Basketball stars become hip-hop singers. It's true. In NBA, hip-hop music is very popular. Many of the players, like Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, write rap(说唱) words when they travel on planes from one city to another. Some of them even have rap radio shows and others perform(表演) in music video.

    When some of the younger stars play basketball, they even try to look like hip-hop singers. “Hip-hop is just part of their culture,” says one player. “All of us grew up listening to rap and playing basketball, and rappers grew up doing the same thing.”

    Master P. is a famous rap star who wants to become a basketball player. Two NBA teams have invited him to join them. They enjoy listening to his music. An NBA player has become a rapper. He has made four successful rap albums(专辑).

    NBA has a closer connection to hip-hop than any other sports league.

    Modern Chinese use the solar calendar（阳历）as English people do . But at the same time, they use their own lunar calendar. Each lunar year is given the name of one of these animals : the rat , the ox , the tiger , the hare , the dragon , the snake , the horse , the goat , the monkey , the chicken , the dog and the pig . This list lasts for 12 years and then starts again.

     Each Chinese month starts on the day of the new moon. And the full moon comes on the 15th day of the month. The New Year always starts between January 21 and February 20. On the last day of the lunar year, there is a big family dinner. All members of the family except married daughters try to be present at this meal, even of they have to travel many miles to reach the home of their parents. Old quarrels are forgotten, and everybody is happy. After the dinner, the children keep awake to welcome the New Year.

    The New Year celebrations last for 15 days, from the new moon to the full moon. On the first day, children and unmarried people go to visit their elder

    One day an American called Simon went to London to visit his friend, Rick. Rick told him that his flat was on the first floor. When he arrived, Simon went straight to the first floor of the building. But he was told that there was no Rick on that floor. Do you know why?

    In fact, the British call the first floor of a building the ground floor. The floor above the ground floor is the first floor, while Americans would call it the second floor.

    The story shows that there are a few culture differences between Britain and America, though the British and Americans both speak English.

    The British usually hide their feelings. They seldom start a conversation with strangers. For example, on the train the British often spend their time reading newspapers or books. But Americans are quite different. They're more active and easier to talk with.

    The British and Americans may use different terms for many things. The British usually use “football”, “eraser” and “mail” while Americans prefer to use “soccer”, “rubber” and “post”.

    It is increasingly popular for Chinese young people to share their experiences on social media (媒体), such as the "moments"(朋友圈)on popular instant messaging service WeChat. "I have been reading 'Jane Eyre' for 40 days with 48,000 words finished Li Anqi said. Li has been sharing her reading experience on WeChat moments every day since January. Working in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China? s Ningxia, Li wants to learn English very much, but cannot get rid of (摆脱)the everyday work of school lessons.

    "I found many of my WeChat friends had been reading books or learning English on mobile reading apps, and I did not want to fall behind," Li said.

In January, she spent more than 100 yuan buying an online reading class at the Bohe Reading app, which tells customers they can: "Finish reading your first English book here."

    At her reading class, teachers assign reading homework and give instructions to 430 class members every day.

    A survey report released on Thursday said 70.9 percent of primary and middle students in China use the Wechat instant messaging App.

    At the same time, 75. 9 percent of Chinese children have their own mobile phones, according to China National Children's Center.

    The figures were based on a survey of nearly 9000 children across China.

    However, 28. 8 percent of them never read news online and 43. 2 percent have never touched newspapers.

    The center called for efforts to address the digital divide between urban and rural education and protect children's privacy (隐私)as Internet users.

    How important is your appearance? Although everyone wants to be good-looking, are beautiful people always happier people? For example, it must be a problem to be a really beautiful woman, because some people may be more interested in looking at you than talking to you. They think of you as a picture rather than a person.

    Some people think that women who are exceptionally(格外地) pretty and men who are particularly handsome must be stupid. They believe that only unattractive(无魅力的) people can be intelligent(智慧的).

    On the other hand, no one wants to be really ugly, and have a face that even your mother doesn't want to look at; and no one wants to be plain, either--that is, to be neither attractive nor unattractive, and have a face that is easily forgotten. Being attractive is like being rich. It can help you find happiness, but it doesn't always make you happy.

    So maybe the best thing is not to worry too much about how you look, but simply try to be an interesting person. For interesting people have interesting faces, and interesting faces are almost always attractive.

W: Did you go shopping in town yesterday, Jim? 

M: {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

W: Did you go to the computer shop called "IT Sky" in Puguo Road?

M: Yeah. It was crowded yesterday. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 

W: Did you buy any books? 

M: Yes, I chose five or six books. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

W: Where did you go after that? 

M: I went to Dream Clothes in Chaoyang Street. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It was 800 yuan. 

W: Oh, that was expensive. Do you always buy clothes there? 

M: Yes. The clothes last a long time and they look smart. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}