Nine years ago, after Leo had died, people said to me. "I never knew he was your stepfather." You see, I never called him that. At first, he was no one special in my life. Then he became my friend. In time, I felt he was also my father.

    Leo married my mother when I was eleven. Two years later we moved into a house in a new suburban development, where we put down roots. At first our lawn was just a mud with wild grass, but Leo saw bright possibilities. "We'll plant trees there to give us shade as well as some flowers," he said. And just these little touches made our house different from all the others. More important, a real family was forming. Leo was becoming a full-time parent, and I was learning what it meant to have a father.

    Weekday mornings when the weather was bad, Leo often drove me to school. Having a father drop you off may have been something my classmates took for granted, but I always thought it was wonderful. Saturday mornings, we went to the hardware (计算机硬件) shop, then stepped into the five-and-ten, buying a sports magazine or something else. Some people might think that doing shopping together is nothing special, but I, who had ever before spent my childhood watching other families do their everyday activities, experienced them now with extreme delight. Looking back, I realized that Leo gave me what I needed most—the experience of doing ordinary things together as a family.

    Soon after we moved to the suburbs, one of our new neighbors introduced herself to me. She had already met my mother and Leo. "You know," she said, "you look just like your father." I knew she was just making a conversation--but even so... "Thank you", I said. Why tell her anything different?

                                                                                                  Chinese International School

    Application Form

    Before an applicant can be invited to take part in an assessment, an application form should be returned to the Admissions Office, and the application fee of HK$1,000 cannot be returned. For overseas applicants wishing to pay in currencies other than HK dollars, the fee is US$145. Checks are also good for payment to “Chinese International School”.

    The application should include

    Applicants' academic report from the last school year.

    A recent passport-sized photo (attached to the application form).

    A copy of the applicant's Hong Kong ID card or a passport showing a valid Hong Kong visa.

    Only for applicants applying under a Corporate Nomination (提名) Right：A company letter confirming the nomination.

    Please note that the application fee is non-refundable. Applicants who would like to re-apply for another academic year are asked to submit a new application and application fee.

    Acceptance

    Applicants will be informed of their acceptance status in writing by postal mail. Initial (最初的) offers for Reception will be sent out from late March once all assessments have been completed.

Some applicants who have been assessed may be held on a reserve list. Acceptances may also be made on a conditional basis among the applicants on the reserve list.

    Applicants who have been assessed but who have not been admitted are welcome to reapply for the next academic year. Please note that such applicants will be asked to submit a new application and application fee.

    Confirmation of Acceptance and Enrollment (录取)

    Once an applicant has been admitted, the applicant family will be asked to confirm acceptance and hold the student's place with immediate payment of the required fees for the Nomination Right (HK$ 500), plus the sum of HK$ 7,500 as the first tuition payment.

    In addition, enrollment will not be considered complete until the following have been received, normally one month before the start of the new school year

    Physical examination results           Tuition (first month)

    The World Happiness Report, a United Nations agency report, measures (估量) how happy people are, and why. Norway is the happiest place on earth—beating neighbour Denmark from the number one position.

    Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland are among the top five, while the Central African Republic came last. Western Europe and North America took up most of the places at the top of table, with the US and UK at 14th and 19th respectively.

    The World Happiness Report mainly depends on asking a simple question of more than 1,000 people every year in more than 150 countries. “Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top,” the question asks. “The top of the ladder is the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder is the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?”

    The average (平均的) result is the country's score—from Norway's 7.54 to the central African Republic's 2.69. But the report also tries to explain why one country is happier than another. It looks at reasons including economic strength, social support, freedom of choice, and generosity.

    This year's report also has a text titled “restoring (恢复) American happiness”, which examines why happiness levels in the United States are falling, despite continually-increasing economic improvement. “The United States can and should raise happiness by solving American's social problems—rising inequality and distrust—rather than focusing mainly on economic growth,” the authors said.

    Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which published the report, said President Donald Trump's policies were likely to make things worse.

    When I'm in Italy, I generally only eat Italian food. I doubt whether there's another country in Europe that has food that can keep me coming back for more.

