Welcome to Hong Kong! Here is some information that can help you know the city very well.

    Kong lies in the southeastern part of China. She returned to our motherland in 1997. If you go to Hong Kong by air, you will arrive at Kai Tak Airport, because there was not enough land. This airport was built out into the sea. It is in the part of Hong Kong called Kowloon. Kowloon is one of the two big cities in Hong Kong. The other city is Hong Kong itself. It is on an island. You can get there by ship or through a tunnel under the sea. Much of Hong Kong is farmland and mountains.

    The population(人口) of Hong Kong is over six million. People from all over the world travel to Hong Kong every year. You can watch horse racing or motor racing. Some places are quiet and beautiful. When you are hot and tired, there are small cool gardens to rest in. There are also a lot of buildings to live in. Hong Kong is also a good place for Chinese food. You can enjoy many kinds of cooking. For example, fish, meat and vegetables. Beijing duck is famous. There is certainly a lot to see and to do in Hong Kong.

    If you ears are working well, you hear sounds all the time. You can't switch（关掉）your ears off, even when you are asleep.

Listening

    When you really want to listen to something, you tell brain to focus on that sound. If your ears are healthy and are both working well, they can turn down other sounds while you focus on what you want to hear. If one ear isn't working __________ the other, they can't do this as well. If you hearing cells（细胞）have been damaged by too much loud noise or music, what you want to hear can get mixed up and lost in the other sounds around. With healthy ears you can choose what you want to listen to, but you can't choose what you hear.

Understanding

    Your brain deals with the received sounds and tells you what they mean. Some people have problems understanding what they are hearing because their ears don't work well and they don't hear all the sounds. They brain does not get enough information to understand the messages or they may be mixed up.

Selective（选择的）hearing

    Lots of mums and dads think that kids have this “problem”. They think that you select what you are going to hear and what you can't hear! Many mums say that dads do this, too. In fact, this is something we may all do to try and make our lives a bit easier. Some children wrote what they liked to hear and what they didn't like to hear.

    Confidence is very important in daily life．It can help you develop a healthy attitude．A study shows that the people who are more confident are much happier{#blank#}1{#/blank#}But how to be more confident？Here are some suggestions：

    Speak loud

    When you are not confident，you can't do well what you want to do{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Try to speak loud enough so that people can hear you clearly．The high voice can help you become more confident．

    Play sport

    Physical exercise makes you tired but completely relaxed．A strong body helps you be full of confident．

    Encourage yourself

    Write down a list of things you did during the day to see how many things you have done well．Did you finish your task on time？Did you help your family with the housework？{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Get rid of fear

    Fear comes along with failure{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Don't hide your head just because you said something stupid last time．Try to start again and believe you can do better．

    Pick up a hobby

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  In some ways，a hobby can make you outstanding．And it will make you happy and confident．

A．You speak in such a low voice that other people can hardly hear you．

B．If you like singing，sing as much as you can．

C．But it's easy to overcome if you know that failure is part of your life．

D．They can have more chance to make themselves successful．

E．Give yourself praise of the good things you've done．

    The Reasons of Learning English

    Today lots of people in China can speak English and more and more people are learning this language. Then what do they learn English for? We have done a survey and here are some people's reasons:

    Alice White: I like traveling by myself very much. I've been to many places in China, and I plan to travel to some foreign countries. English is the most widely used language in the world, so learning English will do great help to my trips.

    Mark Smith: I'm actually not so interested in English. I like Chinese much better. However, I have to learn English. We have to take English exams and the score(分数) of English takes a large part in the total score. Luckily, I'm not doing too badly in it, or I'll have to struggle(奋斗) with it.

    Ben Green: It is necessary to learn English. As you know, the competition in the job market is very fierce(激烈的). If I have a good knowledge of English, I will have a chance of getting a good job.

    Kate Lu: It's interesting, isn't it? I can get information that others can't get. I can talk and write letters to interesting people that others can't communicate with. And I can always make people surprised by speaking good English.

Information Card

(John, one of the exchange students, wants to buy something in Beijing. But he doesn't know where to go. Now he is asking Millie for help)

John =J,       Millie =M

J: Where can I buy some postcards, Millie?

M: Go to the bookshop in the shopping mall in Old Street. You'll find many postcards there.

J: Can you tell me how to get to the shopping mall?

M: Walk across the footbridge. Then walk along New Road until you see the traffic lights. Cross New Road, you'll see a restaurant. And the shopping mall is next to it.

J: Oh, I see! I also want to buy some souvenirs for my friends. Can I find some in the shopping mall?

M: You'd better go to the Souvenir Shop. It's very easy to find. Just come out of the shopping mall, you'll see the shop is at the other side of the street.

J: That's great! By the way, can I enjoy Beijing Duck in the restaurant?

M: Of course! The Beijing Duck in that restaurant is very nice.

J: Thanks a lot!

    What can we do to help protect the environment? It seems useless to just pick up a piece of trash(垃圾) ,but what will happen if you keep doing it every day? Tommy Kleyn, an ordinary man from the Netherlands, may give you the answer. Tommy Kieyn walked past a polluted river on his way to work every day. It used to be a beautiful view, but the trash on the bank made it dirty and smelly. So Tommy decided to pick up the trash along the river a little bit at a time after work. "It took me about 30 minutes to fill one garbage(垃圾) bag with trash, but one garbage bag didn't seem helpful in a place as polluted as this. I decided to fill one bag of trash each day as I passed by," Tommy said. Every day, Tommy took pictures of the river and shared them on his Facebook page. To his surprise, in just six days, he had made great progress with his cleanup effort(努力) . He felt happy and kept doing it. Gradually, more and more people knew about Tommy's story. Other people in the community began following in his footsteps and cleaning up trash on their way home, too. "The idea is to encourage people to fill one garbage bag with litter each day. It only takes 30 minutes, but it really makes a difference and you will be amazed at how good you feel afterwards, "he said. People from all over the world have been moved and inspired(激励)by Tommy's story. No effort is useless if we keep doing it every day. Ordinary people like you and me can also make a difference to the world we live in if we take actions right now.