Dear Alice,
I just received your letter. And I was very surprised to know that you decided to drop out of school and wanted to be a model （模特）.
Being a model for a living is not easy. In fact, a famous person like me has a lot of problems that you couldn't see. I can't eat what I like, even though I'm very hungry. Keeping thin makes me look more beautiful on the stage because no one would like to see a heavy model.
Besides, I have to wear a heavy coat in the hot sun, in a swimming suit in the cold air. And practicing walking nicely every day is tiring for me.
You might say I made much money from modeling. But my dear niece （侄女）, you have to know that money is, nothing, knowledge is everything. School is important and everyone should go to school for a certain period of time. The longer they stay at school, the better they will be. Very often, I hope I can give up my job and continue my studies at school. But it is very difficult for me to go back to school again. I am too old to go back to school now.
You are a pretty young girl with a bright future. You only have one year to finish your studies in high school. A year is really short. Please do consider my words carefully before you decide. Of course, there is only one thing I care about, and that is your happiness.
Love,
Emma

     It was my first time in the US. I think there is no other country that I have heard so many things about before I visited it. Burgers, big cars, fat people, good wine and fantastic cities. For sure the real experience was quite different. Although you can find all these things there, you will also find many other things to discover.

     In Los Angeles, I stayed at a place where they even produced home-made videos. I always thought in Hollywood only movies with lots of money are produced. But in this place, even parts of the living room were functioned (运作) into a scene. But anyway, this shows what you imagined about a place before arriving might be totally wrong. Now I started to understand the city is not only the place where the big movies are made, it's also where people are crazy about movies, and always try to start a production even if they don't have lots of money. People there just really love movies, they are motivated (调动积极) to give their ideas a try and at least open up a channel online with their home-made stories.

     Of course, there are many other interesting places in Los Angeles. As I stayed only a few days, it was not enough time to see all. But I advise you to have two apps on your smart phone for traveling in America. First is Yelp to find the closest and best restaurant or coffee place. And the other is Uber because especially in Los Angeles, you won't find taxis and everything is so far. You can also drive but it's wise to park your car close to a subway station and go to Hollywood by subway.

    It seems very natural that if you have two dollars and add two dollars to them, you have four dollars. But do you know it too men millions of years to be able to think so? In fact, one of the most difficult things to teach children is the idea of numbers.

    In ancient times, when a man wanted to tell how many animals he owned. he had no system(系统) of numbers to use. He put a stone into a bag for each animal. The more animals, the more stones he had. It may explain why the word "calculate" comes from the Latin word "calculus", "calculus" means "stone."

    Then, man used lines to count. People would just draw a line for each thing they wanted to count, but they had no word to tell the number.

    Later on, people used fingers. Again we have word that goes back to this. The word "digit" comes from the Latin word "digitus". It means "finger"! And the fact that we have 10 fingers led to the use of 10 in the system of numbers.

    The number system we use today was invented by the Hindus in India thousands of years ago and was brought to Europe during 8^th to 11^th by Arab traders(商人). In this system, people count things with ten numbers. 1. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.and 0. It is decimal system(十进制), that is, it is built on the base of 10.

Do you have a beautiful dream? I know almost everyone1his/her own dreams. The dreams are veryimportant2 everyone for they can make people3 harder.

I am studying in a school now. My dreams is4 ateacher in Western China. Many children there want to go to school5 they can't. Their families are very poor andthe parents don't have enough6tosend their children to school. But going to school and studying is the only7 tochange their life. Teachers are greatly needed there, so I want to be a teacherto help them. I8 kind to my students and make friends withthem. I will give them love and teach9 how to be a useful person. I think it is agreat10 in the world.

Joel Sartore is a writer, teacher, and photographer. His words and beautiful images show his love of photography and of the natural world. 

Question 1: How did you become a National Geographic photographer?

My first job was for a newspaper. After a few years there, I met a National Geographic photographer. He liked my photos and said I should send some to the magazine. So I did. That led to a one—day job. And that led to a nine—day job, and so on. 

Question 2:     ▲    

To get into National Geographic, you have to give them something they don't have. It's not enough just to be a great photographer. You also have to be a scientist, for example, or be able to dive under sea ice, or spend maybe several days in a tree. 

Question 3: Is it hard to get a job as a photographer today?

It's now harder to work for magazines. Technology makes it easy to take good pictures, which means there are more photos and photographers. Also, the Web is filled with photos from all around the world that are free, or cost very little. These photos are often good enough to be put in books and magazines. What the magazines need to do these days is to pay for these photos. 

Question 4: I want to be a photographer. Do you have any advice for me?

Advice? Well, work hard. Be passionate (热情的)about every project you work on. Take lots of pictures in different situations. Look at others' photos thoughtfully and learn from them. And be curious about everything. There's something to photograph everywhere.