The most valuable gift I have ever received was a photo album from my best friend Kevin.

      Kevin and I were classmates for all six years of primary school. We both had the same interests, so we always had a lot of things to talk about. It is wonderful to have such a good friend.

      However, last summer, Kevin had to move to another city because of his father's job. Then he gave me a photo album. “It has photos of the memorable events we have experienced together. I've also written some notes under each photo,” he said. I was deeply moved.

      I put the album beside my bed. I always look at it when I think of Kevin.

 "The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. "That's an old saying in English. It means other places often look better, more interesting than the place where you live. Some people worry that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring Chinese culture and, instead, buying Japanese cartoon books, watching Korean soap operas and even celebrating Western holidays.

 Foreign books and soap operas are good, but Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can never have the meaning for Chinese that Spring Festival has, and the West has nothing to compare with Mid-Autumn Festival. And let's not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best: its friendliness. Not all countries are as warm as China.

 It's good to enjoy other cultures and to learn from them, but they cannot replace your own culture. It's good to look on the other side of the fence, but make sure you take a good long look. You will find that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.

 Judge the following sentences true (T) or false (F) according to the passage.

      In classes, your teachers will talk about the topics that you are studying.  The information they provide will be important for you to know when you take tests. So you must be able to take good written notes from what your teachers say.

    Here are three stages (阶段) of taking notes and what you should do during each stage.

    Before class

    Review your notes you have taken before you come to class. This will be good for remembering what was covered. Get you ready to understand new information your teacher will provide.

    During class

    Keep your attention on what your teacher is saying and "the signal words" that tell you what your teacher is going to say and it is important to write in your notes.  Examples of signal words are "The most important point.” and "Remember that . . . ” Be sure to include in your notes information that your teacher repeats or writes on the blackboard. Write quickly so that you can include all the important information in your notes. Do this by writing abbreviations such as med for medicine, using symbols such as % for percent, and writing short sentences.

     After class

     Rewrite your notes to make them more complete and accurate (准确的) by changing abbreviations into whole words, symbols into words, and shortened sentences into longer sentences. Use them to answer your questions. If necessary, ask your teacher for help.

    We had a terrible school trip last week．Some students were late．Then we waited half an hour for the school bus，but it didn't arrive. In the end，the teacher took us by subway．It took over an hour．When we arrived at the zoo，we were all tired and hungry．We wanted to see elephants．but there weren't any．There were some really smart seals(海豹)，but we didn't see the show．We arrived too late．We forgot our cameras，so we didn't take any photos．Then it started to rain，and nobody had an umbrella．So we went for lunch and ate some pizza．My friends had some ice-cream，too．I didn't have any because I don't like it．We didn't see many animals because it rained．Finally we went back to school．We were wet and tired．I didn't enjoy my school trip at all!

    Hello! My name is Zhou Aiguo. I'm from Wuhan. I live （居住） at Zhongshan Road. My English name is Tim. I like drawing pictures. I'm now studying at No. 1 Secondary School. Peter is my good friend. He is in Class 8, Grade 7. We are in the same class. My telephone number is 8329746. You can write letters to me. Remember （记住） my post code is three one zero zero one two. You can send e-mails to me. My address is ZhouAiguo@126.com. I like to be your friend.

    Tom has two good friends. They are Jack and Mark. They have different hobbies. Tom likes football. He often plays football on weekends. He thinks playing football can make him strong and healthy. He is in the school football team.

    Jack doesn't like sports. He likes listening to music. He likes Jay Chow best. He buys many of his CDs. He often listens to music on the way home after school. He thinks music can make him happy.

    Mark likes taking photos. He has a good camera(照相机). When he is free, he often takes it out and takes some pictures. Some of his pictures are in newspapers(报纸) now. He thinks we live in a beautiful world. He wants people to see the beautiful world in his pictures.