Dear Ashley,

    How are you? I had a good time last Saturday, May 19. I went to visit the world 一 famous Empire State with my friend Ann.

    The Empire State Building is an important symbol of New York City. It was officially opened May 1,1931 when the United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building's lights with the push of a button from Washington D. C. At that time, it was the tallest building in the world. I know your film is Sleepless in Seattle, so you must have seen the image of the building in it.

    Ann and I didn't have much time to enjoy in New York City, so we experienced the NY Skyride, New York's one and only virtual tour simulator (模拟装置), on the second floor of the Empire State Building. I liked the ride very much. It lasted for more 20 minutes. We enjoyed the amazing sights of New York City without ever leaving our seats.

Yours,

Ross

    Travel can teach kids more than a textbook. Travelling with kids is good them. They can find new interests. Travel makes information alive for kids, and makes it much more exciting than studying textbooks orexperiments in the lab. While traveling, they learnto deal with new situations, and communicate with other people. They learn patience, because sometimes takes a long time to get to some exciting or interesting places.

    I've been traveling since I was seven years old. For me, to stop traveling would be like taking something from my soul(灵魂). I can't live without traveling and I wouldn't be who I am if I don't travel. Some people think it's to travel after having kids. But in my opinion, when people become parents, it doesn't mean they couldn't travel any more. My children have been traveling since they were three weeks old.

    Bringing a new life into the world comes with many responsibilities(责任)and I'd love to be a good mother. One of my duties is to educate my children. I'mthankful that my parents took me on family trips when I was young. I've learned that outside world is more colorful than the little one I was living in. Of course, I want to pass these travel on to my children.

    I value the memories I have traveling with my children. I'm sure they will always them in their lives.

The willow branch (柳树枝) is a part of the willow tree. In ancient China, willow branches were often used as a parting gift between friends and family  (member). Even today, willow branches  (mention) in many cases as a symbol of saying goodbye. Do you know ?

One reason is that willow trees are strong. They can live  (easy) in any place, wet or dry, north or south. Because of this, giving a willow branch to say goodbye to loved ones is a way to tell them you hope they will get used to  (they) new living environment.

For another reason, the pronunciation for the willow tree "liu (柳)" is similar  the character "liu (留)" in Chinese, which means inviting someone  (stay) —only the tones are different. So  (offer) a willow branch means asking the other party to live for a longer time, even though we know that they must leave.

It's said that this custom became popular during the Han Dynasty. At that time, Baqiao, a bridge in Chang'an, today's Xi'an, was  common place to say goodbye. People often  (stop) there and handed willow branches to people who were leaving.