly used to remedy negative emotions.
　　(1)___________
　　If you're in a foreign country and you don't know their native language very well, get a musical instrument and start busking (街头卖艺) on the street corner. Play something that will provide a soundtrack for a lazy Sunday in the park, and you just might find a friend or two who might help you out. Music has penetrated (渗入) everyone's lives throughout history in every part of the world. Whether you live in the United States, Europe, Asia or Africa, music has shaped societies and histories.

17．　　Do you know the proverb "no pains, no gains"?It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we're putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?
　　When we haven't taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It's no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious (恶性的) cycle that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling (增加) further annoyance.
　　Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions (分心). It's not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation. While studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it's also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score games rather than productive revision.
　　If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it's important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.

18．The Sport of Concentration
　　Every day, it seems, a new gadget (设备) promises to help me increase the distance and pace I run, or the number of hours I sleep, or the rate of my heartbeats. It will make me a "better me," or so the story goes.
　　Maybe some of them actually help to do these things, but nonetheless, I still decided to sell all of my sports gadgets a few months ago and simply record my running times with a pen and a notepad. Soon after, I began to train for a marathon the old-fashioned way, without something on my wrist telling me my pace and current heart rate. As it turned out, running without knowing all that information was a great pleasure.
　　In the past, whenever I was running slower than my smartwatch said I should be, I'd force myself to speed up, even if it was clear that my body didn't want to. But this time, I ran the way I wanted to.
　　On more than a few occasions, when I'd look at my notepad following key workouts (锻炼), I was shocked to see that I'd had some real breakthroughs (突破), running much faster than I thought I could. I was so shocked about these numbers and thought that if I'd seen them during the workout itself, I would have probably slowed down. Yet, because I was blind to them, I just kept on running.
　　Another positive thing about getting rid of all my running gadgets is that it's helping me concentrate (集中注意力) more on the running itself. Since I no longer feel like I need technology to run well, I can go out and run without worrying about whether everything has enough battery power.
　　So, what's the lesson here?Well, we could very easily replace the example of running with writing, studying, or anything else. No matter what it is the more time we spend worrying about how to make ourselves better at something, the more our performance is affected.
　　Should you stop using technology to "improve" your performance? Of course, that's up to you. However, if I were to be asked that question, I'd certainly say that I'm better off without it.

19．凡人微光, 处处闪烁．4月底以来, 在疫情防控、社区守护、物资保供等方面, 数万普通人站出来担当志愿者, 共同守护家园．
某英文网站正在开展为社区防疫工作者写一封感谢信的征文活动．假如你是李华, 请结合你在社区、村镇所见所闻, 为这些可敬的"凡人英雄"写一封感谢信, 表达你对他们的敬意并谈谈你的感受和收获．
提示词语:community, check identification(身份), take a COVID test, respect, proud
提示问题:
•What did you see?
•How do you feel?
•What have you learned from them?

Dear heroes,
　　I'm writing this letter to express my sincere thanks to all of you for your hard working. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua

20．绿色生活的一小步, 将是环境保护的一大步．
每年的6月5日是世界环境日, 你校英语社团正在开展以"绿色生活从小事做起"为主题的英语征文活动．假如你是李华, 请以Going Green Starts with Small Things为题, 用英语写一篇短文投稿, 谈谈日常生活中你的做法、你这样做的理由及感受．
提示词语:take a bus, save, reuse, energy, important
提示问题:
•What do you usually do to protect the environment?
•Why do you do that?
•How do you feel?
Going Green Starts with Small Things
　　Everyone can make small changes in lifestyle and make a difference to reduce pollution and waste. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________