My name is George．I'm from England．Now I'm studying in Germany．I get to school at 7：30 every morning．I find many of my schoolmates come to school by bike． 1

    This is an interesting thing for me．In England people usually drive，take a bus or walk somewhere,for example，to school．In Germany,I often see people，even people over eighty years old going somewhere by bike．It makes me think： 2

    My father gives the answer．We are living in Northern Germany,It is very fiat(平坦的)．So it is easy for people here to go somewhere quickly by bike．And it's cheaper than(比……更便宜)going by car or by bus．Also，it's good for the environment(环境)．

    I like riding bikes now． 3  When I go back to England．I will ride more and ask my friends to ride with me．I think they will like riding bikes，too．

根据材料内容完成下列任务。

    What is life's greatest gift? It is choice. Choice is the ability to choose some actions from a set of things to achieve a goal{#blank#}1{#/blank#}The reason is that it turns us from dumb animals into artists. Choice becomes the tool we use to sculpt（雕刻）our life. The tool doesn't come free, however, for the price of choice is responsibility.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}It is enjoyment.

    Choice is power. Choice is at the heart of life. It's the creative power of life. Life is always changing and we have to make lots of choices{#blank#}3{#/blank#} We often need to check where we are on our journey. We need to ask questions: Am I moving closer to my goals? If not, what action will I take now to make myself realize my goals?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}And our life becomes more convenient or comfortable because of them. For example, you decide which stores to shop at and which bus station to go to. But the decisions that we make to sculpt our lives are much more important than deciding where to shop. The more we understand the difference between small and big decisions, the more pleasure we will get.

    Life is like a chess game.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}All chess lovers realize that it isn't necessary to win to enjoy the game. Make the best moves you can under the conditions. Then you can enjoy your life.

A. Why is choice so great?

B. The pleasure is in the playing.

C. In fact, we have to make choices every day.

D. But when we accept and carry it out, we get a great return.

E. Every choice we make leads us closer to or farther from our goals.

Dear Miss Li,

    I'd like to thank you for giving money to "Animal Helpers", I'm sure you know that this group was set up to help people like me. You helped to make it possible for me to have Lucky. Lucky makes a big difference to my life. Let me tell you my story.

    What would it be like to be blind or deaf? Or imagine you can't walk or use your hands easily. Most people would never think about this, but many people have these difficulties, I can't use my arms or legs well, so normal things like answering the telephone, opening and closing doors or carrying things are difficult for me. Then one day last year, a friend of mine helped me out. She talked to Animal Helpers about getting me a special trained dog. She also thought a dog might cheer me up. I love animals and I was excited about the idea of having a dog.

    After six months of training with a dog at Animal Helpers, I was able to bring him home. My dog's name is Lucky—a good name for him because I feel very lucky to have him. You see, I'm only able to have a "dog-helper" because of your kindness! Lucky is very clever and understands many English words. He can understand me when I give him orders. For example, I say, "Lucky! get my book," and he does it at once.

    Lucky is a fantastic dog. I'll send you a photo of him if you like, and I could show you how he helps me. Thank you again for changing my life. Best wishes, Ben Smith

    When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter, and the chemicals that poured out had made a wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest. One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area. Paul knocked him down. From then on, something happened inside him.

    Years later, Paul was back in the area, and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back. The answer from that big industry was "No".

    Paul then went to college to study the science of plants. He told the teacher about his plans. Unfortunately his teacher says, "It will be a waste of your time to try to do it." Everyone knew that, he was told. Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected, he wouldn't get his idea accepted.

    Paul later got married and had some kids. But this dream would not die. And then one night he did what he could with what he had. Under the cover of darkness, he went to secretly into the wasteland and started planting.

Every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass. For fifteen years he did this against the common sense. Slowly rabbits appeared. Later the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing.

    Now the place is covered with fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has. It took him so many years until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible promise he made to himself as a child.

    In a school, you may hear a student saying in Chinese,“我对汉语很感兴趣。“ but you're not in China. You're in a foreign country. Like the student, many foreigners are learning Chinese. But it's not easy. The Chinese use a different character(汉字) for each word. People have to memorize about 600 characters before they can do even basic reading and writing. For foreigners, it's hard to memorize them. And the following chart shows the top 3 difficulties for foreigners while learning Chinese.

    However, Chinese is more popular around the world today. The long history and colorful culture of China attract many foreigners to learn Chinese. With the rapid development, China is staying ahead in many fields and is playing its role in the world.

    Chinese is becoming a global (全球的) language and its popularity has risen around the world. Many countries set up Chinese courses in their schools.

    For example, in the UK, students used to choose between Spanish, Latin, French and other foreign languages. But now schools encourage their students to study Chinese. The increase in popularity of Chinese has been surprising. 1031 people took Chinese language exams in 2001, and the number was 2062 last year, while 2561 people chose Spanish. It's predicted that studying Chinese in the UK could overtake (超过) Spanish in less than five years.

    Just like the foreigners do, we also learn foreign languages. Different languages carry different cultures. So exchanges are necessary. By learning a foreign language, we not only have a useful tool of communicating, but experience a new culture, what's more important, learning a foreign language well will help us tell our own stories to the world.