Most schools in England require children to wear a school uniform .

There are at least four advantages. Firstly, when they go on a school trip they all look the same and so they can't get lost. Secondly, it stops kids worrying about what to wear each day. Everyone is equal. Thirdly, parents don't have to shop for expensive and different clothes for their children to show off. Fourthly, wearing a uniform gives a sense of being proud and discipline in them.

    In summer, it's common on the street to see many Chinese women holding parasols¹ to protect themselves from the sun.  But when Amy, an exchange student in Beijing from the US, first saw this, she found it strange, even impossible to understand.  She wrote on her blog, "Unlike Chinese women, American women like to put on their tank tops and sunglasses during summer. If you walk around an American college campus², you will probably see girls out on the grassy fields reading, but they really hope to get a head start on their summer tan³."

    This may be caused by the different standards of beauty between the US and China. Many Americans don't want white skin. They would rather be tanned³. Amy also wrote, "Having darker skin is so popular that many women and men will pay for fake⁴ tans so that they can keep their sun-kissed appearance during the winter months, too."

    Why do they like tanned skin? Michelle Louis reported in her research, "The process of tanning can help make people's skin smooth and hide marks." She further explained, "Tans make people's skin appear healthier and make them appear thinner than when they have pale skin."

    Perhaps there is no real ideal standard of beauty. In different cultures and at different times of history, the standards change. On Amy's blog, she also gave two examples: Some women carried parasols around trying to keep their white skin in the US 150 years ago; During the Tang Dynasty in China, heavy women were thought attractive. But now, Chinese women prefer to be slim.

    In a word, different standards of beauty should be respected. People may grow up with only one idea of what beauty is, but it doesn't mean that it's necessarily the correct or the best idea.

New words:

①parasol n. umbrella used to protect people from the sun 阳伞

②campus n. grounds of school, college or university校园

③tan n. the brown colour of sun-kissed skin 晒成的棕褐

④become brown by the sun 晒成棕褐色，晒黑

⑤fake adj. not real 假的

    Every country has its favorite food. Italians like to eat pizza. Indians like to eat hot food. Japanese like to eat fish. Often they don't cook it.

    In England, one of the most popular kinds of food is fish and chips. People usually buy it in a fish and chip shop. They put it in paper bags, and take it home, or to their workplace. Sometimes they eat it in the park or on the road. The world's favorite food is American fast food. If you go to some important cities in the world, you can find people eating hamburgers and chips.

    Fish and chips, and Chinese take-away food are very popular in England. But they are less popular in the USA, they eat take-away food, too, like chicken. But the most popular kind of take-away food is the hamburger. It looks like bread with meat in it. Ham (火 腿) is a kind of pork, but the hamburger does not have any pork in  it. The beef is inside a kind of cake hamburgers are delicious. They are also popular in England and Australia.

    The Duanwu Festival in China, also called Dragon Boat Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month every year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. For thousands of years, this festival has been marked by people's eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats. (A) To hold the dragon boat races is in memory of Qu Yuan. He was one of the greatest poets in ancient China.

    Qu Yuan was born in Zigui of Hubei Province over 2,200 years ago. Qu Yuan was an honest minister (大臣) of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475—22l BC) . He was upright, patriotic (爱国的) and wise. (B) 屈原想给自己的祖国带来和平并让它变得更强大。But the country was in the hands of bad officials, he could do nothing to change it. (C) He was very discouraged. At last, Qu Yuan ended his life by throwing himself into the Miluo River. It is said that people tried to save him by jumping into the river. But it was too late and all their efforts were in vain. Also, they were so sad and they threw rice into the water to feed Qu Yuan's spirit.

    Now we read his poem Li Sao which is filled with deep love for his country. We can see the dragon boat races and have a kind of Chinese food named Zongzi to eat during the Dragon boat Festival.

Jingxi Taiping Drum is a traditional folk dance that is popular in Mentougou of Beijing. It was included in China's national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006.

This art dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770- -221 B.C) and it was originally (最初) used to wish for good luck. The art was first called the Taiping Drum during the Northern Song Dynasty (960- -1127). At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it started to be popular in and around the capital, and then by the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was introduced to Mentougou area of Beijing.

Jingxi Taiping Drum is usually made up of a shell, a cloth skin, and a handle. And this single-sided drum is usually played with a wooden hammer. The instrument is in the shape of a fan, as this design suits the performance better.

Jingxi Taiping Drum dance has been performed in local villages as well as on national and international stages. It has been performed in lots of cultural events, including the opening ceremony of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing and the 2011 China's Cultural Heritage Day. In 2006 and 2007, it was also performed in Olympic activities in Australia and the United States.

Today, the folk art of the Jingxi Taiping Drum is being taken up by the young and is showing its lively artistic beauty all over the world.

Reading a good book is a wonderful journey because the reader can live in someone else's world for a while. Reading together with others, known as buddy (同伴) reading, will make this journey even more fantastic. During the journey, the buddies spend time doing a lot of reading activities. This not only adds to the pleasure of reading, but also deepens their understanding of the books.

Although it is all right to have students join in buddy reading with same-aged schoolmates schools usually pair up older students with younger ones. In 2021, Green School started such a program and has achieved a great success.

Both younger and older readers in this school have learned a lot from this two-year, program. For example, when they listened to each other, they learned to be kind and patient. This experience also provided them with a chance to practice lifelong skills such as exercising leadership or communicating with others. A student called Jason said that reading to a younger buddy was really helpful. He became more confident, as he knew he was a role model for someone.

The school also became a closer community. The reading buddies felt more connected as they often met each other. The students were always excited when they saw their buddies pass by in the hallway.

Now summer vacation is coming. It's a great time to get into books. Why not pair up with a friend, choose a book you both like and read it together?