My name is Li Kang, I live in Shijiazhuang, a city not far from Beijing, It is the capital city of Hebei Province. Today is my first day at Senior High school and I’m writing down my thoughts about it.
My new school is very good and I can see why. The teachers are very enthusiastic and friendly and the classrooms are amazing. Every room has a computer with a special screen, almost as big as a cinema screen. The teachers write on the computer, and their words appear on the screen behind them . The screens also show photographs, text and information from websites, They’re brilliant!
The English class is really interesting. The teacher is a very enthusiastic woman called Ms Shen. We’re using a new textbook and Ms Shen’s method of teaching is nothing like that of the teachers at my Junior High school. She thinks that reading comprehension is important, but we speak a lot in class, too. And we have fun. I don’t think I will be bored in Ms Shen’s class!
Today we introduced ourselves to each other .We did this in groups. Some students were embarrassed at first but everyone was very friendly and it was really nice Ms Shen gave us instructions and then we worked by ourselves.
Ms Shen wants to help us improve our spelling and handwriting. We do this in a fun way, with spelling games and other activities , I like her attitude very much , and the behaviour of the other students shows that they like her, too.
There are sixty-five students in my class- more than my previous class in Junior High. Forty-nine of them are girls. In other words , there are three times as many girls as boys .They
say that girls are usually more hard-working than boys , but in this class, working than boys , but in this class, everyone is hard-working . For our homework tonight, we have to write homework tonight, we have to write a description of the street where we live. I’m looking forward to doing it!
My New Teachers
They say that first impressions are very important. My first impression of Mrs Li was that she was nervous and shy. I think perhaps she was , as it was her first lesson with us .But now , after tow weeks , the class really likes working with her , She’s kind and patient , and she explains English grammar so clearly that even I can understand it! She avoids making you feel stupid! I’ve always hated making mistakes or pronouncing a word incorrectly when I speak English m but Mrs Li just smiles, so that you don’t feel completely stupid! I think maybe she goes a bit too slowly for the faster students, but for me it’s wonderful! I feel I’m going to make progress with her.
I’d guess that Mrs Chen is almost sixty. She’s very strict—we don’t dare to say a word unless she asks us to. She’s also very serious and doesn’t smile much. When she asks you to do something. You do it immediately! There are a few students in our class who keep coming to class late but they’re always on time for Mrs Chen’s lessons! Some of our class don’t like her, but most of us really appreciate her because her teaching is so well organized and clear. And a few students even admit liking her! During scientific experiments, she explains exactly what is happening and as a result my work is improving. Physics will never be my favourite lesson, but I think that I’ll do well in the exam with Mrs Chen teaching me.
Mr Wu’s only been teaching us for two weeks and he’s already very popular. I think
this is because he really enjoys teaching Chinese literature-he loves it, in fact! He’s got so much energy, this is one class you do not fall asleep in! H’s about 28, I think, and is rather good-looking. He talks loudly and fast, and waves his hands about a lot when he gets excited. He’s really amusing and tells jokes when he thinks we’re getting bored. Even things like compositions and summaries are fun with Mr Wu. I respect him a lot.
My First Ride on a Train
My name is Alice Thompson. I come from Sydney, Australia and I’m 18 years old. Recently I had my first ride on a long- distance train. And what a ride! A friend and I traveled on the famous Ghan train. We got on in Sydney and we got off in Alice Springs, right in the middle of Australia, more than four thousand kilometers away. We spent two days and nights on the train.
The train was wonderful and the food was great. We ate great meals cooked by experts! For the first few hundred kilometers of the journey the scenery was very colorful. There were fields and the soil was dark red. After that, it was desert. The sun shone, there was no wind and there were no clouds in the sky. Suddenly, it looked like a place from another time. We saw abandoned farms which were built more than a hundred years ago.
The train was comfortable and the people were nice. During the day , I sat and looked out of the window, and sometimes talked to other passengers. I read books and listened to my Chinese cassettes (I’m studying Chinese at school). One night, at about midnight, I watched the night sky for about an hour. The stars shone like diamonds.
Why is the train called the Ghan A long time ago, Australians needed a way to travel to
the middle of the country. They tried riding horses, but the horses didn’t like the hot weather and sand. A hundred and fifty years ago, they brought some camels from Afghanistan. Ghan is short for Afghanistan.
Camels were much better than horses for traveling a long distance. For many years, trained camels carried food and other supplies, and returned with wool and other products.
The Afghans and their camels did this until the 1920s. Then the government built a new railway line, so they didn’t need the camels any more. In 1925, they passed a law which allowed people to shoot the animals if they were a problem. In 1935, the police in a town shot153 camels in one day.
