If someone asks me "Do you like music?" I'm sure I will answer him or her, "Of course, I do." Because I think music is an important part of our lives.

    Different people have different ideas about music. For me, I like rock music because it's so exciting. And my favourite rock band "the Foxy Ladies" is one of the most famous rock bands in the world. I also like pop music. My classmate Li Lan loves dance music, because she enjoys dancing. My best friend Jane likes jazz music. She thinks jazz is really cool.

    "I like dance music and rock music very much, "says my brother, "because they are amazing."

    But my mother thinks rock music is boring. "I like some relaxing music, "she says. That's why she likes country music, I think.

    The Mid-Autumn Festival is a very important Chinese festival. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of lunar calendar. A few days before the festival, everyone in the family will help to make the house clean and beautiful. Lanterns will be hung in front of the house.

    On the evening of the festival there will be a big family dinner. People who work far away from their homes will try to come back for the reunion (团聚). After dinner, people will light the lanterns which are usually bright and round. Children will play with their own toy lanterns happily.

    At night the moon is usually round and bright. People can enjoy the moon while eating mooncakes which are the special food for this festival.

Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in the US and the UK. Sonora Smart Dodd, a loving daughter from Spokane, had the good idea that society must celebrate a day to honour fathers, because they make important contributions to the raising of children.

    People celebrate the festival by honouring their fathers and expressing love to them by giving popular gifts like cards, flowers, chocolate and ties. Little children often give handmade gifts to their dads.

    The British government has started a ￡ 10 million Mandarin Excellence (普通话优秀) Program. The program will have helped over 5,000 British students to be fluent (流利的) in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.

    The program is led by local schools and supported (支持) by University College London. So far, 14 schools have taken part in the program. Hundreds of secondary school students in England have taken lessons in Mandarin Chinese. Over the next three years, they will spend eight hours studying Mandarin Chinese every week.

    Ned Miller is an officer of the British government. He said a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese would become more and more important. "Language skills are important for jobs and life. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the largest number of people in the world. It is also one of the languages that matters the most to our country's future. If the United Kingdom wants to remain competitive in the world, we do need far more of our young people leaving school with a good command of Mandarin Chinese," Miller added. "We hope that our young people could be given the chance to study the language. We want them to be fluent in both spoken and written Mandarin. The Mandarin Excellence Program will help us do this. It will not only open the students' eyes, but also give them a great advantage when they enter the world of work."

    British kids, in fact, are not alone. In America, about 200,000 students are studying Mandarin Chinese. It is believed that 800,000 more will join them over the next couple of years.

    There are some skills for students to listen to the teachers in class, which means you're going to have to practice them. Just as you would have to practice basketball to be a better player, you also have to practice listening. How to listen in school? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One of the things you'll need to do is to make sure that your mind doesn't wander(漫游). It's easy to start thinking about other things, especially when you are not interested in the subject. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

   Next, listen for the main ideas. If you want to catch every little piece of information, you'll feel tired and bored. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Not only does this show respect to the teacher, it also helps prevent your mind from wandering. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Or it could just be someone talking to their neighbors who shouldn't be, it can even be some birds outside the classroom window, or a group of kids who are talking loudly as they pass the door to your room.

    Finally, you need to take notes because you will not remember everything the teacher said. You'll have to take down the notes so that you can study it after class. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Listening isn't always easy, but if you follow these simple steps, you'll be much more successful in your classes.

The dragon is the fifth sign of the Chinese Zodiac (生肖). There are 12 Zodiac in Chinese culture. In fact, the Chinese dragon, also known as long, doesn't exist (存在). But Chinese people have loved it so much for {#blank#}1{#/blank#} of years.

Chinese Dragons play an {#blank#}2{#/blank#} role in Chinese culture. You can always find something about dragons when you are learning {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Chinese culture.

Emperors (皇帝) in ancient China were {#blank#}4{#/blank#} as the sons of dragons. Chinese dragons are the symbols of being lucky, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and noble. But they are described as monsters in Western stories.

Chinese people believe dragons could control the weather. They live at the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} of seas, rivers, lakes or anywhere with water. In many {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, Chinese people perform a "dragon dance" to please the dragon king and make sure good weather and a good harvest. It was {#blank#}8{#/blank#} that a dragon helped Yandi and Huangdi open the prelude (序幕) to Chinese civilization (文明). So Chinese people call {#blank#}9{#/blank#} "descendants (子孙) of the long".

In the West, dragons also have a long history. What may be surprising, however, is that the dragons {#blank#}10{#/blank#} similar origins (起源). Both Eastern and Western records said dragons are like snakes.