“Simply avoid her.” Abby listened closely, as I continued, “If she says any more __________ things to you, I’ll go to your teacher. I’ll make sure you are never in a(n) __________ where you have to sit next to her again.”

At that time, Allyson, my then eight-year-old, came to __________ us and listened to every word. Neither of my daughters interrupted (打断) as I finished my heartfelt speech, filled with __________ wisdom. Then, as I was telling them what I thought right, Allyson’s real words of __________ came about. “Mom,” she said, “I was just thinking. Maybe Abby should be that girl’s __________ so that she can bear (容忍) her. In that way, she can let that girl see forgiveness (谅解) and kindness through her.”

Hmm, I became the __________. At that moment, I realized that although I was wearing the “mother’s hat”, the “hat” certainly didn’t make me __________ all the time. In fact, I wanted to pull that hat over my face and hide myself so that they couldn’t see my embarrassed (难为情的) look.

“Yes, that’s a good point,” I commented (评论), __________ a half smile at my girls. “Abby, you deal with this situation the way you think is right.” “OK,” she said, giving me a quick hug (拥抱) before walking out of the door and off to school. “Bye, Mom!” Allyson called, following her big sister to go out of the door.

I was left alone-in my slippers (拖鞋). In those following __________ moments, I was lost in thought. I did feel __________ my two amazing daughters-small in size but big in heart. Sometimes our children have great lessons to teach us- __________ we are willing to listen.

That lesson came more than ten years ago, and I’ll never forget how much I have learned from my children.

   In modern times, our clothes seem good enough to meet our needs both in color and style. However, are you impatient with washing your clothes so often? Are you tired of the same color? If your answer is “Yes”, let’s meet the fashion in the future.

Sun-No-Spot

To clean this shirt, just stand in the sun! A special material on the surface receives UV light from the sun. This heats it up enough to make stains(污渍) missing. You stay cool, but stains disappear! Some stains disappear in minutes — others might take a day.

New Fabric Suit

Are you sick of holes in your clothes? This new material repairs itself! If this cloth gets a hole, just rub(搓揉) the broken place quickly. Heat from the rubbing will cause the materials to connect with each other again, repairing the hole. Hole? What hole?

New Wiggle Vigor

This cloth gets a charge(充电) from running around. As you move, the thin wires in the material turn your movement into power. This can charge a computer, an ipad, a hair-dryer, and many other small things that need power.

Chameleon Cloth

Tired of the same old look? How about clothes that change colors? This material is made with dyes(染料) that change colors when they get warm. A small battery heats up thin metal threads(金属线) in the cloth, to change colors or forms.

A．	B．
C．	D．

   In the Spring and Autumn period (475-221 BC) there lived a man called Ji Zha. He was the fourth son of the king of the Kingdom of Wu. Because of Ji Zha’s sticking to righteousness (义) and wide learning, he was his father’s favorite, and the king wanted to make him his heir (继承人). However, Ji Zha refused because he thought the king’s eldest son should be the one to receive the throne. Later, Ji Zha served as an ambassador (外交大臣) of Wu to other kingdoms in China.

Once, on a mission to the Kingdom of Lu, Ji Zha passed through the Kingdom of Xu. The king of Xu received him as a friend, and admired the valuable sword (剑) Ji Zha was wearing. Although his host didn’t mention it, Ji Zha could see he wanted to own it very much. However, as he still needed to go to Lu, Ji Zha didn’t give the king of Xu his sword as a present.

After finishing his mission to Lu, on his way back, Ji Zha once again passed through Xu. This time he decided to give the sword to the king of Xu. But when he arrived, his friend had already passed away. Ji Zha didn’t expect it and felt very sad. He took off his sword and gave it to the dead man by hanging it on a tree near his tomb (坟墓).

Ji Zha’s attendants (随从) didn’t understand his action, saying, “Sir, the king of Xu is already dead. Why do you still give up your sword to him?”

Ji Zha shook his head, “When I came to the Kingdom of Xu last time, I noticed that my friend admired my sword, and I decided that when I came back I would give it to him. However, I never expected this turn of events. But how could I change my mind just because the man had died?” With these words, he left the place, low-spirited and heart-broken.

   Durbeyfield sat down upon the grassy land by the roadside, putting his basket before him. In a few minutes, a youth from his village appeared in the distance. On seeing him, Durbeyfield held up his hand, and the boy quickened his steps and came near.

“Boy, take up that basket! I want you to do something for me.”

The skinny boy frowned (皱眉), “who are you then, John Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me ‘boy’? You know my name as well as I know yours!”

