假如你是李华，你们学校的英国友好校下周将要来访。学校国际部正在招募接待英国学生的志愿者，陪伴他们度过周末。你想成为志愿者。请用英语写一封申请信，在信中说明你申请的理由，以及你打算拿给英国学生安排哪些周末活动。

提示词语：get along with, friendly, places of interest, Chinese dishes

提示问题：1. Why would you like to be a volunteer?

2. What do you plan to do during the weekend?

I would like to be a volunteer to receive the British students.

I'm looking forward to your early reply.

Maker Moment

Last year, Izzy Goldstein, 12, learned in science class that we can  reduce air pollution by using natural energy sources, such as wind and  solar power, instead of gasoline. This made her wonder what she and her  schoolmates could do to help the environment. "Maybe if my school got  a bike rack（架子），more kids would bike to school instead of depending  on cars," Izzy told TIME for Kids．Rather than ask their school to buy a  rack, Izzy and her friends decided to make a bike rack by themselves.

They came up with a design. They calculated how much wood they might need. They measured howlong the boards should be. They used power tools to cut them and put them together safely. And they didall this in their school's makerspace.

Makerspaces are workspaces where kids can learn to create objects using technology, engineering,art and design. These spaces often feature a mix of high-tech machines, such as 3D printers and robotickits（工具箱），and simple materials like clay and cardboard.

Izzy goes to the Harley School in New York. It is one of a growing number of schools across theUnited States with makerspaces. Makerspaces are largely inspired by Maker Faires（创客盛会），whichare events that give people a chance to share their creative projects. Each year, about 250,000 peopleattend the Maker Faires in San Mateo, California, and Queens, New York. Maker Faires have alsospread to countries around the world, including Egypt, France and Thailand.

Schools are introducing makerspaces to the curriculum（课程）because makerspaces give kids away to have ideas and build something from those ideas. Kima Enerson is a makerspace teacher atthe Harley School. But she says kids can become extraordinary makers in an ordinary classroom, too.In Harley's Lower School (pre-kindergarten to Grade 4), students learn about the basics of computersoftware. By third grade, they study coding and how electricity works. In sixth grade, they learn to safelyuse tools such as drills and saws. When students get to high school, Enerson shows them how to applytheir skills to solve global problems. "Throughout the process of designing, students are learning tocreate something to better the world," she says

It was the middle of July. I had spent two days exploring a bat cave in thedesert in southern New Mexico. The cave was part of an ancient flow of lava（熔岩流），now hardened into rock. I had left the cave and was driving my pickup truckon a rough（高低不平的）track across the________surface of the lava flow.

Suddenly, the truck came to a stop, caught on a black lava rock.

A quick check of the underside ______the worst: the truck's axle（车轴）was bent，nearly broken intwo. I couldn't ______ help in such faraway country. I put the food and cans of water into my backpackand set off on foot, going north, the direction of the main highway．I was low on water. Too little food didnot matter much, but hiking across the desert in July without water could be dangerous. As I set out,unreasonable ______ came over my mind. I was afraid of everything around me. Each creature mademy heart jump. In my mind, every movement was a scary animal about to strike and kill me.

I walked for hours and cried until I________that nobody was around to hear me. Complaining wasuseless. A change came over me. I began to feel less afraid. Fear was replaced by curiosity. I went on,and slowly but surely began to see the desert world differently, through_______ eyes, not frightened ones.That night I lay on the warm sand, using my backpack as a pillow. The sky went dark. The starsbegan to shine in the hugeness of the heavens. With a smile I thought how little there was to fear, afterall. By noon the following day I ______north. I began to think how lucky I was to see the wild desertworld. A wrecked truck and a forced hike across the desert gave me an/a ______ to see what few othersever saw

Late in the day, I came to a farmhouse. I drank all the lemonade that the farmer and his wife had intheir refrigerator. "I liked it out there," I told them when we got to talking. "I just wish I had been lessfrightened. I would have noticed more that way "I know what you mean," the man said thoughtfully."It's a rare sight, that desert wilderness, a rare sight’

   CAFA Art Museum

CAFA Art Museum was built in 1953. Now the new museum is in ChinaCentral Academy(学院)of Fine Arts. The second floor is designed to display(陈列)works by some great artists. The third and fourth floors are the gallery for modernart exhibitions

Poly Art Museum

Poly Art Museum is designed to develop national art and culture. It triesto rescue and protect Chinese cultural relics (遗产) lost abroad. More than 100pieces of Chinese bronzeware (青铜器m)are on display. Now Poly Art Museum isconsidered as one of the best-known art museums in China

Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy

Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy is a neighbor of the beautiful Chaoyang Park. It has all kinds of meeting halls. There are workrooms that are largeenough for artists to create huge paintings. There is also a bookstore, a coffee houseand other culture and leisure places.

Beijing Han Meilin Art Museum

Beijing Han Meilin Art Museum is the largest personal art museum in China. Han Meilin is a well-known Chinese artist. He is famous for designing Fuwa dollsfor the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Han Meilin also offers help to gifted students

My name is Jackson. I'm a great reader with good memory. I rememberalmost everything I read. But I don't like to speak in class. When Mr.Knoll announced an oral book report, the idea of going up and having myclassmates staring at me while I talked filled me with anxiety.

As for the date, if the book report was due in two weeks, I would do itright then. Mr. Knoll, though, gave us a month to get the report ready, so Ithought I had plenty of time.

Finally, I chose Fire-Hunter by Jim Kjelgaard. It looked really interesting. I read the first few pagesand then I set it aside. I wasn't worried. I had plenty of time. Then the book got buried in the clutter(杂物）in my room.

