What does this phrase work in the whole sentence? " In Britain, pensioners that reach this landmar age recieve a congratulatory telegram from the Queen, herself an 86-year-old senior citizen." What does" herself an 86-year-old senior citizen" work in this sentence? I know what it means, but it seems to me that I'd like to say "who is an 86-year-old senior citizen”. Please tell me what this exactly works in the sentence. Thank you!

Hope to Have a Long-Distance Journey One Day My friend gave me a book as birthday present last year, which it’s my favorite. It’s written some wonderful and soul-touched landscapes and different areas the author had visited. The author emotionally wrote down the feeling, inspiration, insight and experiences of her all the travelling mentioned on the book. I love travelling but I have got no experience of any long-distance journeys. As the saying, “The best and most beautiful things in the world can not be seen or even touched, they must be felt with heart. ” it seems to me that the words with emotional honesty on the books can touch my heart more than the colorful pictures posted on pages. I hope I can share my travelling experiences to others one day, but, obviously, I should get the tourism expenses first. Title of the book in Chinese:《人生终要有一场触及灵魂的旅行》

Is It Hard To Get a Driver License in China? Driving has been common in China. Increasingly families own their cars for transportation. I decide to get a driver license. However, I just heard something criticizing from my friends. One of my friends told me that it took her more than one year to get that driver license. She complained that some of test is difficult for her. Moreover, the examiners she met in several times are strict on the exams. According to the textbook of driving test I have had, there are there parts of the whole driving test. First of all, you should pass a computerized test on the rules of the road in our country. Next, you can practice the field driving under the control of your driving coach if u passed the first test. If you pass the second test, you will be qualified for practicing and ordering the road test. Actually, there will be a written test after the third examination. Okay, fine. It’s hard to say whether I can pass all of these tests in its permission, apart from the long process of test climbing. I just think of a joke I heard before. A man is so nervously waiting for his driving test. When it’s his turn, he asks the examiner about the direction of the examination room. “Is it on the left?” “Right.” He turns to the right.

My Father's First Banana When I was young, I complained about something tough and abhorrent in my life, though it couldn’t even be a big deal for others including my father. I don’t remember when I heard the story my father told me, but I remember most of the details of the story explicitly. Once I refresh my memory of it, I can’t help laugh for a certain time. Growing up in a poor family, my father was living in a condition with resource shortage and education backwardness. A few decades ago, people in his hometown made livings with self-sufficiency. They ate what they have cultivated. However, my father’s family never plants banana trees, so he didn’t have one until a warm villager who lived on the back of the mountain gave him a real banana. He told me, emotionally, it was the first time he saw banana and knew what it’s like. Then he, so eagerly and ecstatically, peeled off the whole skin of the banana. It slipped from his hand… “Nobody tell me how to eat it, and I don’t know why it cannot stand on the hand like a pear.” he explained. I become more positive towards the difficulties as I think of the poor banana was “abandoned” by a boy who didn’t know how to eat it. Hahahhh

My Teacher Did Someting I Couldn't Laugh Out Loud I was self-studying in a classroom in the evening. Everything was so quite that I could hear someone entering to classroom. I kowned who was that, so I just pretended to study harder. Suddenly, I was distracted by the noise of foot stamping, while trying to keep focusing on the page I didnt understand. God konws how hard I kept my laughter hiding in the quite study room. My teacher behaved that nothing happened just now. I covered my mouth but my body couldn't help waving for my silent laughing inside. Is that only me noticing that my teacher stamped his foot on puerpose to cover the noice of his fart? ~LOL~

We Were Just Friends Last month, I told someone that I liked him. Can you believe that was my first time to show my confession of love to somebody? Being known my own feeling about him, I was so strained and agitated that I had not closed my eyes for two night. It terribly sucks. For god sake, I could not review my subjects during my preparing final test without sleeping. My eyes ware staring on the book,but my mind was fixed on something.At the night before taking the last test, I couldn't hide my mind anymore, so I sent a text to tell him my ture feeling about him. In the past few years, it was him that having dinner with me，walking with me, studying in the library with me, hanging out with me sometimes, even taking the same bus to hometown. It's all right. It's just my own feeling about everything we have exprienced together. Unfortunately his answer was indirect but not. I shed tears for my hopeless love. Now I get recovered from sad. I won't stay for any pity. Thanks for the man I met, I am moving on.

Am I right in this expression? Am I correct if I alter "Many of them are more likely to text their friends than they are to talk to them face to face" into "Many of them are more likely to text their friends than they talk to them face to face"? I replace "than they are to talk " with "than they talk". Is there any rule I should follow in the phrase "...more...than..."? Please help me in this question.Thank u very much.

How can I be less nervous when chatting with English speakers? I'm not an English native speaker,but I am eager to communicate with them.Even though I have learned the basic conversations,I could't help feeling nervous and being speechless.How can I do?