Top five universities in Asia-Pacific region

    ⒈National University of Singapore.

    The National University of Singapore is a highly international university with more than half the students made up of international students. With 17 schools across three campuses in Singapore, it has overseas colleges in many different places including Israel, Germany, the US and Sweden. The university started as a medical school in 1905 and has since developed to be one of Asia's best universities.

    ⒉Peking University

    The university was built in 1898 and was the first national university in Chinese modern history. The teaching language for college students is English. As the leading university in China, it has 31 colleges and 14 departments. It has the largest university library in China containing more than 4 million volumes. Many of the buildings on campus remain their original Chinese-style design and structure.

    ⒊University of Melbourne

    The University of Melbourne is a public research institution and Australia's second-oldest university. Four Australian prime ministers have graduated from the institution since it was set up in 1853. It is one of the leading research universities in Australia and some of the research developed there has been widely used throughout the world. In the 1970s, research at the institution led to the first successful cochlear implant(人工电子耳).

    ⒋Tsinghua University

    Tsinghua University was built in 1911. It is one of the best-known institutions in the world. Its 20 schools and 54 departments cover subjects in art, economics, education, engineering, history, management, medicine, law, literature, philosophy and the sciences.

    ⒌Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

    Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is a young institution and is considered Singapore's main science and technology university. It was set up in 1991 and three campuses: Yunnan Garden, NTU @one-north, and Novena. Yunnan Garden is the biggest in Singapore and has been one of the top 15 most beautiful campuses in the world and has planned to be the greenest campus in the world by 2022. Located in Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is often overshadowed by National University of Singapore. But it is still one of students' dream universities in Asia-Pacific region.

    My parents have always said that they never felt comfortable traveling by train when they were my age. It's always a mystery to me when they talk about the crowded and noisy train compartments*, wheels clicking on the rails, and the boring and tiring journeys.

However, train travel is quite a different experience today, especially after high--speed rail was widely put into service in China. Nothing can match train journeys for the comfort and speed. Few things could be more impressive than China's high--speed rail system, especially the speed at which it developed—and is still developing. Such speed is known as "China speed".

    China speed means a lot to the country. The past 30 years have witnessed China's rapid development in various areas, like the economy and technology. We've seen dozens of tall buildings appear almost overnight, with roads and highways connecting every comer. And mobile payments and online shopping are playing increasingly important roles in everyone's life. China speed has changed our country and impressed the world. But as we enjoy the benefits of China speed, the problems it brings us can't be ignored, such as the air pollution or traffic problems. As a high price is being paid, maybe we should think about what China speed will bring us in the next 30 years. We need to know that our future depends on the choices we make today, so it is our duty to give China speed a new definition. If you pay close attention to the word "speed", you might notice that each letter stands for something interesting: Society, Progress, Economy, Environment and Development. Our society's progress depends largely on the balance among our economy, the environment, and the development of our future. That is what we need to keep in mind as China continues to speed ahead.

Royal party in the UK

    On May 19, a grand event took place in the UK. At noon that day, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

    About 100, 000 people went there to witness the union of the now Duke (公爵) and Duchess of Sussex. As Harry and Meghan were pronounced husband and wife in the chapel, the crowd outside cheered so loud that the people inside could hear it!

    Those who couldn't attend the wedding in person watched the royal wedding live on TV. They also organized garden or street parties to celebrate, laying out long tables along the streets and inviting neighbors to come and dance. Many people wore masks that looked like Harry and Meghan while they danced.

    Although it has no say in any political matters, the Royal Family is an important symbol of the UK. A recent survey shows that 40 percent of UK citizens support the royals; while 20 percent don't and the other 40 percent are in the middle.

    ________ Most countries' leaders are not passed on by inheritance (世袭)—that is to say, if you were born into a royal family, you are a prince or princess. However, others dislike the royal family because they think that a life of luxury and wealth should be earned by effort, not because you were born into it.

    In my eyes, the royal wedding brought the British people together. It was like a Cinderella story come true. It was also a great excuse to party, have fun and enjoy the sun!

    Big data(数据) is lot of sets of information that are put together so they can be used by a computer program. The computer program looks for different kinds of answers or patterns in the data. Big data can have different kinds of information from many sources, such as information that comes from schools, social media sites(社交媒体网站), companies and governments. One set of data can have people's names and addresses. Another set can have what they like, where they go to school, and how much time they spend on the computer.

    Big data can be used in many ways. The government uses it to understand how many people travel on buses or trains. This information is then used to make bus or train systems better. Some schools use big data to understand which children may need more help in class. The teacher can then give certain students more help or support so those students can succeed in school. Companies use big data, too. It helps them understand who buys their products. For example, one company uses weather data to see when people eat the most ice cream.

    Big data can be used for good reasons. Some hospitals use big data to predict if a baby who is born too early will get sick. The hospital can then take extra steps to take care of that baby so he, she does not get sick. Big data can also be used for bad reasons. It can be used to predict which kinds of people are likely to break the law or hurt others, even if they have not done anything wrong.

    How can big data be used for good and bad things? It is because the computer programs used to look at big data and understand it are written by people. People think a certain way. Because they think a certain way, they build a model of those ideas. These ideas are then used to look at the data. Sometimes, these ideas are helpful for people or businesses. Other times, bad ideas can cause problems for certain groups of people.

When I was about ten, I was woken up by the shouts（喊声）of my sister one morning. She was hungry, but my mother wasn't at home, so I made a banana cake for her. Let me share the recipe with you.

What you need:

2 eggs  3 bananas  2 cups of flour(面粉)

2 spoons of baking powder(发酵粉)

1/4 spoon of baking soda (小苏打)

1/2 spoon of salt

2/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of vegetable oil(油)

What to do:

l  Mix(混合) together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

l  Add the vegetable oil. Then add a little sugar, and stir (搅拌) it.

l  Pour the eggs into the bowl and stir them well.

l  Add the bananas and stir them.

l  Turn the oven to 180℃.

l  Pour them into the oven（烤箱）. Bake（烘焙） the cake for 20 minutes.

l  Get the cake out of the oven, and cut it into pieces to eat.