Mary is an American girl. She is now in Beijing with her parents. She doesn‘t know Chinese, but she is trying to study and speak it .She often tries to speak Chinese to her Chinese friends. Sometimes they don't understand (理解 )her, because she can't speak Chinese well.

    It's Saturday morning. Mary goes out. She is on her way to the park. She is going there to see a flower show But she doesn't know how to get there. She asks a Chinese boy. The boy can't understand her. Then she takes out a pen and some paper. She draws some flowers on it, gives the picture to the boy and says something about it. The boy smiles and then shows ( 指 ) Mary the way to the park.

    Several days ago, Brenda had a car accident that led to one of her legs being cut off. Since then she didn't talk to anyone.

     “I wish I could bring her friends to visit her,” said Brenda's mother. “But it's a long bus trip.” The nurse smiled, “Don't worry. We have a plan.”

    Later that day, the nurse had taken Brenda to another room. “Here's your new roommate, Annie Wiggle-Do,” the nurse introduced a dark-hair teenager on the other bed.

    As soon as the nurse left, she jumped out of her bed with her only foot and sat at the other end of Brenda's bed, “I lost my leg from bone cancer,” she said. “What happened to yours?” Brenda was so shocked that she couldn't say a word. “You're lucky.” Annie continued. “You've still got your knee. They had to take mine.”

     “I'd like to have a chat with you, but my friends are coming any time now, so I have to get ready.” Annie said when she took off her hair! Her head was completely bald(秃头的).

     “Oh, I forgot to tell you, the medicine they gave me to kill the cancer also killed my hair.” Annie looked out her wigs(假发), brown and yellow, short and long, straight and curly.

     “That's why I thought up ‘Annie Wiggle-Do'.” Annie smiled. “Get it? Any wig will do? Annie Wiggle-Do?” “When Annie's friends came, she introduced Brenda to them all. Before long, Brenda started chatting with Annie and her friends. They didn't make her feel like a strange person at all!

    The girls shared their names with each other. When it was time to go to bed, Brenda said, “Good night, Annie-Wiggle-Do. Can't wait till morning.”

    On Thursday October 3, Adam Harper decided to stop drinking coffee. Adam is a MBA student at Harvard University. He studies long hours, gets very little sleep, so he drinks a lot of coffee—anywhere from five to six cups a day. Recently, Adam felt that drinking thus much coffee was making it hard for him to sleep at all. He also began having problems with his concentration(注意力), and complained of stomachaches. Adam's doctor made this suggestions: stop drinking coffee altogether.

    When Adam got up on October 3, he began his day without his morning coffee. By 11:00 a.m., Adam was in a terrible mood. He was tired and had a headache. At 11:30, he had a meeting with his student advisor. In the meeting, he found it almost impossible to continue. What was going on?

    Caffeine, a chemical found in coffee, was most likely the reason for how Adam felt. Caffeine is a stimulant that boosts(增加) energy levels and improves concentration- but only for a short time. Lowering caffeine consumption(减少摄取咖啡因) often makes a drop in blood pressure and the result is a “coffee headache”. People who stop drinking coffee often say they feel tired and moody, and find it hard to focus.

    The good news is that these feeling usually pass after four and five days. During this time, doctors suggested taking some aspirin for the headache. So, if Adam can wait, in less than a week, he may be feeling much better.

    Zhao Muhe is a 105-year-old man from Taiwan. Praised by many people as an ideal role model, Zhao's motto is that it's never too late to learn. He is now auditing(旁听)classes at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan as he prepares to earn a PhD.

    Zhao entered Open University of Kaohsiung in Taiwan in 1999.He went to school by bike every day, never missing a single class. He studied late into the night, and it only took Zhao four years to finish the 128 academic credits required to graduate, which he did at the age of 91.

    Several years later, Zhao decided to continue his studies. He passed the entrance examination for Nanhua University in Taiwan and got a master's degree two years later. The 98-year-old set a Guinness World Record as the oldest postgraduate in the world.

    In 2016, Zhao started classes at National Tsing Hua University. He lives alone on the fourth floor of an old apartment building. He does his own shopping, cooking and laundry, refusing other's help because he thinks it would make him feel old.

    Zhao was born in Shandong Province in 1912. Influenced by traditional Chinese culture, he studied at a private school and started to study calligraphy(书法)when he was 14.Years of practice made him a calligraphy master. Over the decades, he has donated plenty of money raised by calligraphy charities to people in need.

    Zhao held a calligraphy exhibition in Hong Kong in 2013, and also published an autobiography. As he couldn't use a computer at that time, the autobiography was written by others, based on Zhao's oral narration. After the book was written, Zhao decided that he should learn how to use the Internet. Now he can buy his own tickets online.

    Hello, my name is Lucy Green. I have a big family. My favorite number is seven. My Wechat number is 7790-2728. I have a blue skirt. I like the skirt very much.

    My parents are in Shanghai. My Grandma's telephone number852770.She has a grey skirt. My grandpa Jill doesn't have a phone. My sister Mary and I live in Hangzhou with our parents. This is Mary's pencil. It is red. Her QQ number is. 790723674

    For Schultz, a 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime.Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

    Speaking of his journey, he says, "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child ,but now I finally have a chance to experience it."

    The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany ，Russia and other 4 European countries. They will then enter China from the country's western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.

    Nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. "We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries ,have been joining us ,"says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.

    Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5 million of them were from Europe. Beijing ,Xi'an , Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations(目的地) for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go ,Schultz says ,"Compared with modern cities ,the culture in western China attracts(吸引)me more."

    As Shi Xiang head of the China Tours, says ,"Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors ,the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China ,especially the northwestern part of the country."

    (China Daily)