1. Dear Tom,

It’s great to receive your email. Now I’d like to tell you something that took place in my school yesterday. In the afternoon we held a growing-up ceremony for our coming 18-year-old birthday. At first we made an oath that as grown-ups we should have a sense of duty for our society form now on. Then we showed our thanks to our parents who had gone through hardships to bring us up and teachers who have been educating us patiently. And our teachers also gave us cards expressing their good wishes to us. Finally, we put on wonderful performances, singing and dancing. We learned a lot from the activity. I think it’s very important for us. I will remember the day in my life.

Yours,

Li Hua

2. Monday             May 18, 2002                      Fine

     This morning our teacher told us something about the Hope Project in class. She said, “Now in the countryside many children still can’t go to school because of poverty. Can you help them?”

    After school, I went home. When I entered my room, I saw the little box in which I keep my pocket money. Though I wanted to buy a pocket recorder, I decided to send my money to the children who are eager to go to school. I began to write a letter to them at once. After finishing writing it, I went to the post office and posted all my pocket money with the letter together.

    I felt very happy today because I’ve done a good deed.

3. 

Last Sunday my classmates, Lin Tao, and I went to the bookstore. At a counter we noticed a foreigner was asking a man for help, but the man didn’t know a word of English. So we went up to him and offered help. After knowing what he really wanted, we took him to the counter where tapes and disks of Chinese folk music are sold and gave him some advice on which to choose. With our help, the foreign guest got some music tapes. He gave his hearty thanks to us and left.

Though it took us some time to help him, we were happy anyway.

4.  Yesterday I paid a visit to a model high school, together with my friend. It’s very big with a beautiful fountain in the center of the schoolyard.

We started our visit from the main building. First we went to the lab building where some students were doing experiments. Then we entered the lecture hall behind the lab building and saw many students listening to a lecture given by a professor. Opposite to the lecture hall was the art center. There we watched groups of students playing musical instruments. Finally we arrived at the playground at the far back of the school. Some boys were having a football game, which was so exciting that we couldn’t help cheering for them.

It was really an impressive visit.

5.                         An Announcement

Boys and girls,

   May I have (take) your attention, please. There will be a lecture at half past three on Friday afternoon. It’s about “Information and English study”. And it will be given by Mr Li Ping who is a famous teacher from the English Department. There’s sure to be something instructive and interesting. We can get more information from it, I think. And it will improve our English studies to a new stage. Anyone who wants to attend it can come to Room 206. Take notes and have a discussion after it. Please come here on time.

  That’s all.

6. May I have your attention, please?

As you know, our class will have a talk show on environment protection with Class One on May 4th. Before it takes place, we will invite Dr. Lil from Qinghua University to give us a talk on the environment problem and he will also tell us about the improvement in environment protection in recent years in Beijing.

The report will begin at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, April 30th in the auditorium on the third floor in the classroom building. I’m sure we can get enough information from his talk to make good preparations for the coming talk show. Everyone should be there on time, then listen to the report and make full notes at the same time.

By the way, we will have a discussion after the report.

That’s all. Thank you.

7.    In my opinion, you are never too young to do things. For example, Tara Lipinski, the American ice skater, won an Olympic gold metal when she was fifteen. Pele, the great Brazilian soccer player, became a professional soccer star the same age as Tara Lipinski. And Mei Lanfang, a famous Chinese opera singer, first performed Beijing Opera when he was ten. Another example is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who started writing music at four. There are still more examples. Shirley Temple was a movie star at the age of three and Tiger Woods starts golfing when he was only ten months old!

8.   Advertisements appear everywhere in the modern society. When we walk along the street. We can see large advertisement boards with pretty girls smiling at you. In newspapers, we often see half of the pages covered with advertisements. We turn on the TV set and we see advertisements again. Whether we like it or not, they are getting their way into our life.

     Advertisements help us choose what we need and then we spend our money on it. They also guide us in finding suitable jobs. However, too many advertisements annoy us. And quite often, they give us false information.

