Baseball is one of the favorite sports in the USA. Children play baseball in sports fields or in parks. At summer picnics, there is often informal (非正式的) baseball game. Boys and girls, young and old take turns to bat. Each team has 9 players.
   American football is perhaps the most popular sport in the USA. The football season begins when the baseball season ends. More people are interested in football than baseball. When there is an important game, thousands of people sit beside the radio or in front of the television to hear the result.

A. Bay Bridge           B. The Jing-Hang Grand Canal     C. The Fuchun River

D. The Qiantang River    E. The West Lake                F. Xixi Wetland

Known as the "Paradise on Earth", Hangzhou is blessed with beautiful scenery.

①{#blank#}1{#/blank#} It lies in the west of the city. It is also called the Lake of "Xizi" a famous beauty in ancient China. Su Dongpo spoke highly of it in his poem: "It looks like the fair lady at her best, whether she is richly or plainly dressed." Whether it is sunny or rainy, misty or snowy, it is always so fascinating!

②{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It is a man-made wonder created by the Chinese people, which still remains in use for nearly two thousand years. It is 1797 kilometers long. It is from Hangzhou to Beijing. As the longest man-made waterway in ancient China, it plays an important role in the cultural communication between the north and the south. It also provides Hangzhou with a valuable chance to learn from other places.

③{#blank#}3{#/blank#} It became famous before the West Lake. Every year in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the river tides will come rolling and roaring like powerful armies. As tides rose, ancient people would hold sports activities on the river, which are no less thrilling than sea surfing. On the upper stream is the Fuchun River, a quiet peaceful river in Fuyang District.

④{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is a rare secondary urban wetland, an ecological wetland and a cultural wetland all in one. As an international garden city, Hangzhou is a place where you can see green vegetations and bright flowers everywhere in every season.

⑤{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Hangzhou is close to the sea. The Westlake used to be a lake linking to the sea, and became an interior lake only after dams were built around it. Most part of the urban area of Hangzhou used to be a bay. Today, Hangzhou Bay is linked to the East Sea, where a sea-crossing bridge has been built to span the bay.

    Many people in the world are living a very fast life. They seem to be always in a hurry (匆忙).

No time to stop

    People in cities around the world walk 10 percent more quickly than they did twenty years ago. Singapore is at the top of the list for fast walkers.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    People aren' t as patient (有耐心的) as they were in the past. If it takes more than five minutes for a bus to arrive, they become very impatient. They think they don' t have any time to wait

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Written communication (交流) on the Internet is getting shorter and shorter. People now use more and more simple words, like BRB (be right back) or NP (no problem).

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Even in their free time, people do things in a hurry. Twenty years ago when people went to art museums, they spent about one minute looking at each picture. But today they spend much less time.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The cars are faster, but the traffic (交通) is worse, so people drive more slowly. They spend more time than ever sitting in their cars, feeling worried that they aren't going to arrive on time.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    In the US, there is a book called One-Minute Bedtime Stories, for children. The stories in it are famous but short. They are popular with those parents who are too busy to tell their children long stories.

    People are living faster, but are they living better?

    Great weather! It was sunny yesterday. We arrived in Beijing at 9: 00 in the morning. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} We went to the hotel by taxi. After lunch and a short rest, we took a bus to the Summer Palace. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} While we were in a boat on Kunming Lake, we heard someone singing Beijing Opera on the bank. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In the evening we walked to Tian'anmen Square because it was next to our hotel. We took some photos there. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} This morning when we walked to the Palace Museum, we passed by (路过) a square and saw some people flying kites. The kites were in different shapes (形状) {#blank#}5{#/blank#} They were really beautiful. I'll go to the aquarium (水族馆), and then Beihai Park. The day after tomorrow we'll visit the Great Wall. I hear it's very great and I think I will have great fun playing there.

    There has been a lot of talk about Chinese bicycle sharing recently. Shared bikes are nowadays becoming the centre of attention in our We Chat friend circle. Many of our friends post photos of themselves riding bikes, especially during the weekend in natural parks, and we can see people logging in and out of shared bike apps. But are people really drawn to(被....所吸引) the idea of exercise and green transportation all of a sudden?

    Some people have tried Mobikes lately, and they don't particularly like Mobikes. They think the first generation Mobikes, the ones without baskets, are designed for athletes. They are very hard to ride, and the seat is not adjustable(可调节的). Then, they tried the yellow ofo bikes. They are easier to ride than Mobikes, but they don't usually have baskets, and you need to enter the password by hand, instead of scanning a QR code and having the lock open automatically like with Mobikes.

    We appreciate that there are shared bikes on the roads. They have saved us a lot of time during emergency situations. And on beautiful, clear days, we do enjoy riding them outside the city. But from what we've seen in our friend circles, people have been giving them endless praises, while we still saw some obvious flaws (缺陷).

    In our experience, there has never been a unanimous(一致的) decision on anything in public opinion. It makes us wonder whether these people really like riding shared bikes or are just saying this to agree with others. When we asked them individually, a friend of us, Lisa, secretly told us she tried the bikes to fit in(融入朋友圈). She doesn't like bikes and finds city's roads too harsh for bike riding. But the only way to hang out with her friends was riding out of town together. To join in social activities, she had to pick up bike riding again. Another young man, Simon admitted that he started talking about and forwarding information(转发信息) on shared bikes to appear cool and fashionable to friends. He started paying attention when Mobikes firs launched(推出). These views will give us something new to think about when we ride these bikes again.

    ①Jenny lives in New York. Her father has a shop there and her mother is a doctor. Jenny is ②seven years old and begins to go to school this autumn. ③It is a little far from the school and her father drives a car to take her to school every day. So she is ④never late for class and her teachers like her. It is Monday today. Miss Smith is ⑤teaching the students to count(数)from one to ten. Jenny is studying hard, and soon she can count them. Miss Smith is happy and asks, "How many people are there in your family, Jenny?" Jenny stands up and says, "Four, Miss Smith." "Who are they?" "My grandparents, my mother and my father." "Oh?" Miss Smith is surprised(惊讶的) and says, "There are five people in your family." "But now I am not at home. I'm at school." Jenny says.