English is an important international language，but that doesn't mean it's easy to learn．①Many experts have tried to make English easier to learn,but they weren't always successful．

    In 1930，Professor C．K．Ogden of Cambridge University invented Basic English．It had only 850 words and Ogden said most people could learn it in just thirty hours．The problem was that people who learned Basic English could write and say simple messages，but they couldn't understand the answers in“real”English!

    R．E．Zachrisson，a university professor in Sweden，decided that②对英语学习者来说最大的问题是拼写 ， so he invented a language with the name of Anglic．Anglic was similar③      English，but with much simpler spelling，"father'' became “faadher'' and “new'' became “nue”．Unluckily，Anglic never became popular．

  In the age of international communication through the Internet，a new form of English might appear．A large number of world's emails are in English and include examples of“Netlingo”like OIC(Oh，I see)and TTYL，(Talk to you later)．In another fifty years，English might not be used．We might all speak fluent Internetish !

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Welcome to our talk show, Mr Brown. You are an actor and busy every day. But you try to find much time to exercise. Could you tell us what you usually do in your free time?

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}I know you like skateboarding, little John. When did you start it? How often do you go skateboarding?

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}I know you don't need to go to work on weekends, sir. How do you usually spend your weekends?

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Fruit, vegetables and milk are good for us. They are healthy. Do you often have them, Miss Yang?

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}As a waiter, you work at night and sleep in the day. How many hours do you sleep every day, Mr. Green? Do you think it's the same as a day job?

A. I'm busy and tired on weekdays. So I want to relax myself at home on weekends. I like surfing the Internet and do it for five or six hours every Saturday and Sunday.

B. I cook at home from Monday to Friday. On weekends, I usually go out to have dinner with my husband and son. Maybe I must find a job next month.

C. Skateboarding is fun. I started to learn to skateboard when I was five years old. Now I go skateboarding four or five times a week.

D. They are really good for us. I eat lots of fruit and vegetables every day. But I hardly drink milk. I think only kids can drink lots of milk.

E. I'm really busy. I have lots of movies and TV plays to make. But I want to keep in good health. So I do some running in my free time.

F. Most of us work and have meals in the day and sleep at night. A night job is different from a day job. I usually sleep for six or seven hours in the day. But I can't have meals like people who work in the day.

    The Chongyang Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. It is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar(阴历) month. It's also called the Double Ninth Festival.

    The festival started as early as the Warring States Period (475-221BC). It has a history of more than 1, 700 years. Among the numbers from zero to nine, nine is the highest odd number(奇数). People believe that two "ninths" meeting together stand for a long life. So it is a special holiday for Chinese people to show love and respect for their elders. They hold many kinds of activities in honor of old people to wish them good health and a long life.

    The festival comes during the golden time of fall. On the day, people traditionally drink Chrysanthemum(菊花)wine, eat Double-Ninth Cakes and climb mountains. They also carry a kind of plant, its name is dogwood, People in ancient times believed that the plant could drive away evil(邪恶的) spirits and prevent them from catching an illness in winter.

    My name is Bob. I am 16 years old now. I've felt lonely since I was 9. I didn't like my classmates, my parents or anyone else. My classmates didn't want to talk with me and my parents were always saying that other kids were better than me. One day I had a big fight with one of my classmates. I was so angry that I hit him on the face. Just at that moment, a boy stood up and stopped the fight. He was the monitor of our class.

    After that, he often helped me and we became good friends. Whenever I got angry or sad, he would help me to cool down. We spent a lot of interesting days together and became best friends. As time goes by, I have become happier with people and things. And it seems that people around me have changed, too.

Information Card

    I live in a large neighborhood. I have lived here since I was born. I have a lot of friends there. Mr. Chan is one of them. He is 85 years old. I enjoy visiting Mr. Chan because he tells me exciting stories about Hong Kong in the past. He also shows me old photos. Yesterday, I visited Mr. Chan after school. I asked him how long he had lived here. This is what he told me:

    "I have lived in the neighborhood since 1993. Before I moved here, I lived in a small village called Pak Mong on Lantau Island. There were many people living in the village when I was young. These years, there are only a few families left. Most families moved to the city for work. I left the village in 1993, when my son moved to the city.

Pak Mong is an old village. There are watchtowers (瞭望塔) around the village. In the old days, soldiers used to stand in the watchtowers and keep guard (站岗). Here is a photo of my school. I went to that school a very long time ago. The school has been closed since 1985.

    I enjoy going to the Kowloon Walled City Park, because it makes me think of my old village. I have visited the park three times since 2004. Would you and your family members like to go to the park with me next weekend?"