I’m very glad you are arriving in my city this Sunday. Now let me tell you the way to the Blue Sky Restaurant. I’ll meet you there. Take a bus from the bus station and go down New Bridge Street. Go across the big bridge. When you see a bank, turn right and go along Bank Street. You’ll pass these one-way streets: Sixth Street, Seventh Street and Eighth Street. When you see a big KFC, turn left. Then go along Green Street. When you see New Park, turn left and go down Center Street. The Blue Sky Restaurant is on your right.

I wish you have a good trip.

Yours,

Larry

【推荐2】Nowadays, many people drive their cars to work. There are a lot of cars in the street and the traffic is very busy. So sometimes it’s not easy for people to get to work on time. When you are going to be late, you only dream of taking a plane there. Can your dream come true? The answer is “Yes”!

Four engineers in Germany are interested in making planes. They have made a new plane. It doesn’t look like a plane but an egg. Many people think it looks funny and interesting. The great “egg” can take two people to the sky and fly three hundred kilometres in one hour. That’s really great.

Some people call the plane “a flying car”. Why? Firstly, it’s not difficult for people to learn to drive it. People can just drive it like driving a car. But it can go faster and farther than a car. Secondly, the “egg” is not very big, only a quarter of a plane. So it doesn’t need an airport. Only a small place is OK. It can stop everywhere. In the future, the “flying car” will come into people’s life and change our modes (方式) of trip.

The flying car will come on the market soon. If you want to make your trip easy and interesting, why not buy one? I’m sure you will have a good time on it.

【推荐1】Having a teenager at home can be a real headache. Many teenagers smoke, drink, wear strange hairstyle and even fight.     1    

Earlier studies have shown that teenagers are more likely (可能) to make crazy decisions than people from any other age grow up, including children and adults. Is it that teenagers are too young to tell right from wrong? Not really. So what’s the reason?

According to Laurence, a teacher from a US university, the reason is that teenagers care a lot about how their peers (同龄人) regard them—that is “peer influence”.

As children enter their teenage years, they spend more time with their friends and classmates, and also they care more about what they think of them.     2    

In a test, a group of teenagers were asked to play a video driving game. When they played with their friends watching around them, they took more chances and drove more carelessly because that would increase their possibility of winning. But when they played alone, they drove more safely.

    3     As Laurence sees it, a teenager’s brain is like a car with a good accelerator (油门) but a weak brake (刹车). The “accelerator” is fully developed by teenage years while the “brake” is still not fully developed. When teenagers are watched by their peers, they usually push hard on the accelerator. With their weak brake, it is likely that they are going to end up in an accident.

But the good news is that a violent (暴力的) teenager doesn’t necessarily become a violent adult. About two-thirds to three-quarters of violent young men grow out of it. “     4     ” Laurence told Live Science. Also people who haven’t made a violent crime by age 19 are less likely to start doing it later, added Laurence.

【推荐2】Parents are the closest people to you in the world. They love you just because who you’re. And they would do anything for you.

Like a lot of middle school students, Zhang Li has a problem. She and her parents don’t get on well. “I really want to be my daddy’s good girl. But it seems he just doesn’t understand. He talks to me but doesn’t listen to me,” said Zhang Li, a student from Grade Three.

Do you and your parents also have problems?

Well, why don’t you take a walk and have a walk on Saturday? May 15 is International Day of families (国际家庭日). On that day, people around the world give thanks for good things about families and work on family problems.

A study last year showed that 1500 Beijing families had the same problem as Zhang’s family. The children, 12 to 15 years old, didn’t like talking with their parents much. They weren’t happy at home. Of course, lots of other children feel that way. But you and your parents will be much happier if you can be friends.

Here are some ways to have a good talk with your parents: find a good time to talk, like when you’re eating dinner, going out for a walk or watching TV. Tell them something you’re interested in, or ask them about their lives when they were young. They love to talk about that! Listen to them carefully, and look at them in the eyes. Be honest, and your parents will trust you more. And a trusting family is a happy family.

【推荐3】A survey made by China Daily last year found that eight of ten senior middle school students were nearsighted (近视), compared with 71.6 percent in junior middle school, 36 percent in primary school and 14 percent of 6-year-olds in kindergarten. Overall 53.6 percent were nearsighted.

The growing prevalence (流行) of myopia is not only a Chinese problem, but an especially East Asian one. In South Korea, 96 percent people（below the age 20）have myopia. In Singapore, the number is 82 percent. However, in the UK it is about 20-30 percent.

Some scientists think it is not good that so many students are nearsighted. It brings much trouble in their life. For example, in the bathroom, the glasses people wear are easily covered by heat, which makes it impossible to see everything. What do you think if you put your glasses down before going to bed, you can’t find them in the morning?

Several factors have something to do with the high rate of nearsightedness in China’s children and teenagers, including lack（缺乏）of outdoor physical activities, lack of enough sleep due to heavy homework and too much use of electronic products.

Biologists compared Singaporeans living in Singapore with those living in Australia. They found that 29 percent of the Singaporean students had nearsightedness compared with just 3 percent in Sydney. The main reason was once again, time spent outside.

