I am Tony Smith. I am twelve. I am in No.101 Middle School. I'm in Class 2, Grade 7. My good friend is Jim Green. He is an English boy. He is twelve, too. He is in my class. He can speak good Chinese. Jane is in Class 2, too. I think she is a good girl. My Chinese teacher is Mr. Wang. His students like him. He is very cool.

    What are hurricanes?

    You may already know that hurricanes are storms. They can cause

terrible waves, winds, and rains. They happen during “Hurricane

Season,” which is from June 1st until November 30th in the Atlantic

Ocean and from May 15th until November 30th in the Pacific Ocean.

Kinds of Hurricanes

    There are five kinds of hurricanes. it helps people know a hurricane is so bad because the greater the wind speed is, the more dangerous the storm is. For example, a kind of hurricane has winds over 155 miles per hour, which are strong enough to break the buildings along the seaside completely.

    Hurricane Dangers

    When a hurricane happens together with heavy rain, there can be a terrible flood. The centre of a hurricane is called the eye. While most of a hurricane has dangerous strong winds, when the eye is a calm area in the storm in fact. When the eye of a hurricane passes over land, people might think that it's over, but before long the wind and rain increase again as the second part of the hurricane moves through.

    Hurricane Safety Tips

    There is no way to stop a hurricane or make it change direction, so if you ever find yourself in the path of a hurricane, be sure to remember the following safety tips.

    ● Be sure you have a radio, fresh drinking water, and enough food.

    ● Tell neighbors, friends, and family members your emergency plans. Tell them where you'll go if you need to leave your home.

    ● Stay inside during the storm. You could be badly hurt if you go outside.

    Here is a story of a dog. It saved his owner, Audrey Stone, who was a lady and had poor vision (视力).

    Figo, an eight-year-old dog, is Audrey Stone's third service dog. "He protects me and loves me. We are friends," Stone said.

    On a Monday, Stone and Figo were on their way back from their "usual daily walk". When they prepared to cross a street, "I gave him the order to cross the street," Stone said.

    "I said, 'Forward.' And we were in the middle of the street and it happened so quickly, but people said he just jumped at the school bus and saved me," Stone said.

    The school bus was carrying two children to a learning center. Luckily they were not injured. Stone said she didn't remember much of the accident, but one image (画面) stayed with her: a wounded Figo staying by her side, holding up his wounded right paw (爪子).

    "I knew he was hurt," she continued. "I remember Figo standing there, looking at me, trying to get close to me, but he didn't know what to do. Because he knew I was hurt." Figo had an operation (手术) on his right front leg. Figo's vet (兽医) said his leg was getting better.

    Stone said she was sure of one thing, "I'd have been sad if he had got killed." But, she added, they both lived to tell the story.

Information Card

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}⑴14-year-old Tony likes history best and likes reading books about history.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}⑵13-year-old Mike is an American boy. He broke his leg last month and he will have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He doesn't know what to do.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}⑶15-year-old Amy loves music and she wants to become a famous singer.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}⑷12-year-old Lucy is imaginative and she likes reading adventure stories.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}⑸14-year-old Bob always has much homework to do. He wants to learn how to make a homework schedule(计划表).

    Andy was still traveling in Spain when he realized he had to confirm (确认) his     home with the airline company. He was visiting Spain in order to improve his Spanish. When he was speaking to people face to face, he had no difficulty understanding what they said. However, when he was speaking on the phone, he still had a problem. Andy called the airline. And the clerk confirmed that his plane was leaving at nine o'clock three days from that day. She also told Andy to be at the airport a little earlier in order to check in his luggage and get a seat.

    Since he was leaving in three days, Andy didn't lose any time. He visited as many places as he could. He thought that it would probably be a while before he had enough money again. He wished he could come back and spend a year in Spain.

    Too quickly, the final day arrived. Andy left early for the airport before take-off. He hated to rush. When he went to the clerk to show his ticket, the clerk looked at the ticket in surprise, "Why, sir, but your flight was at nine o'clock in the morning, and now it is eight in the evening." "But I confirmed my flight," insisted Andy. "Will I have to pay for another ticket?"

    "No, Sir. However, the next flight out will be three days from now."

    Andy's      of shock turned to smile as he realized that now he could go on with his vacation.

    Every month, junior high schools in China choose one hero of the month. This person is a hero because he or she has done something to help protect animals in danger. Huang Jing decided to write a letter to the President of China.

Dear Mr President.

    I have been doing a project at school recently about animals in danger. I think the situation all over the world is really terrible. I am writing to you to suggest what China should do to help protect animals more.

    I know that there are nearly 2, 000 nature reserves in China, which is good. I live in Beijing and there are about 30 reserves outside the city. We visited one of them last month to sec for ourselves.

    I feel so sorry for the giant panda. It's one of the most popular animals in the world and a real symbol of China. We learned that pandas mainly live on bamboo, and that a panda can eat half its body weight of bamboo in 24 hours！That's a lot of bamboo. I think we should try to do more to stop cutting down forests. Pandas are already a rare animal and it would be so sad if they became extinct(灭绝)forever.

    The other animal we should try to protect more is the Chinese alligator(场子努). These creatures live in some parts of eastern China. These beautiful animals live in freshwater rivers and lakes but the water in some places isn't clean enough for them to live in. It's really dirty in fact. The government should stop factories polluting the lakes and rivers.

    If we protect these beautiful animals in China, more foreigners may wish to visit China to see them. They could be an important tourist attraction. It would be good if more people came to visit our beautiful country, especially to see the quieter areas in the country. Now most visitors just see the cities.

    I hope you will encourage more people to think about such an important subject.

Sincerely yours,

Huang Jing