Notice

There will be a lecture on

Classic American Literature (文学)

By Visiting Professor (教授) Cornell

from Stanford University

In The Fifth Building,

Classroom No. 102

On Sep. 4th. 2019. at 2 pm

All are warmly welcome!

The Office of the Foreign Language Department (系)

Sep. 2nd. 2019

    The Duanwu Festival in China, also called Dragon Boat Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month every year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. For thousands of years, this festival has been marked by people's eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats. (A) To hold the dragon boat races is in memory of Qu Yuan. He was one of the greatest poets in ancient China.

    Qu Yuan was born in Zigui of Hubei Province over 2,200 years ago. Qu Yuan was an honest minister (大臣) of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475—22l BC) . He was upright, patriotic (爱国的) and wise. (B) 屈原想给自己的祖国带来和平并让它变得更强大。But the country was in the hands of bad officials, he could do nothing to change it. (C) He was very discouraged. At last, Qu Yuan ended his life by throwing himself into the Miluo River. It is said that people tried to save him by jumping into the river. But it was too late and all their efforts were in vain. Also, they were so sad and they threw rice into the water to feed Qu Yuan's spirit.

    Now we read his poem Li Sao which is filled with deep love for his country. We can see the dragon boat races and have a kind of Chinese food named Zongzi to eat during the Dragon boat Festival.

    Don't be too surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Last month, Baidu began to test its self-driving cars on open roads in Beijing.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self—driving cars.

    Self-driving cars are safer than regular cars. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}They can remove the stress of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer (激光棒) at the car's sensors (传感器) while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam was in its way and slowed down or changed the direction.

    The software that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}When we use our computers or smartphones, they sometimes crash (崩溃) without any reason. But if this happened to a self-driving car, the result could be deadly. Improvements to the software could be a solution to this problem.

I often hear some students say English is difficult, and it gives them a headache. But English is very easy for me. I' m good at it. I' m very glad to tell you something about how I study English.

First, I think an interest in English is very important. When I learned English first, it was fresh for me. I was interested in it, so I worked hard at it. Soon we had an English exam and I got a very good mark. How happy I was! After that, I learned English harder and harder. Our English teacher often teaches us English songs, and the songs sound nice. I often think how interesting English is!

Second, I think English is a foreign language. I should learn it well in the following ways: Listen to the teacher carefully, speak bravely, read aloud and have a good vocabulary. Then practice again and again, never be tired. And I also have a good habit: Asking whenever(不论何时)I have a question. I must make it clear by asking our English teacher. How happy I am when I understand!

Besides this, I often read English stories, jokes and easy novels. They help me understand a lot of things. So to do more reading is an important way to learn English well. And I also write English diaries. English has become a close friend of mine.

Dear diary,

Mom and Dad found a new flat(公寓) today. Now that we are all teenagers, our flat is too small. Sally and I share a room, and Eric's room is really small. Our living room is also quite small and it's a little dark. The windows are too small and there is no balcony(阳台). Our bathroom is big, but it's really old. So my parents decided to find a new flat for us.

The new flat is much bigger. It has four bedrooms, so Sally and I can have our own rooms. Eric's room is large and it has a balcony. He's so happy. Mom and dad's room also has a balcony. There are two bathrooms that are both beautiful and modern. And the living room is excellent . It has two big windows, so it is nice and light. It's in Eastgardens— about five kilometers from here. It's closer to our schools, so that's great. Dad will have to travel a little farther to work, but he doesn't mind(介意).

Here's the best thing. There's a swimming pool. Everyone who lives there shares it. I can't believe it. I can swim every day after school. I can't wait to ask all my classmates to have a po ol party. I am really excited about that.

Stephanie

Have you ever been to Taiwan? Do you want to pay a visit there? We'll show you the best places in Taiwan. Here we'd like to introduce an eight- day tour to you.