Dear Mr. President,
I have been doing a project at school recently about animals in danger. I think the situation all over the world is really terrible. I am writing to you to suggest what China should do to help protect animals more.
I know that there are nearly 2,000 nature reserves in China, which is good. I live in Beijing and there are about 30 reserves outside the city. We visited one of them last month to see for ourselves.
I feel so sorry for the giant panda. It's one of the most popular animals in the world and a real symbol of China. We learned that pandas mainly live on bamboo, and that a panda can eat half its body weight of bamboo in 24 hours! That's a lot of bamboo. I think we should try to do more to stop cutting down forests. Pandas are already a rare animal and it would be so sad if they became extinct (灭绝) forever.
The other animal we should try to protect more is the Chinese alligator (扬子鳄). These creatures live in some parts of eastern China. These beautiful animals live in freshwater rivers and lakes but the water in some places isn't clean enough for them to live in. It's really dirty in fact. The government should stop factories polluting the lakes and rivers.
If we protect these beautiful animals in China, more foreigners may wish to visit China to see them. They could be an important tourist attraction. It would be good if more people came to visit our beautiful country, especially to see the quieter areas in the country. Now most visitors just see the cities.
I hope you will encourage more people to think about such an important subject.
Sincerely yours,
Huang Jing

    One day, an American man Simon went to London to visit his friend, Rick. Rick told him that his flat(公寓) was on the first floor. When he arrived, Simon went straight to the first floor of the building. But a man told him that there was no Rick on that floor. Do you know why?

    In fact, the British (英国人) call the first floor of a building the ground floor. The floor above the ground floor is the first floor, but Americans would call it the second floor.

    The story shows that there are a few culture differences between Britain and America, though the British and Americans both speak English.

    The British don't like showing their feelings. They hardly start a small talk with strangers. For example, on the train the British often spend their time reading newspapers or books. But Americans are quite different. They're more active and easier to talk with.

    The British and Americans may use different terms for the same things. The British usually use "football" "holiday" and "lift", but Americans like to use "soccer" "vacation" and "elevator".

    Christmas is one of the most important festivals in some Western countries.Now it is celebrated in many countries including China.The practice of putting up special decorations on Christmas has a long history.Long ago,people in Rome brought branches from evergreen plants indoors in the winter,Decorating with green plants is also part of Jewish tradition.

    When Christmas Day comes,we can see some traditional colors everywhere.The traditional colors of Christmas are green and red.White,silver and gold are also popular.Red stands for the blood of Jesus and green stands for eternal life.People like to decorate their houses with the evergreen tree because it does not lose its leaves in the winter.

    Decorating the Christmas tree is a tradition when Christmas Day comes.The phrase“Christmas tree”is first recorded in 1835.The modern Christmas tree tradition is believed to have begun in Germany in the 18th century though many people argued that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century.

    Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets,music played from speakers,and Christmas trees placed in prominent places.It is common in many parts of the world for town squares and shopping areas to display decorations.In some countries,Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down in the evening of January 5.

    Top five universities in Asia-Pacific region

    ⒈National University of Singapore.

    The National University of Singapore is a highly international university with more than half the students made up of international students. With 17 schools across three campuses in Singapore, it has overseas colleges in many different places including Israel, Germany, the US and Sweden. The university started as a medical school in 1905 and has since developed to be one of Asia's best universities.

    ⒉Peking University

    The university was built in 1898 and was the first national university in Chinese modern history. The teaching language for college students is English. As the leading university in China, it has 31 colleges and 14 departments. It has the largest university library in China containing more than 4 million volumes. Many of the buildings on campus remain their original Chinese-style design and structure.

    ⒊University of Melbourne

    The University of Melbourne is a public research institution and Australia's second-oldest university. Four Australian prime ministers have graduated from the institution since it was set up in 1853. It is one of the leading research universities in Australia and some of the research developed there has been widely used throughout the world. In the 1970s, research at the institution led to the first successful cochlear implant(人工电子耳).

    ⒋Tsinghua University

    Tsinghua University was built in 1911. It is one of the best-known institutions in the world. Its 20 schools and 54 departments cover subjects in art, economics, education, engineering, history, management, medicine, law, literature, philosophy and the sciences.

    ⒌Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

    Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is a young institution and is considered Singapore's main science and technology university. It was set up in 1991 and three campuses: Yunnan Garden, NTU @one-north, and Novena. Yunnan Garden is the biggest in Singapore and has been one of the top 15 most beautiful campuses in the world and has planned to be the greenest campus in the world by 2022. Located in Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is often overshadowed by National University of Singapore. But it is still one of students' dream universities in Asia-Pacific region.

    Comics use drawings and words to tell stories that can be funny or serious, or a little of both. Comic books grew out of comic strips in newspapers.

    One of the most successful early comic characters in America was Mickey Dugan, better-known as "the Yellow Kid". He wore a yellow coat that was too big for him. He was a character in a comic strip which provided opinions on the problems of cities. The Yellow Kid first appeared in 1895. The character became so popular that it was also used to sell products and to create plays.

    Adventure stories in comic books were very popular during the 1930s- the time known as the Golden Age of Comics. Famous characters created during that time include the science fiction hero Flash Gordon and the detective Dick Tracy.

    The 1930s also gave us a superhero who came to Earth from another planet. Superman was a newspaper reporter for Daily Planet in the big city when he lived on the Earth. Superman became a hero of comic fans as he used his ability to fly to fight for "truth and jus tice(正义)". Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were seventeen when they created Superman in 1933. They sold the rights(版权) of the character to the DC Comics Company for one hundred and thirty dollars. That might be a lot of money to them at the time. But it was nothing compared to all the money made since then from Superman comics, radio and TV shows, movies and toys. Finally, in 1975, they wanted to get more for their creation. DC Comics agreed to pay each of them twenty thousand dollars a year for life. And it agreed to put their names as the creators of Superman in all future printed materials and films.