-
1
Hi Mary,
Thank
you
for
writing
to
me
and
I
will
try
to
give
you
some
ideas
about
improving
your
written English. The bad news, of
course, is that there is no e
92
way to do this. It takes work.
Improving your
English, like getting better at anything else,
means lots of practice. I think you
already
know
enough
words
and
grammar
in
English
to
make
sentences
and
to
understand
English, and the
problem you have is as the problem all Chinese
students have when they learn
English.
You go to English class a couple of times a week
and the r
93
of the time you speak
Chinese.
If
you
come
to
Canada,
your
English would improve
very q
94
because you
would
use it all day, every day.
It
’
s just practice.
To
improve
your
writing
in
English,
you
should
do
t
95
things.
First,
you
should
try
to
read English as much as
possible. It doesn
’
t matter
what you read, so pick something that interests
you. Reading English will show you how
English words are used together, how English
speakers
express themselves and so on,
so you can learn a lot from that. Then you should
practice writing.
Ask your teacher if
you can get extra assignments and write things
like short stories. Your teacher
can
show
you
where
you
make
mistakes
and
how
to
c
96
them.
You
can
also
write
more
letters to English
speakers on the Internet (I will be happy to
exchange letters with you if that will
help). Don
’
t
worry if you make mistakes b
97
that is how you learn.
You say you can not obey your plans. In
English we say,
“
Plan the
work, work the plan.
”
You
need a plan and then you need to follow
your plan to improve.
I
hope
these
ideas
are
u
98
.
I
wish
you
luck,
and
if
you
want
to
write
to
me
I
will
be
happy to try to help you.
We can talk about China, about Canada or anything
else you like.
Best wishes,
Brad Flankin
2
A
great night in the
There
can
be
few
more
beautiful
places
in
China
to
see
Peking
Opera
than the wonderful
Prince
Gong’s Mansion
(
恭王府
). In this old
w__92_____
theater you can imagine what
it was like for an imperial
(
皇家的
) family
to
watch a show h___93______ of years ago.
On
the
stage
in
front
of
me
is
a
man
in
colored
face
paint
singing,
dancing and
performing acrobatics (
杂耍
).
I am watching 18 Arhats (
罗汉
)
Fighting the Monkey
King.
It
is
the
first
time
I
have
s___94____
Peking
Opera.
I
am
amazed
by
the
energy
of
the
performances.
I can
o__95____ understand a little of what I am hearing
and seeing because I don’t speak
Chinese. I just sit back and w__96_____
the graceful movements of the actors in their
beautiful
costumes.
Peking Opera is d___97_____ from
Western Opera. In Western Opera, the singing is
more
important. Peking Opera combines
(
结合
) dancing, acting and
acrobatics. But I am not a fan of the
singing. The sound reminds me of cats
screaming (
尖叫
).
It is sad that young people in China
are losing interest in Peking Opera. It is full of
Chinese
culture and h__98______. If it
is lost, it will be a shame not just for China but
also for the rest of
the world.
3
Athletes
（运动员）
at international events like the
Olympic Games work hard to
i__92____
their
results. With the proper training, they can break
records set at previous events. It is always
exciting to watch someone win a race,
e___93____
if they are the
fastest runner in the world.
In recent
years, however, it has been
d__94_____
that some
athletes use illegal
drugs
（违禁药
品）
to help them achieve better results.
Without such drugs, many of these athletes
wouldn't win
their events.
At the Asian Games in 1994,
11 athletes returned their medals after tests
p__95_____
they had
taken illegal drugs. They included
seven swimmers, two canoeists, one cyclist and one
hurdler. All
of them were
banned
（禁止）
from
international competitions for two years.
There are
t__96_____
main groups of
drug that athletes can take to make their results
better.
These are anabolic
steroids
（合成类固醇）
and
stimulants.
（
兴奋剂）
Long-distance runners and
swimmers use stimulant to stop
t
___97____ from feeling
tired.
There
are
three
r__98_____
for
not
using
illegal
drugs.
First,
many
drugs
are
harmful
to
health. Second, the athletes will be
banned after using them. The final is that they
give athletes
unfair advantages.
4.
Many people go to school
for education. They learn languages, history,
geography, physics,
chemistry and
maths. Others go to school to learn a s
92
so that they
can make a living.
School
education
is
very
important
and
useful.
No
one
can
learn
everything
from
school.
A
teacher, no matter how much he k
93
,
cannot teach his students everything they want to
know.
The
teacher
’
s job is to show his
students how to learn. He teaches them how to read
and how to
think. So, m
94
more is to be learned outside school by
students themselves.
It
is
always
more
important
to
know
how
to
study
by
o
95
than
to
remember
some
facts or
formula
（公式）
. It is quite
easy to learn a certain fact in history or a
formula in working
out a maths problem.
Great scientists, such as Einstein, Newton And
Galileo didn
’
t get
everything
from
school.
But
they
were
all
so
s
96
.
They
invented
so
many
things
for
the
people.
The
reason for their success is that they
knew how to study. They read books that were not
t
97
at
school. They worked hard all their lives, wasting
not a single moment. They would ask many
questions a
98
they read and
they did thousands of experiments.
5
As
wonderful
as
memory
is,
it
isn’t
always
perfect.
Sometimes
you
f 92 the
name
of
somebody
you
just
met
or
where
you
put
your
shoes.
It’s
also
typical
(
典型的
)
for
people
to
forget
more
things
as they grow o 93
.
But
some
memory
problems
are
serious,
such
as
when
a
person
has
amnesia (
健忘症
).An
injury to the head and brain can cause trouble
with a person’s m
94 .
Some people who recover from brain