From: terri @ wombat. Com. Au

To: (happylizijun) @ yaboo. com. cn

Subject: My school

Hi, Li Zijun,

    Thanks very much for your email. I really enjoyed reading it. I think we have a lot in common. I wonder if our school life is similar too.

    I go to a big high school in Sydney called Maylands High School. There are about 1000 students and 80 or so teachers. My class has 25 students in it, which is normal for a Year 11 class. In the junior school there are about 30 students in a class.

    In the senior high school we have lots of subjects to choose from, like maths, physics, chemistry, biology, history, German, law, geography, software design, graphic arts and media studies. (Different schools sometime have different optional subjects.) English is a must for everyone and we have to do least three other subjects in Year 11 and 12. At the end of Year 12 we sit for a public exam called the High School Certificate.

    As well as school subjects, most of us do other activities at school such as playing a sport, singing in the choir or playing in the school band. We can also belong to clubs, such as the drama club, the chess club and the debating society.

    We have a lot of homework to do in senior school to prepare for our exam, so unless I have basketball practice, I usually go straight home and start studying. I arrive home about 4 pm, make myself a snack and work till 6. Then I help the family to make dinner and we all eat together. I'm usually back in my room studying by 8 pm. I stop at about 10 o'clock and watch TV or read a book for half an hour to relax. On Saturdays, I usually go out with my family or with friends and I sleep in till late on Sunday morning. Then it's back to the books on Sunday afternoon.

    How about you? What's your school life like? Do you have a lot of homework? What do you do to relax when you're not studying? I'm looking forward to finding out.

Your Australian friend

Terrie

Dear Anne,

    I like your column very much. I met a girl four years ago at a gym. She was the one who originally approached me and we became good friends. Then one day, she made me really angry, so angry that I just left and we never saw each other again.

    Looking back, I really regret ending things that way. It was a cowardly act on my part, but I had a terrible temper at that time and let the smallest thing get to me. Recently, I've started thinking about her again and I looked up her e-mail address. I thought about writing to say “Hi” and apologize for what I did but I'm not sure. She could still be angry with me, or maybe she has forgotten me. I feel very lonely and I want to see her again. What should I do?

Tom

Dear Tom,

    She may still be angry with you, and she may have forgotten the friendship between you, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve an apology. Tom, how many of us have wished for the day that someone who treated us badly saw the light and finally owned up? But we rarely get that kind of expected result. So sure, e-mail her and say “Hi”.

    Tell her you have been thinking about her and just want to apologize for getting angry and being a coward by walking out on her. But you should remember if she thinks you're apologizing just because you are lonely, she might dismiss your sincerity. Therefore, don't mention that. If she wants to see you again, she'll make sure that happens.

    Even if she doesn't want to be your friend, I can assure you, she'll appreciate the gesture. And it might make you think twice next time you get angry.

Anne

    When I was a boy there were no smart phones, computers were something you saw on STAR TREK, and our television only got one channel clearly. Still, I was never bored. The fields, hills, and woodlands around my home were the perfect playgrounds whose adventures were only limited by my imagination. I can remember once hiking to a nearby lake and slowly walking around it. At the backside of it I was amazed to find an old, one lane, dirt road that I had never seen before. I immediately set out to travel it. It was full of muddy tire tracks and deep woods bordered it on both sides, but exploring it still seemed like a fine adventure.

    I walked on and on for what seemed like hours. I am sure my guardian angel was whispering in my ear to turn around and head back home but I was stubborn and even a bit stupid, so I walked on. The dirt road gave way to a gravel one and then a paved one, yet there was still neither a car nor a house in sight. My legs were getting tired. I noticed that the sun was starting to go down and I grew scared. I didn't want to end up trapped on this road in the dark of night, but I was sure it would be dark before I could make my way back to the lake again.

    I continued to walk on with the something growing inside of me. My heart was pounding and my legs were aching. I was almost in tears when I turned one last curve and saw something in the distance. It was a house that I recognized. My heart leapt up! I jumped up and down and laughed out loud. I knew the way home! It was still over a mile away but my legs felt like feathers and I hurried back to my house in no time. I walked in with a big smile on my face just in time for dinner. Then I ended my adventure with a good night's sleep.

    I often thought of that experience recently. Actually, in our life, all roads, no matter how they twist and turn, can lead us home again. They can lead us to our homes here on Earth. They can lead us to our homes in our hearts. May you always walk your path with love. May you always help your fellow travelers along the way. And may your roads always lead you Home again.