    To eat well in Italy, finding the right restaurant is essential. I appreciate personality-driven restaurants, run by people keen(热衷的) to share their love of good cooking, and places serving family recipes. Signs of a good restaurant include a low-rent location, lots of locals, and a small, handwritten menu in one language. The menu is small because they're only selling everything they're cooking; it's handwritten because it's shaped by what is fresh today in the market; and it's in one language because they mostly serve locals.

    For a fast and cheap lunch, I look for Italian food in corner delis (熟食店): either a rosticceria, specializing in roasted meats and antipasti(开胃食物), or a hot table bar — a cafeteria offering a buffet of meat and vegetables. Another option is to drop by a neighborhood grocery store to pick up some cold cuts, cheeses, and other foods for a picnic.

    Italians tend to spend a long time on each course, and dinner is the evening's entertainment. For example, when you have a full-blown Italian dinner in a restaurant, you don't get out until midnight; a three-hour meal is common. Waiters often provide lots of drinks that seem designed to keep you from leaving. When you want the bill, you'll have to ask for it. To "eat and run" is seen as a lost opportunity.

    A couple of years ago, I sat down at my favorite place in Verona, Enoteca Can Grande, with my friend and guide Franklin. We let the chef, Giuliano bring us whatever he wanted. Just after the antipasti arrived, Franklin's wife phoned him and said, "Don't eat too much cheese or dessert." Later Franklin, who was not thin, surveyed our table. Sighing, he said, "The foods are so plentiful but I can eat few."

    "That's a pity," I said.

    I enjoyed the food for three hours and he watched me eating for three hours. Eating in Verona was really an amazing experience.

At school, I was in the top set for maths. My teachers recommended that I study economics and statistics as my A-level subjects, but I had my mind set on a life fulfilled by the arts.

In fact, I was a victim of a gender stereotype made stronger since birth, that men do science and maths and women do arts or languages. Computer science, technology and physics just did not figure in my teenage world view. Nobody popular in my school chose to study those subjects.

Reality struck hard when I began attending job interviews and interviewers would say: "It's great that you speak foreign languages, but what else do you do?" Nobody asked my friends who had studied science or technology those questions.

A survey recently showed that three of the best-paid jobs for women are in the technology sector. It's a sector that really can change the world. We must show girls that technology has an effect on every industry out there, from fashion to architecture to journalism. Anybody can learn to code and these days it's as important as reading and writing. I've realized that at university I'd achieved the wrong kind of literacy. Not being able to code limit your impact on the world far more than an ignorance of great literature.

Now I have a five-year-old daughter. I don't want her to blindly follow gender roles the way I did. I want her to know the fact that a science or technical degree will not limit her creativity but expand it and broaden her horizons far more than my arts background could. I'm exposing her to Minecraft and apps, which help improve analytical thinking and problem solving skills. I'm hoping that my daughter will discover and accept her potentials in science and want to change the world.

There are {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(vary) kinds of theme parks in the world, the most famous of which is Disneyland that can {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(find) in several parts of the world. At Disneyland, you can travel through space, visit a pirate ship, or meet adorable fairytale or cartoon characters like Snow White or Mickey Mouse. Whichever and whatever you like, Disneyland is a place {#blank#}3{#/blank#} makes your childhood dreams come true.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(locate) in the beautiful Smoky Mountains in the southeastern USA，Dollywood {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(feature) America's traditional southeastern culture. There, you can not only hear famous country music, see skilled workers make wood, glass, and iron objects {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the old-fashioned way, but also experience a superb old wooden roller coaster, which is the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(long) track in the smallest space.

Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai is one of the leading ocean-themed parks in the world. While visiting the Whale Shark Aquarium, you will feel as if you {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(walk) in the deep ocean, enjoying up to 20,000 fish, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(include) a whale shark 68 meters long. You can also see all kinds of interesting animals, such as dolphins, sea lions, polar bears, etc. of course, there are plenty of exciting {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(activity) waiting for you to explore by yourself.