This is Li Gang’s English self-schedule(自学计划)for one week.

Our teacher told us to        the new words in the dictionary if we didn’t know them.

One morning, a blind* boy sat in front of a building with a hat by his feet .He held a sign* which said,“I am blind. Please help me. There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat .He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps* and ask,“Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”

The man said,“I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.”

What he had written was,“Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty* of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.

The first is: Treasure*what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.

The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.

1.On the sign what the man wrote was,“_______.”

A. Treasure what we have already had.

B. Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.

C. We are so lucky that we are not blind.

D. Try your best to help those who need your help.

2.The word“recognized”here in Chinese means______.

A.承认                                    B.接受

C.表扬                                    D.认出

3.From the passage we know that _____.

A. the boy always has a hat on his head.

B. the man is one of his friends.

C. the boy is blind and needs help.

D. the boy works for the man.

4.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A .The hat began to fill up after the man wrote some words on the sign.

B. The man took away all the few coins from the hat.

C. The boy wanted to get enough money to go to school.

D. Nobody wanted to give any coins to the blind boy.

Many students ask for advice about improving their English. There are three basic questions.
The first question is about real English. Li Hao from Hubei wrote, “I enjoy watching English films and listening to real English songs. But it takes a long time. What do you think?”
This is a great way to learn English! Talk about the film or song with your friends, and guess the meaning of the new words. Just enjoy yourself!
The second question is about speaking. Sam, from Suzhou wrote. “Our school has a foreign teacher. But I'm shy and can’t speak to her. What should I do?”
When I visit China, lots of people in the street say, “Hello! How are you? Where are you from? Do you like China?” These are good questions to start a talk. Many people are shy when they speak English, so before you begin, take a deep breath and smile! Smiling always helps.
The third question is about vocabulary. Oliver, from Anhui wrote, “I want to remember all the new words. I write them down, but I forget them quickly. What should I do?”
Try to remember eight or ten words a day. Write them on pieces of paper and place them in your bedroom. Say the words when you see them, and change them every day. And when you’re  shopping, how about counting the English words, or saying the English names for everything you see?
【小题1】How many basic questions do the students often ask?