In English classes, our English teacher, Mr. Smith, sometimes asks us to write something about the future. Here is Mike’s writing. It’s very interesting. Let’s read it.

“In the future, there will be more people in the world. There won’t be so many animals, so people won’t eat meat often. They will live a long life because they eat healthy food such as fruit and vegetables.

People will live in the sea. Everyone will be able to swim. Everyone will have a computer at home. People will do a lot of things on computers and they won’t go out to work. They will work at home. They can talk to their friends on computers. People will also use ships and planes a lot. They won’t use any cars, so cars won’t be popular. And ships and planes can carry them everywhere. Maybe there will be traffic jams (交通堵塞) in the sea and air. People will live a happy life in the future.”

Saturday, March 24th

We have arrived(到达) in the hot, wet city of Bangkok(曼谷). This is our first trip to Thailand (泰国). We are going to eat something delicious(美味的) for dinner tonight. The hotel we are staying in is cheap, and very clean. We plan to stay here for a few days, visit some places in the city, and then travel to Chiang Mai(清迈) in the North.

Tuesday, March 27th

Bangkok is wonderful! The places are interesting. We visited the famous market which was on water, and saw a lot of fruits and vegetables. Everything is so colorful, and we have taken hundreds of photos already! Later today we will leave for Chiang Mai. We will take the train north, stay in Chiang Mai for two days.

Friday, March 30th

Our trip to Chiang Mai was long. We visited a small village in the mountains. The village people here love the quiet life—no computers or phones. They are the kindest people I have ever met. They always smile and say “hello”. Kathy and I can only speak a few words of Thai, so smiling is the best way to show our kindness. We feel good here and hope to be able to come back next year.

Stephen Hawking, the best known physicist(物理学家) of his time, passed away on March 14, 2018.

Hawking was born in Britain in 1942. He was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, “He has only two more years to live.” As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong—he didn’t die.

Because of his bad health, he was confined(限制) to a wheelchair(轮椅). He couldn’t feed himself and got in or out of bed himself. Even worse, he lost his voice in 1985. He could only talk with the help of a computer.

But he didn’t give in(屈服). He used every new day that life offered(提供) to continue his study. After Oxford, Hawking went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy(哲学博士).

Because it was difficult for Hawking to draw diagrams(图表) or to write, he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world.

In 1981, he met the Pope(教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1988, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages(语言).

Hawking was a great scientist. His work and story will live on for many years. We will remember him forever!

You must know that a polar bear (北极熊) is a very big white bear. We call it the polar bear because it lives inside the Arctic Circle (北极圈) near the North Pole (北极). There are no polar bears at the South Pole.

The polar bear lives in the snow and ice. At the North Pole there is only snow, ice and water. There is not any land (陆地). You cannot see the polar bear in the snow because its coat is yellow-white. It has a very warm coat because the weather is cold at the Arctic Circle.

The bear is 3 meters long and it weighs 450 kilos. It can stand up on its back legs because it has very wide feet. It can use its front legs like arms. The polar bear can swim very well. It can swim 120 kilometers out into the water: It catches fish and sea animals for food. It goes into the sea when it is afraid. People like to kill (杀) the polar bear for its beautiful white coat. The governments (政府) of Canada and United States say that no one can kill polar bears now. They do not want all of these beautiful animals to die.

56. 假如你是Peter，你班拟讨论本年度 “最佳学生奖”推荐人选，你向同学们提出推荐John。请根据下列要点，完成一篇推荐稿。

Dear classmates, I want to recommend John for this year’s Best Student Award. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I think we should learn from him. I will be happy if he can get this award.

Thank you!