Anna

    I work in a bank (银行). My home is near a park and is about ten kilometers from my office. I usually go to work by train. I usually get up at 6:30 a. m. and take the train at 7:00 a. m. It usually takes me about thirty minutes to get to my office. The train is quick and cheap. I am never late for work.

Joe

     I am a student. My house is near a river . My school is across from (在……对面) the river. I can walk to school.  It takes me about thirty minutes. But I often go to school by boat, because it is more fun. It takes me about twenty minutes.

Dear Mary,

    Please take these things to Alice: her CD player and CD case, schoolbag, sunglasses, baseball cap, keys and alarm clock. Her CD player and her CD case are on the table in the bedroom. She needs them for tomorrow. Her schoolbag is under her bed. The sunglasses are on the desk in the living room. Her baseball cap is on her bed. Her keys are on the table in the kitchen. The alarm clock is on the table in her room.

Mom

    Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise    (A)    or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.

    Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official (官方 ) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.

    I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.

    All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.

    Many students found this method    (B)   . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.

    Many people say that they are working too many hours.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. They can't take care of things at home. They don't have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2, 159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year than a French worker.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Some people work extra (额外的) hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don't pay overtime. Their workers don't get more pay for more work. Some people think it's their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don't work more hours.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.

    Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Most Chinese hotels often provide guests with things like disposable(一次性的)toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and slippers.

    Many guests like the idea because they don't have to bring their own. But, if you travel to Beijing, remember to bring your own things. Starting from June, some hotels in Beijing will no longer provide guests with these disposable things. They want to ask people to use less disposable things.

    Many disposable things are made of plastic. People throw them away after only using them once. It is a waste of natural resources(资源)and is very bad for the environment. Do you know, one Chinese person makes as much as 4o0kg of waste a year！ Most of that waste comes from disposable things. In Beijing, people throw away about 19, 00C tons of plastic bags and 1, 320 tons of plastic lunch bowls every year！Plastic can take between 100 and 400 years to break down. So the less plastic we throw out, the better. So, wherever you travel, bring your own things and use them again and again.

    Back at home and school, you can also do something to make our world a better place. Try to do these things in your daily life: Use cloth shopping bags, not plastic ones. After using a plastic bag, wash it out and let it dry. Then you can use it over and over again. Do not use paper cups. At your school dining-room, use your own bowl and chopsticks instead of disposable ones.

    To protect our environment and our home, it is very necessary and important for us to save natural resources.