去美国旅行英语作文(20篇)

With the brilliant fireworks light the sky, the prelude of the festival is

starting.No matter how long and how tough it is, the Chinese people trudged long

way to back home for the reunion of the family in the eve. It has been lasting

for many years, the Spring Festival Gala on the TV show is the repertoire,

entire family is enjoying the delicious and abundant dinner and foods and

watching the show together.For Chinese, every terrible memory and unhappiness

will be stopped at this night, and a splendid next year will also begin at here.

Their wishes become the blare of the crackers and colorful flash of the firework

into the air and spread faraway.For generations, the Spring Festival Eve is

considred as a new start for the future, a wonderful conclusion for passed a

year, and night when everybody is able to open their mind.

With the dramatic increasing economy, people have less time to stay with

the family. But in this eve, it could be a payback,a compensation, or a

opportunity to everybody who wants to share the enjoyment with his or her

family. The relaxing conversation and jokes are around the rooms with the warm

atmosphere in the chill winter night.

There are a lot of traditions of the eve inherited for generations. But,

now more and more new fashions introduced into this eve and even replaced the

old traditions. More and more people are glad to have the dinner in the

restaurants instead of cooking and having at home. However, no matter what it

is, a harmouious and peaceful night is the favorite of everybody here.

导语：你出去旅游喜欢用什么交通工具呢?下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Air travel has two advantages compared with train travel. It’s very fast and comfortable, and we can have a good rest in the plane. But air travel is very expensive.

Not only do we cost less when we travel by train, but we can also see much good scenery. Take the trip from Beijing to Guangzhou for example, if we go there by train, it costs us about 250 yuan, and we will spent about 24 hours on the travel. Besides, it is very crowed, and we may not have a good rest. But we can see much good scenery along the way.

If we go there by air, it only takes us two hours, and it costs at least 900 yuan. It’s also very fast and comfortable, and we will have a good rest as well. On the contrary, we will miss much beautiful scenery.

However, different people like different ways of traveling. People will choose the best way which is suitable for them to travel.

【参考译文】

与火车旅行相比，航空旅行有两个优点。它又快又舒服，我们可以在飞机上好好休息一下。但是乘飞机旅行很贵。

我们乘火车旅行不仅要花更少的钱，而且还可以看到许多美丽的风景。比如从北京到广州，如果我们坐火车去那，大约要花250元，我们大约要花24个小时去旅行。此外，它非常拥挤，我们可能不能好好休息。但是沿途我们可以看到很多好的风景。

如果我们乘飞机去那，只需两个小时，至少要花900元。它又快又舒服，而且我们也会好好休息。相反，我们会错过许多美丽的风景。

然而，不同的人喜欢不同的旅行方式。人们会选择适合他们旅行的最佳方式。

Spring Festival is coming,I am very happy.On this winter holiday,I went to

visit my grandparents with my parents. My grandmother is very zeal.Our dinner is

very delicious.After the dinner,the people gave me money in red envelopes.I am

very happy in this family with my grandparents.

Sometimes,we go to climb the mountains.The mountain is very high.Look!There

is a clean river near the mountain.And there are some beautiful flowers,grass

and big trees.Some trees are orange trees,the others are banana trees.Oh,I am

very tired but interesting.

I am very happy on this holiday because I like Spring Festival very

much.What about you?

Girls at a training course offered by the "Care for Girls" program in

Qingjian county, Shaanxi province, talked about their pursuit of dreams despite

living in unfavorable conditions.

Initiated by the National Health and Family Planning commission in 2013,

the program helps girls in underdeveloped regions to build their self-esteem and

self-confidence.

"I want to be a teacher teaching Chinese because I like Chinese and

writing," Xi said. "By teaching I can not only share knowledge with my students,

but also keep learning new things from new versions of textbooks."

She is living with her mother in a room that has no bathroom and costs 300

yuan ($48) a month to rent. Merit certificates she received from school are

displayed on the wall. Yan Lingling, Xis mother, said she is proud of her

daughter.

According to the family planning policy, couples in which both the husband

and wife have rural residential permits can have another child if their first is

a daughter. Yan said she isnt planning on adding to the family because she

wants to give her daughter the best she has.

