Going to a friend’s house is very exciting. You may spend time with a friend and get to see where he or she lives. So remember to be polite.

The first thing to remember is that when a friend invites you over, you need to arrive on time. If your friend tells you to come “around 3:00”, that means you can arrive a little bit after 3:00. But usually it is a good idea to arrive at the right time.

Often it is also nice to bring something to your friend’s house. This could be a box of chocolates for you to share, or maybe a CD that you can enjoy together. You can also bring some flowers. A little gift is a nice way to show your friend that you are excited to be at his or her house.

When you visit your friend’s house, you may also meet his or her parents. You should tell them who you are and they may tell you their names. As a child, I went to visit my friend Paul. I called his parents by their first names John and Mary. But now I know it is more polite to call them Mr. And Mrs. Smith. This will show them more respect(尊重) and then they may tell you to call them by their first names. Another way to show respect is to call them Madam or Sir. It is a cool thing to visit a friend’s house. Be polite to your friend and your friend’s parents, and you will be invited again.

It was Saturday again. Lily and Lucy disliked Saturdays. That was another thing the twins had in common. They shared the same clothes and tied their hair in the same manner. In fact, it was hard for their classmates and teachers to tell them apart sometimes.

Unlike their classmates, they had to get up early at seven every Saturday to prepare for their lessons. Lily had to attend the art lesson and Lucy had to attend her ballet lesson. “How I wish I could do something different today,” said the twins with one voice. All at once, an idea came to Lily and Lucy at the same time. “Do you have the same idea as me?” they asked each other and laughed. It seemed like a wonderful plan to them. After giving each other a description of their own friends, Lily put on Lucy’s ballet dress while Lucy put Lily’s brushes and paints into her bag. Then they left for their classes.

When the art lesson started, Lucy couldn’t understand the art teacher. Unlike Lily, Lucy was poor at drawing. When the art lesson finally ended, Lucy didn’t dare to hand in her work.

Meanwhile, Lily was struggling in the ballet class as well. As she had no idea about the dance steps, she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result, she kept knocking into them . Their ballet teacher became impatient with her, “Lucy, you should remember the basic steps. You can’t depend on copying what others are doing.”

When Lily and Lucy arrived home, they were tired out. They decided that they would never try to be someone else that they were not.

You can see a sea turtle named Herman, an octopus (章鱼) called Octavia, and a seal named Lidia at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. D. C. Rather than real animals, they are actually artworks made out of plastic trash from the ocean.

These artworks are part of a traveling exhibit called “Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea” The Washed Ashore project, led by the artist called Pozzi, works to raise attention about plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans.

More than 315 billion pounds of plastic litter the world’s oceans today. Most of the plastic is garbage from towns and cities, as well as trash that people leave on beaches. Rainwater, winds, and high tides bring the trash into the ocean or into rivers that lead to the ocean. Once it is under the waves, the plastic begins to break up into smaller and smaller pieces.

Thousands of sea animals die each year from eating plastic bags and other things. Each year, millions more pounds of plastic end up in the ocean. A recent study found that if that continues, by 2050 the total weight of plastic will be more than that of all the fish in the ocean.

The Washed Ashore project is working to stop that from happening. Since 2010, Washed Ashore volunteers have collected 38,000 pounds of plastic trash from more than 300 miles of beaches. They helped Pozzi create more than 60 artworks of sea creatures harmed by plastic pollution.

“These artworks are a powerful reminder of our personal role and global responsibility in preserving biodiversity (生物多样性) on land and in the sea,” says Dennis Kelly, director of the National Zoo.

Mike seemed always sad and silent. Also he didn’t like to make any friends. His math teacher Ms. Black noticed this. One day after class, she asked Mike to come to her office. Ms. Black said, “I see that you never talk to ______ or show any interest in anything. What’s the matter?” Mike replied, “Madam, I have a very difficult life. I was born in a poor family and have faced something very ______ and I keep thinking about it. Because of this, I can’t pay my attention ______ anything and don’t even feel like talking to anyone.”

Ms. Black listened to him carefully, thought for a while and said, “Would you like some lemon juice?” Mike felt a little surprised and nervously replied, “Yes, thank you!”

While ______ juice, Ms. Black added some salt on purpose and didn’t add any sugar. Mike made a strange face as soon as he drank a sip of that juice. Seeing this, Ms. Black asked, “You don’t like it?”

“Um, it’s just... there is a bit too much ______ in it,” Mike answered.

Ms. Black stopped him, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. I will ______ right now.” As the teacher was lifting the glass to do so, Mike stopped him and said, “Please don’t. ______ we put a little more sugar in the lemon juice, maybe it will be fine to drink.”

Hearing this, Ms. Black said happily, “This is exactly what I want to hear. To ______ with the salt and change the taste, we don’t have to give up the whole juice and throw it away. ______, we can just add some sugar to it. Similarly, we don’t need to give up our whole life just because of some sad things that have already happened to us, but we can add sweetness of good experiences in our life. If you keep on crying about your ______, neither your present will be right nor the future will be bright.”

Liu Zhiwen is a student studying oil painting at Qingdao University of Science and Technology. In the past few months, he     36     (create) more than 150 paintings on the wall in his hometown Daowu village, Hunan Province.

Painting skills require daily practice, but the school was closed because of COVID-19. So Liu thought of this way to continue practicing     37     (paint) after he returned home. Many people doubted (怀疑)     38     he could hold on. However, he has kept painting for four months.

Every     39     (sun) morning, Liu went to the wall and began to paint. It took him about three hours to finish one painting. At first, Liu had difficulty painting on the rough (粗糙的) wall.     40     gradually (渐渐地) he found the way of solving the problem.

Through hard work, Liu’s paintings have made the wall popular online and attracted (吸引) many     41     (visit). Some of them especially came here     42     (take) photos in front of it. They     43     (impress) by the change of the wall. “It is a good way to decorate the streets in the countryside and bring some colors into people’s lives,” one of     44     (they) said.

Liu said he was very happy to see his paintings could make the countryside colorful and     45     (live).

Classrooms in the US are different from those in China. This offers us a chance to learn about their educational style.

In China, most students have fixed(固定的) classrooms. Teachers take turns teaching in different classrooms. Teaching this way ensures that all students learn the same things. But students are not given much choice. No matter whether you like a subject or not, you have to learn it.

In the US, students often change classrooms based on(基于) different subjects. Besides compulsory(必修的) classes like English and math, teens can choose to learn about what they are interested in. For example, some kids may choose to study music or advanced math(高等数学).

Classroom arrangements also make a difference. Chinese classrooms are arranged(安排) in a traditional way, with rows of desks and chairs facing a blackboard. Teachers usually stand on a platform when teaching.

However, in US classrooms, seating arrangements are flexible(灵活的), depending on different class activities. For example, if students need to have a group discussion. Two or three of them will move their desks to sit face to face. Students in music classes also have different seating arrangements that make it easier for them to perform. Sometimes, teachers even sit with their students.

It’s hard to say which way is “better”, or if there is an ideal(理想的) way to arrange classrooms. You just have to find the one that works for you.

51. 假如你是李华，请你阅读美国笔友Mike的邮件并回复，要求至少给出3条具体的可行性建议，词数100左右，开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

I’m sorry that you met with some trouble. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope my advice will be helpful. I’m sure you’ll make up with her soon.

Yours,

Li Hua