—No, dear. They don't ______ well. Put them in the fridge instead.

    The Chongyang Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so it is also known as the Double Ninth Festival.

    The festival is held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest time. The bright clear sky and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a festival happy atmosphere. The Chongyang Festival is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Climbing a mountain, carrying a spray of dogwood(茱萸)and drinking chrysanthemum(菊花)wine have become the traditional activities of the festival.

    The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance(香气), and is often used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times believed it could drive away evil spirits and prevent one from getting a chill(着凉)in late autumn. So its history as a medicine goes back many centuries. But the custom of carrying a spray of dogwood during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly dying out and many people in the cities do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.

    Early in Han Dynasty, about 2000 years ago, people used to climb a high platform outside the capital city of Chang'an on the occasion of the Chongyang Festival. For many, it was the last outing of the year before the onset of winter. The custom evolved(发展成)into present form, when people go climbing to get some exercise as well as enjoy the autumn scenery.

    But what about those people who live in plains far from any mountain? The problem is solved by going for a picnic and eating cakes. The Chinese word for "cake" is "Gao", a homonym(同音异义字) of the Chinese word for "high". Mountains are high, so eating cakes can, by a stretch of the imagination, take the place of going for a climb.

—Yes. It's good weather that I'd like to take a walk.

    I know I should have told the headmaster at the time. That was my real 1. He had gone out of the study for some 2, leaving me alone. In his absence I looked to see 3 was on his desk. In the 4 was a small piece of paper on which were written the5 “English Writing Prize: History Is a Series of Biographies(人物传记). ”

    A(n)6 boy would have avoided looking at the title as soon as he saw the 7. I did not. The subject of the English Writing Prize was kept a 8 until the start of the exam, so I could not 9 reading it.  

    When the headmaster 10, I was looking out of the window.  

    I should have told him what had 11 then. It would have been so 12 to say, “I'm sorry but I 13 the title for the English Writing Prize on your desk. You'll have to 14it. ”

The chance passed and I did not 15 it. I sat the exam the next day and I won. I didn't mean to cheat, but it was still cheating 16.

    That was thirty-eight years 17 when I was fifteen. I have never told anyone about it before, nor have I 18 to explain to myself why not.  

    The obvious explanation is that I could not admit I had seen the title 19 admitting that I had been looking at the things on his desk. 20 there must have been more behind it. Whatever it was, it has become a good example of how a little mistake can trap you in a more serious moral corner(道德困境).  

    If you want to become a fluent English speaker and be good at writing, you should take some advice. There are four skills in learning English which are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must bear in mind is that reading and listening are inputs whereas speaking and writing are outputs. In other words, if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.

    Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the structure, unfamiliar words etc. as you read. There is no need that you pay attention to grammar or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognise them whenever you see them, for example, in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.

    As for listening, there are two choices: aside from reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, and then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practise listening.

    For listening I advise cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy and do not contain difficult phrases or slang (俚语) terms. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs broadcast every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.

    If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically (自动地), and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.

 is that they set off very early.

    During a new interview, Professor Hawking warned  AI will soon perform (well) than humans. Professor Hawking even say that AI may replace humans altogether,  he didn't state exactly a timeline for his forecast. He said, "I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses(病毒), some will design AI that improves and copies itself. will be a new form of life. "

    During  interview, Professor Hawking also urged more people  (take) an interest in science, (say) that there would be "serious consequences " if this didn't happen. He said that a new space programme should  (develop), adding that humans may have to turn to other suitable planets for habitation. He said:" Our Earth is becoming too small for us, global population is increasing at a (surprise) rate and we are in danger of self-destructing. "

    This isn't the first time that Hawking (express) fears about the rise of AI. 

She pretends that she doesn't really care.

Since you are meeting a friend, you don't have to .

    My husband Jeff and I moved into our new home in Scottsbluff last year just before Christmas. I did not have the1or energy to carry out my traditional Christmas decorating and baking activities. What was the point, anyway? It was going to be a 2istmas after all.

   3, the neighborly nature of west Nebraska residents started to trickle (陆续来临) in.

    There was a4on the door one evening. It was Jeff's new colleague, John Smith, and his wife, Phyllis. The Smiths had stopped by to5us to town with a loaf of homemade bread. They pointed out a6on the porch (门廊). Apparently the doorbell wasn't working in the cold snowy weather and we had7a visit from the Browns, our across-the-street neighbors, who brought us a Christmas card and more Christmas cookies.

  The8feelings brought by these thoughtful gestures lasted longer than the food.

  As Jeff and I were clearing pre-Christmas9from our driveway, Ernie Guzman came over from next door to 10us to dig out.

  Then, we received an invitation to11 a Christmas Eve meal with our neighbors, Ernie and Nancy Sommer, and their12 —a 90-year-old lady, who also had no family in the immediate area with whom to spend the holiday.

  Our Christmas Eve was quite merry, thanks to our13. Our Christmas morning14 was special, thanks to the Smiths' gift of bread. I was so15for these gestures of welcome, especially during the holidays.

  This year, we were again unable to be with our families for Christmas. The 16and work schedules just made things too difficult.17  that sense of Christmas isolation (孤立) all too well, we decided to try to round up some other folks who were18in the holidays.

  Lonely people are all around us, but most of us 19notice them. Just take a look around you. Sometimes, the smallest20gesture can make a world of difference.

要点：1).简单介绍自己（如：哪国人，爱好等）

2).决定参加该俱乐部的原因（交朋友，提高英语水平）；

3).希望成为其中一员。

注意：1).词数100左右

2).可适当增加细节，是行文连贯；开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear John,

    I'm glad to read the post on the Internet that you welcome students who like English.

……

Yours,

Li Hua

    Chinese proverbs are rich and they are still widely used in Chinese people's everyday life.   these proverbs there are often interesting stories. For example, the proverb," plucking(拔)up crops  (help)them grow", is based on the following story.  

    It is said that a short-tempered man in the Song dynasty(宋朝)was very anxious to help his rice crops grow up  (quick). He was  (think) about it day and night. But the crops were growing much slower than he expected. One day, he came up   an idea that he would pluck up all of his crops a few inches. He did so the next day. He was very tired after (do) this for a whole day, he felt very happy since the crops did "grow"(high). His son heard about this and went to see the crops. Unfortunately the leaves of the crops began to wither(枯萎).  

    This proverb is saying we have to let things go in their (nature) course. Being too anxious to help an event develop often (result)in the contrary(相反)to our intention.