Do you want to know about my staying in America? It was really an eye-opening experience. In China, I had English classes five times a week. However, I didn’t know how different textbook English was from daily English until I went to Hotchkiss School, Connecticut. When I first studied English, I was told to say “I’m fine” when people say “How are you?” But in America, I found that people said “I’m good” or “I’m tired.” One day, someone greeted me with “What’s up?” It made me confused. I thought for a moment and then smiled because I didn’t know what to say.

To my surprise, American girls spend a lot of time in the burning sun. However, in China, girls try every possible way to get their skin whiter. I’m also surprised by how hard-working American students are. In China, schoolwork is almost everything, so we study hard. But in America, a good student gets good grades, does a lot for the public and plays sports or music.

What do you usually do in your free time? Do you watch short videos on some apps? According to the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of short video users reached 773 million (百万) in March, 2020. That is, about 86% of all Chinese Internet users are watching or making short videos, or both! If you say short videos are only popular in China, you are wrong. TikTok has more than 800 million users around the world.

Many users like short videos. They say the videos not only make them relax, but also teach them useful skills (技能). “I love watching Lao Qiao’s short videos on my phone,” Francis, one of the short   video users, says. “Lao Qiao is a famous cook and his videos are my favorite ones. From his videos, people can learn how to make Shanxi noodles in no time at all.”However, quite a few people think short videos are not that good. “There are many other ways to relax, like watching movies, reading books and playing sports,” they say. “All of them are more meaningful to people.”                                                                        

What’s more, if people start watching the short videos, they can hardly stop. There are always new ones waiting for them, so they always spend hours on them. Some educators say people should not spend much time on short videos. “Most of them are just for fun,” they say. “They don’t teach people to think or to improve themselves. It’s not good for the people, and not good for society (社会), either.”

Hello! I’m Tom. I’m glad to tell you I have a good friend called Tim. He truly     56     (在意) me. We have many things in     57     . We both have lots of good habits. After school, you can always see us   p    58     basketball on the playground. We also like collecting     59     (各种各样的)cards. That’s interesting. On weekends, we often spend some time d    60     our homework and sharing the problems in our daily life. He often helps me to     61     (使表现出) the best in me.   As a result, we can both     62       good grades.

    63     (当然), in some ways we are different. I’m m    64       quieter but he is more outgoing. He often makes me l    65    . He can play the piano w    66     and he likes painting, too. How     67     [fænˈtæstɪk] he is! I still remembered clearly he joined the school talent shows in the last Art Festival. He     68     (干得好). Last summer vacation, we p    69       a trip to Hangzhou. The same hobbies and healthy lifestyle make us keep friendship forever! And I think friends are like books—you don’t need a lot of them     70     (只要) they’re good.