一.

　　Asking for Leave of Absence

　　To: Ms. Riddle, an Oral English teacher

　　From: Sam, a sophomore student in Oral English Class Two

　　Date: June 18th, 2005

　　Subject: Asking for Leave of Absence

　　Dear Ms. Riddle,

　　I’m Sam, a respectful sophomore student of yours in Oral English Class Two. I wonder if I could be excused for absence from your Oral English class this Wednesday morning.

　　Yesterday evening I got a phone call from my cousin, who is now running a small firm in the suburbs of this city. He needs an interpreter for two days but cannot find the most reliable person, so he wants me to have a try. Personally, I regard this as a golden opportunity to put what I have learned in your class into practice, but I need your permission of absence. If you think I may go and help him get over the difficulty, I am confident that I’ll do a good job and both of us will be grateful.

　　Earnestly yours

　　Sam

　　二.

　　On Power Shortage

　　1. 很多城市缺电现象严重

　　2. 分析原因

　　3. 提出建议

　　Recently, every morning when I wake up, I find my air-conditioner automatically turned off. I didn’t understand why at first, but soon I learned that there is a great shortage of electricity supply in our city—my air-conditioner turned off because of a power failure midnight.

　　With the rapidly developing industry and the ever increasing population, demand for electricity supply is soaring. Besides, summers in recent years are much hotter than before, so most working places and households are air-conditioned, which consumes additional electricity.

　　Faced with such a hard nut, we have to find ways to crack it. Above all, in western areas of China, there is surplus of electricity supply. So, cities that are thirsty for electricity may ask for remote help. Then, when we have electricity, we should remember to save it. Set your air-conditioners at 270C and you won’t feel less comfortable than when they are at 260C. In fact, some factories already shift their working hours to avoid the peak time of electricity-consuming. My parents don’t work from Monday through Friday as before—they work from Sunday through Thursday and have/take the following two days off instead. This is also a way out, isn’t it?

　　三. We Need Humor

　　1. 幽默可以帮我们解决问题

　　2. 幽默可以使生活充满快乐

　　3. 生活中离不开幽默

　　We Need Humor

　　A suspicious customer murmured, “I wonder if this milk is fresh.” The quick-witted waiter answered, “Fresh? Three hours ago it was GRASS!”

　　See? A humorous response may solve your problem.

　　Someone asked a young artist, "Did you sell any of your paintings at the art show?" "No, but I am encouraged," he replied. "Somebody stole one." And years later he became world known.

　　Humor may sustain us in hard times and bring happiness in everyday life.

　　Once my neighbor told me that he shaves fifty times a day. Was he crazy? Of course not—he is a barber.

　　So, my dear friends, remember, we need humor and try to be humorous in your life. Next time, when you are asked, “How can I stop water from coming into my house?” Say, “Don't pay the water bill.”

　　四.你的一个熟人下岗了，你给他写一封安慰信，并给他出点主意。以下谚语可以有选择地用于你的信中。

　　1. All roads lead to Rome.

　　2. All things are difficult before they are easy.

　　3. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

　　4. God helps those who help themselves.

　　My dear aunt,

　　I’m greatly surprised and sad to hear that you’re laid off. But please don’t worry too much. All roads lead to Rome. I believe we will find a way out.

　　I remember when I was a child, I had so many colorful and comfortable sweaters that I became my friends’ envy. Those were all your masterpieces. Recently I made a survey in the city where I’m living now, and found that unique hand-knitted things are much more welcome than mass products. Would you think about taking up knitting as your second career? I know, all things are difficult before they are easy. We will meet some unexpected difficulties in the beginning. But I firmly believe that nothing is impossible to a willing heart. Maybe your product will turn out to be a name brand.

　　My dear aunt, please do think about it. I’ll lend you a hand. Take care.

　　Your dearest niece

　　五. On The Earth or into the Sky?

　　With the Shenzhou No.6 successfully soaring into the sky and returning to the earth safely, China’s space flight has stepped further forward. But there arises a controversy: does it merit all the large sum of money and efforts (put in to achieve the success)?

　　Given the poor conditions in rural China, the children not being able to go to school, the husbands struggling to sustain a family, the old having difficulty living a healthy and happy life, some critics hold that the money, which has gone to the research of space flight, should have been taken better advantage of to improve people’s lives in the not so developed areas in China. They wonder what on earth the significance is to these people as far as the space flight is concerned.

　　But tastes differ. Those who approve of space flight maintain that it not only indicates our country’s progress in science and technology but also benefits all of us in that it helps in other scientific areas, Additionally, to compete in the world, we have to invest in space exploration to win worldwide attention and respect.

　　From my point of view, what we should give priority to is people’s lives, as it is the fundamental problem of almost every country. On the other hand, we should keep pace with the world in science and technology, space flight included. Only in this way can we have an advanced and harmonious society to live in.

　　六.Online Education

　　1. 目前网络教育形成热潮。

　　2. 我认为这股热潮的原因是.....

　　3. 我对网络教育的评价。

　　Recently an online activity has become very ‘in’. That is online education. 68 online education colleges have been established in the past decade in our country.

　　Why could online education be so popular in such a short time? Among other reasons, the quick development of internet should be an essential one, which makes all our dreams of attending class in a distance possible. Another underlying reason is the quick development of both society and technology. Today, modern science and technology is developing with lightning speed. To catch up with this development we all feel an urgent and strong desire to study. While on the other hand, due to the great pace of modern society, most people are too busy to study full time at school. Online education just comes to their aids.

　　Personally, I appreciate this new form of education. It’s indeed a helpful complement to the traditional educational means. It can provide different learners with more flexible and versatile ways to learn. Most of all, with online education, we can stick to our jobs and at the same time study and absorb the latest knowledge.

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