My friend gang (我的朋友帮)

    I study in an international school. The students in my school come from different countries. Amy, Kathy and Joe are all my good friends.

    Do you often eat out？Do you often like to use disposable (一次性的) chopsticks？Do you think the chopsticks are safe？ {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    China produces 80 billion (十亿) pairs of such chopsticks every year. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Can you imagine how many trees have to be cut down every year？20 million. Can you imagine how old the trees are？20 years old.   

    Many people choose to use such chopsticks because they think they are cleaner. In fact，they're not safe. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    Several months ago, Huang Bo, a popular actor, wrote a message on his micro blog (微博)．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Once he went to a restaurant with his friends. He tried to wash the disposable chopsticks. He was surprised to find the chopsticks turned the water yellow and gave off a bad smell.

    That's true. The smell show that they may be dealt with sulphur (硫磺) and other chemicals (化学制品)． That's very bad for people's health.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. It is not only good for our own health but also helpful to save the environment.

    According to a new survey, student safety has become a big problem.Now in many big cities of China, many schools start a new lesson: self­protection. Students like this lesson because there are no exams or boring classes. And they can learn how to save lives and know how to stop danger before it really happens.

    Lin Li, a teacher from Yantai, gives young students advice on how to deal with danger.

    If you are in a traffic accident

    If a car hurts you, you should remember the car number.If it is a bicycle, try to call your parents before you let the rider go.This is because you don't know how seriously you are hurt.

    If it is raining hard and there is lightning

    Don't stay in high places and stay away from trees.

    When there is a fire

    Get away as fast as you can.Put wet things on your body and try to find an exit.Do not take the lift.

    If someone is drowning

    If you can't swim, don't get into the water.Cry out for help.

Remember that danger is never as far away as you think.Take care of yourself at all times!

    If you are robbed (抢劫)

    Keep calm.If you cannot cry for help or run away, give the robber your money.Try to remember what the robber looks like and tell the police later.

Information Card

    Oldest festivals!

    Festivals and celebrations of all kinds are held everywhere. The oldest festivals would celebrate the end of the cold weather, planting in spring and harvest (丰收)in autumn. Other celebrations were held when they had food. They thought these festivals would bring a year of plenty.

    Festivals of the dead

    Some festivals are held to honor or satisfy and please the dead. In Japan the festival is called Obon. They have lamps on and play music because they think this will help the dead back to Earth. In Mexcio they have the day of the dead in early November. On this important day, people might eat food in different shapes and offer food, flowers and gifts to the dead.

    Festivals can be held as an honour to famous people. One of these is the Dragon Boat Festival in China, which honours the famous poet, Qu Yuan. Another is Columbus Day in the USA, in memory of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America.

    Harvest festivals

    Harvest and Thanksgiving festivals can be very happy events. People are grateful because their food is gathered for the winter. In European countries people usually decorate churches and town halls with flowers and fruit, and get together to have meals. In China and Japan there are mid-autumn festivals, when people admire the moon and give gifts of mooncakes.

    Spring festivals

    The most energetic and important festivals are the ones that look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring. In some Western countries, Easter is an important festival in February which celebrates the return of Jesus and celebrates the coming of spring. In Japan, the Cherry Blossom Festi­val happens a little later. In China, families get together to eat, drink and have fun at the Spring Festi­val.

Information Card

    When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

    In the A. B. C. D and F grading system, the first four letter are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for "fail". The word "fail" happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E, The fact of the matter is that any letter can mean "not-passing" or "fail". Some schools have U grade for unsatisfactory", or I grade for "incomplete."

    Even with all this said, we should also point out that E grade actually has been used pretty commonly throughout the history of letter grades in the US.

    The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale:

A: 95-100% (excellent)   B: 85-94%(good)   C: 76-84%(fair)

D: 75%(barely passed)   E: below 75%(failed)

    We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

    Gradually, the letter grading system became more popular throughout the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F. There is no evidence(证据)to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for "excellent".

    Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during n time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began, growing cites and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

    Today, more and more people argue that letter grades don' t fully reflect(反映)student learning. However, as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to favor the letter grades they got as kids. They are familiar(熟悉) and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.

    I'm Kitty. Today the clothes at Xingxing Clothes Store are on sale. So I want to buy some clothes for my grandparents, my parents and myself. Let me have a look. This yellow sweater is at a very good price—only 15 dollars. And it's OK for my grandfather. For my grandmother, I want to buy a pair of black shoes. It's very comfortable (舒适的). How about this blue T-shirt? Oh, my father can wear it to play basketball. And there are many socks in green, yellow, black, blue, red and white. I know my mother likes red very much, so I will buy these red ones. I need trousers, so I will take these blue ones.