Before I knew it, the date of the book report was a week away. Some kids had already finished. Iwas in a panic. I raced home and found the book. Trembling（颤抖），I turned to the back and discoveredthere were 218 pages! I read like crazy

The last day came. When Mr. Knoll called on me to give my report, I still had eighty pages to go.

The class looked sorry for me when I pulled myself forward. They could see my fear.

"My book is Fire-Hunter, by Jim Kjelgaard," I began slowly. Then I started to tell the story and theclass seemed interested. To my surprise, I discovered I was enjoying myself. However, I had no ideahow the book ended. I really didn't know what came over me. I made up the rest of the story on the spot.The class loved it, and applauded as I finished.

At break time, Mr. Knoll called me over. "You know, Jackson, I don't really remember the book

ending that way."

I gulped（倒吸气）．

"You told a pretty good story，”he continued. "The assignment was an oral book report. You did a great job on the oral part’

"Uh, thanks," I said.

"When you actually finish Fire-Hunter, please come to me and give me the book report’

"Yes, I definitely will," I said. I knew I would never make that mistake again.

You're not the same person you were as a child. You're not even the same personyou were five years ago. We don't just mean your personality. While we'd love tostart a never-ending discussion over the “true self”，we're here to talk about thecells（细胞）in your body.

Do you know how your fingernails and hair are constantly growing and replacingthemselves? The same thing happens almost everywhere in your body. Your outerlayer of skin makes way for fresher skin, and inside your veins（血管），blood cells turn over to make wayfor fresh blood. It's probably no surprise that these types of cells are short-lived, even some of the mostseemingly permanent（永久的）parts of your body replace themselves over time-including your bones.

Strong as your bones might seem, the cells they're made of won't last a lifetime. Bones are masters at rebuilding themselves, which is why most broken bones can heal on their own into the right shape.

Bones have special cells called osteoclasts（破骨细胞）whose job is to break down bone, even if itisn't broken, and send the minerals into the blood stream. This may sound frighteningly like your bonesare wearing away, but your body knows what it's doing. As osteoclasts break down bone, osteoblasts（成骨细胞）build up new bone to replace the old. By the end of each year, about 10 percent of yourentire adult skeleton will have been rebuilt through this process.

If 10 percent of your bone breaks down every year, it must take about ten years to renew 100percent of your skeleton. That would be a great guess, and it lines up nicely with the medical myth thatthe human body's cells are fully replaced every seven years, but the body is a bit more complex. That10 percent is just an average-some bone grows faster than that, and some grows slower. While someparts of your bone will turn over quickly, other parts will stick around for decades. In fact, most bonecells could live as long as 50 years.

So before you get wrapped up in an identity crisis（危机）about the cells in your body disappearingon you, know that you can lose some hair and you can cut your nails, but the bones of you aren't goinganywhere-at least not very soon and not all at once.

For years, the word “popular'，has been demonized（妖魔化）and made thesame as mini-skirt-wearing, hair-coloring cheerleader types like Regina Georgein Mean Girls. Today, teachers and parents inform children that being popularis irrelevant（不相干的），unnecessary and a sure shortcut to upset, misery, anddeath. And some people describe popular students as the ones most likely tobum out and end up as nobody, while their less well-liked counterparts enjoy alife of wealth and fame.

However, the Oxford English Dictionary defines（定义）popularity as:“TheState or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people’ Thissounds like a lovely thing, and is not related to such behaviors as “burn books” or “three-way phonecalls" in Mean Girls．

In fact, it is a truth widely acknowledged that young people who feel liked or supported are morelikely to obtain impressive achievements than those who feel lonely, unvalued, and irrelevant socially.So why, then, is popularity given such a bad name? Why is this state of well-likedness so demonized?

Basically, the hatred (恨) shown toward what appears to be a very pleasant thing is caused by lackof understanding. When we, as viewers, see characters such as Regina Georges on TV and in films, werecognize them to be popular. These characters, if not exactly liked,，greatly admired by their peers（同伴）．Our mistake comes when we try to understand their cruel and unkind actions using the deduction（推论）method.Humans are imperfect, and even the most intelligent mind is open to dishonesty through a very smallslip in logic. Unfortunately, this occurs here with branding results

We first learn that a character is popular. Since this is important to the plot, it is constantlyemphasized, leading it to be the most common thing in our minds when we consider the character.Later, we see that character do something unkind. The character's most noticeable characteristic (inour minds) is his/her popularity. And now the character is mean and unkind. This character is popular.Therefore, we jump to a quick conclusion (结论) that popular people are mean and unkind.

Things such as improper behaviors and rumor-spreading are terrible and should always be seenin a very serious light. However, it is important to recognize that these are not the behaviors of popularpeople, but bullies.

So, in summary, do not be afraid to be popular and have many friends. If you are kind to everyoneand treat others with respect, there will be few who can criticize you, for being widely liked is not acurse but a blessing. Just remember that being popular does give you a degree of power, and with greatpower comes a large electricity bill!

“持之以恒，方得始。”坚持是一种可贵的品格。生活中想要做成任何一件事情，都需要持之以恒的精神。

某英文网站正在开展以“坚持”为主题的征文活动。假如你是李华，请用英语写一篇短文投稿。谈淡你在初中生活中坚持的一件事（爱好，习惯……），你是怎样做的，以及你的感受。

提示词语：keep, practice, difficult, give up, proud

提示问题：1. What did you do?

2. How do you feel?

It s important for us to keep trying to achieve our goals.