My name is Chen Lan. My home is in Gulangyu. Where is Gulangyu, do you know? It is in Xiamen. It is near the sea (海). Gulangyu is a small place(地方), but it is very nice and clean. There are no cars, buses or bikes. People only walk. So it is very quiet (安静的). My house is in the center of Gulangyu. Behind my house there is a big old tree. My grandfather tells me the tree is very old. There are many birds in the tree. We call it a "bird tree". My house is near the sea. The sea is big and blue. There are many fish in the sea.After school, I often go there and catch fish with my friends. It is very interesting. I like eating and catching fish.

    Look! People are gathering to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat! ①Because of the large population on the earth, the world is ________hungry, it is ______be thirsty for water now. The world's population has reached 7 billion. And it could possible grow to 15 billion by the year 2100.

    ②On the other hand, about 97% of water on the earth is sea water which we can't drink or use for watering plants directly. Man can only drink or use the other 3% of fresh water which comes from rivers, lakes and underground. And we can't even use all of that, because some of them has been polluted.

    Now more water is needed. The problem is: can we avoid a serious water shortage later on? Firstly, we should all learn how to save water. Secondly, we should find out the ways to reuse it. Today, in most large cities water is used only once, but it can be used again .Even if every large city reuse its water, still there would not be enough. What could people turn to next?

    The sea seems to have the best answer. The sea is very big. Look at the map of the world, there is more sea than land. It covers three quarters of the earth. All that needs to be done is to get the salt out of the sea water. Scientists are trying to find a cheaper way of doing it. So you see,③如果我们可以找出解决方法，我们就不会有干涸（dry up）的危险。

    English people are well known for plenty of tea that they drink. Per person in the UK consumes (消费) around 1.9 kg of tea every year. Tea is drunk by all sections (阶层) of society.

    But tea is not native to Britain. Most of the tea is grown in India and China. Tea first arrived in London in the 1600s. At this time, British ships were exploring the world and came across the drink in China. It was not long before green tea was available to buy. However, this was only available to the rich.

    At the beginning of the 1700s, the amount of tea arriving in Britain increased slowly. Black tea arrived at this time. At first people drank this tea exactly as it was in China. They soon discovered that it mixed really well with a little milk and sugar, giving the drink a special British characteristic.

    In the 1800s tea was still a product enjoyed only by people with money. At this time they began to have "afternoon tea". This includes drinking tea with a snack around 4 p. m. to avoid feeling hungry. It is a tradition that is still going today but has become less popular in recent times.

    In the late 1800s, the price of tea dropped a lot as more tea began to arrive on ships from India and China. It was no longer a drink just for rich people. Tearooms-shops where you could buy and drink tea-started to appear across the country. People enjoyed drinking tea and social activities in these places. At the start of the 20th century, Englishmen began to make tea in their homes whenever they felt like it. Kettles (烧水壶) became necessary in every kitchen.

    I love to write! Even since I was a little girl, I wrote stories on my notebooks and on little scrips of paper. I told stories to my friends. As a grown-up, I have written over 100 books! That's a lot! As a teacher, it's my goal to encourage all of my students to love to write.

    Writing is easy if you're careful enough, I told them. Everyone I meet is a possible character.

    Everything I see or I do is a possible scene in a book. Start looking around you. You'll be amazed at what you discover.

    Anyone can be a writer. You just put your pencil on your paper and write what you like to read, step by step.

    Create great characters. If you know your characters well, they'll write the story for you.

    Interest the reader right at the beginning. You can start your stories with dialogue or action. If you can make the reader ask questions, then he has to keep reading to find out the answers.

    Following the steps. The steps for every story is almost the same: Introduce the characters and the conflict(冲突); things get worse; all seem lost; the hero saves the day!

    Balance is the key. Remember, when writing, it never hurts to add a little humor.

Our Class Rules

    Hello, everybody! I'm Lisa from Darwin International School. Today our class had a discussion about the class rules. Here are our different points.

    Some think we should listen to the teachers very carefully in class and write down the notes because schoolwork is the most important. At school when we are doing our homework, do not  talk—that may disturb(打扰) others. It is necessary to hand in our homework in time every day.

    The mobile phone is not allowed to be taken to our class because it may be bad for our study.

    Some think how to be a polite student is more important. We should pay attention to our manners. For example, when you cough, turn your head away from others and cover your mouth with your hand. Afterward, you should say, "Excuse me." Greet the teachers by saying something like, "Good morning Mrs. Graham!" In the dining hall, we should keep quiet while having lunch. After we eat, we must clean our tables and don't leave any litter. It is also important to answer all questions with a complete sentence.

    Our teacher Mr Jackson also showed his ideas. He said, "No matter what happens, always be honest. Accept that you are going to make mistakes. Learn from them and move on."

    In my opinion, it's a good idea to wear the school uniforms(校服)on weekdays because I will never think about what to wear next day!

Our Class Rules:

Think about your class rules and write down one of them.

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