Dear Sam,

    I hear that you'll travel to China next month. Now I'll tell you anything about it. Beijing is capital city of China. There are so many amazed places we cannot miss. For example, the Great Wall -- one of the seven wonder in the world, the Palace Museum and Yuan Ming Yuan. And you may also go to Hua Shan -- a dangerously steep mountain. At last I advise you to visit Hu Nan, that is famous for Zhang Jia Jie. In the way, have you ever heard of Mao Zedong, one of the greatest leaders in Chinese history? If you go to Shao Shan, you'll know many about him. Oh, I must be stop now, but I will get ready for my final exams.

                                                                                                                                                                         Yours,

                                                                                                                                                                         Ahfang

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    Population ageing refers to the situation in which the average age of the citizens of a country increases as a result of longer life expectancy（预期寿命）of its citizens or a reduction in the number of births every year.Today, both developed and developing countries around the world are experiencing an increase in the average age of its citizens with a growing proportion（比例）of elders in the population.

    An increase in the proportion of elderly persons in the population leads to a growing pool of volunteers.This has been considered as a global advantage where the elderly contribute free labor to community and government projects after retirement.These elders are more comfortable financially（财政上）and find pleasure in giving back to their communities and countries.Besides,older people are more experienced than younger people,and they can make use of their experience to help uphold morals（维护道德）and values in a country.

    What's more,an ageing population has something to do with fewer children.This can save much cost because less money has to be used to meet the needs of fewer children and young people in the economy.This would result in lower public education cost,lower health-care cost and other social programs that are provided for children by the government.

    However,there are also a lot of disadvantages.For example,an increase in the proportion of the elderly in the population raises questions as to how best to support them after retirement.Also older people are more likely to suffer from illnesses,so an increasing number of sick persons will put pressure on health care,which might not be able to meet the demand.

    Furthermore,an ageing population also increases competition for jobs,especially if the retirement age is extended（延长）.As older members of the population have a longer time to retire,young people will find it more difficult to find jobs.In this case,fewer innovations（创新）and changes take place in organizations because companies are limited to old ways of doing things.

    So,in order to solve these problems brought by an aging population,careful long-term strategic planning is required.The elderly are important and they have much to offer in helping the young people to understand their purpose in life.An increase in social enterprises（规划）should be the trend to help get the elderly involved in young people's lives.

    Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of Deniliquin, a country town in New South Wales, misses the constant whir（嗡嗡声）of the rice mill whose giant fans dried the rice. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere (南半球), once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people globally. But six years of drought have had a destructive effect, reducing Australia's rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

    Drought affects every agriculture industry based in Australia, not just rice – from sheep farming, the country's other backbone, to the cultivation of grapes for wine, the fastest-growing crop there, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice. The drought's effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

    Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages – for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to fight against global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb. 'there will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change director at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The recent reports on climate change carried a warning that could make the news even worse: that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.

    Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice – although the effect reduces or disappears if the plants face unnecessary heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses. Still, the flexibility of farmers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be relieved, if not completely avoided. “I'm not as negative as most people,” said Will Steffen, director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”

    Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering. “Rice is an essential food,” said Graeme Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. “Wine is not.”

    How to prepare for exams?

    Here are some tips you can read with your child.

    The first step in preparing for examinations is to set a fixed time each day to study and a schedule to say when to start the revision and for which subject. The plan should include how many chapters to revise and how many worksheets (活页练习题) to work on. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Parents who do not know the examination schedule can search “exam timetable” to see the official examination schedule. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The second thing is to decide on the place to study. Some need total silence in a library before they can concentrate while others like to have some background music like in the cafeteria, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}So there is no need to tell your child to change the study place if he is producing the desired results.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}For lessons, pupils must participate in lessons and discussions actively. For exercise, work on the simple ones in the textbook. For theory, pupils can use the mind map method to summarize the facts.

    At last, be smart. Focus on chapters that are the core of the subject or difficult chapters. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Next the most effective way to revise is to use an active approach.

B. Making good preparations counts.

C. The mind map can help you a lot in your revision work.

D. Your child has to be self-disciplined (自律的) to follow the plan.

E. It is not necessary to read from the first to the last page.

F. The best time to start revision is one or two months before the examination.

G. Both are alright as long as your child is comfortable with it.

    Something happens to many children when they are out of school over the summer months. It is called the “summer slide.” This may sound like a ride at a water park. But it's not. Summer slide is when children forget much of what they learned during the latest school year.

    To fight the effects of summer slide, teachers often give students homework over the summer. Many parents may send children to all kinds of camps or find other activities to keep them learning. Some even try to build up their children's strengths by getting them into extra tutoring.

    However, experts say keeping children busy all the time is not good for them. The result is often a tired child with an overcrowded schedule. This keeps a child's brain active constantly—learning, gathering information and preparing for the next event. And this may have the opposite effect the parents are not hoping for.

    What should parents do instead? Nothing. According to Lea Waters, a psychologist specializing in positive psychology and positive education, slowing down actually helps children become the best they can be. Machines need to be reset, while kids need to goof off（偷懒）. She says that goofing off really allows kids to have some downtime, when they're not focused on a specific task but are free to do something that they're interested in doing and that they can do more automatically and get enjoyment from, like shooting baskets or listening to the music.

    She also adds that goofing off does not mean the brain isn't working. It just goes into this default network mode（默认网络模式）and uses that time to process all the information it had during the day, to integrate（整合）new information. It makes a kind of decision about what information to put into memory and what to get rid of, which in fact helps to improve memory.

The Youngest Skier To The South Pole

    On Friday December 9th, a 16-year-old skier, Ameba Hempleman-Adams reached the South Pole with her father after skiing 97 miles and spending 17 nights on the ice. On the final day they skied 14 miles and afterwards Ameba said she felt" elated and tired" on reaching the South Pole.

    "The biggest challenges were the freezing cold and eating only dried food. The best bit has been experiencing what Dad does on expeditions(探险).It's the first time I've been on a difficult long journey with him and now I know what it's like. The trip brought me closer to Dad, but I also had to put up with his snoring(鼾声)which was terrible.', She added," Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I'll have to think about that after a few nights' sleep! At times it's been really hard: I've got aching shoulders, and my back's been sore from pulling my sledge(雪橇), I've got blisters(水泡)on my feet from the boots and I've got a cold burn on my nose from my sunglasses. _______"

    She said the most extraordinary part of the trip had been the breathtaking scenery and the sense of isolation in the Antarctic landscape." I've really missed my friends while I've been away and want to thank them for all their messages of support."

Friends and relatives who posted comments on Ameba's expedition website paid tribute(致敬)to her positive attitude which , they said ,would be an inspiration to others.

    Her father, David, said" Ameba has done amazing well. I'm proud of her. She showed real determination. She was tough and she pulled her sledge the whole way. It was a special experience to share those 97 miles with her."