“Do you, do you? That’s the secret — That’s the secret! Now obey my orders, and Fred, I don’t mind telling you that the secret is that I’m one of a noble race (贵族) — it has been just found out by me this present afternoon.” And as he made the announcement, he luxuriously (奢侈地) lay himself upon the land among the flowers.

The boy stood before Durbeyfield, and looked at him from head to foot.

“Sir, John D’ Urberville — that’s who I am,” continued Durbeyfield. “Do you know such a place as Greenhill?”

“Yes. I have been there to Greenhill fair (集市).”

“Well, under the church of that city there lie my ancestors (祖先) — hundreds of them — in coats of jewellery. There is not a man here who’s got greater and nobler ancestors than I.”

“Oh?”

“Now take up that basket, and go on to the Pure Drop Inn, telling them to send a horse and carriage (马车) with a servant (仆人) here quickly, to carry me home. And when you’ve done that, go on to my house with the basket, and tell my wife to put away that washing, because she needn’t finish it, and wait till I come home, as I’ve news to tell her.”

As the boy stood in doubt, Durbeyfield put his hand into his pocket, and produced a shilling (a unit of money used in Britain until 1971).

“Here is for your work, son.”

This made a difference.

“Yes. Sir John. Thank you.”

The boy took up the basket, and set out at once.

   There are only 24 hours in a day, and usually about a third of that is spent sleeping. So is it possible to make use of this time and learn a new skill or even a language? In other words, is sleep learning possible?

Many studies have found that a basic form of learning, called conditioning, can happen during sleep. In a 2012 study published in the magazine Nature Neuroscience, for example, Israeli researchers found that people can learn to connect sounds with smells during sleep. The scientists played a tone (声音) to sleeping study participants (参与者) while putting some rotten (腐烂的) fish beside their beds. Once awake, when hearing the tone, the people held their breath in anticipation (预判) of a bad smell.

“This was a clear finding showing participants formed new memories during sleep,” said Andrillon, a scientist in this field.

Although the new memory was implicit (暗示性的), it could influence how people behave, researchers found in a 2014 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience. In that research, after spending a night in a room full of cigarette (香烟) smell mixed with rotten eggs or fish, smokers use fewer cigarettes.

Andrillon and his team members have found that learning in sleep can also go beyond simple conditioning. In their 2017 study published in Nature Communications, participants were able to pick out sound features that they had heard during sleep.

Learning abilities in sleep may spread to learning of words. In a study published in Current Biology, researchers played pairs of made-up words and their supposed meanings, like “guga” means elephant, to sleep participants. After this, when awake, the participants did better in picking the right translation of made-up words in a multi-choice test.

So far, research suggests it may be possible to learn about the tone and pronunciation of a language or even the meaning of words while sleeping, although it is to a weaker level than what we do during the day without noticing.

After appearing as a special event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, Wushu, widely known as Chinese Kungfu, will make its first appearance as an official (官方的) sport at the 4th Youth Olympic Games in 2022.

It’s a long-awaited breakthrough（期待已久的突破）for the International Wushu Federation (协会) (IWF), which made applications to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2001, 2008 and 2011, but failed. The first two applications were refused at the very beginning. The third application made it to the final voting for taking part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games but missed out once again.

Over the years, both the International Wushu Federation and Chinese Wushu Association (CWA) have done a lot to make improvement with strong support from the State General Administration of Sport of China (中国体育总局). The Administration not only offers technical (技术的) support, often sending experts or teachers to help their Wushu training camps, but also generously provides a great deal of Wushu equipment (设备) for free.

Every year, many local Wushu groups are sent abroad to put on Wushu shows, trying to improve the influence of Wushu in foreign countries. Through their continuous efforts. Wushu has become widely popular across the world, especially among young Wushu fans. Studies show that, today, about 120 million people are attracted to Wushu around the world.

China got Wushu accepted as an official Olympic event successfully in January, 2020, which helps to make it more international quickly.

A total of 48 athletes from across the world will compete in four Wushu events: men’s and women’s Changquan and men’s and women’s Taijiquan.

   假如你是Sam，你的英国网友Tom今年九月份将作为交换生来常州学习。他给你写了一封信。请你给Tom写一封英文回信, 帮他解答疑惑。

I’m very glad to have a chance to study in Changzhou this September. I hear there is a special day for teachers in China. I do think it’s a good idea, but still have the following questions:

1. When is Teachers’ Day? What’s the purpose and meaning of it?

2. What do students usually do on that day? As an example, what did you once do to celebrate it?

I really want to do something to join in this interesting festival. Looking forward to your guide and help.

Yours,

Tom

I’m very glad to share with you this special festival. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wish you good luck in Changzhou.

Yours,

Sam