Reading is a very important skill. 阅读也是一种提高你的英语的好方法。However, to make sure what you read isn't too difficult, it's important to know what makes texts difficult and how you can improve your understanding of them. Here are some suggestions.

    ①Understand the purpose of your reading. The way you read depends on the purpose of your reading. The kind of reading you do in class or for your homework is different from how you read a novel for pleasure in the summer holidays.

    ② Find background information. Find something out about the topic you are going to read.

    The more background information you have, the easier it'll be to understand the text.

    ③Increase your vocabulary（词汇）. The more vocabulary you have, the easier your reading will be.

    ④ Use your dictionary correctly. A common mistake is to read everything very slowly and carefully, looking up each unknown word. Sometimes this is necessary, for example, when reading exam questions. However, it takes a long time and can be very boring; it can even make understanding more difficult!

    If you've followed the above advice and still can't understand a text, then it's simply too hard for you. Stop reading and ask someone to help you. 没有人想要放弃。However, you'll just be wasting your time if you continue to work at a text that's beyond you.

    Skyscrapers are very tall buildings in a city. Looking up at them might make you dizzy (眩晕的). Looking down from them might make you dizzy too. A skyscraper is a wonder (奇观), whether you are looking up or down.

    How can the buildings be so tall? Something that happened during the 1880s made it possible. There were two important things at that time First, a man named William Jenney got the idea of using a steel frame to hold up the walls and floors (钢架支撑墙壁和地面) of a building. Jenney's idea made it possible to build taller buildings, so he is called the "Father of the American skyscraper". Second, the lifts improved They got much faster and safer. That helped people go up and down the tall buildings more easily.

    Back in the 1880s, Jenney's first tall building was 10 stories (楼层) high. But today, some buildings have 100 stories or more. In 2004, Taipei 101, at 101 stories high, became the tallest building in the world. But soon the Burj Khalifa in Dubai overtook (超过) it in 2010. The 828-metre building has 163 stories.

    现在全世界有许多非常高的建筑物。For example，Shanghai Tower in China，One World Trade Centre in the US，Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia etc All of them are really wonderful，aren't they?

    Five years is a short time in the long history of China. But as for the digital world, there are a lot of changes.

    Now we can talk easily with friends on Wechat. When shopping, we needn't carry much cash because most of the stores accept Wechat Pay and Alipay. And online shopping becomes a part of our life. For example, we can buy train and plane tickets on different apps in a minute. If we want to go somewhere, it is easy to find a Mobike as well as a sharing car on the street.

    We may not realize how these changes decide our life, but we never stopped and will not stop moving forward. China decided to set up the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province on April 1st, 2017. It will be a smart city in China in the future. What's more, robots will play an important role in looking after the old people in five years. In an old people's home of Hangzhou, the robots called Ah Tie work quite well.

    Thanks to the developing digital world, our life is becoming better and better.

Dear Mum and Dad,

    We have some exciting news for you. Jenny is going to have a baby! {#blank#}1{#/blank#} At first, the doctor said she might have some trouble with the baby. Now he says she is just fine. She is very healthy and happy! She still works on her paintings every day. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} She gets tired more quickly now.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} We're moving to New York! We want to be closer to you and Jane. It's much nicer to be near the family. Jenny grew up in Mexico, and she doesn't have a family member here. So that makes you even more important for us.

    Jenny is a little worried about working in New York. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In Italy her paintings are already popular. But I'm sure people will like her in New York. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I'm still working for the New York Times. I'll be writing about the United Nations in New York. We're planning to move next month.

    See you then!

Yours,

Jim