Do you know an old city called “Pingyao” in Shanxi? The old city is not far from Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province (省). It's a town with a long history of more than two thousand years.

    The old city is not very large. It is only 2.25 square kilometers in size. And there are no tall buildings here. Most of the buildings have only two floors. And most of them are made of stones (石头). There are many Chinese-style shops on each side of the street.

    Pingyao is a square city. The city has a wall around it. It's about 6 km long and 12 m high. The wall has six gates. And you mustn't miss the nice food in Pingyao. Try Pingyao beef and you are sure to fall in love with it.

    Pingyao is a place worth (值得) a visit. You can take buses or trains here. It's less than 2 hours' bus ride from Taiyuan. It costs you only 20 yuan. If you take a train, it will take you less time, only one and a half hours. And if you want to go to Pingyao from Beijing, the train ride takes only about 6 hours.

The City of Pingyao

    O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen（偷）it. Because of that, he was sent to prison（监狱）. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales（故事）were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.

    Jan Mela isn't like most kids .Two years ago , he lost an arm and a leg .But that didn't stop him.

    On Saturday ,the 15—year-old boy from Poland（波兰）walked to the North Pole（北极）without any help.

    “If I can do it, other people can do great things, too,” Mela said before he went.

    Polish newspapers said Mela is the youngest person and the first handicapped（残疾的）person to walk to the North Pole.

    How did Mela lose an arm and a leg? He had an electrical（电的）accident .Now, he walks with the help of a 62,000-yuan man-made leg.

    After the accident, Mela felt sad for himself. But he didn't lose hope .One day, he met Marek Kaminski, a Polish explorer. Eight years ago, Kaminski went to the North Pole and the South Pole in the same year. Mela wanted to see the North Pole, too. So Mela asked Kaminski if they could go together next time .Kaminski said yes!

    It took Mela 21 days to get to the North Pole .The last three or four days were really hard because of bad weather .But Mela kept going.

    “I didn't think we would make it,” he said, “Then, things got better.”

    My name is John. I'm twelve years old. I have many friends. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Some are older than me and some are younger.

    My best friend is Jim. He's also twelve years old. He comes from the countryside. We are in the same class. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Jim is good at science and he often helps me with my science. I often help him with his Chinese. He is poor in Chinese, because he never studied Chinese before.

    Jim is 1.70 meters tall. He is taller than me. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} We both have brown hair, but Jim's hair is longer than mine.

    Jim is a little thin, but I am heavy. I don't like sports, so I don't get much exercise. But Jim likes sports very much. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

    After school, Jim and I play ping-pong for half an hour on the playground. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} We help and learn from each other. We are good friends.

    Today, people are paying more and more attention to improving their health through sports and exercise. But some of them have some wrong ideas about it.

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    In fact, the best meal before games should have carbohydrates(碳水化合物). Foods like potatoes, bread, bananas are rich in it, but chicken and meat are not. Carbohydrates are the best and most easily used form of energy. The energy that you get for today's game is from what you ate yesterday!

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    No. Morning is a good time to exercise, but it may not be suitable for you. If an afternoon or evening period suits you, and you enjoy the feeling of getting healthier, you can choose any time to exercise. There is no fixed time for you to exercise.

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    The fact is that you must have some water during breaks when you exercise. And after exercising, you must have enough water. If you don't drink enough water, then you'll probably get headaches and feel tired.

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    False. Exercising the same body part every day is the fastest way to cause problems. To improve strength, you want to work your muscles(肌肉) hard, but then you need to give those muscles a day of rest. Too much exercise can cause serious problems to muscles.

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    Wrong. We usually connect those big muscles with bodybuilders(健美运动员), but girls don't have enough male hormone(雄性激素) to make their muscles big like men. Strength training is a good way to make their muscles strong for girls.

Dear Li Ping,

    How are things with you? It was great talking to you yesterday by phone. As I told you yesterday, I am in Jiangsu today. Tomorrow we are getting the train down to the south of the country and then a ship across to Shanghai.

    Let me tell you about the places we have visited so far. I know you want to come here on vacation one day! We started in Zibo and we spent two days in Jinan. We visited many different places and enjoyed lots of things. And the only bad thing was the weather- it rained the whole time when we were there. Can you believe it?

    At least when we got to Jiangsu, the sun was shining! We only stayed for one afternoon in Jiangsu because my friends really wanted to visit Disneyland which is in Shanghai.

    I bought you a surprise gift here. I hope you will like it. OK. That's enough from me for now. I want to post this letter now so you can get it by the weekend.

    See you soon!

Ma Hua