文/长沙新航道雅思培训助教：童璇

Describe a gift you have received

On my birthday, I received an Apple laptop from my father. It is one of the best gifts I've ever received. When I first saw it, I was taken by its streamlined and trendy design. I love it enormously that I always take it along wherever I go. Though the computer is designed for various tasks including graphic design, word processing and even gaming, I use it primarily for my studies, such as searching for materials on the Internet and sending my work by e-mail. I also find it much faster to take down notes by typing than by writing on a notebook.But, as matter of fact, it isn't really that special from any other birthday gifts. Yet I still have to say that it's brought me a lot of convenience in life. I want to thank my father for all the things he has given me. They all remind me of his love and that I must work hard to live up to his expectations.

A city you have visited

I'm a travel-fanatic and I've been to many cities in China. Today I'd like to tell you about Dalian, a small city with international style. Dalian is located at the tip of Liaodong Peninsula. Surrounded by the sea on three sides and one side by mountains, Dalian is one of the most beautiful cities in the whole of China. I first came to Dalian in the summer of 2010. The building were so modern that I was taken aback by their exquisite architectural design for a long time. Some were also extremely exotic, extravagant buildings with baroque-style domes, flamboyant columns and sculptural carving. All of these features were so impressive. What's more, the city's uniqueness does not only lie in its physical beauty, but also in its dynamics. Dalian is one of the fastest developing cities in China. It is full of work opportunities and there are many foreigners settling in Dalian now. Today it is becoming a regional center for culture and economy. In the last few years, it has achieved stable economic growth and still maintained balance between industrialization and environmental protection.

Describe a old people

There are many old people one can choose to talk about, but I choose to talk about Lao Zhang, literally Old Zhang, who lives right across the street from my home. Though short and thin, and much despised and often ignored by people, Lao Zhang was apparently once a pilot who had flown both jet fighters in the air force and jumbo jets for civilian airlines. He is not only kind and warm to people to people, but also talkative. But how did he become like this now, inward, always segregating himself from others? There are people who have said that it is all because of the Cultural Revolution, the ten-year dark period, when Zhang and his wife were denounced for many false accusations. After much affliction, Zhang's wife couldn't take it anymore and killed herself, and since then Lao Zhang had been becoming stranger and stranger, not willing to talk to anyone, often locking himself in his dark room.

Describe a famous person

When it comes to this topic, I always like to talk about Jackie Chan, a Hong Kong stunt actor turned international movie star. And the film I am going to talk about today is one fo Chan's classics-Police Story IV: First Strike. I first watched this film many years ago. How many years? I don't remember. But every time I watch it, it keeps giving me new thrills as if I had never seen it before. It is just one of the greatest action films I've ever watched. Set against the backdrop of the international arms race, Chan portrays a Hong Kong police officer who is contracted by the CIA and Russian intelligence organization to retrieve a stolen Ukrainian nuclear warhead. I'm so impressed by him because Chan performs nearly every stunt in the show himself, while most other movie stars use stunt actors. It is this attitude that makes him impressive, not the mere stunts.

Describe a long-unseen people

To talk about a person who has influenced me the most, I think there is none other but my father. Working as a government official, he doesn't appear to be extraordinary in any way, except by working faithfully and peacefully raising his family, never putting his family or children aside. Yet however regular he may look, he is never ordinary to me, because I've learned many basic and important life lessons from him: family, responsibility, accountability, faithfulness, vision and fulfilling goals, etc. He is the first and the best teacher in my life. As to influence, people all influence one another in one way or another during their contact. But as to whether my father has influenced other people as much as he has me, I am not sure. Nevertheless I always hear people in the neighborhood talking about him as a model husband and family head. He must have touched some lives.