My grandmother is over eighty years old. She always complains about how greatly things have changed, and she often says that life used to be better.

    Families aren't families the way they used to be. If a husband and wife are having problem with their marriage, they don't stay together any more. They choose to divorce. Mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now everyone is busy working; no one has time to look after children at home.

    And the cars! No one walk any more; people get richer and richer, and more and more people buy cars and drive. We used to walk five miles to school every day, even in winter. But now children don't.

    And in school, children don't have to think any more. When I was at school, I used to add, subtract, multiply and divide using my head in math class, but now, children use calculators instead.

    Most families have computers and TVs now. In the past we didn't have computers or TVs, we spent a lot of time talking with our family members. But now, people are too busy to talk to each other. If they have time, they'd watch TV or surf the Internet rather than talk to family members. They are even too busy to eat and think.

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more.

Information Card

Dear Wendy

    Thanks for your letter. Now I'll tell you about myself.

    My name is Kitty. I am 12. My birthday is on October 12^th. I am from America. I'm in Class 3, Grade 7. We learn Chinese at our school. Our Chinese teacher's name is Wang Hao.

    Here are some of my friends. Jimmy is tall and he has black hair. He is good at playing basketball. He is in the Basketball Club. May is short and she wears glasses and a yellow dress. She likes English very much and is good at speaking English. Sally is a black girl. She has short hair. She likes swimming. She swims best in the swimming team.

    I like music. I'm a boy with glasses. Write to me soon and tell me about your friend.

Yours

Kitty

（C）

    ①More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment. Maybe that's why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost!

    Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighbourhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car. You can bike to work and benefit(受益) from the enjoyable exercise without polluting the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way.

    ②Folding(折叠) bikes work well for people when they ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. ③Not all airlines（航空公司） are bicycle-friendly to travelers.

    Health benefits of bicycling:

    It helps to prevent heart disease.

    Bicycling helps to control your weight.

    A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

    ④________________________________________________ .

    Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.

    Do you know Kumamon (熊本熊)? He is the most popular bear in Japan. With the big black body, red cheek (脸颊)and wide-open eyes, Kumamon always looks surprised. It makes him very lovely. And people of different ages love him.

    熊本熊和真正的熊一样高。 He is the mascot (吉祥物) of a place called Kumamoto in Japan. Before the lovely mascot appeared in 2010, few people knew about this place. But now it is very famous and lots of people come to visit it every year.

    Kumamon has his website, blog and facebook page, so people can know what he is doing every day. People can also see him on over 10000 things, like shirts, bags and candy boxes.

    Why is Kumamon so popular? First, he has a cute look. Second, people can find him on so many things that they can hardly forget him. Third, he is very funny. And there are a lot of photos and videos about him on the Internet. They make people laugh a lot. People think he is not just a mascot, but more like a person. 

    It is said that everyone has two boxes hung on our necks. The small box at the front is full of other people's mistakes, while the big one at the back is filled with our own shortcomings(缺点).Most of time, it's easy to find other people's mistakes. It's hard for us to see our mistakes behind us.

    A boy called Tony, always looked at the front box to check what was in it. He saw other people's mistakes very quickly. When Ben was impatient with him, he said to Ben, "It's so easy for you to get angry. It is hard to be friends with you."

    He told his mother that Michael was dishonest. "Michael takes my things without asking. And he forgets to return them. "Tony himself did not like sharing his things with anyone.

    When John was too tired to go hiking with him, he said, "You are such an unfriendly person."

    He thought Nick was too proud of his rich parents. But Tony was so proud of himself because he could not see any of his own mistakes!①He could not understand why he didn't get on well with others. Then his mother said to him, "If you change the boxes around, maybe you can find the answer." He did it as his mother said, and his face turned red.②他发现自己并不比其他同学更好.