9. April 13, Sunday                                             Fine

     Spring has come. Early in the morning, I went to Xiangshan Park for sightseeing with my parents. While walking around the park, we couldn’t help admiring the beauty of nature. Of course we took a lot of pictures.

     However, I was quite disappointed to find some bad behaviour. Some people littered anywhere as they liked. Some even climbed up the trees and picked flowers. Although there were some signs warning people not to touch the lawn, still some people enjoyed themselves there.

     I hope that such bad behaviour will soon be got rid of and everybody will protect the environment.

10. Dear Mary,

     I’m glad to receive your letter again. You want to know something about what is going on in our school. In short, great changes have taken place since our school began to carry out the research-based learning.

     In the past, the teachers almost took up all the period, writing on the blackboard, explaining the points, and answering the questions raised by themselves. We students are the slaves of study. But now, we’ve taken up most of the period, discussing the questions raised by the teachers or ourselves, exchanging our ideas, or solving the problems. We are now the masters of study.

     After class, we enjoy different kinds of activities instead of doing endless homework. We go to the library to read books, have sports on the playground and surf the Internet for various kinds of information.

     How happy we are now. Welcome to our school.

     Best wishes.                                       

      Yours truly,

      Wang Ping

11.  Nowadays, it is usual for students to find part-time jobs. This winter vacation, I worked as a waiter at a McDonald’s. It was the first time that I had earned money by myself. With the money I could buy something I needed. I was quite excited about it.

     Now, as a result of a part-time job, I needn’t ask my parents for money as before. I think it’s helpful for a student to know about the outside world and I also think that will help me to make preparations for the future job. I not only understand the value of money, but also know how to get along with others. In a word, I had a fruitful vacation.

12. Dear Editor,

   I’m writing to tell you about our discussion we had on the afternoon of last Wednesday about the good and bad sides of setting off firecrackers during the Spring Festival. 20 boy and 20 girl students attended the discussion. As a result, 40% of them believe that setting off firecrackers certainly adds pleasure and joy to the festival. Therefore, it is a wonderful tradition. But another 40% of the students think that setting off firecrackers causes air and noise pollution, and what’s more, it sometimes causes terrible accidents to us and to our property. The other 20 % have never thought about it or don’t care a bit. In my opinion, ……

                                                  Yours truly,

                                                    Li Hua

13.                             Pollution

     A chemical factory lies near my home. The manager was criticized by the government because the pollution had harmed people’s health, but he paid no attention. Then the factory was forced to stop production and the manager said angrily, “ Is there any fact that we have harmed people’s health? In fact, we haven’t.” Just then, a doctor came, with the result of the medical exam of the manager, saying the manager was suffering a lung cancer. It is very clear that the population has harmed not only to people’s health but also the manager himself. He was realized the importance of keeping air clean.

14. Fire causes

Fire, one of the most terrible killers in out modern society, is mainly caused by smokers, as can be seen from the graph.

In 2002, thousands of fires happened in China. About 50% of them were caused by smokers who left cigarette-ends everywhere. 30% were caused by defective insulation and 20% by children playing with matches. No matter what type of the fire was, there was one thing in common: carelessness.

We should warn children of the dangers of playing with matches. Workers should know the importance of good insulation to people’s lives. Smoking should not be in public places.

15.

Hi, Jason,

You asked me about Yao Ming. Here is something I got when I searched the websites at home.

Yao Ming, who is now 2.26 metres tall and 134kg in weight, was born in Shanghai on the 12th of September,1980. It is said he likes meat most and his favourite colour is blue. The man he respects most is late Premier Zhou Enlai and the one he believes in most is himself.

He joined Shanghai basketball team in 1997 and became a member of China national team Shanghai won the champion of CBA and he was among the top players in the team. In the same year he went to the US and became Number One Overall in the NBA draft, which helped him join Houston Rockets. After many matches as well as struggles he now feels a little tired. Up to now he says he still hasn’t got any further definite plan.

