You must have heard of the legend（传说）of Yu Gong, who tried to move two mountains. The Taihang Mountain was one of the two mountains.

The Taihang Mountain passes through the areas of Hebei, Shanxi, Henan and Beijing.     1     It is one of the largest mountain ranges in North China, and it was called “the backbone（脊梁）of China” in ancient times.

    2     For example, Nvwa used stones to repair the sky to make sure that humans would have a better future; Houyi protected everyone by shooting the suns; Emperor Yan, one of the earliest Chinese emperors, tried large numbers of herbs（草药）and taught people how to use them to treat diseases.

The Taihang Mountain is not only where the ancient stories happened, but also a place where tens of thousands of fossils（化石）were found.     3     At the same time, we can also learn about how ancient humans lived from the discoveries around the area.

Nowadays, there are natural forests around the area with beautiful colors in four seasons.     4     In summer, the trees will grow luxuriant（挺拔的）and leaves will cover the sun. In autumn, the trees in Taihang Mountain are tall and leaves turn yellow. In winter, the trees are covered with snow, like a thick white coat.     5    

If you need a trip that helps you learn different things about history, culture and other important knowledge, the Taihang Mountain is a great choice for you.

【推荐3】REACH HIGHER

It’s hard to imagine a place that’s more dangerous than Death Valley. Death Valley is the hottest and the driest place in North America. It also has the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere (西半球)! Although the natural condition in Death Valley is terrible, here is full of life.

Death Valley isn’t an easy place to live in. It gets little rain a year, so there isn’t much water. In July, temperatures often climb to over 46℃. The ground is mostly sand and rocks. There is even a dried-up lake that has turned into salt crystals (晶体).

None of these stops plants and animals from making Death Valley their home. People have found more than 1,000 kinds of plants there. It also has 51 kinds of mammals (哺乳动物), 36 kinds of reptiles (爬行动物), 6 kinds of fish, and more than 300 kinds of birds. The animals aren’t all small, either. There are big ones like mountain lions.

Finding water is the biggest challenge for anything that lives in Death Valley. Some plants have roots that go fifty feet under the surface to find water. Some animals get the water they need from the seeds of desert sunflowers. Small fish can live in the water that is five times as salty as the ocean!

All these make people have to be surprised about the magic of life.

    1     However, others may only see it once or twice a year. Nowadays, millions of Chinese leave the countryside to search for work in the cities. Among these is Zhong We     2     “I haven’t been back for almost three years. It’s a shame, but I just don’t have the time,” he says.

Many people like Zhong Wei regard with great interest how their hometowns have changed.     3     In many places, the government has also built new schools and sent teachers from the cities to help.

“I notice that’s true of my hometown,” adds Zhong Wei. “Children have learned to read and count at my old primary school since the mid-20th century. But now the buildings are really old. I hear they’re going to build a new school there.”     4    

According to Zhong Wei, however, some things will never change. “In my hometown, especially during the summer holidays. It was such a happy childhood.”     5    

Streets of Water

There is a city in the world. People do not drive cars in that city. It is called Venice(威尼斯). Venice is in Italy. There are no streets in Venice. But there are canals(运河). The canals look like streets. There is much water in those canals. In Venice, people ride around the city in boats. Your father and mother may ride in a bus to work. In Venice, fathers and mothers ride in boats.

【推荐1】Everybody knows how important it is for students to get a good night’s sleep every night. Most experts agree that teenagers need to get 8 hours of sleep a night. However, I know that most of you get much less sleep than that.

I read an interesting article in a teachers’ magazine recently. They did a study of 848 students in Wales. Worryingly, the results showed that teenagers are facing a new problem. They may go to bed and get up at appropriate times but a growing number are waking up in the middle of the night not to use the bathroom or have a snack but because of a new phenomenon(现象)：fear of missing out!

According to the article, schoolchildren are suffering because of a growing trend(趋势) to wake up during the night to check social media. Afraid of missing a comment or chance to take part in a chat, teenagers are waking at all times of the night, going online. All this when they should be sound asleep.

The study shows that students who use social media during the night are more likely to suffer from sadness and anxiety. Experts are worried about this growing trend and the report shows some worrying statistics (数据) that I’d like to share with you.

23% of 12 to 15-year-olds wake up nearly every night to use social media. Another 15% wake up at night once a week for the same reason. One in three students are tired all the time.

So I’d like to ask you to be responsible when it comes to social media. Be brave! Switch off your mobile phones at night. The world won’t end and your social media will be waiting to greet you in the morning! I give you my word that you won’t have missed anything important.

Every four years, in a different country around the world, there is a big sports competition. It is like the Olympics but only for one sport — football. What do you know about the history of the FIFA World Cup?

The first World Cup was in 1930， in Uruguay. In the final game Uruguay beat Argentina and became the first World Cup winner. Thirteen countries played in the first World Cup. Now there are 32 countries in the competition.

The first time people saw the first World Cup on TV was in 1954 when Switzerland held the competition. Now about 3，000 million people all over the world watch the World Cup on TV.

Until 2002 the World Cup was always in a European or an American country. South Korea and Japan held the first Asian World Cup. This was the first (and so far the only) World Cup to be held by two countries. The first African World cup was in 2010 in South Africa.

Brazil is the most successful World Cup team. They are the only team that have played in every tournament (锦标赛). So far they have won it five times. Germany and Italy have both won four times. Argentina and Uruguay have won it twice. England, France and Spain have won it once.

【推荐2】Peter is fourteen years old. He is in Grade Two this year. He likes to play football and watch football matches. And he often reads newspapers. He does his best to know where and when there is going to be a football match. Now Peter is having lunch. He is listening to the radio, too. He is very happy because there is going to be a nice football match on TV at four this afternoon. He wants to watch it very much. But he is going to have English and Chinese lessons. He thinks hard and finds a way.“ Hello, Mrs. Black,” Peter says to his teacher on the telephone, “ Peter is ill in bed. He wants to ask for half a day’s leave.”   “ Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” says Mrs. Black, “ But who’s that?”   “ It’s my father, Mrs. Black.”

【推荐3】Mrs Wilson likes to ask her husband to go shopping with her on Sundays. Her husband pays for the things that she buys. Now they are in the shop.

“Look, Andy. Is it a fancy(别致的)hair clip?”Mrs Wilson asks her husband.

“All right. And how much is it?” he answers and gives money to the shop assistant.

When Mrs Wilson asks him about something good or bad, he often says“All right. And how much is it?”to her.

At about 8:00 p.m., Andy is tired and thirsty, and he wants to have a drink. Suddenly his wife looks up at the moon and says,“Look, Andy, is the moon so beautiful?”

“All right. And how much is it?”her husband answers quickly.