"My husband is away most of the time, working in construction sites and

making no more than 30,000 yuan ($4,840) a year. I work as an hourly worker

sometimes. The rent of our apartment is expensive. One more child means one more

burden," Yan said.

Speaking about how she plans to achieve her dream of becoming a teacher, Xi

said: "I will not give up on my dream easily, though I know it may be difficult.

When something becomes difficult, it only makes me want to try harder."

Get up this morning, our family is happy New Year to each other.I finished

the accumulation, I went out to play to play.One out of the door, I saw

thousands of sunshine like a sword, Pierce the atmosphere, shine on the earth, I

think maybe because today is New Years day, the sky grandpa make the weather is

sunny today.Look at the sky, blue, bright and clean, like a transparent mirror

thick, white clouds, the clouds like cotton, like waves, hung on the day side,

compose the day over there, the sky is decorated picturesque.Look ahead, both

sides stood door lifelike stone lions, a big mouth, staring at two pair of big

eyes, power and grandeur, like two soldiers on guard, they are one male, one

female, male feet standing on a ball, like to play there, female foot stepped on

a small lion, like to look after their children there.Evening, mother asked me

to take a bath, I cant help but ask: "why the Chinese New Year will take a

shower?"Mother said: "New Years day to wash them clean, can have a good year,

next year there will be a good one million."Finished washing bath, I looked out

of the window, multicolored fireworks straight up into the sky, blossom in mid

air, like a peacock, such as split again.A moment is in red, like peach apricot

flowers rained, for a while, and all over the sky, golden like the harvest rice

is scattered all over the sky.

Finished watching the fireworks, I fell asleep.

In Earths northern side, Asias eastern part, Pacific Oceans West bank, some beautiful place, here is our hometown, here is our homeland, this is our great motherland - mother, is she, with ya already the milk, cultivated the myriad hero, was she, has given us the black eye, enabled us to go out the light from darkness, was she, has given me the yellow skin, looked like Yellow River to do the struggle equally with the life. This mother so is good at demanding, all outstanding children have given to the life she, this mother is also such gives generously, she wisdom, honest, brave, broadcast heroes mind sincerely.

Spring, always brings the jubilation to the people, brings the poetic sentiment, brings the daydream, brings the expectation, brings the hope, but this years autumn, must with general, is more unusual. In this happy season, from the south of the lower reaches of the Yangze River to the north border region, from a Ganjiang River shore to Lhasa forest card, Republic each square kilometer well-loved place soaks is being delighted and is happy, the flow with is singing happily. 1,300,000,000 China children release for flight the golden color ideal by the heroic intense singing sound and the rosy expectation, releases for flight the rock-solid faith with the line which praises to the great motherland.

The new Chinas establishment, is the innumerable martyrs trades with the blood and the life! Although is weak in the early years of the new nation Chinas economic basis, but the new Chinas leaders caused the Chinese people to stand thoroughly, caused China to realize thoroughly has been independent, is complete. in the pasts 70 age middle of the month, China one was rising step by step, this was the China children expected, was also worth dancing with joy. From the founding of the nation the first day, the many unfriendly countries internationally is being hostile toward China, does everything possible to hinder China to progress. the US was the biggest threat which China developed, the Korean War which, the Vietnam War the US started causes our country has suffered the heavy loss in the manpower and the financial resource aspect; The US supports Chiang Kai-Shek counter-attacks the mainland motion to cause our country coast not to be peaceful for a long time; Presents US still in did everything possible to suppress China, like did not acknowledge that China market economy status, gesticulates, force Renminbi revaluation in the Taiwan problem and so on, zai weilai di regan nian zhong, the US will still be Chinas enemies, is the forever trouble maker.

We believed that in the Chinese nation great rejuvenations journey, will certainly to appear for one another magnificent 30 years! Chinese nations rising, will certainly to let the world be proud for us!