16. Dear Mr. Headmaster,

     I am writing this letter to tell you something about our canteen.

     There are many kinds of food in our canteen, and generally they are cheap. Some food is delicious. The dining environment has been improved, with the walls painted and some pictures posted up. The students are satisfied with the new look.

    But students are not given a proper helping of every dish. Also, as the number of the students continues to increase, there is not enough space for us to have meals there. As a result, many of us go out to have meals.

   All in all, there is still much room for improvement in food quality and service.

Best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Li Ming

17.              Students Like Optional Courses

This term our school had offered more than 10 optional courses, from which students can choose. The courses are given from 3:30 to 5:00 every Tuesday afternoon.

Students take great interest in the optional courses. Their favourites are computer, spoken English, arts and so on. They say they have got a great deal of practice and they have learned a lot that is not taught in textbooks. However, students hope more optional courses will be offered while their homework should be reduced. They suggest more trips and visits should be organized so that they can learn more about what is going on outside school.

18.

    About the discussion we’ve had about whether China should devote major efforts to developing car industry, opinions are divided on the question.

    60% of the students think China should fully develop car industry. They believe this will speed up the development of the national economy. More workers will be employed. With cars the people’s life quality will be raised. They will save time and be more convenient in their life and work.

    On the other hand, 40% of them think China should control its car industry development. Otherwise, the city traffic will be even heavier and more traffic accidents will take place. At the same time, more land will be used for the new roads. What is more, air and noise pollution will become more serious.

19.

Attention, please! I’m going to give you a summary of today’s discussion about whether we would go online in our spare time.

Most students think they (we) can go online as much as possible in our spare time because we are free then. Through the Internet, they can gain plenty of the newest knowledge and the latest news at home and abroad. What’s more, network offers them(us) a convenient way to communicate with each other. The Internet makes their lives outside class colourful and various.

On the other hand, a few students partly agree to this idea. Going online is part of our daily life. They suggest a time limit. They’ve found that more students are playing computer games instead of studying their lessons. There’re few students who are often absent from school for days.

20. Dear Tom,

     I felt terribly sorry to learn that both your parents had been killed in the September 11th Incident. In this incident the World Trade Centre, which used to be one of the tallest buildings in the world, was completely destroyed and thousands of people lost their lives. I’m very angry about the terrorist activities.

     We are against all forms of terrorist activities and support the war against the terrorism.

     Don’t be too sad. Don’t lose heart. After all, the majority of the people in the world love peace. I hope you can recover from the sadness as soon as possible. Be sure to take good care of yourself.

Best wishes.                                        

        Yours,

         Xiao Fang

21. Ladies and gentlemen,

Yesterday our teacher of English asked me to say something about pollution. Now, I give you my views on this vital question.

As a matter of fact, the effects of industrial pollution are well known to everyone --- polluted air, polluted water and polluted earth. Though a great deal is already being done to control these effects, the problem of pollution is still serious. Continued population increase, smog and chemical waste produced by factories and cars, not only threatens to exhaust our resources, but also pollutes our environment. We do need clean air, safe water and our children’s health.

In my opinion, to solve the problem of pollution, everyone must refrain from polluting our environment. We should know that this is the duty of every individual, not that the government alone.

22.

   Last week, we did research into how laid-off workers get their new jobs. We had a discussion in three groups and then began our research separately.

   Group One surfed on the Internet and learned that most of the laid-off workers had already got their new jobs. In the vocational training center, the students in Group Two were told that there were five training courses for laid-off workers. After training, they began working as repairers, cooks, typists, household workers and salespersons. The other students interviewed some laid-off workers who had got new jobs. A woman said, “With the help of the city government, I’ve found my job. …”

What a great deal we’ve learned through the research.

23. The Way to Keep Healthy

It’s very important for us to keep healthy in our everyday life. But how? Here is some advice for you to follow.

