From: terri @ wombat. Com. Au

To: (happylizijun) @ yaboo. com. cn

Subject: My school

Hi, Li Zijun,

    Thanks very much for your email. I really enjoyed reading it. I think we have a lot in common. I wonder if our school life is similar too.

    I go to a big high school in Sydney called Maylands High School. There are about 1000 students and 80 or so teachers. My class has 25 students in it, which is normal for a Year 11 class. In the junior school there are about 30 students in a class.

    In the senior high school we have lots of subjects to choose from, like maths, physics, chemistry, biology, history, German, law, geography, software design, graphic arts and media studies. (Different schools sometime have different optional subjects.) English is a must for everyone and we have to do least three other subjects in Year 11 and 12. At the end of Year 12 we sit for a public exam called the High School Certificate.

    As well as school subjects, most of us do other activities at school such as playing a sport, singing in the choir or playing in the school band. We can also belong to clubs, such as the drama club, the chess club and the debating society.

    We have a lot of homework to do in senior school to prepare for our exam, so unless I have basketball practice, I usually go straight home and start studying. I arrive home about 4 pm, make myself a snack and work till 6. Then I help the family to make dinner and we all eat together. I'm usually back in my room studying by 8 pm. I stop at about 10 o'clock and watch TV or read a book for half an hour to relax. On Saturdays, I usually go out with my family or with friends and I sleep in till late on Sunday morning. Then it's back to the books on Sunday afternoon.

    How about you? What's your school life like? Do you have a lot of homework? What do you do to relax when you're not studying? I'm looking forward to finding out.

Your Australian friend

Terrie

Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, "You should have goals like climbing the mountain. " without the mountain-climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn't have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience.

Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds'singing, but as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I wanted to quit climbing. In fact, I hated it at that mountain, but my father said to me, "You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can't see it before you reach the top. Only there at the top can you see all of the nice things, just like in life. "

    At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got new hope and confidence. I found myself standing at the top of the sky, which was as clear as crystal.

    Can animals be artistic? Painting and music are part of efforts to keep animals happy at the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

    A sloth bear (长毛熊) called Francois is one of the National Zoo's artists. He began his artistic career two years ago. Francois has a very unusual way to paint. He uses his breathing to paint. His zookeeper, Stacey Tabellario, says that although the technique may look strange, it is actually a very natural behavior for sloth bears. The zookeepers fill one of those tubes full of paint and ask them to breathe through it. And they blow all of the paints onto the canvases (画布), making these really cool paintings.

    Animal artists come in all shapes and sizes at the Zoo. They use many kinds of techniques to create their works of art. Apes use paintbrushes. Many use their paws or claws—much like a human painter who would use his or her hands.

    Stacey Tabellario says Francois seems to enjoy expressing himself through his art. “When I set up the materials for painting activity, he comes and sits next to them and waits until they are ready for painting. He does that every time. I also see where his eyes go. He does see the paints come out of the tube and land on the canvas.”

    But not every animal wants to paint. Music is another part of the arts enrichment program. Physically and mentally stimulating activities are an important part of the daily care of the animals. Trainers have a lot of tools, from tablet computer to small toys.

    Kenton Kerns says the program helps the animals and the zookeepers in many ways. Every interaction between keepers and their animals creates some sort of connections. The one-of-a-kind works of art created by the animals are popular with zoo visitors. Many are sold at the zoo's fund-raising events.

    The aye-aye, in the same family as people, monkeys and apes, is about 40 cm long, with a bushy tale about the same length as the body. The dark brown fur is long and woolly, giving the animal a rather shaggy(蓬松的) appearance. They are found only on Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. It lives in the tropical forests in the east and north of Madagascar.

    The aye-aye is mostly arboreal(栖息在树上的), but is sometimes seen walking on the ground. It's active during the night, looking around in the trees for food. The aye-aye is actually the largest primate(灵长类动物) active during the night. Large eyes help the aye-aye find its way about at night. During the day, the aye-aye sleeps in a nest in a tree. Aye-ayes spend almost the whole night travelling about and feeding.

    Aye-ayes live alone. Sometimes pairs are seen, but basically little is about their lives. They don't Icap and cling to trees like primates. They move about on all four legs.They occasionally make brief cries but are silent. Worms inside dead wood form the largest part Of the aye-aye diet. The aye-aye also feeds on fruit, eggs, and bamboo shoots.

    The front feet of the aye-aye are unique. All the toes are long and thin, but the third is exceptionally long. The aye-aye taps on the tree trunk and listens for movement as searches places "'here worms might-be located. It bites at the tree to make homes. then it uses its third finger to reach inside and hook out worms, The front teeth of the aye-aye grow continuously and are worn down by its eating at bark in its search for worms.

    Aye-ayes are close to be gone or totally gone. Because of deforestation (伐木), or forest destruction, the animals have therefore been forced to eat villagers' crops, and many aye-ayes been  have been killed while doing In addition. Some people on Madagascar believe that seeing an aye-aye is a sign that someone close to them will die, so they kill the animals on sight.

    One of the simplest and the most effective forms of communication involves nothing more than the movement of facial muscles. What am I talking about? Smiling! Everyone understands what a smile means, and everyone also understands what a frown means. In fact, these two basic facial expressions can be recognized across countries, across the world and across the globe, regardless of the language spoken or the culture lived in.

    Moreover, hugs are so beautiful! When you give someone a hug or someone comes up and gives you a hug, this simple act of a hug can “speak” volumes about how much you care for the other person, how much love you want to share with the other person, how much you have missed the other person. This hug has so much to say, and yet there never has to be any words spoken.

    And, who needs to say the words “yes” or “no” when a movement of the head says the same thing. These basic examples show just how powerful body language can be. Just knowing how to read and use body language effectively, makes it really easy to see why it is not always a bad thing to be lost for words.

    Body language in the world of love is a very common thing and sometimes the only thing. And, most of the time, body language is the very first words “spoken” before any words are. The old saying is “love at first sight”, not “love at first word”. Across a crowded room, their eyes meet and linger, he winks at her, and she raises an eyebrow. The connection is made without any words needed. These displays of body language say it all. In fact, sometimes they can say more than words can.

    Have you heard of the following people? Maybe yes, maybe no. But they may be an inspiration for you.

    The Tree Lady

    Kate Sessions was an American botanist and landscape architect closely associated with San Diego, California. After becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, she took a job as a teacher far south in the dry desert town of San Diego. Kate decided that San Diego needed trees more than anything else. Therefore, this young woman single-handedly started a movement transforming the town into the leafy, garden-filled place as it is today.

    The Snowflake(雪花) Man

    Wilson Bentley is one of the first known photographers of snowflakes. His enthusiasm for taking photos began from his boyhood and was often misunderstood in his time, but his determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each is surprisingly beautiful. In 1931, he worked with William J. Humphreys of the U.S. Weather Bureau to publish Snow Crystals, a book containing 2500 photographs.

    The Father of His Country

    By the late 1760s, George Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed (征收) on American colonists by the British, and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from England. During the American War of Independence, he led the colonial forces to victory. In 1878, he was elected president of the Convention that wrote the U.S. Constitution. Two years later, Washington became American's first president. His retirement from office after two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a third term. The 22^nd Amendment (1951) now limits the president to two elected terms.