在地球的北面，亚洲的东部，太平洋的西岸，有一个美丽的地方，这儿是我们的故乡，这儿是我们的家园，这就是我们伟大的祖国――母亲，是她，用睚已的乳汁，培育出了万千英雄，是她，给了我们黑眼睛，让我们能从黑暗中走出光明，是她，给了我黄皮肤，像黄河一样与生命搞争。这位母亲如此善于索取，以至于所有优秀的儿女都将生命献给了她，这们母亲又是那样的慷慨地给予，她把智慧，正直，勇敢，真诚都播进了英雄们的心灵。

春天，总给人们带来喜庆，带来诗意，带来遐想，带来憧憬，更带来希望，而今年的秋天，非同一般，更不寻常。在这美好的季节，从江南水乡到北国边陲，从赣江只滨到拉萨林卡，共和国每一平方公里的热土都浸透着欢欣与幸福，流淌着甜蜜与歌唱。十三亿华夏儿女以豪迈激越的歌声放飞金色的理想与玫瑰色的憧憬，放飞坚如磐石的信念与对伟大祖国赞美的诗行。

新中国的建立，是无数先烈用鲜血和生命换来的!虽然在建国初期中国的经济基础非常薄弱，但新中国的领导人使中国人民彻底站了起来，使中国彻底实现了独立、完整。 在过去的70年岁月中，中国一步步在崛起，这是华夏儿女所期望的，也是值得欢欣鼓舞的。从建国的第一天起，国际上的许多不友好的国家在仇视中国，想方设法阻碍中国进步。 美国是中国发展的最大威胁，美国发动的朝鲜战争、越南战争使我国在人力和财力方面遭受了巨大损失;美国支持的蒋介石反攻大陆行动使我国沿海长期不得安宁;现在的美国仍然在想方设法遏止中国，如不承认中国市场经济地位、在台湾问题上指手划脚、强迫人民币升值等等，在未来的若干年中，美国将仍然是中国的敌人，是永远的麻烦制造者。

我们坚信，在中华民族伟大复兴的征程上，必将出现一个又一个辉煌的30年!中华民族的崛起，必将让世界为我们自豪!

I think Mid-Autumn Day is an old traditional festival in China。 Everybody

likes it because its a family get-together。 You see it is called"Mid-Autumn

Day"， so it often es in September or October。 It is on the 15th of the 8th of

the lunar month。 Now， lets say something about this interesting festival。

Firstly， Id like to say something about the moon。 I like it very much

because I want to be an astronaut in the future。 That day the moon is round，

big， just like a beautiful plate hanging on the blue cloth。 When I see the moon，

I will remember the ancient myths——the godess Chang Er and her little rabbit are

playing under the tree which Wu Gang grows。 I will also think about Armstrongs

first moonwalk。 I will also miss the friends in Tai-wan island， in Macao and

Chinese people who are abroad。 I know they are missing us very much， too。

Secondly， I11 say something about the tradition on Mid-Autumn Day。

Look!Theres a big tree in a garden of a Chinese fami-ly。 All the family members

are sitting around a big table under the tree in the open air。 They are eating

the mooncakes and admiring the full moon in the sky。 That is a family reunion

dinner。 The mooncakes and the moon represent the love from a family。 I think

this is one of the most valuable things in the world。

Thirdly，it is a very good opportunity to make three wishes on Mid-Autumn

Day。 My wishes are: the first， I， an astronaut in the future， would like to go

to the moon one day， and stay with the sky and stars; the second， I hope every

person in the world will stay with family， share love from the family forever;

the third， I hope everybodys dream will e true。

That is the Mid-Autumn Day in my mind。 I will always re-member: East or

West， home is best。

The United States of America (USA) is the only superpower on this globe now. It is a developed country with diversified cultures such as Asian, European and African. Some people call USA "the melting pot" because of the diversity.

USA has a dominating power over economy, education, policitcs, milatary and culture all around the world. It has advanced industries, ideas and some of the smartest scientist on this earth.

But it also has its own problems such as racial discrimination and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

美利坚合众国（USA）是世界上唯一的一个超级大国.她是一个发达国家,有多元化的文化,像亚洲、欧洲和非洲的.正因为此,有些人把美国称为一个“大熔炉”.

美国现在在世界上的各个领域都雄霸一方,像经济、教育、政治、军事和文化.她有先进的工业、思想,并有全世界一些最聪明的科学家.

但是她也有自己的问题,比如种族歧视和穷富之间逐渐拉大的差距.

