Dear Liz,

    Thank you very much {#blank#}1{#/blank#} your letter and the photos of your {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (friend) and family. Your parents and friends look {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (real) nice in the photo. Now I can tell you something about me and my family here in New York.

    I have two brothers. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (they) names are Lukas and Andreas. They {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (be) 16 and 19. My mother is Christine. She is a teacher. She {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (work) in No.1 high school. My dad, Dieter, is a doctor in {#blank#}7{#/blank#} hospital. There are four bedrooms and a small garden in our house. My room is tidy, but my {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (brother) is not. They don't often clean it. I like playing volleyball, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} they don't like it. They like playing basketball. We have a dog, Zak, and we think he's cute. We {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (love) it a lot.

    Please tell me all about your friends and school in your next letter. I'd like to know about English schools.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Love,

                                                                                                                                                                                                Laura

—Yes.

    "How are you?" It's a question that seems simple, but {#blank#}1{#/blank#}can really make people feel very strange.

    Last month, Alina Simone wrote in the New York Times about the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(difficult) that Russians have with this question. The same question, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Russian language and culture, is always answered in a negative(负面的) way. In Russia, when asked "How are you?", people usually complain(抱怨) about health, weather or things that {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(happen) recently. So when they're asked, they don't know what to do.

    In English speaking countries, "How are you?" has one standard answer: "Fine, and you?" That's because it is {#blank#}5{#/blank#}about getting information but a greeting. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}an English speaking friend really wants to know what's going on in your life, he/she is more likely to ask："what have you been up to?" or "what's new?"

    But I understand why people are so {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(surprise) about it. When we learn second languages, we have to learn rules for using words as much as words themselves. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}can you learn those rules? {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(watch) English-language TV shows is a good place to start. If you can, try to make an English-speaking friend or pen pal and talk to him/her {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(direct).

    So how are you?

    Hi, my good friends. I am John. I have a sister. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (she) name is Alice. She is in Grade Nine. She has good {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (eat) habits. For breakfast, she usually {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (have) a hamburger and some milk. For lunch. she usually likes some {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (tomato), potatoes, soup(汤) and rice. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} dinner, she likes to eat chicken, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} egg and porridge(稀饭). After dinner, she likes to eat fruit, like apples, bananas, pears and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (strawberry). She only eats a little meat every day, because she {#blank#}8{#/blank#} like it very much.

    She likes sports, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. She often plays ping pong with me after she finishes her homework(完成作业). And she plays it very {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (good).

    This is a picture of a classroom. The classroom is big and {#blank#}1{#/blank#} because we clean (打扫) it every day. You can {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a teacher's desk, five desks and six chairs, you can see a boy and a girl, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Three books {#blank#}4{#/blank#} on the teacher's desk. A pencil box is on the desk. Two pens {#blank#}5{#/blank#} two rulers are in the pencil box. A schoolbag {#blank#}6{#/blank#} under the chair. The girl is Lucy. She is twelve. The boy is Mike. He is thirteen. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} are in Class 2, Grade 1. They are friends. They {#blank#}8{#/blank#} their teacher Miss Grace because she is kind to them.