Zhang Hai is my friend. He is from Shanghai. He likes1.He is in their school rock band. He often2the guitar on Sundays. He plays it very well. You can see lots of3in his bedroom. In them you can see all kinds of guitars. Now their school rock band4two good musicians. Can you play the piano, the drums or the violin? Then you can join their band. You can also write to him. His5is zhangHai2008@126.com.

Clothes Donation (捐赠) Box

    Have you ever put your old clothes into the donation box in your neighborhood? If not, you can do it right now because the clothes donation is becoming a trend (趋势) in Urumqi.

    "From time to time, my mother clears out the clothes which I no longer wear. You know, we teenagers are growing fast. I think it's a good way to help others." Lin Tao, a junior student says.

    "I often pick out some of my clothes which are out of style after going shopping. Then I put them into the donation box." Miss Li, a pretty young lady says.

    "That seems like a good idea. Some clothes in the box are quite new. People can either wear them or use them to make things such as handbags and pencil cases," Mrs Wang, an old woman says, "sometimes I also look through the box for some nice clothes."

    However, there are some problems along with the popularity of clothes donation. Recently, a UTV reporter from Focus on the City has made a survey. Here are the results:

    Some boxes are full of clothes in a short time. There is no more room for people to give away clothes.

    Some people sell the clothes in the donation box for making money instead of wearing them.

    Some communities set the boxes in unsuitable places. So there are few clothes in it.

    Many clothes are too old and shabby (破烂的).

    "What's worse," one of the staff in a community added, "we quite often see people throw rubbish into the box when they pass by. We've tried to stop them several times but failed. It has been the most serious problem since we set the box."

    In order to make the donation box work in an efficient (有效的) way, our government is taking action. Clothes donation will be better-organized and it'll be more convenient for people in need to take the clothes away.

What did people do to communicate in ancient times? Here are some very interesting answers to this question.

Alphorns（阿尔卑斯长号角） were once used to communicate in the mountains in Switzerland. They are very long and they are very heavy, too. So, alphorns are hard work to blow. Then why use them? Well, they make a loud sound which travels much further than the human voice. Herdsmen（牧民） used them to call cows in the distance for milking. At sunset, alphorns were also used to send a message down to villagers that all was well. These days, they're mostly used as musical instruments.

The people of La Gomera, an island in Europe, have their own special way of sending messages from mountain to mountain. They use a whistled（口哨） language called el silbo, which comes from their language Spanish. Whistling can be heard within five kilorneters, which means it can be used across much greater distances than shouting. El silbo can be used for all kinds of messages, including greetings and announcements. El silbo is used a lot less than it used to be, but primary school students in La Gomera have to leave it.

Did you know it 's also possible to send messages without making a noise? This is called visual communication, and it includes the use of flags and even smoke. Long ago, soldiers along the Great Wall of China used smoke as a warning. If they noticed the enemy from their signal（信号） tower, they lit a smoky fire. When soldiers in other towers saw the smoke signal, they lit fires, too. In this way, messages about the enemy's arrival could travel as far as 800 km in just a few hours.

Mr. Wang is a teacher in our school. He teaches us English. He walks to work every day.