Tomorrow is dragon boat festival, I and father mother go together Woerma goes buying a zhongzi.

Arrive Woerma, I run to look for a zhongzi with respect to rapid ground. Wow! Here huge crowd of people, really lively. Well? How is that place person special much? Taking away doubt I looked in the past after all. Oh! Buy a zhongzi so, the zhongzi breed here is really too much: Of beef stuffing, of red jujube stuffing, of chop stuffing, of earthnut stuffing... my what look saliva should flow. Took a bag rapidly, say to mom: "Mom, I like to eat fresh chopped meat, I should be bought more a few. " mom nods express to agree, then I bought the zhongzi of a lot of fresh chopped meat.

Buy a zhongzi, we bought a lot of things again, have a meal in hall of Xiang Shang coffee next, had eaten a meal, we came home cheerfully, really happy today!

Look! This is the zhongzi that I buy, but delicious!

At present, many teenagers smoke. I dont think its a good phenomenon. It

must be stopped, for smoking is harmful in many ways.

First, smoking is bad for our health. As we start smoking, its so

difficult to give up, because the tobacco contains a drug called nicotine, which

can get us into the habit of smoking. When we go without nicotine, our bodies

will feel sick.

Second, smoking is so dangerous. When we smoke in bed, we may kill

ourselves as well as burn down our houses, for burning cigarette ends may cause

a big fire. And if we threw the cigarette ends anywhere, it would also cause a

fire disaster.

Furthermore, once we smoke in public, we may make other people feel

uncomfortable as well.

Accordingly, for the sake of your and others’ health, please dont

smoke.

If a book is the sky, I was the birds fly freely in the sky; If a book is

the sea, I will be the swimming fish; If the book is the forest, I is the forest

the jubilant fawn; If the book garden, then I will be the dancing butterfly. Is

ah, gorky said: the book said that the ladder of human progress. The status of

books in peoples minds.

The classmates, dont your parents let you read, think to learn major

courses is the most important? The benefits of reading: not only can improve the

ability of project, it is a great way of reading comprehension.

Remember once, the teacher arranged a composition, only a minority of the

whole class classmate "optimal" I one of its top, one might ask: how do you only

into their "team"? What is the "secret weapon"? Let me tell you: "secret weapon"

that book! Reading is not enough light to read a few times, read read through

the book, and those who make you feel good good words we accumulation. I also

specially prepared a unaccustomed strain. You look! The "king" composition is

leisurely leisurely reading! Accumulation of his words have a Big Ben, think of

is dazzling, how could he not write good, good composition?

I often read books, the romance of The Three Kingdoms, "journey to the

west", "the Wolf dream king", "red ribbon lion king" is favored by me, such as

read book is ever new, one of the "the black swan amethyst" I have read a dozen

times.

Books are necessary in my life, also is the most gorgeous rainbow in my

life, because it brings the colorful life.

1.进一步加强理论学习，更新教学理念，抽出时间学习新理论，以先进的教育理念指导自己的教育教学实践，本学期要学习有关有效教学资料以及改进评价内容和评价方法的资料，努力做到关注学生学业成就的同时，还要关注学生情感态度、行为方式的发展，注重培养学生综合实践的能力，全面提高学生的素质。

2.进一步落实与深化教学常规，聚焦常态课堂，打造高效课堂。按计划上好公开课，要求集体备课，及时评课，找出不足，共同学习，共同促进，以学生的主体作用为重点来实现高效课堂。同时，带领大家力求做到有效备课、有效上课、有效作业、有效培优补差，鼓励成员充分发挥教学特长，有效提高教学效率。

3.加强集体备课仍是本学期教研组工作的重点，因此要做到有计划、有目标、有实效，不走形式，各备课组本学期至少活动五次以上，时间固定，围绕主题，并有活动记录。以集体力量、集体智慧来提高全组成员的业务水平和教育教学能力。

4.初三备考是重中之重，加强初三毕业班工作的研究，提高毕业班教学效率，组织全组成员认真学习《中考说明》、《导引》和中考试卷分析材料，加强对中考动向的信息收集和试题研究。抓好听、说、读、写综合技能的培养，特别注重学生阅读、写作和应试能力的训练，力争顺利打响中考第一仗，争创中考英语成绩新辉煌。

