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　　Welcome to the Amazing kids Website! Here you can read about clever children all over the world．

　　Gina, who is thirteen years old, got first prize in the "Young Cook of the Year" competition and is now writing her own recipe(烹飪)book for kids．"I want it to be fun to read and easy enough for children to use," she says．Gina learned by observing(觀察)her father, who's also good at cooking, in the kitchen．She wants to encourage other children to cook because "everyone needs to eat, so it's a skill that will always be useful!"

　　Fourteen-year-old Bren used to love running until he had a serious car accident three years ago．He lost part of one leg and didn't even expect to walk again．Now he's an athlete who has recently completed a marathon．"After my accident I wanted to give up," he says．"But now I'm happy to be alive and able to continue running．"

　　Helga has always been good at science, but she thought it was too difficult to become an inventor．Then she heard about an accident that had happened when a car hit a train in her town．"That gave me an idea," says the clever sixteen-year-old girl．It took her over a year to invent a special machine that tells car drivers when a train is coming．

　　One company is already interested in selling it, so it may be in the shops soon!

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　　Do you know who is the most popular star on the Internet now? Yes, he is “Brother Coat”(大衣哥)Zhu Zhiwen!

　　A few months ago, Zhu Zhiwen was an unknown farmer．A video of his show has been watched by more than millions of people，now his videos are the most popular．Zhu Zhiwen attracts Chinese netizens'(網(wǎng)民的)hearts．And he is called “Brother Coat” by them．

　　In March 2011, he took part in a program called “I’m a Big Star”．He walked out onto the stage in a dark green coat．Then he began to sing the me song of the TV drama Romance of Three Kingdoms(《三國(guó)演義》)．When the audiences heard rich and powerful voice，all of them stood up and cheered．After that, he became a well-known person．

　　The judges(評(píng)委)asked him if he had any professional training．Zhu said no．“When he started, I thought someone played the original tape(原聲帶)by mistake．But later on, I got it, ” said one of them, “we can’t judge a book by its cover．” At last, he won the first prize in the program of “I’m a Big Star”．

　　Zhu Zhiwen was born in a village of Shandong in 1969．He liked listening to the radio．When the music played, he sang it along．Every morning, he would get up early and practiced singing near a river．He keeps doing it for nearly 30 years．

　　“When I’m working in the fields, ”said Zhu Zhiwen, “I often sing for myself, some villagers even think me crazy，but I really love it．I’m not singing for money, I’m singing for ordinary people in China．”

　　Mrs．Sun, a 56-year-old engineer, one of his fans said, “I watched his videos without getting tired of it! It is samazing, and every time I watch it, I am filled with excitement and his voice is perfect! I am crossing my fingers in hope that he has a bright future．”

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　　I hate being overweight．My husband said he didn’t mind, but I knew he still hoped I had a beautiful body．Everything from my waist(腰部)to my legs was overweight．Finally, just after Christmas last year, I decided that something had to be done．

　　I met Dr．Wallace, and she told me I had to stop eating fast foods．It was very hard for me because I was eating them three of four times a week：pizza, hamburgers, whatever I could get．But I said to myself at the start that I would try my best to do it－and I did．I even gave up the booze－something I used to have two glasses of it with dinner．

　　My best friend, Rachel Waterman, said I had to walk 10,000 steps every day．That was very hard for me at the beginning．I was used to driving everywhere, but I started to walk everywhere instead．I walked in the morning before work, and I usually took a walk in the park with my husband after work．Now I never go to bed until I’ve done my 10,000 steps．

　　Six months has passed, and I made it．Last week, my husband bought me an MP4 as a gift．the weight is wonderful－I feel like a different person now, and I can buy my favorite clothes in the shops．I am so proud of myself because everyone thought I wouldn’ t be able to make it including myself．

　　I love my new body, and I’ll never let myself go back into my old ways．

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　　Big Dream Summer Camp

　　Make the world a better place

　　Let’s learn

　　facts about the Earth

　　about air/light/water/noise problems

　　how to make better use of garbage

　　how to grow trees and flowers

　　Bring

　　a sleeping bag

　　clothes for 7 days

　　Join

　　Camp 1 July 5～11

　　Camp 2 July 15～21

　　Camp 3 August 1～7

　　Camp 4 August 10～16

　　We welcome

　　students between 12 and 18 years old

　　Young student center

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　　Katie wrote a letter to her Chinese teacher and got a reply from him．Read their letters and answer the questions．

Dear Mr．Hu,

　　My family moved here from England three months ago．I can’t speak Chinese well, and it’s difficult for people to understand me．I’m losing confidence．

　　Could you please tell me what I should do?

