Dear Adam,

    I'm on vacation in Central America and having a great time. I'm in Guatemala. It's a small country but there is so much to see and do! There are volcanoes (火山), mountains, rainforests, beaches and Mayan temples (玛雅寺庙) in the country.

    The Mayan people have a long and interesting history. They built many temples. Last Friday I visited a Mayan temple at a place called Tikal. The temple has a history of about 1,300 years. It is a wonderful place to visit.

    I am staying at Lake Atitlan now. Some people say it is the most beautiful lake in the world. It is a very big lake and there are mountains and volcanoes around it. You can walk around the lake and even climb to the top of a volcano.

    The volcanoes at Lake Atitlan are not active volcanoes (活火山), but tomorrow I am going to see an active volcano called Pacaya. Active volcanoes can be dangerous because they still erupt (爆发) sometimes. I want to climb Pacaya. It erupted in 2010. I hope it won't erupt when I' m there!

      I'll send (发送,) you another e-mail soon.

                                                      All the best,

                                                       Kate

    A couple of young men were fishing at a lake. Suddenly the policeman jumped out of the forest.

    At once, one of the men threw his rod (鱼竿) down and started running through the forest, and the policeman ran after him.

    After about half a mile, the man stopped and stooped (弯腰) over his hands on his legs to catch his breath. The policeman finally caught up to him, "Let me see your fishing license (证件), Boy!" the policeman said.

    The man pulled out his wallet and gave the policeman a fishing license.

    "Well, guy." said the policeman, "You must be about stupid as a box of rocks! You don't have to run from me if you have a fishing license."

    "Yes, Sir", replied the young man, "But my friend back there, well, doesn't have one."

    John is thirteen now. He began to study in a middle school two years ago. His home is in a village and it's nearly five kilometres away from the school. He has to get up early in the morning. After quick breakfast he has to run to school and get there on time. His father hopes to borrow some money to buy a bike for him, but John knows his mother is always ill and that his father spends much money on medicine. He doesn't agree with his father and keeps running there every day. Now he's very strong. He is never late for class and his teachers often praise him.

    Last week there was a sports meeting in his school. John ran faster than any other boy in the boys' 800—metre race, 1, 500—metre race and 3, 000—metre race. The whole school knew him. He was happy. He told his grandma about the good news as soon as he got home.

    "I broke two school records today, Granny, "called out the boy.

    To his surprise, the old woman wasn't happy. She thought for a while and I'm sorry to hear that. But we have no money to pay for them, you know!

    It's five o'clock in the afternoon. School1and the students from Class 3 are going to Grandma Liang's house. Grandma Liang has no2or daughters. So the children often go to help3do some housework.

    Now the children are at Grandma Liang's4. Grandma Liang is very5to see them. Look! Lily is6with Grandma Liang in the living room. Betty is cleaning the7. Jane is washing clothes outside the room.8is Ann? Oh, she is in the kitchen. She is making9for Grandma Liang, Jim is next to Ann. He is10her.

A better town for teenagers

    I believe there are many things that we can do to make life in our town a lot better for teenagers.

    First of all, I think more bike lanes should{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(build). A lot of teenagers in my town ride bikes everywhere, but it's very{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(danger) because there is a lot of traffic. If there are more bike lanes in the future, it will be much {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(safe) for us.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(two), I believe that we need more places for teenagers to go to.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}my opinion, teenagers won't cause problems in the street if there are more places for us to go to. So we need more{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(club) and other places where we can meet.

    Thirdly, teenagers here need more sports facilities. There{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(be) places to play ball games so far like tennis and basketball, but what about other sports,{#blank#}8{#/blank#}skating and rollerblading?

    Finally, I'm sure we'll make the town better{#blank#}9{#/blank#}we don't drop litter. If we all do something{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(help) now, our town will be much better for everyone in the future.