This term(学期) we have a new teacher of English. His name is Mr. Peterson. He is American. He is not very tall and he is thin. He has a round face and small blue eyes. He wears glasses and they make him look smart. He has dark brown hair.

    Mr. Peterson works very hard. In class, he has many good ideas to make the class very interesting. We all like his class. After class, he always encourages us to speak more English. Sometimes, he plays games with us. He is very strong and he can play basketball and football very well. He is good at sports. Sometimes he plays table tennis with us, but he doesn't play it very well.

    Mr. Peterson loves living in China very much. He enjoys lots of things in China. He really loves eating Chinese food. He loves traveling in China too. He is going to visit Xi'an next month.

    Sarah is thirteen years old. She comes from Manchester in the UK; but now she is living in Geneva in Switzerland. Her father works for the UN and because of that she and her parents have to move a lot.

    Sarah has lived in five different countries: the US, Morocco, Turkey, Switzerland and the UK. But she doesn't remember the UK very well, because they moved to the US when she was only two years old. Still, she visits it often during vacation. She usually stays at her grandparents' house in Manchester. She likes visiting her grandparents, because they often take her to the Peak District National Park. It is very beautiful. Sometimes she stays with her uncle in the little town of Penzance in Cornwall. Sarah likes Penzance, too, but it's often very cold and windy. Penzance is very different from Geneva. In Geneva it is much warmer (更暖和的) in summer, but. also colder  in winter.

    Sarah likes going to new places. But every time she moves, she has to leave behind her old friends. She always needs to make new friends, and then leave them again. Luckily, they can write e-mails to tell each other about their lives.

    Different weather makes people feel different. It influences health, intelligence(智力) and feelings.

    In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during this month. In the Northeast and the Middle West, it is very hot at some times and very cold at other times. People in these states(州) have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.

    The weather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a 1983 report by scientists, IQ(智商) of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQ was 10% lower. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often get worse on exams in the hot months of the year (July and August).

    Weather also has a strong influence on people's feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold during these months. They might feel unhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer. At about 18℃, people become stronger.

    Low air pressure(气压) may make people forgetful(健忘). People leave more bags on buses and in shops on low-pressure days. People feel best at a temperature of about 18℃.

    Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful, or unhappy today? It may be the weather's problem.

    Years ago I worked at a factory in a small county. Every day I got up very early and often did much extra work at night. I was so tired and exhausted. My whole life was hopeless. Then one day I read the following article from a magazine：

    "A woman went to live with her husband in camp on the Mojave Desert（沙漠）during the war. She simply hated the place: the heat was almost unbearable, 125degrees in the shade, the wind blew incessantly, and there was sand-sand everywhere. Finally, in desperation（不顾-切地）she wrote her parents in Ohio that she couldn't stand it another minute and was coming home.

    Quickly came the reply by airmail from her father just two lines：

    'Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw the mud, the other saw stars.'

    The daughter did some real thinking, not only with the intellect（思维）but also with her heart. She decided to stick to her post.

    She made friends with the natives, learned to love the country, and eventually wrote a book about it. The desert hadn't changed, but her attitude had. Because she listened with her heart to the words her father sent, a whole new world opened up to her. "

    A change of attitude could change everything. After reading the article, I was deep in thought（陷入沉思）.

    Mr White works in an office. He is very 1 and has no time to have a good rest. Every evening, when he comes back from his office, he's always tired and wants to go to bed early, 2 his wife often has a lot of interesting things to tell him after supper. She doesn't stop talking until he falls 3. But it's usually too late and Mr White has to 4 early in the morning when she is asleep.

    One day the man felt terrible and couldn't go to work. He decided to go to 5. And Mrs White went with him. Before her husband said 6 was the matter with him, the woman had told the doctor all and the doctor said to her, "The bottle of medicine is for your husband and the pills are for you." "For me?" the woman said in surprise, "I'm fine. I don't need 7 medicine."

     "I don't think so, madam," said the doctor. "They are sleeping pills. Your husband will soon be all right if you take them."