How do you feel about your Chinese? Is it good or bad? If you think youare good at Chinese, you can take part in the competition named the “Chinese Characters Dictation Competition (中国汉字听写大会)”. The competition became popular among teenagers. Let's know something about it.

    More and more computers and smart phones are used by teenagers. They spend too much time onthe Internet in playing or chatting. They are used to sending messages by computers and smart phones. As a result, some teenagers forget how to writethe Chinese Characters by hand. The teachers and parents are very worried about it. What can they do?

    Not long ago, they found an interesting game called the Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. The program was similar to the American show “National Spelling Bee”. In this program, middle school students competed among themselves and wrote down the Chinese Characters by dictation. Over two hundred competitors were from forty-six middle schools. The audiences(观众) loved this new kind of competition, too. They tried to write down the Chinese Characters while the competitors were writing them. Butthey found it was also difficult for them to write down all the Chinese Characters.

    Is it an interesting competition? Can you be the winner?

    Donna Reid had just finished her training as a children's doctor. A famous research hospital in New York had offered her a job with good pay. And her boyfriend, Tony, had a clinic in their hometown and hoped she could work with him. At the same time, a small hospital, Backwoods Hospital, in a very poor area had also offered Donna a position. Now it was time for her to decide where to work.

    Dad: Donna, that research hospital in New York has a good reputation for children's medicine. Some of the best children's doctors in the country work there and you can learn a lot from them.

Mom: Yes, I agree it's a good hospital and the pay is good, too. But, that's not the point.

    Dad: Then what's the point?

Mom: It's in New York, too far away!  Let me tell you what, dear Donna. Tony's clinic is just several blocks away. You don't need to travel far if you work there. Tony is a nice young man and I guess you'll get married soon.

    Dad: Ha! It's hard enough to live with a husband or wife. Working with them, too? That's a choice for trouble. Well, Donna, what do you think?

    Donna: I'm thinking about accepting the offer from Backwoods Hospital.

    Dad: But Donna, look at their offer! You'll be on call six days a week, 24 hours a day. That's really a hard job.

    Mom: Oh, Donna, the pay is another problem.

    Donna: It isn't a dead-end job, Mom and Dad. But anyway, I didn't __.

    Dad: No? Then why did you become a doctor?

    Donna: I want to help people. You know that. And Backwoods serves a very poor and needy population. Backwoods, here I come!

    It used to be that parents and teachers had set days and times for parent-teacher meetings, but {#blank#}1{#/blank#} With the help of QQ, Wechat, school website and so on, parents and teachers can communicate with each other more easily and often. But some parents still don't want to connect with their child's teachers. That's not right! Because{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Be sure to call your child's teacher if {#blank#}3{#/blank#} When a child who used to love going to school, but now cries and fights getting on the bus, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Your child's teacher can pay more attention to something bigger happening.

    For example, you may find the teacher's notes on the test paper. They are often helpful for parents to understand what your child's problem is. If they are unclear to you. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    A good working relationship between parents and teachers is good for everyone. Keep communicating, ask questions and solve problems before they become too big. They are all ways to build a strong relationship.

    In August, 2012, I visited London with my husband(丈夫) and our two sons Sam and Eric. We spent four days visiting some interesting places and enjoyed ourselves. The fifth day, I wanted to relax at the hotel. But the children didn't like it. So I carefully thought about how we would spend the last day. I read a passage about HMS Belfast in a magazine. In fact, I was not very interested in visiting a warship(战舰), but my sons and their dad liked it. So we decided to go there.

    The weather was sunny that day. We left our hotel at 8：00 a.m. It took us about two hours to get to HMS Belfast. Children under 16 were free of charge(免费)．The price of the ticket for an adult (成年人) was ￡14.The warship was very large. We took some photos there. Sam was interested in everything on it and said it was the most interesting place in London.

    The school trip is useful. It is one of the ways for students to be in the real life. But sometimes, it may not be good as you think.

    We had a terrible school trip yesterday. Some students were late for the early bus. Then we had to wait for the next bus. We waited for a long time but it didn't arrive. In the end. Our teacher took us to take the subway. 花了我们大约一个小时。 After we got off the subway, we walked and got lost. When we finally arrived at the zoo just at noon. We were tired and hungry. We wanted to see pandas, but there weren't any. There were some really smart elephants, but we didn't see the show because we arrived too late. We left our cameras (照相机)at school, so we didn't take any photos. Then it rained，and no one had an umbrella. We went for lunch. But there wasn't any restaurant in the zoo. My friends had some ice-cream. But I didn't have any, because I don't like it. We didn't see many animals because of the rain. We left the zoo at 5 p.m. when the rain stops. At last, we went back to school. We were really tired. I didn't enjoy my school trip at all.