Dear Jenny,

    How are you? I am visiting my cousin Howard in Australia. It is hot in Hong Kong but it is cold in Australia in June. When it is summer in Hong Kong, it is winter in Australia. It is snowing heavily now. I like snow a lot and it is a white world outside. I will play with my cousin in the snow this afternoon. We want to make a snowman. I think it is very interesting!

    I like my cousin's house. It is big and there is a beautiful garden. We can play ball games there. My cousin's neighbors are friendly, but they cannot speak Chinese. I talk with them in English. See you next month.

Yours,

Tony

    Lin Hong is my new friend. Her father has a shop near the factory. The {#blank#}1{#/blank#} /θIŋz/ in his shop are all nice. And his family are kind {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the workers. So they like to buy {#blank#}3{#/blank#}/'sʌmθIŋ/ there. It's Saturday today. Lin Hong doesn't go to school. She knows her father is busy, so she gets up early. She does her homework and then goes to the shop to help her father. There {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(be) many people in it. She sells(卖) bananas, apples, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (orange) and drinks to the workers. A car stops(停) in front of the shop. The {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (drive) comes in and buys some hamburgers and then goes away. Lin Hong finds his bag on the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} /flɔː(r)/. She runs out, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} she can't see his car. "I know Mr. Yang. We can take {#blank#}9{#/blank#} bag to him this evening," says Mr. Lin. It's nine and the shop is closed(关闭的). Lin Hong and her father go to Mr. Yang's home. The man and his family thank {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(they) very much.

    My neighbor is a doctor. He and his wife are some of the1people I have ever met. A few years ago, we started this kind of "favor war" where one of us would do something kind for the other, such as2the driveway or building a shed, and next time the other would3to top it with another favor.

    Yesterday morning, it snowed heavily and I remembered he shoveled (铲) my driveway for me. So I took out my shovel and took care of both our driveways and sidewalks because it was my turn to do a favor4. It took a while but I finished it and got into my car for work.

That night I got a5on my door, it was my neighbor. He immediately shook my hands and thanked me for shoveling his driveway and sidewalk, so that he was able to get to work earlier and6a boy.

    "As soon as I started the car early this morning, a call came through that a young boy in our neighborhood was seriously ill.7, my partner and I were only about 2 minutes away, but the closest ambulance 10 minutes," added he. "A young boy got to live his life because you did me the favor."

    It wasn't too much8to shovel a driveway, but what I did got a young boy to see his family again, go back to school again and live his life again.9favor is too small. Even the smallest favor can make the biggest10. One favor will always be followed by another.

Give water, save lives

A bottle of water may not seem like much to you, but thousands of bottles will be of great help for people who live in drought-hit(遭受旱灾) areas in China.

Since last autumn, there has been very little rain in Southwest China. Some places, especially in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, have experienced a serious drought. Crops (庄稼) died, the land cracked(裂开), and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty in finding safe drinking water.

After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other things.

Last week, every member of the Communist Youth League (共青团员) and Young Pioneers(少先队员) were encouraged to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit areas. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity. In Yuhua Primary School in Xi' an, 900 students bought over 1,000 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.

The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water. Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou, Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.

"I've heard that some children in drought-hit areas don't have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy ( 含有泥土的 ) water. I feel really sad about that," said one student. "I decide to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water," he said.