I am glad to learn that you have been chosen to study in China. Your dream has come true!

I can well remember that you     42     China for the first time when you were nine. Ever since you returned. you have been interested in Chinese culture and have put a lot of     43     into learning Chinese. When you first started to learn Chinese, I     44     it was nothing but a passing fad（一时的狂热）. However, you didn’t     45     up halfway, but kept on learning and did a good job in the HSK（汉语水平考试）. Now you finally got what you had     46     for a long time. You got the chance to     47     life in China for one year. You should have it, my son, for chances only come to those who are     48    .

When you study there, you will have to face     49     in everyday life that you have never experienced before. But after a year abroad, you will return with a new     50     at life and at yourself.

Your mom and I are both     51     of you. Keep it up, my son!

Love,

Dad

Different countries have different customs in giving gifts. In China you must never give a clock to a Chinese person, because the pronunciation of the word for “clock” in Chinese is similar to the pronunciation of “death”. Also, don’t wrap（用……包裹）a gift in white, black, or blue paper, because they are the colors for funerals（葬礼）. Don’t give a knife, because something sharp can cut a friendship.

In Russia if you give flowers as gifts, you have to give an odd number of them（one, three, five, etc. ）because even numbers of flowers are for funerals.

In Germany if you are invited to dinner, flowers are good gifts to take to your dinner hostess, but don’t take her red roses because it means you are in love with her. Don’t take thirteen of anything because it’s an unlucky number. Don’t take an even number of anything, either. Don’t wrap your gifts in white, brown, or black paper.

My 14-year-old son, John, and I saw the coat at the same time in a second-hand clothing store. It stood out among big and old coats. It was so beautiful and had an unbelievable price, $28. I looked at my son and we both said nothing, but John’s eyes shone. Dark, woolen coats were popular with teenage boys, but new ones could cost several hundred dollars. This coat was even better. John tried it on and turned from side to side, eyeing himself in the mirror. It fit him so well.

John wore the coat to school the next day. After he came home, I asked, “Did the kids like your coat?”

“They love it,” he said with a big grin.

Over the next few weeks, John changed. He was polite, less argumentative, more thoughtful, and much happier. “Good dinner, Mom,” he would say every evening. Without a word of complaining, he would carry in wood for the stove. One day when I suggested that he might start on his homework before dinner, John, who always put things off, said, “You’re right. I guess I will.” When I mentioned this change to one of his teachers, she joked that the coat must have changed him.

John and I both know we should never judge a person by his clothes. But it is true that when wearing beautiful and suitable clothes, we may try to be better in thought, speech and behavior to match what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

Songkran Festival is the traditional Thai New Year. Thai people celebrate it in April. For Thai people, it is an important holiday.

Songkran is a time to visit families, clean away the old year and bring in a fresh one. Many Thais clean away the old year by washing their homes and Buddhas around the house. They will collect the water that runs over the Buddhas and pour it onto the shoulders of family members for good luck.

In many parts of Thailand, people also have a big water fight in the streets during Songkran Festival. You can throw water on anyone walking by, and they can do the same to you! Everyone takes part in this activity. It is a way to express wishes for good luck. Both children and adults have great fun in the fight.

People in other Asian countries like Cambodia and Laos also celebrate Songkran Festival, but the celebration in Thailand is the most exciting.

Every year, a large number of visitors go to Thailand to welcome the arrival of Songkran. If you plan to visit Thailand, the days of Songkran are a great time to get to know Thai traditions.

Though chopsticks are used in many Asian countries, they have their beginning in China.    72    

In the Spring and Autumn Period copper(铜)and iron chopsticks appeared. Then the Han Dynasty lacquered(涂漆的)chopsticks came out, followed by gold and silver chopsticks still later.    73    The most expensive chopsticks are made of part of tusks of elephants and hard green stone.

    74    In ancient times the rich used hard green stone or gold chopsticks to show their wealth. In history many kings used silver chopsticks to take their food to see if it was poisonous. It was said that if it was, the silver chopsticks would turn their color.

Chopsticks are traditionally given to a daughter when she marries to show that they should have a son very soon for “chopsticks” in Chinese is pronounced like “a quick son”.

Tianzhu chopsticks from Hangzhou, wooden chopsticks from Shanyang of Shaanxi Province, and Beijing’s chopsticks are well-known.    75    

Chopsticks appeared in the old Chinese story: an old man teaches his son a lesson by showing how he can easily break a single chopstick but not a number of them.

    76    So on the country’s New Year’s Eve, many families will lay out new chopsticks at dinner as a way of making a request for luck.

Although many people read online, books have not gone out of fashion. In Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, lucky passengers may find books somewhere on the underground.

The Fair, an online publishing company, has put 10,000 books on the underground, planes and taxis to make people more interested in reading. This project is called “Mobook”.

“Mobook” gets its idea from “Books on the Underground”, a community project in London. The purpose of “Books on the Underground” is to encourage people to read more. Zhang Wei, the CEO of the Fair also wanted to do something in China. He sent an e-mail to Ms Cordelia Oxley, the leader of “Books on the Underground”, describing his plan and explaining the rules of “Mobook”. The leader replied to him in just two hours, saying that she thought the idea was great and she would offer help if needed.

But “Mobook” project is a little different from that in London. It has its own online system. People who want to donate books must give their information online. QR code stickers (二维码标签) are then sent to their addresses. The book owners should stick them on the books before donating books and reader can know where the books are from with the help of QR codes.

“Mobook” is a hot topic. Now thousands of bookworms have already taken part in the project. Zhang Wei said, “I am happy to see more and more people share their views (观点) about the books online and enjoy the happiness that reading brings to them.”

87. 在英语学习方面，你一定积累了很多的经验。请结合自己的学习体会，以“How to learn English well”为题写一篇英语作文， 提出如何高效学习英语的一些建议。

How to learn English well