Three kinds of bears live in the United States. They are the black bear, the brown bear, and the polar bear.

    Black Bears

    Black bears are the most common of the three. They live in forests in many different parts of the country. Even though they are known as black bears, they are not always black. Sometimes they are brown or tan (黄褐色的) , and a few are even white. Black bears are usually about five or six feet long, and they are the smallest of the three kinds of bears.

    Brown Bears

    Brown bears are found in a few western states and in Alaska. They live in forests as well as in open areas called the tundra (冻土地带). Brown bears are usually light or dark brown and can grow to be very large. In fact, some are eight feet long!

    Polar Bears

    Polar bears can be found in Alaska. It is in a cold area near the North Pole called the Arctic and there are no trees there. Polar bears are white, and they are the largest of the three kinds of ears. They are a little longer and usually heavier than the brown bear.

    Other Interesting Things

    Bears eat different things. Black and brown bears eat fish and other kinds of meat, roots, and berries. Polar bears eat fish, other meat, seaweed, and grass. All three types of bears eat as much food as they can find just before winter. Then during the cold months, they sleep in caves or hollowed-out trees called "dens". They keep them warm. Winter is when the female bears have their babies. All three types of bears have between one and four cubs (幼兽). The cubs are born while the mother bear sleeps!

    All people are afraid of bears. However, bears are actually shy. Most bears try to stay away from people, but still, bears can be dangerous at times.

    Do you know Singles Day (November 11) in China? Many people, even your parents, go to bed late that night. They were shopping online to get big savings (省钱). Well, the US has something like it called Black Friday.

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It is on November 27 this year. It is one of the biggest shopping days in the US. People want to start shopping for Christmas gifts, so they go shopping on this day to save money.

It's called Black Friday because shops used to record (记录) sales with black ink (墨水). So when there was a lot of black ink on a page, the shop sold a lot.

On Black Friday, people go shopping at actual stores (实体店). It is different from Singles Day. People stand in line (排队) for hours. Sometimes they fight over things because there are only a few left. TVs, computers and video game systems are some of people's favourite things to buy.

Road accidents keep happening in every city, on every road at any time. Traffic rules are made to keep order on the road. They can also help to keep the pedestrians (行人) safe. 

The pedestrian has as many rules to follow as the driver of a car. You should walk on the sidewalk or at the edge of the road. Always look carefully before you walk across the street. If you ride a bike, don't ride in the middle of the road or look around to talk. If you drive, you should slow down at the traffic lights. You must always wear a seat belt (安全带). Without the belts, both the driver and the passengers may be badly hurt in a sudden accident. 

Traffic rules are also called Road Safety rules. The maxim (格言) for all road users is "Thinking about others". It's important for everyone to follow the traffic rules.

There are many ways to enjoy learning English.

One of my students likes telling stories very much. I often ask him to tell a story in English before we have the English class. Can you guess what happens? Learning English is not hard

for him. He tries to remember a lot of English stories and tells them in English. We enjoy his English stories very much. If we don't under-stand him, he will translate(翻译) the stories into Chinese for us. Later he learns English well. We also learn a lot from his stories.

Another student has big problems with listening. She enjoys listening to songs. I offer her a lot of English songs without(没有) words. She wants to learn one of them. I advise her to write down the words one by one when she listens to the English song. She says she has never tried this way before. It is really helpful and her listening has been improved.

The two students have different experience of learning English.

Sunshine Sports Center

One of the most modern sports centers in town, the Sunshine Sports Center, is a wonderful sports club!

Facilities

With a swimming pool for adults and teens, and a smaller one for children, our center has something for all the members of the family. Parents can relax while children play in the water. For anybody who is interested in competitive sports, our volleyball, tennis and basketball courts(n.球场)are the ideal places to work off stress.

Whether you just want to keep in shape, lose some weight or build your strength, there's the gym with super-modern equipment and three personal trainers to look after you and answer all your questions.

Lessons

It doesn't matter if you're five or eighty-five, there's something for you at the Sunshine Sports Center! We offer personal training in all sports if you want it, but there are also group lessons for all sports if you prefer teamwork.

Kids and teenagers

Take advantage of our special offer for younger members. For members between five and sixteen years old, there are special lessons in water polo, swimming and diving(n.潜水). There are many classes for swimmers of all levels with a lifeguard on duty from 9:00 a.m. when the pool opens until it closes at 7:00 p.m.

Shadow play, known as"Ying zi xi"in Chinese, is a kind of ancient shadow art. It has a history of about 2, 000 years in China, India and Southeast Asia. The moving shadows on a screen are used to tell history and folk stories. And hand shadow is one of the simplest ways to make shadow play. With a bit of practice, most people can change the shape of hands to make animals, like dogs and birds, on the wall. 

Today, shadow art has developed into one more creative style. In the spring of 2016, Vincent Bal, an artist in Europe, turned the shadows into a clever art form—shadow drawing. He named this special drawing "Shadowology". In the Shadowology, a little drawing is added into the shadows of everyday things to create wonderful pictures. 

Like most good things in life, Shadowology came by accident. One day, during a break from work, Bal noticed that the shadow of his teacup looked like a little elephant. He drew eyes, legs and a smile for the shadow, and took a photo of that. After sharing the photo on the Internet, Bal surprisingly found people's love for it, which encouraged him to continue. 

Since then, Bal has got 600, 000 fans on the Internet. He keeps producing as many different shadow works as possible. For example, he made a pair of sunglasses look like the wings of a butterfly, and a bottle become a lamp. All his works are interesting and playful. In 2023, Bal finished Shadowology films and a museum exhibition. 

Nowadays, Shadowology has won the hearts of people around the world. With the wonderful drawing, people have got a chance to see the beauty in everyday things and discover the joy all around in such a busy world.