I am walking through the winter park where the trees stand cold and bare (光秃秃的). The yellow leaves have fallen to the ground. Now, a group of women gather at the sides of a path. In the cold winter, they're moving their arms and legs to a rhythm (节奏). They are, of course, the dancing aunties.

    It seems that if you go to any public space around China, you're likely to see these dancing aunties. When I first came to China, it was one of the first things that annoyed me. That's because in Britain dancing in public is not a cultural habit. You won't see any age group swinging their arms and tapping their feet in a park. Usually, they just take a walk for exercise.

    Now and again the dancing aunties have hit the headlines (头条新闻). Some people find them annoying. But others respect their right to dance in public. Most of them are middle-aged. They finally have some free time to do whatever they like. There is no more work, and their kids have left.

    All in all, I like seeing these women enjoying themselves. They remind us of the importance of exercise as we get older. Besides, most of them have raised the whole families. Now it is their time to have fun and enjoy some peace.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}between people of different countries. The super star Jay Chou has cooperated with the American NBA star Kobe Bryant to create a song named The Heaven and Earth Challenge.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It expresses the love for basketball.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Jay Chou has learned much from Kobe's sports spirit. In the song,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} People can download the ring tone(铃声) of the song from the Internet.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} which aims to improve educational environment in poor areas in China

A. And it encourages young people to be more confident.

B. Music touches our hearts and shortens(缩短) the distance

C. Jay Chou does most of the singing part while Kobe plays a part of a rapper(说唱者).

D. All the money from the downloads will go to Project Hope.

E. That's a song written by Jay Chou whose favorite sport is basketball.

    This is Zhu Xiaogang's day. Every day he gets up at six in the morning from Monday to Friday．He has breakfast at home．Then he goes to school at 6:35．He reads English from 7:10 to 7:30．He has four classes in the morning．He has lunch at school at 12:00．In the afternoon, he has three classes .He starts his lesson at 2:30. In the evening he does his homework．There is too much homework. He goes to bed at 11:30 every day．He doesn' t get enough （足够的）sleep. He feels tired (累的).

信息归纳：

Zhu Xiaogang's Day.

    We often dine out with others, but do you know some basic etiquette (礼节)? If you behave well at the table, it will make your partners happy. But if you don't know how to behave yourself, you will feel embarrassed. Here are some tips for the table etiquette.

    When helping a woman pull her chair to the table, hold it and guide it. Don t shove(碰撞)it against the back of her legs.
     If you're seated at a table with eight or fewer guests, wait for everyone to be served and for the hostess(女主人) to begin eating before you dig in. At a long banquet table, it's OK to start when several people are seated and served.

    If you prefer not to have wine while dining out, don't turn your glass upside down, and don t make a big deal of saying you don't drink. Simply place your fingertips on the rim(边缘) of the glass and say" Not today, thanks."

    When you excuse yourself to go to the restroom, just say" Please excuse me."

    When out with friends or family—even at a fancy restaurant –it's OK to ask for your leftovers(吃剩的饭菜) to be wrapped. But don't do it at a business lunch or dinner.

Information Card

    When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

    In the A, B, C, D and F grading system, the first four letters are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for“fail”.The word“fail”happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E. The fact”．Some schools have U grade for“unsatisfactory”,or I grade for “incomplete”.

    Even with all this said, we should also point out that E grade actually has been used pretty commonly throughout the history of letter grades in the US.

    The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale:

A: 95-100%(excellent)       B: 85-94%(good)      C: 76-84%(fair)

D: 75%(barely passed)       E: below 75%(failed)

    We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

    Gradually,the letter grading system became more popular throughout the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F.There is no evidence(证据) to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for “excellent”.

    Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during a time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began,growing cities and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

    Today, more and more people argue that letter grades don't fully reflect(反映) student learning. However，as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to favor the letter grades they got as kids, they are familiar(熟悉) and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.

    Tom is a TV reporter. An amazing thing happened to Tom yesterday evening. He was walking alone on his way home when he saw bright lights in the sky. Then a spacecraft(航天器) showed up. At first he thought it was orange and white, and it was coming closer and closer. Then it stopped a few metres above the ground. He saw two people inside. They had big ears and small eyes, but no hair. Tom thought they were aliens. He had a camera with him then, but he was too scared to take a photo. Then he began to feel weak and fell to the ground. An hour later, he woke up. He found himself lying on the grass in front of his house. He couldn't explain how he got there. Of course he told his friends about this strange experience. All of them said he was kidding.