Welcome to my blog

 Stephen Williams   Friday, June 21

  Today I went to the beach. It was my first day at the ocean for many years. The sound and smell of the ocean brought back memories of the great family vacations when I was a child. We always went to the beach for a week in the summer. I remembered playing for hours in the sand with my sister and crying when I couldn’t have any ice cream. Oh, and I remembered finding a huge jellyfish on the beach, and running away because I was scared! Amazing, really, the things you remember from your childhood.

 Comments

  Yeah, I remember going for long walks in the countryside. I guess I was only eight or nine. In the winter, my mom made soup, and I can still remember the wonderful smell! When we got home, I always went straight to sleep…

 Carla, Mexico

 What a great story! I remember going to the beach, too – on Christmas Day! My family lived in Australia when I was young. I remember waking up early. After we opened our presents, we always went to the beach and had a barbecue.

 Leung, Hong Kong

  The best memory I have is playing my first video game, Super Mario. I remember thinking that it was amazing, It was my tenth birthday and I still remember opening the box.

 Daisuke, Japan

Jiang Wen and his new film are at the top of the world - the world of Chinese cinema. His Let the Bullets Fly has just broken the box-office record for a Chinese film with some 700 million yuan ($107 million). It is such a big success that wherever you go, you can hear people talking about Bullets.
This time, he is not just the leading actor in the film, ______ also the _______ himself. Young people believe he was playing himself because to them, he himself is a true man. And experts also think highly of his way of telling stories. It seems that he does not need others to tell him how great he is ––– not any more.
That does not mean he is not proud of Bullets. It's just that Bullets, for him, is fun. He has heard of all the political interpretations（政治隐喻的解读）of his story that have up across the Web and mainstream media（主流媒体）.
The most wonderful scenes in his movies all seem to have something to do with reality, for example, in Bullets opens with a train pulled by white horses.
"I did not invent this set-up. For 30 years in the early 20th century, there was a part of rail line in Northeast China that was powered by horses," he explains, "You may come up with the most unlikely scenes, and you'll find that fact is stranger than fiction."

    My grandmother is over eighty years old. She always complains about how greatly things have changed, and she often says that life used to be better.

    Families aren't families the way they used to be. If a husband and wife are having problem with their marriage, they don't stay together any more. They choose to divorce. Mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now everyone is busy working; no one has time to look after children at home.

    And the cars! No one walk any more; people get richer and richer, and more and more people buy cars and drive. We used to walk five miles to school every day, even in winter. But now children don't.

    And in school, children don't have to think any more. When I was at school, I used to add, subtract, multiply and divide using my head in math class, but now, children use calculators instead.

    Most families have computers and TVs now. In the past we didn't have computers or TVs, we spent a lot of time talking with our family members. But now, people are too busy to talk to each other. If they have time, they'd watch TV or surf the Internet rather than talk to family members. They are even too busy to eat and think.

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more.

Information Card

    Many of us don't pay much attention to the importance of eye care. It is said that if you take care of your body, then you can surely be healthy. That is why our eyes should be given a lot of care. Natural eye care should be put in a number one place.

There are several causes leading to poor eyesight like not enough food, genes (基因) and aging (老化). Televisions, computers and reading are also the causes of having poor eyesight.

    If you happen to work in front of the computer, it is best to take a break every once in a while. Something dirty can cause redness and they will make you feel uncomfortable. It is bad for your eyes, too. If this happens, the best way is to clean your eyes by using cold water. You must also try your best to protect your eyes from harmful things. For example, sunglasses are not just for fashion but they can also serve as a great way to protect your eyesight form UV rays(紫外线).

    Eating healthy food will do good to your eyesight. Remember that vitamins A, C and E are good for eyes. Try to eat food groups that have these vitamins. And you should do eye exercises because exercise protects your eyesight, too. If a person exercises regularly and eats the right kind of food, his eyes will stay in good condition for a long time.

    All above are natural ways of eye care that help us keep healthy eyes. Being happy all the time can also be helpful to a person's eyesight, too. In a word, eye care is very important, no matter how old a person is.

Give water, save lives

A bottle of water may not seem like much to you, but thousands of bottles will be of great help for people who live in drought-hit(遭受旱灾) areas in China.

Since last autumn, there has been very little rain in Southwest China. Some places, especially in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, have experienced a serious drought. Crops (庄稼) died, the land cracked(裂开), and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty in finding safe drinking water.

After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other things.

Last week, every member of the Communist Youth League (共青团员) and Young Pioneers(少先队员) were encouraged to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit areas. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity. In Yuhua Primary School in Xi' an, 900 students bought over 1,000 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.

The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water. Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou, Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.

"I've heard that some children in drought-hit areas don't have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy ( 含有泥土的 ) water. I feel really sad about that," said one student. "I decide to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water," he said.