Growing Up

    I fell in love with driving before I could ride a bike. For my second birthday I 1 my first car. It was the most 2car with leaves as fuel and my feet as its engine. I would try to 3 my elder sister or parents to push me and was always waiting for that day 4 I could drive for real.

    My sixteenth 5 finally arrived. After all the 6 , I got my permit(驾驶证).7 at it, I couldn't wait to drive. After tons of begging, my dad  8 me to an empty parking area. I sat in the driver's seat, 9and scared. I put one foot on the gas pedal(脚踏板)and 10 on the brake(刹车). "Never use your left foot,, switch(转换) between the brake and gas pedal 11 your right foot only." Dad 12 . That's when I realized I didn't know what I was doing, but I was too excited to13 . Dad and I spent the whole afternoon 14 the basic skills of driving. For the next month I 15 to drive almost every day in all kinds of parking lots, and 16on the road.

    Driving is an important 17 in my life. It not only shows I have become more 18 , but also that I have grown up. In some ways I'm still that little girl trying to get my 19 to push her, but now I'm starting to push  20.

    For students at The Farm School in Hamilton, Virginia, the classroom is outside-every day.

Jaclyn Jenkins is a founder of the school. "The number one question immediately we get from parents is 'what happens if it rains?' And we say, 'Bring an extra pair of clothes!'" Jenkins adds, "We still educate them. They also get energy. Their brains are working when they're moving. So, our goal is to always be outside."

    The Farm School is a preschool-a place for three-and four-year-olds to learn and play. Teacher Alison Huff has taught at other schools. She says The Farm School gives its students more of a hands-on learning experience. For example, children use pumpkins to learn about colors and counting. They learn about measurements by planting seeds 30 centimeters apart. Huff says "We can use everything a regular preschool uses, but out in the garden."

Apart from planting vegetables and fruits, students help prepare food and clean up afterward. The school teaches the children to cook using the food they have grown. "They can see the advantages of what they have in the garden and taste it then instead of going to the grocery store and buying it," Huff says.

    The preschoolers also lean words in languages other than English. Huff speaks in both English and Spanish. Her assistant speaks French and Arabic. She adds that a 3-year-old in her class speaks four different languages.

    Farm animals are also an important part of the education program. Jaclyn Jenkins says the children learn about a different animal every month. Two months ago, she says, that animal was a cow. The children spent another month with a large bird-a turkey.

    The children come home with new experiences, new knowledge and sometimes a few vegetables.

    November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. A "veteran" is anyone who has served in the armed forces. The term "veteran" is not just for those who have served in wars. It describes anyone who has ever been in the army.

    On November11, people hold ceremonies(仪式) and parades(游行) to mark Veterans Day. Public officials take part in the events. Army bands play. And soldiers fire guns into the air to remember those who died in service to their country.

    The history of Veterans Day relates to World War I. Many people at the time called it "the war to end all wars." The United States entered the fighting in Europe in 1917. Over 13 million men and women were reported for duty in the army. World War I ended at 11 o'clock in the morning on November 11, 1918. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson signed an official statement to celebrate November 11th as Armistice Day in the United States. It would be a day to honor the men and women who had served in the U.S. armed forces during the war. In 1926, Congress made Armistice Day a national holiday.

    But new problems were on the way. Soon, everyone knew that World War I would not be the war to end all wars. In all, more than 4,000,000 Americans served in the armed forces during the first World War. And 16 million would serve during the second one.

    Armistice Day in 1945 was a special day in the United States. Germany had surrendered in May 1945 and Japan in August. Most men and women who had served in the war were home. So, instead of honoring just veterans of World War I, Americans also honored veterans of World War II. In 1954, Congress decided to change the name of Armistice Day. The holiday became Veterans Day.

    I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated English military (军事的)men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby.

    I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the admiration of so many people, did not seem to make any difference to him.

    Next to me sat a clergyman(牧师), who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he turned to me and said in a low voice-"privately-he is a complete fool." He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.

    This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend. I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon. But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth. And, his judgment of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.

    Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me more.

