Dear Grandma,

    How are you? I am very busy this month. (A)September 5th is my good friend Gina's birthday. I will go to her birthday party in the evening. On the eleventh, (B)我有一个英语测试. On September 17th, I have a baseball game. You know I love baseball. On the 24th, I have a school trip. On the 28th, I'll go to Mr. Cool's Clothes Store. The clothes there are on sale that day. I want to buy a pair of sports shoes and a T-shirt. The hats there are very nice. I will buy one ① ________ you. Oh, Grandma, I'm very sorry I can't go to see you ② ________ my parents this month. See you next month.

 Yours,

Eric

① Tian Yi Pavilion (天一阁) is in the center of the city. Xu Zheng wants to write a report about the history of Ningbo. He needs to go to Tian Yi Pavilion to look for some information (信息). There is a bus station near his home.          

②Wang Hao Lives in Shanghai. He likes travelling (旅游). So he is going to Beijing. He'd like to get there quickly. He is sure he will have fun in Beijing.               

③This month Yuan Fang will visit her grandparents in her hometown (家乡). It's about 1,000 kilometers away. Yuan Fang wants to get there in 10 hours. And she can enjoy the sights (风景) along the way.        

④Guo Jing likes taking photos. She likes the photos of rivers and mountains best. She is very happy that her parents will take her to the Three Gorges (三峡). She wishes she can take many photos when they're travelling on the water.           

    Death Valley is a huge place. It is more than 225 kilometers across the southern part of the state of California, and across the border (边界) with the state of Nevada.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It can be dangerously cold during the winter months. The air temperature during the summer can be as high as 57℃. The heat of Death Valley has killed people in the past. It will continue to kill those who do not honor the climate. Death Valley does not forgive (原谅) those who are not careful.

    Death Valley was named by a woman in 1849. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Thousands of people from other parts of the country traveled to the gold mining (开采) areas in California. They were in a hurry to get there before other people did.

    Many people were not careful. They made bad choices or wrong decisions. One group of people had reached Death Valley by December. They avoided the terrible heat of summer, but there was not enough water. There were few plants for their work animals to eat. The people could not find a pass through the tall mountains to the west of the valley. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They had to kill their work animals for food and began to walk out of the valley.

    As they left, one woman looked back and said, “Good-bye, death valley.” {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

A. Slowly, they ran out of food.

B. Death Valley has a long history.

C. The name has never been changed.

D. Death Valley is a beautiful but dangerous place.

E. That was the year after gold was discovered in California.

    Peter comes from Canada. He speaks English,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Now he's studying Chinese in Beijing. It's sunny and kind of windy today. He visits Beijing Library.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Bob is in Guangzhou. He is from France. He likes Chinese food very much.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}It is sunny today. It's kind of hot. Bob wants to go to Guangzhou Hotel with his friends.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Look, a policeman is helping them.

    Jenny is living in Nanjing. She is Japanese. She thinks Chinese people are friendly. She likes them. It's cloudy today.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}A koala is sleeping in a tree. Some giraffes are eating grass and some birds are singing songs. They are having a good time.

A. He usually eats in restaurants.

B. They are playing in the park.

C. but he likes speaking Chinese very much.

D. Look! He is talking with people there in Chinese now.

E. He is eating dinner in the restaurant.

F. But he doesn't know the way.

G. Jenny and her Chinese friends are watching animals in a zoo.

    It's the end of class. When the bell rings, students of a Foreign Languages School in Shenzhen quickly take out their mobile phones. They like to log on (登录) to their micro blogs to check the funny things that have happened in the last hour.

    Micro blogging has swept the country during the last few years. Recent surveys show that most students in middle schools have a micro blog, and some even update their blogs more than five times a day.

    "We learn many fresh and interesting things on micro blogs and they have become popular topics in class," said Liang Jianmin, 14, a student from Harbin No. 3 Middle School. "If you do not know about them, you are out.”

    It is also a great place for students to relax." My parents always ask me to study hard, and encourage me before exams, but actually it adds pressure," said Zhang Yazhe, 15, a student from a Foreign Languages School. "When I share these feelings on my micro blog, I get many replies from friends in the same situation, which makes me feel better."

    But parents are worried that micro blogging could be a waste of time. Some misleading messages may even be dangerous to kids.

    Shen Mingde, a professor, suggests parents not worry too much that kids are crazy about micro blogging. Instead， however, it can also become a window for parents to understand their children. "If parents can read their children's micro blogs, they'll know their thoughts, it can lead to better communication and solutions to problems," he said.

    He also gives some advice to kids.

    Don't micro blog for more than one hour a day.

    Never micro blog in class.

    Try to talk face to face with people from time to time.

    Be critical(批判性的). Not all the messages on the micro blog are true.