Obesity (肥胖症) is becoming a problem in our busy society, almost one in three American adults is now considered to be obese. Children obesity is also at an all-time high.

    Obesity means being very overweight. If you are obese, you have too much body-fat. If you eat more food than your body can use, this will make you put on weight. Food that your body does not need will be stored (储存) as fat by your body.

    The following are the major factors (因素) that increase the risk of obesity.

    What you eat plays a major role in weight gain. Eating a lot of fattening food such as hamburgers, sweet drinks, ice creams and other sweet food can increase the risk of becoming obese.

    If you do not do enough exercise, you will put on weight as the food you eat is not being used to make energy for physical activities.

    The chances of your being obese are greater if your parents are obese.

    There are many psychological (心理的) factors that cause people to eat too much. People who are worried, unhappy or bored will often eat to make themselves feel better. This is known as comfort eating.

    Age is another factor, as you tend (趋于) to be less active when you get older. When you get older, you need to eat less, and if you do not eat less, you will put on weight.

    Obesity can cause many health problems such as heart problems, high blood pressure and many other serious medical conditions.

Nicky's school wouldhold a Model Building Competition. Many of Nicky's friends {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (参加) the competition. Nicky didn't know {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (是否) she would take part in it. She was afraid that she wasn't carefuland patient {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(足够的) tobuild a wonderful model.

Knowing her {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (麻烦), Nicky's mum {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (鼓励) her to join in the game. "I know you will do it very well,"her mum said. "{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (信任) me, you can learn how to do it quickly!" Nicky thought in {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (安静) for a few minutes, and then nodded her head.

It is really hard fora green hand(新手) to make a wonderful model.Nicky cut out a lot of parts from paper, and carefully {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (粘贴) them together with {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (胶水). Her mum gave her many good {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (建议), and Nicky learnt a lot from her friends.

How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? There is a scientific reason for this. 

Researchers (研究者) are studying the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language. "Singing could be a new way of learning, especially for a foreign language. The brain likes to remember things in a catchy (悦耳易记的) and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song," said Dr. Karen Ludke. If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages, this new way may help. On his blog (博客), Dr. Ludke wrote "A listen—and—repeat singing way can help to learn foreign languages and open the door for future research in this area."

Many language teachers know the importance of music and they often use it in teaching and learning. Hua Zhuying, a teacher at a Chinese language school in Washington DC, likes using songs in teaching Chinese. She said, "I use music all the time to teach children Chinese. For little kids usually we use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics. Not only does it work, but it is fun for children. Sometimes I think if I learned English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better."

Our brain likes music in learning languages, especially for remembering. If you are still having problems in learning a language, why not try singing it out?

Recently I watched a movie called Home Coming《万里归途》. It's about China saving its people from other countries.

A war breaks out in a country in North Africa. Millions of Chinese people are in danger. They look forward to coming back to China and seeing their families. The Chinese government begins to help them leave right away.

One thing touched me the most. When Zong Dawei, the main character, finally gets back home, it is Chinese New Year. The sound of fireworks is everywhere. This is a happy moment, but because of his experiences in North Africa, Zong is often frightened of these sounds.

The contrast (对比) between the gunfire in war and the fireworks in peace taught me the cruelty(残酷) of war, the hard- won peace and the hard work of my motherland to let us live a safe life. It not only lets me feel the power of our motherland but also makes me feel proud of being Chinese.

I'm taking my family to some other countries for a trip. My wife and I, and our two children are all  1 My elder brother will 2 with us, too. He never went to other countries 3 He is even more 4 than the children. My father is old now, so he wants to stay at home to 5 the house. 

We're on the train to New York now, and then we will 6 a ship to Europe. The UK will be the first place for us to visit. After visiting it, we will go to some other countries to do some sightseeing. When we 7 France, we'll go to different places either by train or by bus. Then we're going to fly home. 

It took 8 a long time to plan where to go, but I think we'll have a very interesting trip. 

We also talked about 9 we would go to Europe. At first we wanted to fly there because it would be faster and save a lot of time 10 us, but my brother liked boat trips, and the children liked boat trips, too.