    Dodder is an unusual and unwanted plant that attacked other plants. Except for its flower, the plant looks like spaghetti, a kind of noodles in the shape of long thin pieces that look like string when they are cooked. It's almost leafless, thread-like stems hang down on top of other plants that dodder needs to stay alive. Dodder does not produce its own food. Instead, it steals food from other plants. It feeds by sucking juices from the plant which is wrapped around, often making its host very weak or even killing it.

    Dodder can find other plants by their smell. When a young dodder plant starts growing, it follows the smell of plants it prefers, like tomato plants, potato plants, or other farm crops. Unlike most plants that usually grow in the direction of light or warmth, a dodder plant will grow in the direction of, for example, tomato smell-if a tomato happens to be growing nearby.

    However, a young dodder plant must find a host plant quickly. It no longer needs its root once it is attached to the host and wrapped around it. If it cannot catch a smell of potential host within a few days, it will dry up and vanish even if there is plenty of water around. Once it finds a host, the young dodder plant will attach itself to it and start growing faster. At that point the dodder plant will drop its root.

    Dodder is thus a difficult weed to manage and a real headache for farmers. When it does get out of hand, dodder can greatly reduce a farmer's harvest or even destroy crops completely. Before sowing their produce, especially farmers in warm parts of the world often check to make sure no unwanted dodder seeds have mixed with their crop seeds. This is a good way to stop dodder plants from making their way to a crop field secretly.

    In the online world, it's very difficult to talk to Chinese people without using emojis. However, did you know that people in different age groups have totally different preferences for choosing their emojis? The result is based on a report released by Tencent's WeChat, China's most popular messaging app, on its official weibo account on Wednesday.

    Specifically, for users who were born in the 2000s, their favorite WeChat emoji would probably be the widely used "facepalm", rumored to be based on the famous Hong Kong movie star Stephen Chow. They also may be a night owl without much sleep, while iced beverages and desserts are their cup of tea.

    For China's post-90s WeChat users, they are likely to get out of bed later in the morning compared with other groups, and the emoji "face with tears of joy" may rule their online social life. Also, their reading materials have shifted from entertainment and gossip three years ago to the current relationship and lifestyle pieces.

    For those born in the 1980s, their tastes have remained the same, as they are still fond of reading news on national affairs. And "smiling widely" is their emoji of the year.

    WeChat users born in the 1970s are called the optimistic group, who like to use the emoji "laughing quietly" and go through their moments frequently every day. Their bed time usually takes place around 11:30 pm.

    Users over 55 are the early-bird group with rich entertainment activities in WeChat platforms, such as looking through moments, reading and shopping. They like to cheer up other age groups, so their favorite emoji is "giving a thumbs-up".

    The report also indicates that WeChat boasts more than 1.08 billion active users with 45 billion messages being sent and 410 million calls getting through the app each day in 2018. In addition to covering users' socializing, WeChat has gradually come into our daily lives. Compared to the year before, people used WeChat 4.7 times more to purchase public transport tickets, and 2.9 times more to pay for medical expenses. Also, the app was used 1.5 times more over the previous year to pay for meals, with Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen ranked as the top three cities in dining purchases through WeChat.

    Many of us love July because it's the month when nature's berries and stone fruits are in abundance. These colorful and sweet jewels form British Columbia's fields are little powerhouses of nutritional protection.

    Of the common berries, strawberries are highest in vitamin C, although, because of their seeds, raspberries contain a little more protein (蛋白质), iron and zinc (not that fruits have much protein). Blueberries are particularly high in antioxidants (抗氧化物质). The yellow and orange stone fruits such as peaches are high in the carotenoids we turn into vitamin A and which are antioxidants. As for cherries (樱桃), they are so delicious. Who cares? However, they are rich in vitamin C.

    When combined with berries of slices of other fruits, frozen bananas make an excellent base for thick, cooling fruit shakes and low fat "ice cream". For this purpose, select ripe bananas for freezing as they are much sweeter. Remove the skin and place them in plastic bags or containers and freeze. If you like, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the bananas will prevent them turning brown. Frozen bananas will last several weeks, depending on their ripeness and the temperature of the freezer.

    If you have a juicer, you can simply feed in frozen bananas and some berries or sliced fruit. Out comes a "soft-serve" creamy dessert, to be eaten right away. This makes a fun activity for a children's party; they love feeding the fruit and frozen bananas into the top of the machine and watching the ice cream come out below.