1 . How do you often spend your summer vacation? Do you sometimes get bored? Here are some ideas for you to help spice up(调剂) your holiday, and keep you busy either inside or outside.

A happy cook

Help your mom cook a dinner in the kitchen. Washing vegetables may be a good choice for you. You can also learn to make a simple meal, like egg-fried rice. When you eat a meal you have cooked, you’ll feel very proud.

Make a photo wall

Collect your family photos. Choose some special ones with your family and make a photo wall. We can talk to parents and listen to family stories behind those photos. You can also DIY a photo album and keep the photos safe for a long time.

Help others

Encourage yourself to do something you can to help others every day. For example, give your seat to those who need it on the bus, give directions to someone who is lost, and pick up the litter on the road. These small acts will help make the world a better place.

Travel to the countryside

Traveling to the countryside is a great way to be close to nature. Experience life in the countryside with your parents, and find the differences between the city and countryside. Explain which one you like better, and write down your feelings.

2 . According to Chinese history, sky lanterns were first used by Zhuge Kong Ming. He sent them out to ask for help when in trouble. Today, sky lanterns are used at festivals and other celebrations. They are made of bamboo and covered with paper. When the lanterns are lit, they slowly rise into the air like small hot-air balloons for all to see. They are seen as bright symbols of happiness and good wishes.

Paper cutting has been around for over 1,500 years. Paper cutting sounds very easy but it can be difficult to do. The paper, usually red, is folded before it is cut with scissors. The most common pictures are flowers, fish, animals, and things about Chinese history. During the Spring Festival, they are put on windows, doors and walls as symbols of wishes for good luck and a happy new year.

3 . Some people have good memories and can learn very long articles by heart very easily. Maybe they read the articles just a few times, they will remember them by heart. Others can only remember things after hearing many times. Charles Dickens, a famous English writer, said he could remember every name of the shops after he walked by them. Many of the great men in the world have good memories.

A good memory can help people to learn a language well, especially (特别地) for students. Everybody learns his own language by remembering what he heard when he was a small child. Some children whose parents speak different languages seem to learn two languages as easily as one. In schools, it’s not easy to learn a foreign language, because students have so little time for it. At the same time they are busy with other lessons, too. Seeing, hearing, reading and speaking are the best ways of learning languages. As students, if we want to learn English well,we must practice listening, speaking, reading and writing as much as possible.

A man’s mind is just like a camera (照相机), but it takes photos of what we see. It can also take photos of what we feel, hear, smell and taste. When we take a real photo with a camera, there’s much to do before the photo is finished and ready to show to our friends. In the same way, there’s much work before we can keep a picture in our minds.

The seasons in New Zealand are not like ours. When it is winter in China, it is summer there. New Zealand is a southern country, it is in the south of the world. July and August are the winter months; September, October and November are spring; the summer is in January, February and December, and March, April and May are the autumn months. The north of the country is hotter than the south.

A western part of this country has no rain at all. But the east coast has rain all year, and there are no dry months there. The southeast winds blow here all the year. They bring rain from the sea. There is not much rain on the west side. The southeast part of New Zealand has summer rain from the southeast winds. They only blow here in summer.

The southwest part of New Zealand has winter rain. The west winds blow over the southwest in winter only. In summer, the southwest of the country has no rain. In the north of New Zealand, there is   no rain in winter. The rain comes in summer. The northwest winds bring it.

6 . A good hobby is an important part of a teenager’s life. With hobbies, teenagers can become more familiar with history, social science and culture. Here are some hobbies for teenagers.

Collecting

Coins may be too expensive for teenagers, but postcards, bookmarks even T-shirts can be great things to collect. Teenagers can collect things that do not cost much. Many teenagers enjoy collecting things when they visit a place. No matter what they collect, the most important thing is the information they get from the collection.

Writing

Writing can improve teenagers’ language skills. It can be a great hobby for teenagers. Writing a diary can help teenagers enter a private world. It is important for their development. They can also write stories and poems.

Building

Models, birdhouses or anything else that teenagers make with their own hands can make them happy. Building is a great hobby because it is easy to start. Most teenagers can find interesting things to build. Building can help them improve their creativity（创造力）.

Music

Do you dream to be a music star? Music can give teenagers confidence. They can sing songs or play an instrument. Sometimes teenagers can learn music in a music club and make friends with the people who have the same hobby.

Every year some birds fly south when days turn cold and leaves from trees start to fall. They travel a very long way to find a warmer winter. This travel is called migration （迁徙）.

Birds do that because in winter most of the plants die and some insects (昆虫）hide. They fly away to find enough food. The next year when there is plenty of food for them to eat they will come back.

Birds fly in some ways. For example, they fly in groups like the letter V or in a row. The trip is often hard and it may be dangerous. But they never get lost because they look at the sun, the moon and stars.

8 . At the beginning of human history, people could only eat food they found. But then people learned to find more ways to get food. About 10, 000 years ago people slarted to farm the land. After that, people developed farming skills.

People eat different food in different areas. In China rice is the main food for people in the south while the people in the north eat noodles. People who live in European countries near the sea eat lots of fish. But in Central Europe, people are away from the sea. So they don’t eat so much fish. They eat more special meat instead.

People eat food with different tools in different areas. In China, people always like using chopsticks while in North American, Australia and Europe, people always like using knives and forks, to our surprise, in India and the Middle East, people always pick up food with their own fingers.

Now people can eat different food from different areas. As we can see it is possible to convey food easily from one part of the world to another. We can almost cat whatever we like at any place of the world. For example people in Britain can eat bananas from Africa and rice from India. Food is becoming a very big business now.