5.加强科研文化建设，让研究成为习惯。研究能改变教师的生存状态，努力创设研究文化。本学期积极响应学校的科教研活动，开展一系列有关有效备课专题的活动：听说课的有效备课、阅读课的有效备课、复习课的有效备课。

6.继续建设本学科的资源库。建立学科的资源库，确实是一个利人利己的好举措。不断地添入新的资源，不断优化和建设资源库。

7.继续开展多样的学生活动，吸引学生的眼球,使学生更关注英语学习，营造有利于学生健康成长的学习环境。

总之，在校长室、教研室的带领下，我们英语组全体组员会开拓进取，不断完善自己，将教学质量放首位，为学校的教育事业贡献力量。

In an instant, and to the winter vacation, our winter vacation life rich

and colorful, I most love to my grandmother went to the winter vacation, my

grandma has a large yard, evergreen camphor, a colorful chrysanthemum, there is

a special season quiet hibernating turtle, up to the number of dust, all kinds

of vegetables with the above, if some snow would be more fun, but this holiday

isnt snowing, but Im not lost, there is so much mud, I can play with mud and

sister together, do "ceramic" play.

Although it was winter, it didnt feel cold at all. We were still happy to

get ready, spades, boards, and water. We caught a lot of dirt on the prepared

board, with a small amount of water and together, we had two small wooden mix,

but that is not only cumbersome and very slow, so we cut out by hand mix up, we

got two hands red with cold, also dirty, but his face was filled with happy

smile. I accidentally put mud on my face, my sister laughed I became a big

cat.

Then we grabbed the mud and fell to the ground, put it onto the semi soft

semi hard degree, as we fell awfully, my hand suddenly a pain, I looked at the

hand, turned out to be a stab into the palm, drew a deep hole, I can dont hurt

you call up. My sister hurried over to see what I see, a hand scratched, still

bleeding, hurried to help me wash away the mud and water stains, and then find

out carry off all that one has a small perturbation, give me the clip out of the

thorn, looked distressed. I am very grateful, kept saying thank you, sister to

help me put a bandage. Looking at my sisters wary look, the pain relieved a

lot.

We went on to work again, and finally, under our joint efforts, we made a

nice bowls. Our works were so successful that we forgot the pain.

In this winter day, although there is a pain, more harvest is happiness and

friendship. Enjoy the tail of my childhood. Find the joy of our childhood.

I think everyone likes weekend. Because it’s time for relax and fun. Now I

want to talk about my weekend.

I often spend Saturday for fun. Such as playing basketball with my friends,

watching movies and TV shows, having a trip with family and so on. And I always

spend Sunday for homework and have some rest. Sometimes I visit my grandparents

with my parents. It’s very interesting to visit them.

What is your favorite kind of music? Do you like jazz, popular music,

classical music, folk songs, blues, and so on? In high school I took one course

called music appreciation which I greatly enjoyed. This was not to learn how to

play a specific instrument but to learn how to read and listen to music as an

art form. We read the stories about the lives of many composers and the history

of the musical instruments themselves. Sometimes we listened to tapes at the

language laboratory, or concerts. Music is sometimes called a universal

language. A composer who cannot speak a single word of our language can make us

feel joy and pride, exaltation and despair, peace and mystery through his

music.

The sun shines on us. It gives us light and heat. It makes everything grow.

It gives the earth life.

The earth turns round itself. As it turns, we have day and night. It’s

bright by day and dark by night.

The earth also travels round the sun in an orbit. As it travels, we have

four seasons. It is hot in summer and cold in winter. the days are long in

summer and short in winter. In spring it is warm and the days are getting

longer. In autumn it is cool and the days are getting shorter.

internet slang be prohibited (互联网俚语应该被禁止……)

目前，一些诸如gg, mm, xia mi 等网络语言在青少年中极为盛行，并且出现在家庭作业报告，甚至全国入学考试的作文中。请你以 “should internet slang be prohibited (禁止)?”为题，根据下表内容用英语写一篇短文，并谈谈你自己的看法。

一些同学认为网络语言生动、时尚，网络语言充满幽默与智慧，使网上聊天更快捷。

另一些同学认为，网络语言缺乏思想性，没有被大部分人理解、接受，过多使用使人不解，甚至误解。

你的看法?