【推荐1】Everything has a name. All people, places, and things have names. Jenny is the name of a student from the UK. The UK is the name of a country. Cities and towns have names, too. Schools also have names. Tomato, potato and carrot are names of vegetables. Apple, orange, and banana are names of fruit.

When we meet a new person, we usually ask, “What’s your name?” Most people have two names. Names are different all over the world. In Jenny’s class, Jenny must know the names of the students from all over the world. This is not easy because the names are different.

In the US, most people have a first name, a middle name and a last name. Parents choose the first and middle names for their babies. The last name is the family name. Usually it is the father’s family name. In a family, the mother, the father and the children usually have the same last name.

Sometimes a person has a nickname, too. A nickname is a special name. It’s not a person’s real name. Abraham Lincoln’s nickname was “Honest Abe”, because he was honest and Abe is short for Abraham. Pele is a nickname of the football player, Edson Arantes do Nascimento. But everyone calls him Pele.

【推荐2】Recently, “cloud tourism” has attracted millions of people in China. “Cloud tourism” refers to a new form of travel that depends on high technologies such as 5G and virtual reality (虚拟现实).

During the May Day Holiday, 250 million people took an online tour by livestream (直播) on TikTok (the short video app), Taishan, a popular channel, livestreamed the sunrise at the top of Mount Tai on May1st and attracted (吸引) 330,000 views.

China Daily made a survey of 2,000 people on cloud tourism. According to the survey results, 74.8% of them said they were willing to take an online tour and 59.7% said they had a good online traveling experience.

“I hate large crowds and long queues (队列), which make me annoyed when visiting museums in person,” said Wang Bo, a museum lover in Beijing. “What’s more, ‘cloud tourism’ helps cut traveling cost and offers more tourist attractions.”

“Cloud tourism” has made huge contributions to the local development and a rise in sales of cultural products after livestreaming shows, according to Xinhua News Agency.

【推荐3】“Life’s a long, long journey.” so we are told, and most of us would not set off on a journey, even a short one, without some ideas of where we wanted to go. Yet many people travel on life’s journey with no sense of direction at all.

Setting personal goals can give your life a sense of direction. Goal setting is used by top sports players, successful business people and achievers in all fields. Before you set personal goals, think about what you want to achieve with your life.

Try to set goals in some of the following categories(类别):

Education—Will you achieve the educational goals after finishing high school? Are you still growing and learning?

Family—What kind of relationship do you want with your parents and other family members?

Creative—Do you want to achieve any artistic goals?

Career—What job do you want to take when you grow up? What do you need to make your dream come true?

Public Service—Do you want to make the world a better place?

Physical—Are you fit enough to do the things you want to do?

Pleasure—How do you want to enjoy yourself?

To help make the process more manageable, divide your goals into smaller tasks. For example, if you want to reach a main goal in five years, set a three-year goal, a one-year goal, a three-month goal and a one-month goal. Then create a daily To-Do List of things that you should do today. When a goal is achieved, take the time to enjoy your success. This helps you build the self-confidence.

Remember, your goals can be changed as time goes on. But be sure your goals are the things you hope to achieve, not what your parents, family or teachers want.

Just a quick note preface before I start in earnest. When I wrote this, you were 8, still a little boy. In 2002, I was called to active duty in the Marine Corps in the War on Terrorism. On the 11^th of September 2001 when America was attacked, I knew that I would eventually have to go and I was filled with a deep sense of sadness. That night as you and Keiko were asleep, I looked at you little faces and couldn't help but fight the tears. I knew it would be hard for you because I had a similar experience.

When I was a little boy aged 6, my Dad, your Grandpa Cawley, was sent to Vietnam during the War there. I remember how much I missed him, too. But now unfortunately I have come to realize just how rough it must have been for Grandpa to be away from his children for a year. Thinking about this, I wanted to put my thoughts and feelings down for you and your sister. I am so sorry that I had to leave for such a long time. There is no place I would rather be than with you and Keiko. You two are the lights of my life. I have known no greater joy than in the few years since you two were born. I hope to have many more years with you. If this doesn't happen, then know that I love you more than words can express. If for some reason I don't make it home, I will need you to take care of your little sister and your Mum. You will be the Man of the Cawley family. Be good, my son, and God will watch over you as he has me. I will be waiting impatiently for the time when we can all be together again.

All my love

Dad

【推荐3】Do you want to know what our life will be like in the future? Let's have a look. You may get a surprise.

You will go to the kitchen when you are hungry. You will give orders to the kitchen robot(机器人). The robot will cook the food for you in a few minutes. Then it will bring it to you.

In the kitchen you will find a special food machine. The food machine will tell you what your body needs. It will help you eat healthily. The food machine will be connected with the kitchen robot. The robot can get messages from the food machine.

After having a meal, you can go to your home office. You will work at home and you don't need to go out to work any more.

You will have a special information screen(屏幕). You can get any information on the screen. When you receive a message from a friend in America, your information screen will be turned on automatically(自动地). Your friend's face appears on the screen. Then you can talk to your friend easily.