First you should have a healthy diet. It’s a necessary to eat enough fresh fruit and vegetables, because they contain all kinds of vitamin that you need every day. But do not eat too much fat, such as cheese, butter or anything too fatty. Too many sweets can do harm to your teeth. So you had better not eat too many sweets or chocolates and keep off coffee.

Good habits can help you keep fit. Doing regular exercise is certainly a good way to ensure your body is healthy. After a day’s work, an eight-hour sleep is needed. And avoid working too hard. Remember smoking can damage your health, so never smoke.

24. In today’s society, competition and cooperation are equally important. People are cooperators in their life. They share information, natural resources, human resources and many other things. Cooperation is the way to a happy life. At the same time they are competitors. In competition, they learn from their opponents, gain courage and confidence. Without competition, science and technology would not have been developed so rapidly. And without cooperation, the world would be quite different. Cooperation and competition are like two sides of a person. They can’t be separated.

26.

Dear Smith,

   How nice to hear from you again. You want to know something about the Listening Part in our English Paper for the Entrance Examination of Colleges. I’d like to give you a brief introduction about it here. There are two sections in this part.

   The first one includes 5 short dialogues. We can hear each for once and then choose one out of the three answers to a question about the dialogue. The question and possible answers are on the paper.

   In Section 2 there are 5 long conversations or monologues, each of which may be heard twice with 2 to 4 questions raised about it.

   The whole part, which mainly tests our understanding of spoken English, lasts about 20 minutes. We tick the answers on the paper first and then copy them on the answer sheet by blackening the small brackets with A, B, or C with a 2B pencil.

Best wishes.                

                                                           Li Hua

27.

One day, a little girl fell down onto the ground. At this time, the boy went over and wanted to help her up, but his mother stopped him and said, “ Don’t do that , otherwise others will think it was you  who knocked her down.”

   Another day the mother was surprised to see that her son just let the fallen oil bottle be. And the son said to his mother. “ If I had straightened up the bottle, you would have thought you did it.”

I disagree with what the mother did in the picture. I think that parents should let children know it is a pleasure to help others who are in trouble. We live in the society, which is a big family for all of us. We should care for and help each other.

28.

How to Get Rid of the Pollution of the River

Our school has formed a group of “How to get rid of the pollution of the river”. Now I would like to give our suggestions of dealing with the subject.

First, we should make some investigation, turn to our teachers for help and consult some experts. We may as well go to the Internet to collect some information.

Second, we should hand in a report on the river pollution and express our opinions to the public.

Third, we should, in groups, clean up the waste things on the river during the holidays, try to plant some young trees along the river and set up some bulletion boards to warn people of protecting the surroundings.

With these done, I think the pollution of the river will be reduced. Meanwhile, we can benefit a lot from these activities.

29. 

Xiao Mao is a primary school student and he enjoys drawing very much.

One day he went to the small woods not far from town to draw from nature, carrying a drawing board. He was glad to find a tree living although the rest had been cut down. “ Let me start work at once.” He thought and began to set up his board.

Just then a strong young man came with a big axe and got down to cutting the tree. Soon he cut it down and pulled it away.

When Xiao Mao got ready and turned back to draw, he found the tree had disappeared.

“Dear me! Where on earth is the tree?” Xiao Mao wondered, very disappointedly.

30. The United States of America is one of the most developed countries in the world. It lies between two great oceans, the Atlantic to the east and the Pacific to the west. Its neighbor countries are Canada on the north and Mexico on the south.

Washington is its capital while the east coast city---- New York is its biggest city, which is also known as the “Big Apple”, where the United Nations’ building stands.

The United States is made up of 50 states, which covers over nine million three hundred and sixty thousand square kilometers and has a population of about two hundred and thirty millions, most of which are workers.

The earliest inhabitants in the United States are Indians. As the United States of America is a immigrant country, people often call it a “ Melting Pot”