    For Suilasaikhan, a man living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(IMAR)(内蒙古自治区), life was hard years ago. When the wind blew, the sand made it almost impossible for him to see anything. He had to find his way back home by following the barking of dogs.

    Thankfully, things are much better today. About one third of the desert is now covered with trees, and sandstorms are less common. Ian Teh, who comes from Malaysia, came to China last year and was amazed to see people planting trees in the several deserts in northern China. "To be honest, it was hard to imagine it was ever a desert at all," he said.

    These are the results of Chinas years-long efforts to deal with desertification (沙漠化). In the 1950s, this widespread problem affected the life of about 400 million people in 18 provinces and autonomous regions in China. So China started several programs to deal with it. For example, the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, saw thousands of trees planted in northern China.

    In 1994, China joined the United Nations' convention (公约) against desertification and created the world's first law on sand prevention in 2001. With these efforts, the past five years have seen the area of desert in China decrease by 242,400 hectares.

    Desertification isn't the problem only in China. With china's success in dealing with desertification, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) believes the country is a good example for other countries to follow. "China is one of the most successful countries in greening the desert and has lessons to share with the world." UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim told Xinhua.

    English has been called one of the most difficult languages for non-native speakers to learn. One reason is that English has so many rules. Sometimes, this leaves learners confused(混淆). For example, the order of words in a sentence can be tricky.

     The pronunciation of English words cannot always be judged by their spelling. For example, there are at least six ways to pronounce the group of letters spelled o-u-g-h. And, maybe the worst thing of all is that there are many idioms, or expressions, in English.

    So, it is comforting to know that learning root words can help a non-native speaker use English. Root words can help you to break down large, new words into smaller units to discover their meanings.

    Learning just one root word can help you understand several words in English.Then where can a root be found? A root can be any part of a word that carries meaning: the beginning, middle or end. Prefixes, bases, and suffixes are types of roots. The prefix appears at the beginning of a word, the base in the middle and the suffix at the end.

A. A root word is the most basic form of a word.

B. The English have always been fond of all kinds of rules.

C. You could say we use idioms like they're going out of style.

D. And there are almost as many exceptions(例外)of those rules!

E. Most English root words came from the Greek and Latin languages.

F. Another reason why English is hard to learn is the pronunciation of its words.

G. So, by learning 20 or 30 root words, you can increase your vocabulary to hundreds of more new words.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）,并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1).每处错误及其修改均限一词;

2).只允许修改10处,多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Dear Jack,

    How are you! "World Water Day" is coming. Our school have decided to hold many activity to celebrate it. I hope you can make a speech for the specially day.

    The speech, which title is "how to deal with waste water and recycle it", is important for us, because of water pollution is more and more serious it's important to encourage students save water. However, we invite you to make a speech for the students or teachers. I believe that you speech is helpful and can let everyone know how to make full use of water. I would appreciate it if you can accepted my invitation.

Yours,

Xiao Ming

    The computer began as a calculating machine in France in 1642. It could make difficult sums much   (simple). In 1936 Alan Turing wrote a book about how the computer could be made to work as a "universal machine"    (solve) any difficult mathematical problem.

    At beginning, the computer was large as a room. This really worried the designers. As time    (go) by, it became smaller and smaller. With artificial  (intelligent), it is getting cleverer and cleverer, quicker and quicker.

    In the early 1960s, computers couldconnect) by a network, enabled their users to share information  others. Since the 1970s, computers have had many new(application) and become very important in communication, finance, trade and even been put into space rockets and sent to explore the Moon and Mars.

1).介绍广播电台情况:频率:FM92.5;内容丰富,如,新闻、体育、生活……

2).多听广播的好处:有助于了解龙岩,有助于学习汉语。

注意：1).字数100词左右;

2).可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯;

3).开头、结尾已为你写好(不计入总词数)。

4).参考词汇:频率: frequency

龙岩人民广播电台: People' s Broadcasting Station of Longyan

Dear Lucy,

    I am glad to receive your email about how to learn Chinese well.

    I hope you will enjoy it. Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Hua