San Francisco Fire Engine Tours

    San Francisco Winery Tour

    Running: February 1st through April 30th

    This delicious tour goes through the city on its way to Treasure Island where we will stop at the famous Winery SF. Here you can enjoy 4 pours of some of the best wine San Francisco has to offer.(Included in tickets price)

    Departing from the Cannery: Tell time upon request.

    Duration(时长): 2 hours

    Price: $90

    Back to the Fifties Tour

    Running: August 16th through August 31st

    This tour transports you back in time to one of San Francisco's most fantastic periods, the 1950s! Enjoy fun history as we take you through San Francisco for a free taste of ice cream.

    Departing from the Cannery 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm

    Duration: 2 hours

    Price: $90

    Spooky Halloween Tour

    Running: October 10th through October 31st

    Join us for a ride through the historical Presidio district .Authentic fire gear （服装）is provided for your warmth as our entertainers take you to some of the most thrilling parts of San Francisco

    Departing from the Cannery: 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm

    Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes

    Price: Available upon request

    Holiday Lights Tour

    Running: December 6th through December 23nd

    This tractive four takes you to some of San Francis's most cheerful holiday scenes. Authentic fire gear is provided for your warmth as you get into the holiday spirit.

    Departing from the Cannery 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm

    Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes

    Advance reservations required.

There was a man playing the piano in a bar. He was a good piano player and always performed in this bar. People came in just to hear him play. But one night, a customer told him that he didn't want to hear him just play the piano any more. He wanted him to sing a song.

The man said, "I don't sing." But the customer was persistent(执着的). He told the bar manager, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that man to sing!" The manager shouted across the room, "If you want to get paid, sing a song. Our customers are asking you to sing!" So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the first time. And everyone was surprised by his song Mona Lisa. He got lots of applause that night. He had such a talent for singing, but he just had been sitting on his talent for the past years! If without such a chance, he may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. However, now he has become one of the best-known singers in America.

You, too, have skills and abilities. Maybe your "talent" is not as great as the singer above, but it may be better than you think! And with effort, most skills can be improved. So, in your life, you should be brave enough to try doing different things and find out what talents you really have!

Jean is a bright young woman who comes from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has everything that money can buy. Well, almost everything. The problem is that the people in Jean's family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her. In fact, Jean is quite lonely.

So Jean spends a lot of time on her QQ. She likes being anonymous(匿名), talking to people who do not know about her famous family and her rich life. She uses the name Linda on QQ and has made a lot of friends who she keeps in touch with quite often.

Last year Jean made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had a common(共同的) interest in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot their time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: He was a tall, good-looking young man with a big, happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other. When Jean's father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest DVD of their favorite rock singer. But when she knocked on David's door in San Francisco, she found that her special friend was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!

Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older. Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they say by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85. The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 24 and 25. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply (突然地) after people reached their fifties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar feeling patterns as they grow older.

However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their feelings. They so spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be connected to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being (幸福) related to age.

People all have good days and bad days. And some of the bad days happen due to events beyond your control. One way to increase the possibility that you have a good day is to join in "gratification(喜悦)" activities , which you enjoy and you're good at. However, if you don't have the type of job, you can take part in other activities and find the same result.

There are many little pleasures you can add to your life, such as tea, a warm bath, a walk in the park and so on. As long as you enjoy them, they can really brighten your every day. Laughter is also part of having a good day. That's why it's important to do what you can to create joy for you.After all, if you are humorous, you can more easily center on fun things.

If you don't have much time, one way can be used during a stressful day. You should achieve this by making your plan flexible and checking that everything in your plan is necessary. Being busy is okay, but wasting time and energy on too many unnecessary things can just lead to stress.

A. Often, bad days come from overweight stress.

B. Some people experience joy and happiness at work.

C. Good moods enable us to notice more chances.

D. Life's pleasures are also able to add a quick lift to your mood.

E. However, people do have power in creating better days.

F. So it's important —especially if you're a busy person—to stay balanced.

G. Besides, developing a sense of humor also helps you have a good day.

Last summer, we went to Hawaii for holiday. During my week-long trip with my husband, we spent most of our time 1during the day in the sea, and then enjoying walks along the beach in the evenings.

We didn't take any 2because we had enough. We had visited the island many times 3. On our way to the 4we joked that other than our sun-burnt skin, we had no way to show that we had 5there!

As we stood in line at the check-in, we noticed the 6who had been on our plane the week before. 7, they all had tear-filled eyes this day. On the plane, we sat directly behind them: a mother and her four children without Dad's attendance. We learned that the father had been 8in a jet-skiing accident that week, and his wife and children had to 9make their way home without him.

We watched the children become unworried while they were playing cards. But the mother stared at her knees, 10to believe her husband's death. We could 11feel her pain as we realized that this could have happened to any of us. While we were laughing and playing in the water, this poor family had been 12the sufferings. The vacation they had dreamed about had 13the terrible dream they would never forget.

I suddenly 14that we had no pictures for this vacation together. I closed my eyes, hoping that my mind had recorded all the wonderful moments that I had 15with my husband that week. What a trip!

We used to appreciate those  like to help strangers. But nowadays some people tend to be very (care) in helping strangers. Our class (have) a discussion about whether we should help strangers or not last week. Opinions are different on this topic.

Some think we should try to help others whether they are strangers or not. Helping others is  virtue, and it will make our society more harmonious. Besides, helping others is helping ourselves. We may come across some trouble  need others' help some day. If everyone turns a blind eye to our trouble just because we are strangers to them, it's hard (imagine) what our world will be like. However, others are afraid that helping others can sometimes bring them trouble or even put them in danger. Sometimes we (misunderstand) and thus have to pay the cost of kindness.

In my opinion, we should try (we) best to help others when they are need of help, but we should also protect ourselves from (get) into trouble.

    During lunchtime, Emma suggested going to the zoo to feed the animals and her mom agreed.

    "We'll stop by the bakery and pick some bread up. Now hurry and eat and then we'll go. It's going to be a lovely day. Grandma is coming with us. She'll be here any minute,' mom said.

    Emma ate her lunch and then ran into her room to get her shoes. The problem was that she could only find one of them. She looked under her bed, but all she could see were dirty towels and pants. She moved some of her toys out of the way, but still couldn't find her shoe. After she'd checked everywhere in her room, she ran into the kitchen. "Mom, I can't find my shoe. Will you wait while I look for it?"she asked.

    Her mom thought about how many times she'd told Emma to clean her room up. She whispered something to Emma's grandma and then said to Emma, "You will have to stay home. Your dad and I will take Ryan to the zoo. Grandma will stay here with you."

    "No! Please wait for me. I want to go to the zoo,"Emma cried. "I'm sorry, Emma. I've told you a dozen times to clean your room and you ignored me. You can't find your shoe now. It's your own fault for not doing as I asked. You will stay home."

    Emma ran into her bedroom, crying. Her mom came to the door and said, "Emma, clean that room of yours before I get home. I've told grandma not to give you any sweets until you finish the work." She went out to the car with Ryan and Emma's dad and then they drove away.

注意：1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；

4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1：

    Emma sat on her bed and cried for a long time.

Paragraph 2：

    Emma and her grandma were sitting at the table, eating when her mom, dad, and Ryan came home.

1）表达写信意图及应聘目的

2）自我介绍（能力、性格等）

3）表达期望

注意：

1）词数80左右

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3）不能使用真实姓名和学校名称。

Dear Sir / Madam,

……

Yours,

Li Hua