A Lively City
XL: It’s great to see you again, John.
JM: It’s great to see you! It’s been six years since we last saw each other, you know. And this is the first time I’ve visited your hometown.
XL: Yes , I’m so glad you could come.
JM: You know. I’ve seen quite a lot of China and I’ve visited some beautiful cities, but this is one of the most attractive places I’ve been to. It’s so lively, and everyone seems so friendly.
XL: Yes, it’s one of the most interesting cities on the coast, everyone says so. I feel very fortunate living here. And I love living by the seaside.
JM: You live in the northwest of Xiamen, is that right
XL: Yes, that’s right.
JM: What’s the climate like
XL: Pretty hot and wet in the summer, but it can be quite cold in the winter.
JM: Sounds OK to me. There are a lot of tourists around,. Don’t they bother you
XL: Yes, they can be a nuisance in the summer because there are so many of them.
JM: Oh, look at that huge apartment block!
XL: Yes, they’ve just complete it. The rent for an apartment there is very high.
JM: I believe you! This area’s so modern!
XL: Yes , this is the business district. They’ve put up a lot of high-rise buildings recently. And there are some great shopping malls. See, we’re just passing one now. My wife’s just bought a beautiful dress from one of the shops there.
JM: Maybe I could buy a few presents there.
XL: I’ll take you there tomorrow. Now we’re leaving the business district and approaching the harbour. We’re entering the western district, the most interesting part of the city. It’s got some really pretty parks…
JM: It seems lovely. Is that Gulangyu Island, just across the water
XL: Yes, it is. It’s a gorgeous island with some really interesting architecture.
JM: So they tell me. Do you think we could stop and walk around for a while
XL: Yes, I was just going to do that. We can park over there. A friend’s told me about a nice little fish restaurant near here. Shall we go there for lunch
JM: That sounds great. I’m starving!
A Lesson in a Lab
Passage A
It is hard to think of a world without metals. Different metals have different uses, for example, steel is used in cars, and iron is used in electrical equipment. When we use metals, it is important to know how they react with different substances, for example, water and oxygen. The reaction of metals with these substances can be put in order. Here is a table with the metals that react most at the top, and the metals that react least at the bottom.
Passage B
A Simple Scientific Experiment
Below is a description of a simple scientific experiment. It shows us how iron reacts with air and with water.
Aim: To find out if iron rusts (a) in dry air; (b) in water that has no air in it(air-free water);(c) in ordinary water.
Apparatus: 3 clean iron nails; test tubes; test tube holder; cotton wool; oil; Bunsen burner.
Iron in dry air
Method
(1) Put some iron nails at the bottom of a test tube.
(2) Push some cotton wool down the tube.
(3) Leave the tube for one week.
Result
After one week, the nails have not rusted.
Conclusion
Iron does not rust in dry air.
Iron in air-free water
Method
(1) Half-fill a test tube with water.
(2) Boil the water for three minutes(This makes sure there is no air in the water.)
(3) Put two or three clean nails in the water.
(4) Add some oil to the water. This will keep air out of the water.
(5) Leave the tube for one week.
Result
The nails do not rust in the tube with air-free water.
Conclusion
Iron does not rust in air-free water.
Iron in ordinary water
Method
(1) Half-fill a test tube with water and add two or three clean nails.
(2) Leave the tube for one week.
Result
The nails rust in the tube with ordinary water.
Conclusion
Iron rusts in ordinary water.
The Internet and Telecommunications
The Internet is the biggest source of information in the world, and it’s accessible through a computer. It consists of millions of pages of data.
In 1969, DARPA, a US defence organization, developed a way for all their computers to “talk” to each other through the telephone. They created a network of computers called DARPANET. For fifteen years, only the US army could use this system of communication. Then in 1984, the Us National Science Foundation (NSF) started the NSFNET network. It then became possible for universities to use the system as well. NSFNET became known s the Inter-Network, or “Internet”.
The World Wide Web (the web) is a computer network that allows computer users to access information from millions of websites via the Internet. At he moment, about 80 percent of web traffic is in English, but this percentage is going , much web traffic could be in Chinese.
The World Wide Web was invented in 1991 by an English scientist, Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee built his first computer while he was at university using an old television! He came up with the idea of the World Wide Web in 1989 while he was working in Swizerland.
Burners-Lee made it possible for everyone to use the Internet, not just universities and the army. He designed the first “web browser”, which allowed computer users to access documents from other computer. From that moment on, the web and the Internet grew. Within five years, the number of Internet users rose from 600,000 to 40 million.
The Internet has created thousands of millionaires, but Berners-Lee is not one of them. Everyone in the world can access the Internet using his World Wide Web system. He now works as a lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
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