Everyone that lives in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and so on knows that there is a lot of traffic! Wherever you go, you can see the crowded streets with cars, buses, bikes and people. It seems that everyone is always in a hurry! In such a situation, accidents might happen. But if we all slowed down a little and paid more attention to the traffic rules, accidents would be avoided（避免）. However, sometimes the fact isn't like that!

How many times have you tried to cross the street even when the light has become red? It seems as if it would be so easy to just quickly run across, or rush in between cars and buses. But this causes a dangerous problem. Crossing the street when the light is red will only save you a few seconds; it is not worth（值得的）risking（使……冒险）your life.

When I was a child, my mother always told me the two sayings: "Better safe than sorry" and "Better late than never". That's to say, it is always better to be careful and arrive safely at the place you hope to go. Things would not be much worse if everyone could wait their turn to cross the street.

Little Women is a novel written by an American writer, Louisa May Alcott. It came out in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March from childhood to womanhood.

These four sisters live with their mother. Meg and Jo, the elder sisters, both work outside the home for money to support the family. Meg teaches four children in a nearby family, while Jo helps her grand-aunt March, who is very rich. Beth helps with the housework, and Amy attends school. Their nearest neighbour is a rich man whose orphaned grandson lives with him. The sisters introduce themselves to the handsome shy boy, Laurie, who is the age of Jo.

Meg is the beautiful sister; Jo is the tomboy（爱打闹的女孩）; Beth is the musician; and Amy is the charming artist with blonde curls. Jo is easy to get angry. One of her challenges（挑战）in growing up is to control her anger. Laurie enjoys his neighbours, often joining the family. His grandfather, Mr. Laurence, is charmed（吸引）by Beth, and gives her the piano used by Laurie's late sister.

    My hobby is playing chess—one of the greatest games in the world. My mum taught me1to play when I was seven years old. She2me every time in the first year. But the next year, on my3birthday, I won for the first time. Now I am always the winner between us.

    It only takes about a day to learn the rules.4if you want to play well, you have to practise for several years. You don't need much to play chess-just a chessboard and someone to play with. Chessboards5be very cheap or quite expensive. Some people collect chessboards as a hobby, but I prefer to6.

    There is a chess club in our school. We meet weekly to play with each other. I am the best7in the club, and the captain of the chess team at school. This year we are happy because we8the All English School's Championship.

    I'm saving up my money to buy a9. It's very good for me to practise on it. Then I'll10have someone to play with, and I'm sure I'll make more progress（进步）.

—Yes. I_______ lots of time on it. It's a good way to kill time.