Katie

Dear Katie,

　　I’m glad that you let me know about your problem．Here are some things you can do：

　　1．Your class is going to have a Story Time this month．All of you should tell stories．You should tell one, too．I’m sure you can learn a lot from doing so．

　　2．Try to practise speaking with your teachers and classmates．Don’t be afraid．

　　3．Talk to Nanako and Yu-kim．Nanako is from Japan，and Yu-kim is from Korea．They might be able to give you some advice．

　　4．Some foreign students told me that watching Happy Times on TV can help．The language is easy．

　　Please try these ideas and see if you can do better．Don’t worry too much．I have confidence in you．

Mr．Hu

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　　How can you buy a meal for lunch without any money in your pocket? Students in Class 9, Grade 8 at Mountain and Lake Middle School in Chengdu, Sichuan, have their ways．They give out flyers(傳單), draw portraits(人物素描)and work as waiters．

　　The class, working in eight groups, finished the activity．Experiencing Life for Seven Hours, on March 18, “I found students waste their food in the dining-hall, ”the class teacher, Deng Guiyong said, “So I held this activity to help them understand how hard it is to make money．”

　　Jiang Yao, 15, and his group members stood in the streets giving out flyers for about two hours and got the money for their lunch．Then they worked as waiters in a pizza restaurant-cleaning the floor；and toilets and getting food for guests, “We were busy all along, so we were terribly exhausted after the day’s hard work．”said Jiang．“We each got a pizza as a prize, which tasted much better than one I ate with my parents before．”

　　When Xie Ni’s group didn't make any money in three hours, the members became nervous about their lunch．The 14-year-old girl came up with the idea of drawing portraits to sell, “I sold four portraits and one tourist even paid us 100 yuan for his portrait, ”said Xie．

　　Xie realized that life is really hard．“We have to work hard to get the money to pay for even a simple meal．” Xie said, “We must value the happy life today．”

　　On top of making money, each group was asked to do at least five good deeds during the seven hours．Students helped the old cross the road, gave directions to tourists and turned in a lost bus card．

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　　Every year on my birthday, from the time 1 turned 12, a white gardenia(梔子花)was sent to my house．It did not come with a card or note of any kind, but I loved the beauty and sweet smell of the flower．

　　And I never stopped imaging who the giver might be．My mother helped me to imagine．She’d ask me if I had done something kind for anyone．Perhaps the neighbor I’d helped carry heavy bags for, or one of my classmates who I helped the lessons with．As a teenager, though, I had more fun thinking that it might be a boy I liked at school．

　　When I was 17, a boy broke my heart and I cried myself to sleep．When I woke up in the morning, there was a message on my mirror, “If we let sadness go, happiness will surely come to you．” I thought about those words for a long time．When I finally went to get the glass cleaner, my mother knew everything was all right again．

　　One month before I finished high school, my father left us forever．I lost interest in all the celebrating activities such as the class play, taking photos with classmates before leaving the high school where I had studied for three years．Although my mother was very sad, she still encouraged me to take part in all those．She wanted her child to have a sense that there was still beauty in the face of bad luck, just like the gardenia－lovely, strong and perfect．

　　My mother died 10 days after I was married．I was 26．That was the year gardenias stopped coming．

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　　Is the world too crowded? Well, that’s a hard question to answer．It’s all a matter of perspective(視角)．In Montana, you might drive for a mile in any direction and not see another human being．In Macao,60,000 people live in every square mile!

　　What is true is that the world’s population doesn’t stay the same．It has been increasing at a very fast rate(比例)．That’s in part because in each generation(代)these are more people who then have children than in the last generation．

　　Five hundred years ago, the population of the world was about 460 million．In 1900,the world’s population was under 2 billion(十億)．Right now it is doubling every 40 years．That means, if this rate of growth continues, when you are a parent, there will be twice as many people on earth as there are now．Wow! Now that’s a whole lot of people! Soon the world’s population will probably reach 7 billion．Some people worry about that! But there is a lot of disagreement about just how many people on earth equals(相當(dāng)于)too many people．But everyone agrees that the more people there are, the more resources(資源)the world needs to feed, house and take care of all of them, and the more need there is to think carefully about how we live and use the earth’s resources．