A

    What is a Chinatown? Is it a town in China? Of course not! It is in a foreign(外国的) country. It is a place where many overseas(海外的) Chinese live together.

    There are lots of Chinatowns in America. The biggest one is in New York. There are about 150,000 people in it. It is the home of Chinese New Yorkers. And it is also a good place to go.

    Shopping in Chinatown

    Shopping in Chinatown is fun. You can find lots of things there. Most of them are made in China. Mott Street is the best place to shop because the things there are very cheap.

    Eating in Chinatown

    Chinatown has more than 200 restaurants. You can enjoy traditional (传统的) Chinese food there. New Silver Palace Restaurant is one of the best restaurants. Why don't you have breakfast with a cup of green tea in it? You can eat some Shanghai food in Evergreen Restaurant.

    Living in Chinatown

    Living in Chinatown is comfortable. You can find hospitals, schools, banks, libraries and supermarkets in it. In some schools, students must study Chinese. Many overseas Chinese send their children to these schools. They want their children to learn more about China and its culture(文化).

C

    Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar(日历).

    In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on December 31st—January 1st. People may go to parties, sometimes dressed in formal(正式的) clothes, and they may drink champagne(香槟酒)at midnight. During the first minutes of the new year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the new year by waking up early to watch the sunrise. They welcome the new year with the first light of the sunrise.

    Many cultures also do special things to get rid of(摆脱) bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador(厄瓜多尔), families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned(燃烧) to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh(重新). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.

    Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck in the new year. One widespread(普遍的) Spanish tradition for good luck is to eat grapes on New Year's Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black­ eyed peas(豌豆) for good luck—but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!

    Cruises are becoming more and more popular, with around 20 million passengers per year now enjoying holidays on board luxury ( 奢侈的 ) ships. More people see a cruise as the perfect way to sit back and do nothing, and enjoy time off work. But what is the effect on the environment of this trend?

    Although it usually takes less energy for a vehicle to move through water than over land, cruise ships are often massive, with the biggest ones carrying up to 6,000 passengers. Moving such large vehicles requires huge engines which bum as much as 300,000 litres of fuel a day. One scientist has calculated that cruise ships create as much pollution as 5 million cars going over the same distance. Because they are out at sea, they also burn dirtier fuel that isn't allowed on land. Unfortunately, no government has control over the amount of air pollution out at sea. Cruises also produce huge amounts of rubbish, and cruise ships aren't usually good at recycling. Waste water from showers and toilets is usually poured directly into the sea - as much per day as from a small town. Waste food from restaurants isn't put into the sea, but still causes problems when brought back to the land.

    Cruise ships also cause difficulties in the cities where they stop. Popular destinations can get five or six ships per day, with thousands of tourists at a time. Good for restaurants? No. Restaurant owners complain that the visitors look around for a few hours and then return to their ship to eat. What's more, the crowds can put off other tourists, who complain that the streets are too busy.

    Some towns have banned (禁止) cruise ships or put a limit on the number that can stop at the same time. People who care about the environment worry that as the cruise industry continues to grow, so will the issues for our planet.

    Have you heard about "Face Recognition (刷脸)" technology? It begins to become a popular and exciting development in China. In September 2017, a Kentucky Fried Chicken KPRO restaurant in Hangzhou utilized (利用) this new technology.

    Customers will go through the buffet (自助餐) line and then check out with their food using this "Just look with your face" payment method. When they get to the payment machine, they simply choose the Payment of facial recognition and then stand in front of the screen for 1-2 seconds. They then confirm their account and phone number and finish the payment process—all of it takes no more than 10 seconds!

    Nowadays, the words "Face Recognition" have become popular around China with the development of the ability to pay with facial recognition. Here are several examples of how you might hear the words in daily life in China. In Hangzhou, a high school provides a service where students can pay for meals by facial recognition. However, this isn't the only way we use the words in China! When you combine these characters together you also get another meaning: Jackie Chan got a dinner for free by "brushing his face".

    Do you know more about other meanings of "Face Recognition"? Please tell me more about it by sending an email to Susan2018@126.com or call me at 8524689. We'll talk about the topic next time.

Dear friends,

    I am writing this letter to draw your attention to the disasters（灾难）these days. Too much rain destroyed the crops and washed the earth away. Sometimes it was too little and made plants dead. Also there was too much dust in the air. All these did great damage to our life.

    However, we made them! So it is time for us to try our best to save the Earth.

    The most important thing is to plant trees as many as possible. At the same time, we should stop cutting down trees and protect the forests. And we can save our planet through many other ways, such as saving water and using both sides of paper. Besides, don't keep TVs or computers on when you are not using them. When you leave a room, turn off the lights.

    A small action is very helpful to our planet. Please join us in the action of protecting the Earth. Let's start from the little things right around us.

Bruce

Leader of the Students' Union