When people travel abroad(国外), they sometimes stay in the homes of the local people. This is a homestay.

    I am living with an old English couple, in the west of London. They have a clean four-bedroom house. This is a new house. It has two bathrooms and a garden with many beautiful flowers. I have a bedroom of my own.

    There are some shopping centres and a restaurant next to the house, and the house is close to an underground station. It takes about 30 minutes to take an underground to the centre of London.

    I think a homestay may be a good choice for you if it is your first time to visit abroad. The local people are friendly and ready to help. If you want to celebrate the holidays with them, you will get to know more about their culture and customs.

    A proverb is a short, well-known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are found in most cultures and are often very old.

    In American history, Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, inventor and writer as well as a leader of the American Revolution. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Franklin wrote a book called "Poor Richard's Almanac". {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Some of them are still used today, like this one: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

    Franklin is also remembered for other proverbs like, "A penny saved is a penny earned." {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Here are other examples of proverbs that Americans use. The first ones are about love. Some people say, "All is fair in love and war." They mean that anything you do in a relationship or in battle is acceptable.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In other words, when you are in love with someone, you may refuse to see anything bad about that person.

    Here is another popular saying about love: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Some people believe that a woman can win a man's love if she prepares his favorite foods.

    "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}" This proverb is true in love and war or other situations. It means that what you do is more important than what you say.

    We have to stop here, so we must say, "All good things must come to an end."

He Zhuowen, 14

    Some of us students are still afraid to sleep alone. But my robot can help. It can read stories and sing songs to you when you go to bed. You can have a nice sleep every night with my robot.

Li Zihao, 14

    I'd like to make a robot cleaner. Our parentsare very busy with work, but they still have todo some housework when they get back home. A robot cleaner can help with the housework a lot. Then Mom and Dad can play or talk with us. Isn't that great? Zhang Liaoxing, 13

    All robots should be able to protect their owners. My robot is as powerful as the famous hero Robocop. But it is much smaller. It looks like a student. We go to school together every day. But when there is an emergency (紧急情况), it will protect us students and fight against the bad guys(家伙) at once.

Wang Yuwei, 13

    I often feel lonely, so my robot will be very friendly and kind. It can know your feelings and react (反应) like your friends. I will also let the robot read, so it knows a lot and can teach us about right and wrong, just like our parents. In a word, with my robot, you won't feel lonely any more.

    Many Chinese students are good at English grammar, but their spoken English is so poor that they are afraid to speak in class or have a talk with others. There may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.

    First, they fail to express themselves clearly because of a limited(有限的)vocabulary. The useful way is to enlarge their vocabulary. However, you can still communicate with others with a limited vocabulary, if you are active. Others will understand you with the help of your body language.

    Second, they are worried about making mistakes. Because they are shy and nervous, sometimes they may make mistakes easily. Yet we should know what we aim at is FLUENCE(流利) not ACCURACY(精确) when speaking. So we should speak as quickly and well as we can, even though sometimes we may use a wrong word or tense(时态), but it doesn't matter because others will still understand you.

    The third reason is that they don't pay enough attention to listening to what others are saying. So while you are speaking, you can't find the suitable topic or words to say. You have one mouth but two ears! What you hear is necessary for you to start speaking.

    Fourth, most Chinese students are passive(被动的) language learners. They just sit there waiting for speaking chances, and don't actively look for chances to improve their spoken English. All they can get is to accept the fact that their English remains poor.

    “Practice makes perfect ".So please be active from now on, try to catch every chance to speak wherever you go.

USE IT or LOST IT? It is up to you.