Some people are pessimistic(悲观的) when they think about the future. They say that, a hundred years from now, we will have used up most of the earth's resources. We will have made our seas so dirty that we will not be able to eat fish from them. There will be so many people in the world that we will have to use all the countryside for housing; there will be no farmland left.

    Other people have a different idea about the future. In their view, the city of the future will be a huge pyramid-shaped(金字塔形的) building, which will be floating on the surface of the sea. About 5,000 families will live there, and there will also be schools, shops in it.

In a hundred years' time, people will not need to use oil. They will heat their homes with power from the sun.

    Think of space. Perhaps a station will be set up on the moon; people will be able to visit the moon as tourists. They may even spend their holidays in space, travelling from planet to planet.

What an interesting picture!

    Many people don't think about the future. “I don't care. I'll be dead. ”they say. But it is our duty to care because the world of a hundred years' time will be the world of our children's and their children after them.

    If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice: There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.

    Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meaning of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across ， but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example, in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.

    As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.

    For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.

    If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.

    Here's a selection of festivals for tourists to the United States in summer.

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

    Films at this odd cinematic event have a variety of musical accompaniments, including piano and violin. It includes some classic silent movies. If you want to see them all, you can buy a festival pass.

May 29 to June 1; www.silent film.org

Union Street Festival

    This popular street fair stretches out over six blocks of the city, in the fashionable shopping area of Union Street. This year, there's beer, wine, biscuits tasting and more separate themes-fashion, cuisine, tech, local, craft, and health and fitness.

    June 7 to 10; www.unionstreetfestival.com

    North Beach Festival

    This is San Francisco's oldest street party, with live entertainment, delicious food and arts and crafts. Situated in the Little Italy district, known for its associations with the “Beat Generation”, festival goers are guaranteed plenty of good Italian food. There is also as the “blessing of the animals”, a San Francisco tradition which takes place at the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi (610 Vallejo Street) at 2 pm on both days of the festival.

    June 14 to 16; www.sfnorthbeach.org

    Stern Grove Festival

    This is the oldest free summer arts festival of its kind in the United States. It includes a wide variety of acts, from the local symphony orchestra to well known artists such as Smokey Robinson.

    Sundays from June 22 to Aug 24; www.stemgrove.org

    I was a very lucky girl.Many girls didn't know they could take part in or even be good at sports,but I never needed to be told that because I grew up with my grandmother who was a great Olympian.Even today,many girls need that extra nod in sports,but where can they get it?

    We all long for friendship, but how to make a friend? "The best time to make a friend is before you need one." Joy Steven said. The following are some tips for you.

    People equal friends

    Friends usually begin with strangers. Getting in touch with other people is the first step to make a friend. Friends can't be made in empty air. Best friends take time to make.

    Friends understand friends

    Friends understand each other when talking. Many unpleasant personal quarrels can be avoided if you will take the time to understand others' feelings and points of view.

    Friends touch friends

    Touching is a warm form of communication between friends. When you see best friends communicating, you will notice them stand close together, touch each other comfortably and listen to each other. Sometimes a friendly touch is more powerful than words.

    Friends praise friends

    Praise is a powerful tool to make a friend. Honest praise can affect (影响) your friends' lives. So try to praise your friends including your general ones.

    Friends can loyal (忠诚的) and trustworthy

    Trust and loyalty go hand in hand for friends. Friends can share secrets with you, because good friends never break confidence (信心) and are loyal forever.

    Hobbies in general are becoming something of the past. Our lives are already filled with classes, homework, working, relationships and sleeping. When we do have a spare moment, it is all too easy to spend it on the endless entertainment and media that are right at our fingertips.

    I do not doubt that there are some people who could become a great writer or musician. I only fear that so many people are busy pursuing their education and their careers, but they never even see the potential (潜能) they have. The next great photographer or singer could be going to college right now. But they might not even know they have a gift for photographing or singing if they've never picked up a camera or a guitar.

    Of course, the final goal of pursuing a new hobby shouldn't be to become rich and famous. For most people, a hobby is just something they enjoy doing for the purpose of the thing itself. Such hobbies are still very useful. Studies have shown that people who have a hobby are less likely to have stress and more likely to have more meaningful lives.

    Most importantly, a hobby is just something you do to make you happy. I hate to break it to you, but we all have a long lifetime of work and stress ahead of us. It will make things much easier if we can practice the piano or make some collections after work.

    Sure, it's not easy to start a new hobby while going to school, but it will likely never get easier than it is right now. So think about the thing that you have always wanted to try but were too embarrassed or busy or whatever. You never know, you might become the world's next great people. If not, you'll at least be a little more well-rounded, more interesting and less stressed.