Hi! Welcome to my webpage. My name's Tom Wood and I'm an English teacher. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (design) this webpage last week so that my students can learn more about me. I think it is important{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (know) my students well. And it is only fair{#blank#}3{#/blank#} my students know me well, too.

    I was born in London, England, but I've lived and worked in China for the past 15 years and I really like living here.

    I can speak Putonghua and even a little bit of Cantonese{#blank#}4{#/blank#} is my wife's dialect (方言). I practice{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(speak) Chinese every day and I am improving{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fortunate), there are one or two million people in my town who are ready to help me with my Chinese! I particularly enjoy talking to my neighbors.

    My favourite sport is football. I play football once a week with some of the other teachers at the school. We're going to organize a(n){#blank#}7{#/blank#} (compete) with teams of teachers from other schools this summer.

    My other great love is my motorbike. I love getting on my motorbike and riding out to the countryside. But my wife thinks it's too{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (noise )and dangerous. If anyone wants to send me an email, just{#blank#}9{#/blank#}do) as you like. I'd love to hear{#blank#}10{#/blank#} you.

    Digging through kids' school bags, looking up all the assignments, sitting beside them going through each item, and finally {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(have) all the homework checked with a name signed is a{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(day)routine for most Chinese parents, as required by teachers. A demanding task especially after a long day's work at office, isn't it?{#blank#}3{#/blank#}（lucky）, some parents in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, have been liberated. A local primary school has recently announced that parents will no longer have to sign their names on their kids' homework, as students should be responsible{#blank#}4{#/blank#}their own assignments.

    Making mistakes is{#blank#}5{#/blank#}essential part of the process of understanding. Who cares how much you{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(score) in your homework after you have settled down in life and found your directions? The ability to realize one's mistakes and learn from them is what matters,{#blank#}7{#/blank#}is also the main purpose of education. Why not give students a chance{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(find) out and correct their mistakes themselves?

    It is by no{#blank#}9{#/blank#}（mean）parents' duty to go through the kids' assignments.{#blank#}10{#/blank#}parents are supposed to do is to create a friendly studying environment for kids, and teach them to be an independent learner. After all, independent learning is much more important than high scores.

    The day before he heads to a war, an undefeated {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (command) named Qi has a dream in which he loses a battle and dies. When he wakes up, Qi gets ready to go and fight. While gaining successive victories, Qi decides to celebrate, although there is a final battle {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (wait) for him. When he gets {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (drink) and falls asleep in his tent, Qi's army {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (attack) by the enemy and he gets killed just as his dream predicted. This is the story that has inspired the latest Kunqu Opera production.

    As one of the oldest of the traditional Chinese opera {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (form), Kunqu Opera, which is about 600 years old, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (combine) singing, dancing and lyrical recitation. Performed in the Suzhou dialect (方言).UNESCO listed Kunqu Opera as an intangible heritage(非物质文化遗产)of humanity in 2001.

    Earlier this year, a plan of combining Kunqu Opera and traditional Chinese idioms was developed, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} would allow young Chinese directors and Kunqu Opera performers {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (work) together. The young artists are working on developing original plays based on traditional Chinese idioms to keep {#blank#}9{#/blank#} tradition alive while making it popular again{#blank#}10{#/blank#} new ideas.

    There is a tendency to think of each of the arts as {#blank#}1{#/blank#} separate area of activity. Many artists, however, would prove {#blank#}2{#/blank#} there has always been a warm relationship between the a warm relationship areas of human activity. For example, in the late nineteenth century the connections between music and painting were especially close. Artists {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (invite) to design clothes and settings for operas and ballets, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} sometimes it was the musicians who were inspired by the work of contemporary painters. Of the musical compositions as responses to the visual arts, perhaps the most famous is Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

    Mussorgsky composed the piece in 1874 after the death, at the age of 39, of the artist Victor Hartman. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} their friendship had not been a particularly long-lasting one, Mussorgsky was shocked by Hartmann's unexpected death. The following year the critic, Vladimir Stasov, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} decided to told an exhibition of Hartmann's work, suggested that Mussorgsky {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (try) to relieve his grief by writing something in memory of Hartmann.

    The exhibition served as Mussorgsky's inspiration. The ten pieces that make up Pictures at an Exhibition {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (intend) as symbols rather than representation of the paintings in the exhibition. Between each is a promenade (舞曲中 行进), as the composer walks from one painting to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} The music is sometimes witty and playful, sometimes almost alarming and frightening. Thought a range of surprising contrasts, Mussorgsky manages {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (convey) the spirit of the artist and his work.