My name is John. During the , I was sent to as an exchange student. At first, everything seemed new and strange to me. I stayed with a host family in . The family were very friendly and they taught me Japanese and now I have made great progress in that. During the two months, I have learnt a lot about Japanese . Meanwhile, I taught them how to speak a little and our culture. They showed great interest in China and decided to visit China next summer holiday.
Do you know what American students do in class? Here are 1 . American classroom customs.
If the teacher asks you a question, you should give the 2 immediately. If you do not understand the question, you should 3 you hand and ask the teacher to repeat the question. If you do not know the answer, it is all right 4 the teacher that you do not know.
Be 5 time! It is 6 to be late. If you are late, be sure to enter the classroom 7 .Have your books and papers out of your bag before you come 8 the classroom. Then go to your seat and sit quietly. In America, it is not necessary to knock 9 you enter the classroom. Most teachers will give you a low grade if you are often late.
In America, you should call your teacher by his or her last name, not "teacher". Also you should use Mr, Miss, Ms or Mrs. before the 10. This is polite. The teacher will tell you the title that he or she likes.
Maybe there are many differences between going to school in Britain and going to school in your country. In Britain school starts between 8: 30 and 9: 00 and finishes at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It is a long day but there are no lessons on Saturdays. Children usually have lunch at school. School meals are not very expensive and are quite good. But some children don't like them and bring sandwiches or go home.
In Britain, school holidays are different from those in other countries. They are shorter at Christmas and Easter but much longer in the summer. The school year starts in the first week in September and ends in the third or fourth week of July.
Children start primary school when they are five years old. They stay there until they are 11. Then they usually go to a secondary school. Children cannot leave school before they are 16. At this age most students take public exams. Students who continue their studies go into the sixth form. If their school doesn't have a sixth form, they change schools or go to a college. Students need two years in the sixth form, and they take more public exams. In some parts of Britain, students go to middle school at the age of 8 and then go to secondary schools when they are 12 or 13.
I returned to this year in a time machine. In the year 2500, we are able to travel through time to any year in the history of the Earth. This year is your last chance to change your lifestyle to save the Earth.
Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, a few people were worried about polluting the Earth's water and air, but most people did not change their way of life. Instead, they continued to pour dangerous chemicals and other waste into lakes and seas, to drive more and more cars and trucks, and to cut down trees.
By the year 2200, the Earth's water was completely polluted. Scientists said that in the future there might be too many people on the Earth. People could no longer drink water, and they had to use other types of liquids(液体).
So by the year 2300, there were so many people that food became scarce. There was no water to grow food and all of the fish in the lakes and seas died because of pollution. Wars broke out between the rich and the poor. Scientists were working very hard to find another planet in space where humans could live on.
By the year 2400, the air was too polluted for humans to breathe. So we had to leave the Earth. But only the rich were able to leave. Where did we go? Nowhere and everywhere. You see scientists did not find another safe planet, so now we must travel around the universe in our spaceships. We are still looking for a place to call our home.
So it is up to you to change history. There is still hope. You must change your lifestyle now, before it is too late.
Taboo is a social action that is not allowed. Every culture in the world has its own taboos. The breaking of a taboo sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable. I learned this through my own experience.
Last weekend, Wang Lin and I showed two foreigners around our city. Mr. Singh was from India and Mr. White from USA. When I held out my left hand to shake hands with him. Mr Singh seemed to be unhappy. Mr. White, however, was quite casual. He said hello to me with a big smile and a wave of his hand.
In the evening, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I noticed that Mr. Singh didn't touch the beef and Mr. White seemed not to like chickens' claws. During the meal, Wang Lin said sorry to Mr. Singh and continued to explain that we didn't know it was a taboo in India to shake one's left hand. Mr Singh explained that since oxen are sacred in India, people don't eat beef there. Mr. White joined in and said that it was not usual in the states for people to eat chickens' claws. He went on to say that Americans don't usually get into each other's personal space. Marriage, job and age are their taboos isn't it a good lesson to remember?
Ma Yun became one of the richest men in China when his company Alibaba went on the stock market(上市) in 2014 with a value of $140 billion-the largest public offering in history. Here are some stories about him on the way to success. Ma made his first trip to the USA in 1995 and used the Internet for the first time. After searching for "beer", he saw that no results came up about China. Then he searched for "China" and still saw no results .He decided to set up a Chinese website-- the seed for Alibaba was sown (播种).
Ma said he was refused many times in his life. He failed the College Entrance Examination on in China three times and few companies offered him jobs, including one at KFC. And he was refused by the famous Harvard University 10 times.
It was difficult to learn English when Ma was a teenager because of limited resources. However, he found that he could learn English well by giving tourists free guides around his hometown Hangzhou. And he kept it for nine years. Ma said that tourists opened up a new world for him because everything they said and did was so different from what he had been taught at school and by his parents.
Ma's hero is Forest Gump who never gives up. When he made a speech about his success at Davos (达沃斯论坛) in 2015, Ma said, "Life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you are going to get."
There are some differences between American English and British English. How did these differences come about?
Many years ago, lots of British people were forced to leave their country and go to some other places. These places were later called America, Canada and Australia. The English language was brought to these places by them. In the beginning, those living in America (later called Americans) spoke the same as they did in England, but the English people at home changed their language. Sometimes Americans spoke in a different way, while the people in England spoke the same as they did before. So the language changed little by little in different parts of the world.
The English language has also taken in many new words from other languages. For example, Americans borrowed "cent" from old French and "cookbook" from German. They also borrowed "tofu" and "kowtow" from Chinese. In short, the English language is changing all the time.
A river ran down from a mountain through many villages and forests. Then it (arrive) at a desert. "I went through so many (problem). I should have no trouble crossing the desert, she thought. As she started, she found herself disappearing (slow) into the sand. After many tries, she still failed.
this time, a deep voice said, "If a breeze(微风) can cross the desert, so can a river." It wasvoice of the desert. But the river answered, "That's because a breeze can fly, but I can't."
"That's because you can't give up you are. Let yourself evaporate(蒸发)into the breeze and you can cross the desert easily," said the desert.
"Give up what I am now? No! No!" the river (agree)with this idea." The breeze can carry the vapour (cross) the desert and let it leave as rain. The rain will form a river again, "said the desert. "And whether you're a river or vapour, your nature(本性) never changes.
After (hear) this, the river didn't feel . (frighten). It went into the open arms of the breeze. It carried her to the next stage of her life.
内容：1）居住和就读的时间、地点；
2）学习内容；
3）参观、旅游当地文化的体验；
4）收获。
要求：1）词数80字左右；开头已经写好，不计入总词数
2）短文条理清晰，语言顺畅；可适当增加内容。
参考词汇: exchange student交流生
Boys and girls,
Thank you for giving me the chance to share with you my experience in America for about one year as an exchange student.
……
Thank you.
