Dear Sir or Madam.

    One of the teachers at my school in New York tells me that your school has summer course. I am planning to go to Beijing next summer and would like to take a short one-month course.

    I am 18 years old and have been studying Chinese for six years. I was born in the USA and have never been to China before. I am going to study Chinese at the university. I think the course will help me improve my Chinese.

    Could you send me a catalogue(目录) and application form (申请表)? I would also like information about Beijing and other places nearby. I hope to do some travelling when the course is over.

    Thank you! I am looking forward to your reply

Very truly yours,

Jim Green

    H. G. Wells lived from 1866 to 1946. He wrote many famous stories. He was best at writing stories about the future. One story is called The Time Machine. Here is the story.

    More than 100 years ago, there was an English scientist and inventor living in London. One day, four friends went to his house for dinner. The inventor was not there. Feeling hungry, they started dinner without him. Then they heard a sound. A few moments later, the inventor came in, looking dirty.

    He told his friends that he built a time machine. He could travel into the future.

    The inventor went thousands of years in the future. He met people called the Eloi. They were smaller than him. They had no machines. Growing fruit and vegetables was all that they did. They had no hobbies. Only one girl, Weena, spoke to him.

    Four days later, he met other people called Morlocks. They lived underground. They caught Eloi people and ate them! The inventor wanted to fight against the Morlocks. The Eloi didn't want to help him, not even the strong men. He tried to fight against the Morlocks. At last, Weena went underground with him. Unfortunately, Weena died.

    After that, he got in his time machine. He came back to his time. Seeing the future made him sad. The people in the future were worse. They were not clever.

    His friends didn't think it was a real story. But they never saw him again. Maybe he went to save the future.

    When I was about 12, I had an "enemy", a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings（缺点）. Sometimes she said I was thin. Sometimes she said I was lazy. Sometimes she said I wasn't a good student. Sometirmes she said I talked too much, and so on. I tried to put up with（忍受）her as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me quietly, and then he asked, "Are the things she said true or not? Mary, have you ever wondered what you're really like? Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said. "

    I did as he told me and I was very surprised to discover that about half the things were true.

    I took the list to my dad. He refused to take it. "That's just for you," he said. "You know the truth about yourself better than any other people. When something said about you is true, it will be helpful to you. Don't shut your ears. Listen to them all, but remember the truth and do what you think is right."

    Many years have passed. The situation often appears in my mind. In our life we often meet with some trouble and we often go to someone and ask for advice. For some advice you will treasure（珍惜）all your life！

    Two men are walking in the park. One is Mr. Brown, a worker, the other is Mr. Black. Mr. Brown is going to a chair. It is beside the road. Mr. Black is after him. Mr. Brown finds Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black begins to walk faster (更快), because he wants to get to the chair before Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black begins to walk faster because he also wants to get to the chair first. Then they both run. Mr. Black runs faster than (比) Mr. Brown. So he gets to the chair first and sits down on it. Mr. Brown runs after Mr. Black. When he gets to the chair, he sees Mr. Black sitting on it. He is sorry to show a notice (通知) with the words "Wet Paint (油漆未干)" to Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black knows why Mr. Brown is going to the chair.

    Alan Smith is blind. He teaches blind children in his country. To show the world that the blind can also do something amazing, he walked across the world's largest salt desert, Salar de Uyuni, only with the help of a GPS.

    Walking across the desert is not easy for an able-bodied person, let alone (更不用说) a blind man. Before setting off, Alan spent three years training for the journey. He studied everything he could find about the place and asked for advice from other travelers. During his journey, he only took water, food and sleeping bags. He walked about 20 kilometers a day. He showed great perseverance (毅力) and finished the 140-kilometer journey in just seven days.

    The brave teacher thought his week-long journey was wonderful. He said, "The journey was quite good. There were snow storms and winds, but luckily I made it."