As is known to all of us, Beijing Opera is one of the most important opera styles in China. It is an art on the stage which has about 200 years' history. It is not only a treasure of the Chinese nation but also a cultural symbol of China. Similar to western operas, Beijing Opera is a combination of singing, dancing, martial arts, music and literature, so it is also called the "Oriental (东方的) Opera" by western people.

    Beijing Opera uses special imagery in creating the characters. All roles are divided according to sex, personality, age and profession and social status. Hangdang is the general term for role in Beijing Opera. There are four types of roles in Beijing Opera today. They are sheng, dan, jing and chou. The sheng is the male protagonist (主角), the dan the female protagonist, the jing (painted face) a male supporting role with a different characteristics, and chou (clown) a comic or negative figure. Each kind of role has their own face-painting and dressing to indicate their identities.

    The Opera's performance requires not only the gentle voice but also the proficiency (熟练) of martial actions. A successful opera actor must suffer from the tough practicing period. In the old time, the children of poor families were sent to the opera group in order to earn a living. While now, the real opera artists are well respected by opera lovers.

    Mei Lanfang, one of the most remarkable performing artists in Beijing Opera, was born in Beijing into a poor family. His life was bitter and he had no opportunity to go to school, so he went to the troupe (戏班子) when he was 8 years old to learn Beijing Opera. Mr. Mei was on the stage when he was 11 years old to perform the plays of Beijing Opera. He has been an opera actor for more than 50 years, performing hundreds of traditional plays and over 30 modern plays. He portrayed many bright and lifelike female figures on the stage and became the model in Chinese Beijing Opera and even within the entire artistic circle.

Our school is on Green Street. There is a supermarket {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to it. You can {#blank#}2{#/blank#} see a clean river in front of our school. Our school is beautiful. There are a few buildings(建筑物) in our school {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the best one is the library. It is big and bright. We all like {#blank#}4{#/blank#} books there. Around the library there are many {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and colorful flowers. Do you want to come to our school and have a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}? Go {#blank#}7{#/blank#} Huaihe Street and you can see a bridge on your left. Go across the bridge and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} turn left. You will see the Students' Supermarket. Our school is on its {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. You can't {#blank#}10{#/blank#} it. Welcome to our school!

A British woman used an ancient Chinese invention to help her son deal with a modern problem. 

Dr. Rashmi Mantri grew up in India. She was taught how to use an abacus to solve math problems when she was a little girl. After noticing her son Dhruv had great difficulty with math，she started emploving the same ancient Chinese tool to help him after school. 

In just six days，Dhruv started to show rapid progress with the abacus. He enjoyed learning on it because it was like a game. He started to learn fast and would go on to become an excellent student in math. Surprised by the progress，teachers asked Dhruv to perform with the abacus at a school meeting，where some parents even came to ask for advice on using it to help their kids. 

Known as the Fifth Invention of Ancient China，the Chinese abacus helped people so lve all kinds of math problems in ancient China and is still used today. People find that using an abacus can also improve thinking and practical abilities. In 2013, the Chinese abacus was officially listed as an intangible cultural heritage of human beings(人类非物质文化遗产). "The abacus becomes a playing tool for younger children. It feels like a game. I think the success comes because children can touch and feel an abacus and picture it in their mind. "said Dr. Mantri. 

Do you get angry when your friends sing loudly while you are trying to work? Or when your best friend does not wait for you after school? 

If you do, you need to take control of（控制）your feelings and stop getting angry so easily. Getting angry with people can cause you to lose friends. 

Gary Egeberg, an American high school teacher, has written My Feelings Are Just Like Wild Animals to help you control your feelings. It tells teens how to stay cool when bad things happen to them. The book says that getting angry only makes problems worse. 

It can never make them better. Getting angry is not a natural（自然的）way to act, the book says. It is just a bad habit, like smoking. The book says you can control your anger easily—all you have to do is to tell yourself not to be angry. 

When a baby falls over, it only cries if people are watching it. Like a baby you should only get angry if you are sure it is the right thing to do. 

The book gives many tips to help you if you get angry easily. Here are our top three: 

①Keep a record. Every time you get angry, write down why you are angry. Look at it later and you will see you get angry too easily. 

②Ask your friends to stop talking to you when you get angry. This will teach you not to be angry. 

③Do something different. When you get angry, wall away from the problem and go somewhere else. Try to laugh! 

Dear Peter,

Hi! My name is Hunt. Here is a picture of my class. Joan is short and is in a yellow dress. She has long hair and big eyes. He always smiles and is 1 to others. She is good 2 maths. David is tall and has black hair. He likes to play 3 chess. Mike is big. He has small eyes. He is funny. He 4 maths. He enjoys 5 stamps. Helen is a black girl. She has short hair. She can speak French 6 she can't speak Chinese well. She likes badminton 7 tennis. She is on the school team.

I'm the boy with glasses. I am 8 student in my class. Can you find me? I wish to travel around the world. Last winter holiday I went to Korea with my parents. It was wonderful!

 9 you send 10 a picture of your class?

Best wishes,

Hunt

Now many foreigners like to pick a Chinese name for themselves. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Maybe they'd better know the following things about Chinese names first.

First, there is a big difference between a Chinese name and a Western name. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}A Chinese name puts the family name first and the given name last.

Second, Chinese given names usually have meanings. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}For example, "丽" shows that the parents want their child to stay beautiful; "健" shows that the parents wish their child to be healthy.

It's a good way for foreigners to pick a Chinese name that sounds like their Western name. But it would be better to use Chinese words that carry special meanings at the same time. For example, if a girl's name is Macy, she can pick "美诗" as her Chinese name. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Picking a right Chinese name is never easy. Do you want to show us your Chinese name? Would you like to pick a Chinese name for your foreign friend?

What Chinese name would you like to pick for your foreign friend? Why?（不超过15个词）

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