Are you ready for the coming festive season? What gifts will you give to make your friends feel special? Here teenagers share their ideas for gifts and look forward to the ones they'll get.

Hu Ziwei, 15, Nanjing Foreign Language School

My class will have a gift exchange party, during which we will put on a small talent show. Many of us had our gifts ready a week ago. I believe that the boys will give magic tools, stationary （文具） or sweets, while girls are likely to give dolls or mobile accessories （掛件）.

The biggest fun about these parties is not knowing from whom you'll receive a gift and who will receive your gifts. The computer will decide everything! Our teacher hopes the activity will help us get to know each other better – you see, we've only known each other for three months. I'm looking forward to my surprise gift!

Liu Wei, 17,Beijing No 8 High School

Although my birthday was in November, I'll get a special birthday gift from my classmates this week. A．collective （集體的） birthday party is scheduled for all the students who had birthdays fall in the last six months.

My classroom has been decorated with colorful ribbons and Christmas balls. Someone told me that there will be a huge birthday cake and that a personalized gift sent with best wishes from other students is being prepared for each birthday student. I'm sure we will treasure this event and I'm so looking forward to the big moment!

Yin Zhaohua, 19, Jixi No 1 High School in Heilongjiang

I'm still enjoying the gifts I received on Christmas Eve. Nowadays traditional greeting cards are being replaced with apples and sweets, which symbolize （象征） hope for the year ahead. I got more than 20 apples this Christmas, which means I sent a similar number of apples out. I think apples are healthier, more environmentally and friendly gifts than cards sent through the post.

Wu Shang, 16, Mianyang High School in Sichuan

These last two weeks have been filled with every kind of exam so the atmosphere（氣氛） on campus is not at all like a holiday. I miss the days when I got handwritten cards.

In fact, I haven't received or sent holiday cards since the Internet became popular. It's so fast and easy to send an e-card. Also, text messages are fun and convenient （方便的）. I'll send warm hugs to my best friends on New Year's D．a(chǎn)y to let them know that I'll be always there for them.

1. Where is Yin Zhaohua from?

A．He is from the east of China                   B．He is from the capital of China

C．He is from the north of China                  D．He is from the west of China

2. Before the gift exchange party, Hu Ziwei knows _____________

A．from whom she'll receive a gift           B．who will receive her gifts.

C．what gift she will send to her classmates    D．that she may get a magic tool

3. In Liu Wei’s classroom we can’t see _____________ during the collective birthday party.

A．some colorful ribbons                              B．some Christmas balls

C．a(chǎn) huge birthday cake                               D．some mobile accessories

4. On New Year’s D．a(chǎn)y Wu Shang will _____________.

A．have an important exam                   B．send some handwritten cards

C．meet and hug her best friends warmly       D．send some text messages to her friends

5. From the passage we can infer _____________

A．the kids share the same ideas about gifts  

B．the kids will receive and send expensive gifts

C．a(chǎn)pples are sent as gifts to keep young kids healthy

D．the kids are trying to show their wishes in different ways

　　Thank you for your postcard. I show（給……看）it to some of my friends at school. Three other students in my class have friends in other countries, too. One of their cards is from Australia, another is from America, and the third is from China. They also get postcards from their friends in England.

　　Now I want to tell you something about my family. My father and mother are farmers. I have a sister and a brother. My sister teaches history in a middle school and my brother is studying at university（大學(xué)）.

　　Thank you for your postcard. I show（給……看）it to some of my friends at school. Three other people in my class have friends in other countries, too. They also get postcards in England from their friends. One of the cards is from Australia, another is from America, and the others are is from China.

As a volunteer(自愿者) teacher, I traveled a long way to a small village school in Longzhou, Guangxi. On my way there, I thought about the village, the school and the childrenn there. However, my heart sank when I arrived there. It wasn't what I expected. It didn't look like a school at all! The school had only three rooms, one for Grades 1, 2 and 3, and the other for Grades 4, 5 and 6. There was a third one for me.

　　The children welcomed me warmly on my first day. They asked me a lot of questions, and I told them stories about myself and my life in Shanghai. The next day, I gave them a test to find out their level（水平）. To my surprise, though the test was very easy, over half of the students failed it, yet they all wanted to learn new things. I knew they needed me.

I was busy preparing lessons and reading test papers every night. I enjoyed teaching these lovely and hard-working children, and I could see that they were making progress(進步) with my help. I have also learned a lot from them. I understand their level is becoming higher and higher, and we are good friends now.

I worked in Longzhou for a year. I'm very happy, and the experience(經(jīng)歷) is very useful to me. I love the small village and the children. In fact, I would like to continue working here.

1.How many grades are there in the school?

A．2                B．4                C．5                D．6

2.The writer came from        .

A．Longzhou         B．Guangxi           C．Shanghai          D．Beijing

3.What does the writer think of working in the school?      .

A．Boring            B．Useful            C．Careful           D．Surprising

4.According to the passage. The writer        .

A．was sorry for the school                  B．worked hard to teach the children

C．don’t want to work in the school           D．left the school in a short time