Jane Austen ever popular

    This summer, the UK will honor its favorite writers, Jane Austen (1775-1817), by making her the face of the new £10 note. In the 200 years since her death, Austen has been getting more and more popular all over the world.

    And yet Austen's works are so English that it's rather strange she should be so popular all over the world. Her novels are so of their time that it's strange that she's still enjoyed in this very different age. Her most famous works including Pride and Prejudice, the one which she is most known for are about the world of the English gentry(贵族阶层)in the late 18^th century.

    Most of her works is about young women of that time. Women of the gentry could not work so their chances of happiness or even basic living depended upon finding a husband. This is a very serious subject matter, of course, but the joy of Austen's stories is her ability to make wonderful, but also touching, comedy out of something so serious.

    Take Pride and Prejudice as an example. Elizabeth Bennet is one of six daughters in a family that struggles with money problems. Her mother wants to marry off as many of them as possible.  Mrs Bennet is one of the great comic characters of English literature.

    The novel is developed by the love-hate relationship between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. The pleasure of the novel is reading how these obstacles(障碍) are overcome and how the comical and unexpected ending is achieved.

    If we think about this story, it's clear why Jane Austen is still popular 200 years after her death, and why readers can still identify with characters from the long dead world of the 18^th century English gentry. Although there have been many changes since that time, it's still the greatest challenge in life for men and women to find the partner of their dreams.

    One day, I was cooking with my friend Sandy in the kitchen. Suddenly, Sandy cut her finger. I went to her quickly. But to my surprise, I saw computer chips in her finger.

    "Now you know my secret, you have to die!" Sandy said and picked up the knife. "No, please, Sandy. Aren't we good friends?" I shouted. But before Sandy could say anything, she fainted.

    "Oh, Sandy!" I took her to hospital in a hurry. After a doctor checked her, he said, "I'm afraid we can't help her. Why don't you take her to a robot centre?"

    I hurried to a robot centre. A few days later, Sandy was well. She asked, "Mary, why did you save me even after I tried to kill you? "

    "Because I'm sure you are my friend. Can you tell me where you are from?" "I'm from another planet. It's far from here. Thank you, my friend Now I see how friendly people are on the earth." Two days later, a UFO came and picked her up. Since then I've never seen her.

Dear Helen,

I had a great time in Hong Kong. I spent five days there. Let me tell you what I did. Today I went shopping with my aunt but I didn't buy anything. The things were too expensive.

Yesterday I took a boat trip around the famous Victoria Harbor(维多利亚港). I took lots of photos.

The day before yesterday I went to the zoo. I saw some monkeys there. Oh, I also bought some gifts there. On Thursday I went to the bird market. I saw many kinds of birds from all around the world. On Wednesday my aunt took me to the beach. We lay on the beach and enjoyed the sun. On the beach I met my friend. We played happily on the beach. What about your trip? I hope you have a great time in Toronto.

Yours,

Zhao Pei

Hi, I'm a middle school student. I'm Judy. In my class there are thirty-eight students. How do they go to school every day? Seventeen of them take the bus because they live far from the school. Six students walk. They think walking is good exercise. Fifteen students ride their bikes to school because they like riding bikes very much and their homes are not far from the school. No one goes to school by car. How do you go to school? Haha, I'm one of the fifteen.