Hello, everybody. My name is Xie kai. I was born on March ninth, 1990. I'm in a middle school in Xinle City. I like our school very much.

    Today is Monday, October 27^th. This is the busiest day in the week. In the morning, at 8:00 I have Chinese. Chinese lesson is interesting. Our Chinese teacher, Mr. Wang, has a good way to make his lesson interesting. All the students in our class like him a lot. Then at 9 o'clock, we have math. I don't like math, because it's difficult. Next, at 10:10, I have English. I like English very much. And at 11:10, I have P.E. That's my favorite subject. I have lunch at 12 o'clock. In the afternoon, I have two lessons. At 2:00, I have science. It's difficult, but interesting. After that I have music. Music is relaxing. I like my music teacher, too. She is young and beautiful. Then we can go to different clubs. I'm in a soccer club. Soccer is my favorite sport.

    I once believed that a friend is a friend all the way. Now I have changed my ideas about friendships.

    1). Friends of convenience(便利). They can be the people who live next door or the mothers of our children's closest friends. Friends of convenience are good indeed. They'll help us when we need it. They'll look after our cats when we go on holidays. But we don't ever get too close or tell too much. Between us, we'll talk about being overweight but not about being sad or disappointed(失望). However, people still find it necessary to make friends like this.

    2). Special-interest friends. These friendships aren't deeply personal or emotional(感情上的). They lie in some shared interests, so we may have an office friend, a tennis friend, or even a shopping friend.

    3). Historical friends. We all have a friend who knew us when…maybe we were back in the second grade of primary school, when our family lived in that two-room flat downtown. He or she was the first, the only friend we told our secrets to.

    The years have gone by, and we have gone different ways. But we're still a personal part of each other's past. We know how we looked before our teeth were straightened(矫正), and our getting together makes us think of an earlier part of ourselves, which is important and never lost.

    4). Cross-generational friends. These are friendships that from across generations(代). I have in my own life a precious(珍贵的) friend, a woman of 65, who is clever, who listens well, and who means not only an ideal mother to me but also the person I'd like to be when I grow up.

    Best friends, I believe, totally love and help each other.

    It's a Saturday morning. Mary doesn't need to go to school. She says to her mom, "I need some clothes. Can we go to Nice Girls' Store?"

    "Well, what do you need, Mary?" Mom asks her. “My skirt is small, so I want to buy a skirt. And (A) I need a pair of sports shoes, too," Mary says.

    "I see. Let's go and see now." In the store, Mary sees a blue skirt. It's nice. So she asks the clerk , “how much is it?"

    The clerk says, "It's twenty dollars." "OK. Let me think about it. Thanks."

    Mary asks her mom, (B) "What do you think of that blue skirt, Mom?"

    "It's nice, but I don't think blue is nice on you. What about this green skirt, Mary? "

    "Oh, it's nice! " Mary says.

    They take(C) it at a good price. Only 12 dollars! They buy a pair of green sports shoes, too. It's 32 dollars.

    Rainforests are magical(神奇的)places on earth, full of life and beauty. They are homes, to millions of birds, insects, animals, and plants. These forests are the world's natural treasure(财富).

    Most rainforests are near the equator(赤道). Some of the largest are in Brazil, South Asia and Central Africa. There are several kinds. Each has different levels of rainfall and different types of soil and temperature.

    In equatorial rainforests, the temperature stays between 25 and 35 degrees during the year. These rainforests get a lot of rain-as much as 4, 000 millimeters per year. Monsoon rainforests are very different. They have long dry periods. Also, their temperature can change a lot from season to season.

    Rainforests are important for many reasons. One is their great diversity(多样性)of life. There are millions of species of insects, animals, and plants. Scientists still don't know about most of them yet. Many rainforest plants could help us make new medicines. Rainforests also keep the soil strong. And they may be important to the earth's climate.

    Unfortunately, rainforests are getting smaller every year. Farmers burn down trees for land. Large companies cut down trees for their valuable wood. Other companies build mines near forests.

    Environmental groups are trying hard to save the rainforests. Hopefully they can, before they're all gone.

Dear Alice,

    Thanks for your e-mail. My name is Zhang Ling. I am in Chongqing. I don't have a sister. You are happy to have a sister. In the morning, I eat breakfast at home with my parents. After breakfast, my father takes me to school. I have math and English in the morning. I eat lunch at school. In the afternoon, I play sports with my friends. I eat dinner at home.

Yours,

Zhang Ling