Do you know an old city called “Pingyao” in Shanxi? The old city is not far from Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province (省). It's a town with a long history of more than two thousand years.

    The old city is not very large. It is only 2.25 square kilometers in size. And there are no tall buildings here. Most of the buildings have only two floors. And most of them are made of stones (石头). There are many Chinese-style shops on each side of the street.

    Pingyao is a square city. The city has a wall around it. It's about 6 km long and 12 m high. The wall has six gates. And you mustn't miss the nice food in Pingyao. Try Pingyao beef and you are sure to fall in love with it.

    Pingyao is a place worth (值得) a visit. You can take buses or trains here. It's less than 2 hours' bus ride from Taiyuan. It costs you only 20 yuan. If you take a train, it will take you less time, only one and a half hours. And if you want to go to Pingyao from Beijing, the train ride takes only about 6 hours.

The City of Pingyao

    Do you and your classmates like Doraemon? Yes, it is a popular cat.

    But you know, he is not a real cat but a robot（机器人）. The cat is a famous cartoon character（卡通人物）from Japan. Doraemon is from the 22^nd century. I love Doraemon and I also love his 2,000 amazing gadgets（小玩意）!

    Doraemon has a bamboo-copter（竹蜻蜓）. Put it on your head, and you can fly in the air. With a copter like this, I don't need to go to school by bike any more. The bamboo-copter flies at 80 km per hour. It's fast.

    Here is the jelly translator（果冻翻译器）. Eat this jelly and then you can speak and understand any language in the world. You can also understand what animals say.

    Doraemon has a great door. It can take you to any place you want. First say the name of the place, and then pass through the door. You can get to that place in no time.

    Doraemon also has memory（记忆）bread. Take a piece of the bread. Stick（粘贴）it onto a page of a book. Eat it, and you can remember everything on the page quickly. But I don't like this kind of bread. Learning new things is fun, but eating it isn't, right?

    How I wish I could have some of these gadgets!

    I had a good time on my vacation. I spent my vacation trekking(徒步旅行)in Nepal, a small country in the Himalaya Mountains of Asia.

    On the trekking vacation, I walked for a long time through the mountains. There are very few roads in Nepal, so trekking is the best way to travel. It will be better if you have a guide. The guides know the best paths to take and they can also help trekkers with their bags. Sometimes our guide cooked food for us. Every day, we trekked for about four hours in the morning, and two hours in the afternoon. We slept in the large tents. It was very interesting. I didn't want to go home in the end.

    Information Card

    With more and more cars on the road, traffic jams (堵车) are inevitable. Traffic jams can lead to more accidents as there are more cars, with more people trying to get to their destination, all the while getting worse. Although it's impossible to avoid traffic jams altogether, there are some tips you can follow to reduce the amount of time on the road.

    Check for traffic jams before you leave. You can listen to the radio for traffic news, or check on the Internet to get up-to-minute information on traffic. If the route you want to take is heavy with traffic, you can choose another.

    Look for a different route all the time. Most traffic jams happen on busy roads. Using country roads could avoid a lot of traffic. Although the distance you may have to travel is further, it can work out quicker.

    Set your car radio to receive traffic bulletins. Many new car stereo systems (汽车音响系统) are equipped with a radio system by which you can hear the traffic channel. This way you can get the latest traffic information and change your journey if necessary.

    __________. Most traffic jams usually occur(发生) during rush hour, so try to avoid this time period if possible. Some jobs offer flexible working hours so that you can travel to work outside of rush hour. Some jobs even allow you to work at home so as to avoid moving altogether. Ask your manager to see what you can do if traffic is a problem for you.

    Use public transport instead. The easiest way to avoid traffic jams is to take buses or the underground instead of driving your own car. Not only will you avoid traffic jams but you will most likely be saving money.