—1 February, 2004.

Dear Susan,

    I'm glad to hear from you. I'm happy you're learning Chinese. Now I will give you some {#blank#}1{#/blank#} on learning Chinese.

    As we know, Chinese is one of the most beautiful languages all over the world. Chinese words are more beautiful {#blank#}2{#/blank#} any other languages. Chinese culture is rich, such as poems, handwriting, songs and so on. Chinese has the largest number of speakers in the world. And nowadays more and more foreigners want to learn Chinese. But it's not {#blank#}3{#/blank#} for them to learn it. So when you're learning Chinese; listening, speaking; reading and writing are important.

    First of all, you should pay attention to listening and speaking. You'd better {#blank#}4{#/blank#} your best to speak while you do much listening. Don't be afraid of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} mistakes, even though someone laughs {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you, just speak as much as possible.

    {#blank#}7{#/blank#}; you can choose something short and interesting to read, because maybe you can more or less understand it.

    Third, if you want to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} your writing skills, you should increase the number of your Chinese words. I think making sentences, keeping a {#blank#}9{#/blank#}in Chinese every day. Writing notes or letters are also good ways. Oh, remember: {#blank#}10{#/blank#} Chinese dictionary is very useful for you. It helps a lot.

    Best wishes!

Yours,

Meimei

    Hemingway was one of the most famous writers and reporters in the twentieth century(世纪) in the world. He was {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (出生) on July 21, 1899 and died on July 2, 1961.

    When he was a small child, his mother {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (教) him and her other children music and creativity (创造力) by taking them t0 concerts, museums and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (剧院). And his father taught them other skills.

In 1917, Hemingway finished high school and then worked as a {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (记者). During World War I (第一次世界大战)，he went to some other {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (外国的) countries, such as France and Italy. He fought in World War II and then moved to {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (居住) in Cuba, Later, Cuba drove him out of the country. He had to go {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (回来) to the US. There he had many health {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (问题). And in 1961, he died in his own home.

    In his amazing life, Hemingway wrote lots of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (著名的) works. Most of them are still popular now. The Old Man and the Sea helped him {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (获得) the Pulitzer Prize(普利策奖) in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. His other works are famous, too.