A school bus is one that is used to take children to and from school.
In the USA, about 450,000 school buses take more than 25 million children to and from school. The yellow school bus is a US icon(象征).Yellow became the color of school buses in the USA in 1939. Dr. Frank got the good idea. He said it was easy for people to see yellow buses and the black letters on them in early morning or late afternoon. That would make children safer.
There are not many school buses in Britain, and they are not yellow. They have trackers(跟踪器) on them, so kids are being tracked while they travel to and from school by bus. The trackers let parents know where the school bus is and whether their kinds are on the bus.
Kindergarten(幼儿园) is difficult time for some kids. It’s the first time for them to go away from their parents. To make kids love their school, Japanese kindergartens and schools have colorful buses. The buses can easily make children want to take them---and then, go to school. Even some parents want to take them, too!
School buses are becoming more and more popular in Chian now. It saves a lot of time for students to take a school bus. It’s said that there will be 3,000 yellow school buses on the road by the end of this year in Chongqing.
【小题1】According to Dr. Frank, ______ school buses are safer for the students.

As we know, there are differences between western culture and Chinese culture. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used. Let’s look at the words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse” have negative(消极的) meanings. But in western countries, dogs are thought to be honest and good friends of humans. In English, people use the dog to describe positive(积极的) actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dog-tired” means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is cruel(残酷的)。
The rose is regarded as a symbol (象征) of love in both China and some western countries. People think the rose means love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.
The words about plants and animals are used in positive or negative ways in different cultures. We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how some words are used.
【小题1】“Every dog has its day.” Means “__________”

假如你叫王芳，最近在网上交了一位来自英国的笔友Mary，请根据以下要点给Mary写一封不少于100词的e-mail，介绍自己的情况。

要点：

1.王芳，15岁，双子座(Gemini)，家住姜堰；

2.喜欢读书、旅游和交朋友；

3.最喜爱的颜色是红色，因为红色是一种强色，象征力量和强烈的情感;

4.对英语很感兴趣，会唱很多英文歌曲；

5.班里的一些同学也很想找外国笔友，希望得到帮助；

6.有机会希望去英国学习。

Dear Mary,

I’m Wang Fang_______________________________________________________

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Yours

Wang Fang

A school bus is one that is used to take children to and from school.

      In the USA, about 450,000 school buses take more than 25 million children to and from school. The yellow school bus is a US icon (象征). Yellow became the color of school buses in the USA in 1939. Dr. Frank got the good idea. He said it was easy for people to see yellow buses and the black letters on them in early morning or late afternoon. That would make children safer.

     There are not many school buses in Britain, and they are not yellow. They have trackers (追踪器) on them, so kids are being tracked while they travel to and from school by bus. The trackers let parents know where the school bus is and whether their kids are on the bus.

     Kindergarten (幼儿园) is a difficult time for some kids. It's the first time for them to go away from their parents. To make kids love their school, Japanese kindergartens and schools have colorful buses. The buses can easily make children want to take them--and then, go to school. Even some parents want to take them, too!

     School buses are becoming more and more popular in China now.  It saves a lot of time for students to take a school bus. It's said that there will be 3,000 yellow school buses on the road by the end of this year in Chongqing.

1.According to Dr. Frank,           school buses are safer for the students.

     A. yellow            B. black              C. white              D. colorful

2.Children in Japan may easily          by taking the school bus.

     A. save time                             B. love their school

     C. play games                            D. do their homework

3.Chinese students will save a lot of time to          to school.

     A. walk                                    B. take a taxi

     C. ride a bike                              D. take a school bus

4.This passage is mainly about          .

     A. school buses                             B. school life

     C. popular colors                            D. students' safety