Many years ago, people use a stick, a large piece of wood and dry leaves to make a fire. Today, wood, gas (煤气) and electricity (电) can all make a fire. I think wood is the most dangerous. And I like gas most because it's easy.

    People use fire in many ways. At home, people use fire to cook food and boil water. In factories, workers use fire to melt (熔化) metals (金属) to makes things of different shapes. Some workers use fire to make glass.

    Fire can help us to do many things, but sometimes fire is dangerous. Cigarettes and campfires can all start a fire in the countryside, in schools and at homes. We must be careful. We mustn't smoke in the countryside, and we mustn't cook without an adult (成年人). We mustn't play with matches. We mustn't play around a fire.

Dear Jim,

    How are you in the US now? We are in China now. Sam and I are very happy. China is big and beautiful. People speak Chinese here. We love Beijing. There are many interesting places and lots of delicious food. I like Chinese food. I like dumplings very much. I can make dumplings now. It's funny. And I can use chopsticks, but Sam doesn't like them. It's very difficult for him to use them. I have two good friends. They're Daming and Lingling. They teach me Chinese. Now I can speak a little Chinese. Please write to me.

    Love from,

Amy

WuBinbin and his friends are talking about their travel.

WuBinbin: Look! I have a picture of the Great Wall. My family went there last summer. We enjoyed walking on the Great Wall.

Ann: My family went to Shanghai last year. We ate a lot of delicious food in Chenghuang Temple (城隍庙). I loved the food very much.

Peter: I went to Qingdao last weekend. My sister and I took many pictures of the beach. It was a great weekend.

    My name is Lily. This is my house. There are five rooms in my house. This is my father and mother's room. There are three pictures on the wall. There is a desk near the window. There are two chairs behind the desk. On the left of the room, there is a toilet. On the right, it's my room. There are four pictures and a poster on the wall.

    My name is Tony. I am 12 years old. I can speak English and a little Chinese. I like computer and football. I have a sister. Her name is Stella. She is 13. She doesn't like football. She has 70 tennis rackets. She can swim.