注意：

1. 短文开头已经给出，不计入总词数;

2. 词数：100左右

3. 参考词汇：生动的vivid;智慧intelligence

should internet slang be prohibited?

at present, internet slang, such as “gg, mm, xia mi”， has become popular among the teenagers.

there are different opinions on internet slang. some students think internet slang is vivid, fashionable and full of humor and intelligence. besides, it makes chatting on the internet quicker.

however, some other students think internet slang lacks depth of thought and is too simple. also, it is hard to understand and not accepted by most people. the words sometimes might make people confused, even resulting in misunderstanding.

every coin has two sides. in my opinion, living in the information age, if we don’t know the internet slang, we seem to fall behind the times. it will be ok as long as these terms are used correctly in proper situations.

Since the one child policy carried on, many families had only one kid. As the children growing up, they felt lonely, because they did not have anyone to accompany. They felt so envious when they saw others have siblings. There is no doubt that the one child policy has controlled the population to increase so fast and helped people to improve their life lever. Recently, the government tends to open the second child policy slowly. People hold the different opinion. Some people think that it is good to let the child have siblings, so they will not lonely and can learn the meaning of sharing. Other people don’t want to have one more child because they don’t have enough money. They want to give the best education to the child, so they think one child is enough. Anyway, the second child policy gives people more choice.

由于独生子女政策的执行,许多家庭只有一个孩子。当孩子们长大了,他们感到孤独,因为他们没有人陪。他们看到别人有兄弟姐妹时会感到很羡慕。毫无疑问,独生子女政策控制人口快速增长和帮助人们改善他们的生活水平。最近,政府趋向慢慢开放二孩政策。人们持有不同的意见。一些人认为这是好的,让孩子有兄弟姐妹,这样他们不会孤独,可以学习分享的意义。另外一些人不想要一个孩子,因为他们没有足够的钱。他们想给孩子最好的教育,所以他们认为一个孩子就足够了。无论如何,二胎政策给予人们更多的选择。

The longing summer vacation is approaching, it is the best part of the

school year for me. I cannot let the holidays elapse (逝去) meaninglessly, my

vacation should be a phase (时期、阶段) of harvest. The events in my plan should give

me a sense of infinite potential.

The following plan may reveal the intensity of my desire to travel, work

and study in this vacation. In the first few days I want to climb Mount Hua Shan

with several friends to refresh ourselves. Then I tend to visit relatives,

senior school teachers and former classmates(老同学). Besides, to find out the best

ways to cultivate my abilities, I will find a part time job and conduct some

social investigation.

In short, I want to do interesting things in the summer vacation. Whatever

I do, the goal is the same: to get necessary experience, acquire knowledge and

broaden my horizons. Though the six week vacation will pass away at lightning

speed, its influence is bound to last long.

Dragon Boat Festival is the traditional day in China, it is on the 5th day

of the 5th lunar month. The common activity for different places are dragon boat

competition and eating zongzi. In my hometown, there will be the dragon boat

competition every year. A lot of teams join this activity and there are full of

audiences stand on the river side, wathing and yelling for the teams. It is one

fo the biggest matches in my hometown. What’ more, making zongzi is also the

tradition. My mother makes the zongzi at this time every year, she told me that

she learned it from my grandma and she would teach me in the future.

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas"Have you heard that song? Yup! Its Christmas time! This Christmas, I stayed with my "host family"1. It was an amazing experience to see how a typical American family would celebrate the biggest western festival of the year.

Christmas, like our Spring Festival, has a meaning in itself. Christmas Day, which is on December 25, is the birthday of Jesus Christ--the son of God. Thats why it is called Christmas. On that day, Christians would get together with their families to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. But nowadays, the religious meaning of Christmas has become less emphasized. To many families, it is just a time of family reunion and the ever-exciting present-giving.

Our school had been on winter vacation since December 11. I stayed at my friend, Stephen Stapczynskis house--his family was my "host family". Although Christmas was still more than ten days ahead, the festive spirit had already been teeming everywhere. The Christmas tree had already been set up, and on every windowsill, there were Christmas lights. On the first day I arrived at their house, Stephen and I helped Mrs. Stapczynski put decorations on the Christmas tree. The tree looked so nice with all the lights on and the beautiful ornaments dangling from its branches.

