If someone¹ asks me which season I like best, it's a hard ques-tion for me to answer. Because there are four seasons in a year. We can go for an outing² in spring. In summer, we can go swim-ming. After summer, we can have a good harvest³. We can go skating in winter. Anyhow⁴ I like spring best.

Spring is the most beautiful season in a year. The weather gets warmer, and the days get longer. Everything begins to grow. Trees turn green. At the beginning⁷, they are light green. Each leaf⁸ seems⁹ to be cleaned by spring wind. Many kinds of flowers start to come out. They are colorful¹⁰, red, yellow, orange and white. They give the earth¹¹ a pretty coat. The fields¹² and meadows¹³ are covered¹⁴ with fresh¹⁵ green grass. Rivers pass through the coun-tries and the cities quietly¹⁶. Look! The swallows¹⁷ are coming back again. They are flying to the south in spring, because the weather is warmer in the south. At the same time, bears wake¹⁸ up from their long winter sleep. Cats begin mewing. Dogs begin barking¹⁹. The forests²⁰ are filled²¹ with the songs of birds. All the sounds on the earth are like music. Later²², most of the animals will get mar-ried and have babies. New lives tell us that: this year is better than ever⁶ before.

I like spring very much because I can enjoy spring festival. In China, People celebrate²³ spring's coming by spending spring festi-val. It is the most important²⁴ festival in China. It isn't the same date each year. Usually, it comes between January and February. On that day, people clean and tidy their rooms. Because they think cleaning can make them forget all the unhappy²⁵ things in the last year. In the shop, many people are busy looking for food and presents. In the evening, people have a big family get-together²⁶ at home. Children wear new clothes. They get some money from their Daddy, uncles and aunts. They are the happiest. In North China, people often make dumplings²⁷ before the Eve⁵. Money looked like the dumplings in ancient²⁸ time. Dumplings mean rich, so they like eating them. In South China, after tasting delicious²⁹ food, people usually go to a flower market³⁰ or watch CCTV pro-grammes. The programme³¹ is wonderful. At twelve o'clock, every-one welcomes the new year's coming. That's a peaceful³² night.

Now spring festival is coming again. Spring is coming, too. "Well begun is half done". I hope³³ all of us can have a nice beginning in 1999.

点评:

Ban³⁴ Wenjuan likes English very much. She often goes to the "English Corner "to practise her spoken³⁵ English and she has made³⁶ rapid³⁷ progress³⁸. Through taking part³⁹ in the" National⁴⁰ Students Spoken English Competition⁴¹", she realized⁴² that there was⁴³ a long way to go before she could⁴⁴ learn English really well.

指导教师：郑晓兰