No. 4 Middle School

Kunming, Yunnan

April 2nd, 2014

Dear Editor,

I live in a beautiful city. Many visitors come to my city. There are so many colorful peacocks (孔雀)here.

    The peacocks mostly (主要）live on the grassland of Dongfeng Square. Visitors can give them food freely. They usually throw food to them, and don't think about at all whether the food is right or not. Some of the peacocks became ill. Some even died after eating the bad food.

    I'm sure most of the visitors who throw food to the peacocks really like the birds, but they don't realize that they may be doing any harm.

    We should tell the visitors that what they have done is very harmful to the birds, and we also must stop this kind of thing from happening.

    Perhaps we can build some small shops beside Dongfeng Square to sell peacock food. For every one of us, it's our duty to give more love to these beautiful birds and to look after them carefully.

Yours,

Sun Yan

    What will our world be like in 2020 We aren't quite sure, but it's interesting to make some predictions.

    Languages

    English should still be the most popular language, but Chinese should be the second. Now, many foreign people are studying Chinese as their second language.

    Water

    Water will become as expensive as oil because many rivers will disappear. We will have to save water and pay more for clean water.

     Education

     More students will study online. Students from all over the world may study together on the Internet.

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    Driverless(无人驾驶的)technology is quickly progressing with many cars being tested on roads around the world．Now, researchers in Singapore are testing a self-driving scooter，which has four wheels and a seat．It can move at a speed of up to six kilometers an hour．Researchers said the scooter was built with materials that did not cost much money．

    The scooter was developed by the National University of Singapore．Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)also took part in the project．It was designed(设计)for people who cannot，should not or do not want to drive a car．It could help older adults，the disabled or people who are too young to drive．

Marcelo Ang，a researcher at the National University of Singapore，says the scooter can be especially useful for people who use wireless devices(无线设备)while walking on city streets，because there is a sensors(探测器)in it． “I'm sure you have experienced people who almost run into you while using their phones on the street．Would it be so nice to drive the scooter without worrying about the safety?”he says．Besides，developers of the scooter say it can work together with ride—sharing services to make trips completely easy and safe．

The researchers hope the scooter will reduce the need for cars，which can lower pollution and reduce accidents．

    Marcelo Ang says the scooter has completed many successful tests at the university．Kevin Xiangyu Hui，a university student．tested the scooter and said he found the ride was very smooth and safe．“When I sat on this machine．I felt really relaxed and it was really cool．”The scooter has yet to complete lots of road tests so it is not available to buy at present．

    Do you know kind words and light music can help plants grow better? Many people talk and play music to their plants. And many people try very hard to protect their plants from loud noise, strong light and bad smell. That's not all. Some people are very careful about what they say or do in front of plants. They don't talk about unhappy things and won't beat a fly near their plants.

    Do plants have feelings? Many pupils think so. Even a few scientists think that plants have feelings. But most scientists don't agree. They don't think that plants call be happy, worried, angry, loving or afraid. They don't believe that a plant's feeling can be hurt.

    Professor Cleve Backster in America did an experiment and said that plants have feelings like human beings. He published an article in a magazine in 1968. People began to pay more attention to this topic since then.

    Different weather makes people feel different. It influences health, intelligence (智力) and feelings.

    In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during this month. In the Northeast and the Middle West, it is very hot at some times and very cold at other times. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.

    The weather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a scientific report, IQ (智商) of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQ was 10% below. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand (另一方面), can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often get worse on exams in the hot months of the year (July and August).

    Weather also has a strong influence on people's feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold during these months. They might feel unhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer. At about 18 ℃, people become stronger.

    Low air pressure (气压) may make people forgetful People leave more bags on buses and in shops on low-pressure days. There is a "good weather" for health. People feel best at a temperature of about I8℃.

    Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful, or unhappy today? It may be the weather's problem.

    When we talk about the universe, we mean not only the earth, the sun and the moon, but also the stars and space between them. There are millions of stars in our sky. The sun is one of them. Around it there are eight big planets moving, including the earth. The moon is our nearest neighbor in space. If you look at the sky on a clear night, it is possible to see about 3, 000 stars. They look small, but they are really very big hot balls of burning（燃烧着的）gas. Some of them arc huge（巨大的）, but others are much smaller like our planet Earth. The biggest stars are very bright, but they can only live for a short time. Every day new stars are born and old stars die.

    All the stars are very far away. The light from the nearest star（except the sun）takes more than four years to reach the earth.

    Hundreds of years ago, people used stars, like the North Star, to know which direction（方向）to travel in.

Today you can still see that star.