As Christmas came closer, the whole neighborhood had made preparations too. Some people would hold parties at their houses, inviting all their neighbors to come. So every night, if you went out, you would see a long line of cars parked in front of some house--a partys on!

Whats more, the Christmas decorations that some people put on their windows and in gardens were just amazing. On one night, we went out in our car for a "tour of lights". There was one street that was so famous for its lights that it got its way into the local paper. We had a hard time finding the well-hidden street, but it turned out to be worth the effort. Lights shone brightly in front of nearly every house, on trees, bushes, doors, windowseverywhere, taking different shapes, making it seem almost like daytime. Huge inflatable figures in the front gardens were waving to us: there were Santa Clauses2, of course, chuckling merrily away; and there were also other Christmas figures, like Rudolph3--the red-nosed reindeer--with his red nose gleaming ever so brightly; even Bart Simpson--a character in the famous comedy The Simpsons--had joined the jolly party, wearing a Santas hat. The street set off a lot of "ooh"s and "aah"s inside the car.4 When we left, there was a line of cars in the street, all there to see the lights.

Christmas is the time for exchanging presents. Stephen and Niko had been thinking about their Christmas lists (a list of things they wish "Santa"to give them for Christmas) for a long time. I didnt want to ask for anything, but the Stapczynskis were so kind to "force"me make one list as well (Mr. Stapczynski told me if I didnt make one he would chop off my legs). So I wrote down a couple of things that I would like to have, and gave the list to them--sorry, my mistake--to Santa.

Finally, Christmas Eve came. There was a special Christmas service at the church at 6 p.m. It was certainly a very interesting experience for me. The priest started the service reading and sang out extractions from a holy book--The Divine Liturgy. For several times, we would stand up and pray.

Sometimes, the church choir would start singing. The atmosphere was very quiet and holy. Then there was a ceremony called "The Receiving Communion". People waited in line to "receive"a spoonful of food from the priest. It was a very special Christmas tradition. The food was made from bread and wine. The bread represents the body of Jesus, and the wine represents his blood. After this ceremony, the priest had a speech. He reminded us not to forget the true meaning of Christmas, and let Jesus really live inside us--that is, to love the people around us wholeheartedly. I think that no matter if you are a Christian or not, this principle should be part of our lives. After the priest finished his speech, the part that I enjoyed most came: Christmas carols5. Christmas carols are songs that people sing at Christmas, such as "Jingle Bells", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Silent Night"and so on. Some were very merry, others sounded quite holy, but all of them were beautiful. I closed my eyes, and let all the peacefulness and happiness that were in the songs flow through me. What a feeling it was!

We went to sleep earlier that day for we had to get up early on Christmas Day to open our presents. Sure enough, when I was still half-way during a sweet dream, Stephen burst into my room and told me to get up and open presents. There were a huge pile of presents under the Christmas tree, and there was such a mysterious mist shrouding them that made me eager to see what they all were. So one by one, we went through all the presents. Mr. and Mrs. Stapczynski had bought me everything I had written on my Christmas list--and a lot more! I got music CDs, film DVDs, clothes, books I was very happy, and I didnt know how to express my appreciation for what they had done for me.

Stephen and Niko had gotten a lot of presents too, and they had already been trying out their new games!

In the afternoon, we went to Mrs. Stapczynskis brother, Uncle Stans house. They had prepared a marvelous meal for us. A lot of their friends and relatives also came. I saw Stephen and Nikos grandparents, Yiayia and Papou (words of grandma and grandpa in Greek--Mrs. Stapczynskis parents came from Greece, so they like the boys using Greek words to call them). They were very kind to me, and treated me just like one of their family members. We had a very luxurious meal, consisting of turkey, beef, pork, and all sorts of other food.

After the meal, when all the stomachs were full and everyone was feeling drowsy6 from all the food, we just sat around the table and chatted, just like what we Chinese people do at the Spring Festival. After all, Christmas, like the Spring Festival, is a time for us to get away from our busy lives, a time for family gathering, and a time to have some fun.