Hi Simon，

    I haven't written till now．I've been busy with the course and making new friends {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I got here．I'm speaking English with my classmates all the time and going out in the evenings with {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(they)．We're a real mix of nationalities：Chinese, Russian, Italian ,Spanish ··· We talk about kinds of things {#blank#}3{#/blank#}English and I'm learning a lot about other languages and countries too．

    My host family are very nice．The parents are very{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(friend)and kind．The children are both in primary school {#blank#}5{#/blank#}they are very sweet．But they can be a bit annoying(恼人的)too．If we have to watch the film Frozen together one more time, I'm going crazy!I know all the{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(song)by heart now!

    We live near the school．It's a short bus ride from Edinburgh city centre．There is{#blank#}7{#/blank#} ancient castle(城堡)and we're going there next week．Yesterday my Italian friend invited me{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(watch)the free street shows．We {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(see)a magician doing card games—it was so much fun!

    I{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(send)you some photos of Edinburgh Castle next time．Take care and let me know how you are doing．

Fran

    For this month's Young World magazine, I interviewed 19-year-old Asian pop star Candy Wang. Candy told me that she used to be really shy and took up singing to deal with her {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(shy). Now she's not only shy anymore and enjoys {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(sing)in front of crowds.

    I asked Candy how life was different after she became famous. She explained that there are many good things, like being able {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(travel)and meet new people all the time. “I didn't use to be popular in school, but now I get tons of attention everywhere I go.” {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(however), too much attention can also be a bad thing. ”I always have to worry about how appear to others, and I never dare to be {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(care) about what I say or do. And I have much {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (little) private time now because there are always guards around me.”

    What does Candy have to say to all {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(that) young people who want to become famous?”Well,”she begins {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(slow),”you have to be prepared to give up your normal life.You can never imagine how difficult the road to success is. Many times I {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(think) about giving up, but I fought on. You really require a lot of talent and hard {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(work) to succeed. Only a very small number of people make it to the top.”

Dear Linda,

    How is it going? I'm glad to tell you something about the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China. It falls on August the{#blank#}1{#/blank#}of Chinese lunar(农历) year. On that day, family members always get together to have a big meal and admire the moon. Normally, people {#blank#}2{#/blank#}the full moon with reunion(团聚) and happiness.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, for my dad, the true meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival is missing the relatives in his hometown, as he has been working in Shantou for sixteen years, which is a beach city in {#blank#}4{#/blank#}east of Guangdong Province. Thanks to the development of the transportation(交通), it is much more {#blank#}5{#/blank#}for us to travel than before. But my father is too busy to spare(抽空) his time. As a result, he seldom went back to his hometown. On this Mid-Autumn night, my mum{#blank#}6{#/blank#}out fruit and mooncakes on the table after dinner. I prefer the sweet mooncakes though sweet food may make me put{#blank#}7{#/blank#}weight. My mum pays much {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to my father's health, so she didn't allow him to eat the mooncakes with sugar. My dad went out to the balcony(阳台) and took pictures of the full moon. For a long time, he stood there, looking up at the moon in silence until the moon passed by our balcony.

    Hopefully we can spend the festival together next year {#blank#}9{#/blank#} you want to get more knowledge about it. I'm looking forward to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} from you.

Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Hua

    My deskmate admires my fluent English very much and I usually feel {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (encourage) by his compliments.

    One day, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} we learned the new word 'eccentric" in class, we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (ask) to make a sentence with it. I volunteered to do it by saying "My deskmate is an eccentric boy {#blank#}4{#/blank#} clothes never fit him." Hearing this, the whole class burst into {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (laugh) and my deskmate's face turned red. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} class, I learned from the teacher that my deskmate {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (drop) out of school if he hadn't been helped by others. My mindless words must {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (hurt) him deeply.

    Not until then did I realize words could be powerful in {#blank#}9{#/blank#} positive and negative ways. We should avoid hurting others though we can't always {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (encourage) others when we speak.