The Chinese high-speed railways have a quality (质量) all on its own, Tier 1 (一线) cities like Beijing have a couple hundred high-speed trains stopping at the1every day. China's technology on building the railway is2the rest of the world. There is no3that any other country could be better than China in near future. I had my first chance to ride the high-speed trains last week4I had a business meeting in Zhengzhou.
I5with a disdain (偏见) for public transportation. Although I was not sure why the US hated it so much, I was afraid of the experience. I hoped to fly, but was told that it would be much better if I6the train.
The train was7. I had traveled on a train before in the US and hated how slow it was and how many stops there were. Chinese high-speed trains are on a different8. The trains are clean and the seats are huge. You can't even feel how fast the train is moving. If there were no windows, I wouldn't be able to tell when we were9or when we, were traveling at 300 km/h一it is that smooth.
I'm traveling again this week by train and I'm10.
Scene 1 (At Salesman's home )
Narratage (画外音): In a dark dirty house, there lived a small, dirty salesman. He always makes unhealthy candies and sells them to the students, He has a lot of money now. But how does he make the candies? Oh, sh! He is coming!
Salesman: Hello, do you know me? No? Oh, let me tell you, I'm the famous candy salesman at the school gate. My candies are very popular, I don't know why, the foolish students always come here. I'll be a boss soon! Candy, money, candy, money…
Oops! It's time to make candies now.
First, put the flour (面粉) on the table.
Then, water, sugar, flour.
Now press (按压), press... Oh, my dirty hands! Never mind! Just do it!
Press, press... Oh, my god! Never mind! Just do it!
Press, press, the children will not know it. It's OK, hehe .....
Now let me cut it into pieces!
Maybe we three were the most unlucky graduates in our school history. I'll never forget the day when we had our graduation ceremony.
I was known for being careless. I often fell down for no reason. Since I fell off the stage (舞台) during my Primary Graduation Ceremony, my family bet (打赌) that I would fall down again during my next graduation ceremony, The day came so quickly. This time, I proudly made it through the whole ceremony without falling ... but I knocked over the whole backdrop (背景板) used to take pictures for graduates! I felt so embarrassed the whole morning.
My friend Julia was even more embarrassed. When she together with all the graduates was sitting quietly in the hall at eight in the morning, she didn't expect her father to come to attend her ceremony because he was really busy then. The hall was very quiet and you could even hear a pin (针) drop on the ground. When all of a sudden, out of the silence, she Heard “Hey, Julia!" Everyone in the hall looked behind and found Julia's father, with a smile on his face, taking photos for her!
Tiffany was the most beautiful girl of us three. She loved dresses very much. On that day, she dressed herself beautifully and wanted to have some beautiful photos. Unluckily, it was one of the windiest days of our life. The wind blew her beautiful dress up in front of the whole graduate class! She didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
Lucky? Unlucky? So lucky! All of these became the unforgettable part of our life!
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| Planting trees Planting trees is a great way to make the air fresher and make our city greener. If you're over 12 years old, come and help us to plant more trees in South Lake Park. Let's meet at the north gate of the park at 8:30 a.m. this Saturday. You'd better wear sports shoes. |
| | Repainting walls The buildings covered with graffiti (涂鸦) are terrible. This Sunday, we are going to repaint the walls of Xinhua Street and make them clean again. Anyone who is over fourteen can join us. Please arrive at No.16, Xinhua Street at 9:30 a.m. You needn't bring any tools. Just remember to wear old clothes! |
| | Collecting rubbish You can hang out with your friends in the park and clean up our city parks at the same time! We are going to collect rubbish at Times Square from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. next Saturday. No matter how old you are, come and join us! Anyone who collects the most rubbish can get a gift for fun. |
The face-down Generation(一代)
If you were born in the 2000s, you are called the oh-ohs. The 21st century. That would make you young, creative, connected, world- wide, and no doubt smart. Maybe good-looking, too. Right? But what do other people think about your generation?
Some adults worry that you're more interested in the screen in front of you than the world around you. They think of you as the “face-down generation" because you use your phone so much. They wonder how you will deal with school, friends, and family.
Other adults worry that today's youth are spoilt (溺爱) and don't want to face the challenges of adult life. Many children born in the 1990s and 2000s were raised by “helicopter parents". They were always there to guide and help their children with a busy program filled with homework and after-school activities such as dancing, drawing, or sports. With parents who do everything for them, today's youth seem to prefer to live like teenagers even when they are in their 20s or 30s.
Does the face down generation need a heads-up? Well, probably not. The fact is that many of today's teenagers are better educated and more creative than past generations. They seem to be willing to become leaders. More young people than ever volunteer to help their communities. There are also brave young people such as Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for pushing girls' rights to go to school.
So if you're one of the oh-ohs, there's reason to be hopeful about the future. Things are looking up for the face-down generation. Chances are that you do great and laugh out loud.
Students in Kenya (肯尼亚) are returning for their third term. They begin their school year in January and it is broken up into three terms. In Kenya, in the past, students were not required to attend school and the education was not free, either.
I taught math, English and physics at Chamasiri Secondary School while I was a teacher in Kenya. This school had four classrooms- one for each grade, Form l, Form 2, Form 3 and Form 4. They are equivalent (对等) to our 9th, l0th, 11th, and 12th grade. Teachers traveled from classroom to classroom instead of the students going from room to room. The Form 1 class had 60 students, Form 2 had 45, Form 3 had 30, and Form 4 about 12 students. The class sizes became smaller as the grades continued on. Why did this happen? Many families were very poor and couldn't afford the school fees (学费).
Most countryside schools in Kenya did not have a lot of money. As a result, there were very few textbooks for the students to use. I had seven math texts for my Form 2 class and 14 for the Form 1 class. Anything the students needed to know was put up on the blackboard and the students copied it down into their notebooks. The notebooks became the students' textbooks.
It's not easy for Kenya students to stick to school. The students study ten different subject areas at school. Some of them spend over an hour running home. They do chores at home and hopefully manage to find some time to study before it gets dark. Most families do not have electricity and may not even have candles for their children to study by.
Luckily, Kenya education has been becoming better and better in the past few years. I'm sure it will have a good future.
Have you (notice) that some people are not as healthy as before though life has improved a lot? Nowadays some people eat more, so they are getting (heavy) than before. This makes it easy for people to get sick. Eating unhealthy food is another P. It will (sure) make people healthy to stay away from junk food and try to eat more (kind) of food per day. To become healthier, people should still exercise more. Doing sports daily will make people keep a good condition. Many people are quite busy studying and working and they go to bed very late, even when they have to go to school to work early the next morning. If such situation (keep) on for a long time, people will finally get sick. Doing sports is a good way to get (relax). I will do good to people's health.
