Welcome to England! The weather of England is very changeable. It can be rainy, sunny, windy, warm, foggy or cold at any time of year. If it's raining when you get up in the morning, it can be hot and dry by the afternoon. The west of England is wetter than the east, and the north is cooler than the south. Just be ready for any kind of weather.

    In England, shops are usually open from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. On Sundays, some shops are open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. But a lot of shops are closed. Banks, museums of other places are open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. You can go to the parks at anytime.

All the cities have buses, trains and taxis. People wait in line for buses and they are unhappy if you push in at the front. Don't forget this—traffic goes on the left. Be careful!

Notice to the Tourists

★Just be ready for any kind of {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, it's changeable.

★Shops are usually open from {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to 5:30 pm. On Sundays most of them are closed.

★At any time you can go to the {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

★Please wait in line for buses, or others will be {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

★Make sure to drive on the {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, or it will be very dangerous.

    Confidence (自信) is very important in daily life. It can help you to develop a healthy attitude. A study show that the people who are more confident are much happier. They can have more chance to make themselves successful. But how to be more confident? Here are some suggestions:

    Speak loudly when you are not confident, you can't do well what you want to do. You speak in a voice so slow that other people can hardly hear you. Try to speak aloud enough so that people can hear you clearly. The high voice can help you become more confident.

    Play sports Physical exercise makes you tired but completely relaxed. When you are athletic, you will be full of confidence.

    Encourage yourself Write down a list of things you did during the day and see how many things you have done well. Did you finish your homework? Did you tell a joke that made everybody laugh? Give yourself praise for the good things you've done.

    Get rid of (消除) fear Fear comes along with failure (失败). But it's easy to get over if you know that failure is a part of your life. Don't hide your head just because you said something foolish last time. Try to start again and believe you can do better.

    Pick up a hobby If you like singing, singing as much as you can. In some ways, a hobby can make you outstanding. And it will make you happy and confident.

Information Card

    Language is always changing and developing. This isn't a bad thing. If English hadn't changed for a long time, we won't have words to describe telephones, washing machines, computers or some other new things.

    Language changes for several reasons. First, it changes because the needs of its speaker change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences need new words to express them clearly. Another reason for change is that different people have different language experiences. People use different sets of words and expressions, because they have different ages, jobs, education levels(水平) and so on.

    How does language develop then? On the one hand, many of the languages changes begin with young people. When young people communicate with others of their own age, their language grows in grammar, words and expressions that are different from the older people's. Some have a short lifetime but others can influence the language for long. On the other hand, we get new words in many different ways. We borrow them from other languages, we create them by making words shorter or combining words and we make them out of proper names.

    Languages that don't change over time are considered dead languages. The fact that English changes so much shows that it is alive and well.

    Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." These are certainly words that millions of volunteers around the world could agree with.

    In the US, April is National Volunteer Month, to praise and thank volunteers who lend their time, talent, and support to what they care about.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} People who volunteer spend their time doing things they feel strongly about. For example, animal lovers may volunteer at an animal centre to help improve the treatment of animals.

    Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people, try out new skills and explore career choices. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Take Andrew Makhoul, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, as an example. Andrew didn't spend his last spring break relaxing. Instead, the 19-year-old boy decided to do something for people who were less lucky than himself. He travelled to an orphanage (孤儿院) in Guatemala in Central America. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And it depends on volunteers to stay open.

    Andrew doesn't speak much Spanish, but he found communication wasn't a problem, "You communicated with love," according to an article on his university's website. And what he gave out, he got back, "{#blank#}4{#/blank#}" Andrew's first time as a volunteer only lasted a week, but by the end of that week, he knew he'd be back soon — because he saw love and hope.

    US author Sherry Anderson once wrote, "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}" And this is perhaps why volunteers all around the world keep doing what they do — their work is "priceless".
 

A. It is in one of the poorest parts of the country.

B. You could see love when you looked in their eyes.

C. Volunteering means choosing to work without being paid.

D. It's a chance for poor children to get better care and support.

E. Life will be difficult, but I have the confidence to live a happy, full life.

F. For young adults, valuable lessons may also be learned through volunteering.

G. Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless.