Last year, I returned to Fuling, a river town near the Yangtze River. I visited the White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum. It’s a very strange museum    1     is under 40 meters of water, I knew its director even before the museum and the Three Gorges Dam     2    .

I taught English at the local college in the town of Fuling     3     1996 to 1998. Fuling was then quiet. Foreigners were very rare(稀小). When I ate my lunch in the town centre, often a crowd came to watch me. There weren’t any traffic     4     I couldn’t find a car.

During my visit, I     5     some of my old students. They told me about their old classmates, many of whom had left Fuling. I also visited Huang Zongming and his brother.    6     I lived here, they were fishermen. When the first stage of the dam was     7    ,they left their home. I was sure that their lives were     8     changed. But now l discover that everything is almost the same for    9    .They are still fishermen and go     10     every day. The fishing on the river is still good.The dam has not changed some things in Fuling.

3 . When I speak English, I usually translate words from my native language in my head and it takes me a lot of time just to speak a simpler sentence.

    1    ? Stop translating in your head and learn to think in English If you want to speak English fluently and naturally. The following 3 steps will help you.

Step :     2    

Think small first. I mean think in words, only simple words. The learning of your mother tongue starts with simple words like “ dad” table” dog“blue and so on.     3    . Try to say everything you see in English, only English. Later, in a conversation, the picture or Visualization of a real table will directly remind you of the word “table”.

Step 2: Think in sentences

This step needs more time and effort. But it’s worth it.     4    : “It’s a table. ”“I have a table, ” “The table is blue, ”, etc. Just do it step by step and day by day. Don’t jump to long sentences if you’re a beginner. Otherwise, you’ll be let down.

Step 3：Think in conversations

    5    . Some suggested topics may be your daily activities: family, friends, school, dream, favorites, and something similar.

When you are sure that you can express a complete thought, make conversations with others.

5 . Sugar Goldtree was my Grandma. I loved her. Everyone called my grandma “Sugar”. Every time I heard it, I would smile a huge smile.Grandma Sugar had a small house with a large garden. She worked all year long preparing that garden. She would always tidy the garden carefully. She would till the soil until it was like fine sand.

Grandma Sugar would tell me that if we plant the corn in one place this year, then the next year we would need to plant it in another spot. She would always say,“Fill your garden with flowers, The bees will buzz (嗡嗡地飞) around your head when you are picking those nice little cucumbers (黄瓜). After all, they helped to make our plants so beautiful.”

“We are about ready to plant some sunflowers,” Grandma Sugar said, handing me a packet of seeds. I carefully placed the seeds in rows, and covered them with soil, stepping on top of the soil to pack it down. Grandma Sugar sat at the edge of the garden making signs to put at the end of each row, with a date on it. Each year we would keep those signs in a book with photos of me and Grandma Sugar in our garden.

Grandma Sugar had a whole basket of seeds to plant. One by one,we planted rows of corn, beans, cucumbers, onions, lettuce and tomatoes. In the middle of summer, I would run down to the garden with a basket. Grandma Sugar would yell (大赋),“Pick a salad from the bed, little sugar!”

Growing up in the garden was wonderful. I remember Grandma Sugar and her garden. I learned a lot of lessons in that garden.

6 . One day when Bill was walking home from school, he heard a _________ coming from the bushes. He went over to see what it was. Behind a bush, he found a black and white dog _________ in a trap (陷阱). Bill hurried home with the dog and showed his _________. Bill’s dad said the dog had a broken_________. They took the dog to the doctor. On the way, Bill’s parents decided that Bill could keep the dog _________ they couldn’t find the owner. When they arrived, the doctor put a cast (石膏) on the dog’s leg. He _________ told Bill that she was going to have puppies (幼犬)!

The next day, Bill posted _________ around his neighborhood that said, “Found: Dog-Black and White,” and listed his _________ for the owner to call.   

Two days later, Bill _________ a call from the owner of the dog. The owner __________ Bill for taking such good care of his dog. When the owner came to __________ his dog, he said Bill could have one of the puppies. Bill was so __________!

Bill __________ a doghouse and even bought some__________ to get ready for the dog. What else? Yes, a __________ for his new puppy. Rosco, that’s it!