When milk arrived on the doorstep

    When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn't take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.

    Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note-“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.

    All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.

    There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.

    Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch （门廊）. Every so often my son's friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.

Competition in the Olympics should be between athletes who use their own strength or speed. If some athletes don't follow the rules, it ruins the fun for everyone connected with the game. It also gives an extremely unfair advantage to the athlete using the drug.

———Jim from Atlanta

Drug use among top athletes has long been a problem. Without drug testing, the Olympics would be about who uses the most drugs, not who trains the hardest and has the most athletic skills. Also drugs hurt people and they could even kill people.

———David from Houston

Why should athletes be allowed to compete when it's not really them who are actually competing? It's the drugs that do all the work. Athletes who use drugs are like runners with skates. It's cheating and irresponsible, which must be strictly forbidden. It's unfair to other competitors who don't use drugs.

———Bruce from Chicago

Most sports athletes are held to a standard of being drug free. Olympians should not be held any differently. They take part in highly competitive sports for their country and win medals for it. Testing the athletes for drugs must be done in every country and every sport. No drug testing would be unfair to people who don't use drugs.

———Sam from Los Angeles

Although popular opinion is against athletes' using drugs, I believe they do help make the Olympic sports more wonderful. I enjoy seeing human beings achieving things that couldn't be done with normal conditioning. I enjoy seeing stronger, faster and longer performances by make good use of drugs.

———Jack from New York

Can you remember the first time you learned to ride a bike or drive a car? Learning theses skills changed your life forever and opened up new horizons(视野). Learning about computers can be like learning how to ride a bike or drive a car. Once you have employed the time to master the skills, you will never go back to the old days. The new technology is just too convenient and too powerful.

Technological developments all through the years have enabled us to do more with less effort. We have continuously looked for better ways of doing things. Each invention and new development has allowed us to extend our capabilities. Today we see one of the most dramatic technologies ever developed—the computer. It extends the capabilities of our minds.

Computers have saved organizations millions of dollars. Furthermore, these same computer systems have opened up new opportunities that would have gone undiscovered or ignored. There is no doubt that computers have a positive influence upon people's life, and the growth of computer usage is surprising. On the other hand, the computer can do serious damage. Invasion of privacy(侵犯隐私), fraud (欺诈), and computer-related mistakes are just a few shocking examples. So the computer is like a double-edged sword. It has the ability to cut us free from some activities, but it can also cut deep into financial profits(利益), personal privacy and our society in general. The choice is yours, and only through knowledge of computer systems will you be able to avoid the dangers while enjoying the many, many benefits of the computer age.

Ministers are being urged to do more to encourage children to speak two languages from a young age. Edinburgh University and the Royal Society of Arts say research points to bilingual (双语) children being better at learning a lot of subjects.

A new study by the university suggests children speaking two languages make no more grammatical mistakes in English than those speaking one language. Professor Antonella Sorace tested a number of school-age bilingual children. Her study showed that children learning two languages may begin to talk later.

Professor Sorace said bilingualism made children generally better at learning in their lives. She believes parents often put off bringing their children up bilingually because they feel it may hinder(阻碍) their intellectual(智力的) development.

"My parents don't know how good bilingualism can be and they think that bilingualism can cause confusion (迷惑) and intellectual delay in the child," Professor Sorace said. "They purposely refuse to speak one of the languages they could be speaking."

"By bringing them up bilingually they can give them much more than two languages." Professor Socrace said. She hoped her findings would encourage parents to send their children to Gaelic schools.

Kids and Food: Advice for Parents

It is important for parents to know how to help their kids eat healthy. Here are a few easy ways:

Parents control the supply lines.  Though kids may keep asking for less nutritious foods, parents should decide which foods are regularly provided in the house. Kids won't go hungry. They'll eat what's available in the fridge at home.

Say goodbye to "clean-plate club".  Lots of parents grew up under the clean-plate rule, but that way doesn't help kids listen to their own bodies when they are full. When kids feel full, they're likely to overeat.

 Food preferences(喜好) are developed early in life, so try to offer different kinds of food. Likes and dislikes begin forming even when kids are babies. Parents may need to serve a new food on several different occasions(时机) for a child to accept it.

Food is not love. Find better ways to say "I love you." When foods are used to reward kids and show love, they may start to turn to food when feeling worried or unhappy.

Kids do as you do.  When trying to teach good eating habits, try to set the best example.

Choose nutritious food, eat at the table, and don't forget breakfast.

A. Start them young.

B. Rewrite the kids' menu.

C. Be a role model and eat healthy yourself.

D. Offer praise and attention instead of food treats.

E. Let kids stop eating when they feel they've had enough.

F. You decide which foods to buy and when to serve them.

G. Let kids choose what to eat and how much of it they want.

    A woman in her sixties lived alone in her little cottage with a pear tree at her door. She spent all her time taking care of the tree. But the children nearby drove her 1 by making fun of her. They would climb her tree and then run away with pears,2 “Aunty Misery” at her.

    One evening, a passer-by asked to 3 for the night. Seeing that he had an 4 face, she let him in and gave him a nice 5. The next morning the stranger, actually a sorcerer (巫师), thanked her by granting (允准) her 6 that anyone who climbed up her tree 7 not be able to come back down until she 8 it.

    When the children came back to steal her 9, she had them stuck on the tree. They had to beg her long 10 she gave the tree permission to let 11 go. Aunty Misery was free from the 12 at last.

    One day another man 13 her door. This one did not look trustworthy to her,14 she asked who he was. “I am Death. I've come to take you 15 me,” said he.

    Thinking fast Aunty Misery said, “Fine, but I'd like to 16 some pears from my pear tree to remember the 17 it brought to me in this life. But I am too 18 to climb high to get the best fruit. Will you be so 19 as to do it for me?” With a deep sigh, Mr. Death climbed up the tree 20 and was immediately stuck to it. No matter how much he warned or begged, Aunty Misery would not allow the tree to let Death go.

Now a hot topic is  (discuss) about whether the old computers in our school should be replaced  new ones. With the rapid  (develop) of science and technology, there is no doubtour old computers are totally out of date. The headmaster as well as the teachers and students (be) not satisfied with the slow working speed of the computers. Therefore, all of them request to have a new computer so that their problems can be solved  (success). the school should consider isto deal with the old computers wisely. Personally speaking,  (throw) them away to the place where they are regarded as rubbish is notgood idea.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号( )，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用(＼)划掉。

修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Mr. Johnson is a hardworking teacher. Every day, he spends too much time with his work. With little sleep and hardly any break, so he works from morning till night. Hard work have made him very ill. "He has ruined his healthy. We are worried about him." That is which other teachers say. Yesterday afternoon, I paid visit to Mr. Johnson. I was eager to see him, but outside her room I stopped. I had to calm myself down. Quietly I step into the room. I saw him lying in bed, looking at some of the picture we had taken together. I understood that he missed us just as many as we missed him.

要点提示：

1）个人情况：年龄、性别、学历（高中）

2）个人条件：英语好、爱好运动、善于交往、乐于助人、熟悉当地情况（有方向感）

3）承诺：提供最佳服务

注意：1）词数100左右，开头和结尾已为你写好（不计入总词数），

2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

Dear Sir./Madam,

My name is Li Hua. I would like to apply to work as a volunteer for the winter Olympic Games.