I am a student of a middle school. My class teacher is Mrs. Green. She is more than 30 years old. She is our English and History teacher. She is strict(严格) and at the same time she is very kind.

    In our school, there is a playground. We do morning exercises, play basketball and volleyball there. Our PE teacher, Mr. Jackson teaches us to do ball games. He was once a successful sportsman. He is our hero. Our school also has a swimming pool. We take swimming lessons there.

    Our school building is very large and the school hall is on the ground floor. Every year, we have a prize-giving ceremony(颁奖典礼)in the hall.

    The summer solstice(夏至), around June 21, is the longest day of the year in the northern half of the world. On that day, the sun is the highest in the sky, so the earth gets the most hours of light. People in many countries celebrate that day in a holiday called Midsummer.

    Different countries celebrate Midsummer in different ways. In towns in Sweden, people put up a Midsummer Pole(仲夏柱) made of wood covered with flowers. They dance and sing around it. After wards, they eat fish, new potatoes and strawberries. That night, young people pick seven different flowers and put them under their pillows(枕头) when they sleep to dream about the person they will marry.

    In Finland, people go out to the country and build huge fires to celebrate Midsummer. In the past, people believed that the fires drove away bad luck. Now, they're a reason to get together with friends for a big party all night. Because Finland is so far north, the sky is light most of the night on Midsummer. Many Finnish people start their summer vacations on that day.

    In some parts of Spain, people have big parties and enjoy fireworks(烟花) on the beaches at night to celebrate Midsummer. Some people believe that plant medicines work the best if they are made on Midsummer, so women go out to collect the plants that night. Some people put the plants in water and then wash their faces with the water for good health. And of course there are special foods: fish, potatoes and corn bread.

    Peter wanted to travel, especially to English-speaking countries such as America and Australia. But he knew that he had to improve his English, so he went to Green Language School to take English lessons. Peter worked very hard at his English. At last, he became ill. Every evening he went to bed, closed his eyes but he stayed awake(醒着的).

    Peter was worried so he went to see the doctor." I can't sleep at night. What should I do, Doctor?"

    "I have a piece of advice, "said the doctor. "Try to count(数)numbers. When you count up to 1,000, you'll be asleep."

    The next day Peter returned to the doctor's office." Did you try my advice？And are you better today?" asked the doctor.

    Peter wasn't happy. "Er, I tried counting from one, two...up to four hundred and twenty-one, and I felt sleepy. Then I got up and drank some coffee. Then I went on counting up to 1,000. But I still couldn't be asleep."

    On May 5^th, 2017, at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China's first Homemade jet airliner(喷气式客机), the C919, took off successfully for the first time. It has taken about ten years for the scientists and researchers to make this Chinese dream come true. It's a pride of the whole nation. So far, more than 23 countries have already ordered 570 C919 planes from China. But we still have a long way to go before the C919 carries passengers by 2020.

    What's more, China is working on the new high-speed trains with the highest speed of 400km/h. It will be ready by 2020. Many countries, especially the ones in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, are planning to build high-speed rail lines or to improve their railways with the help of China.

    China has made great progress in both science and technology. And it makes a great contribution(贡献)to humans，too. All of these are changing the daily life of Chinese people，even of the people around the world.

    We did a survey (调查) about students' free time activities yesterday. One of our questions was about exercise and of course, it is the most important one. From the survey, we knew only 25% of the girls often have activities outside. Many girls do little exercise. They don't like P.E. classes and even don't play sports. These girls may face a lot of problems. They may get fatter and weaker, And they may get some kinds of illnesses(疾病) easily. Wang Jing, a 16-year-old girl, said, "I don't like doing exercise. I like watching TV on the sofa. I spend at least three hours watching TV a day. My sleeping time is no more than seven hours a day. I often feel tired

    Some girls said, "We don't have enough time to do exercise. We must help our parents with housework because they are very tired after a day's work. We do some washing, clean the house and finish the homework. We don't have time for doing anything else."

    Everyone may have these excuses(借口) for not doing exercise. However, we must know that if we don't do exercise, we will get sick easily. As students, we'd better exercise every day. That makes us live a healthy life.

Information Card

Tips for Writing Better Articles

    Good writing skills will help us improve our grades and benefit us later in life.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Choose good words. When we're not sure which word is the right one for a sentence, look it up in a dictionary.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Check facts. If we want people to believe what we write, we must make sure our facts are true.

    Rewrite. A common problem is that we don't like to rewrite. In fact rewriting is the best way to find out and correct some mistakes, like grammar and spelling mistakes. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, though it takes more time and more work.

    Read aloud. Sometimes it's easier to find problem with spelling and grammar when we read aloud. Reading aloud helps us not only find out our problems but also develop our writing.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Preparing a list is necessary for writing a good article. Such a list includes: Is there a proper title? Have we explained every point? Are all the parts of the article included? This can help us to make sure that we have covered everything.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. But with a few simple steps, we can improve our writing skills and learn how to write better articles.