Late one night, Gulliver received a warning that some nobles wanted him killed. Even the emperor of Lilliput wanted to give him less food to save _______. It was true Gulliver was very expensive.

Quickly, he wrote a letter to the emperor, “I’m _______ to visit Blefuscu, as I promised.”

Then he hurried down to the sea _______ Lilliput and Blefuscu.

The king of Blefuscu himself came out to meet him.

“Welcome!” cried the king. “Stay as _______ as you like.”

Walking on the beach a week later, Gulliver saw out at sea a small boat—but a full-sized one. It was _______ upside down in the water.

Gulliver rushed to the king. He begged, “Can you help me rescue the boat? This could be my chance to go home.”

“Of course,” said the king. “Take some ships to help you.”

Gulliver swam out to the boat, holding ropes from each of the _______.

With the ships pulling and Gulliver _______, the boat was brought safely to shore.

Gulliver and the king’s men set about fixing the boat for his long journey home. Soon, the boat was finished.

“I’d like to leave now,” Gulliver told the king. “But no one at home will _______ my story. Could I take some of your people with me?”

“I can’t possibly _______ that,” said the king. “But you may take some ________ and a sheep.”

He also gave Gulliver fifty bags of gold coins. “I don’t want you to go,” he said. “But I understand ________ you have to.”

“Thank you,” said Gulliver. “I’ll never ________ you all.”

After only a few days at sea in his boat, Gulliver saw a ship. He shouted and waved wildly.

He was ________! One sailor found him. The ship sailed over and ________ Gulliver. “Where have you come from?” asked the captain. “A place called Lilliput.” said Gulliver and he showed the captain the ________ from the emperor.

The captain was so surprised. For a few gold coins and a couple of cows, he agreed to take Gulliver all the way home.

—Adapted from Gulliver’s Travels

Wetlands are any land that is flooded with shallow water all or most of the time. They are a natural water holding system.

There are many types of wetlands. Among them, bogs, marshes and swamps are the three main types. The different types of wetlands have different kinds of plants. Only mosses(苔藓)and a few other kinds of plants can grow in bogs. Grassy plants like cattails（香蒲）and reeds(芦苇)are the most common plants in a marsh. A swamp is a forest whose ground is underwater all or most of the time. Unlike bogs or marshes, a swamp is full of trees and bushes. It’s not a good idea to go exploring a swamp without a guide. There are hidden pools of water, thick mud, and sometimes big crocodiles(鳄鱼)looking for their next meal.

Hungry crocodiles aren’t the only animals that make the wetlands their home. Otters, turtles, frogs, snakes and many other animals do too. The water is home to many kinds of fish and crabs. Birds, including ducks, geese and cranes, use wetlands seasonally during their long migrations.

Wetlands are important because they provide habitats for plants and animals. A wetland system can also protect shorelines, make polluted waters clean, prevent floods, and restore underground water supplies.

According to WWF, more than half of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since the beginning of the 20th century. If this continues, countless plant and animal species will surely die out. Without wetlands, cities have to spend more money treating water. Don’t feel helpless. Try to do your part to protect them right now. Here are some ideas.

Every month, Julia and her cousins would go for the big family meal at their grandparents’ house. On each visit, their grandpa would give them a few coins. Then all the children would run off to buy sweets. One day, he gathered the children together. He said, “Let’s have a competition to see who can manage money wisely. At the end of this year, tell me how you’ve used your money.”

Ruben and Nico, the two smallest kids, continued spending their money all on sweets. Every time, they would show off their sweets in front of the other children. This made Clara and Joe so angry that these two could no longer keep saving their money. They soon joined Ruben and Nico.

Monty was a clever boy. He decided to manage his money by buying and selling things. Soon he made a lot of money with little effort. The way he was going, he would end up almost a rich man. However, he began to spend his money on more and more expensive things for himself. A few months later, he hadn’t a single penny（便士）left.

Alex saved and saved all the coins he was given, and at the end of the year he had collected more money than anyone. He was the clear winner.

There was also Julia. Poor Julia hadn’t a penny on the day of the competition. She had spent all her coins on her secret plan. Julia knew a poor violinist who played in the park, and she offered him all the coins for his violin lessons. Although it wasn’t much money, on seeing Julia’s excitement, the violinist agreed. A little after a year the violinist loaned her a violin so they two could play together in the park. They were so successful that she managed to buy her own violin. Even better, she later became a very famous violinist.

My five-year-old son befriends the woman. It starts with voices in the yard. When I come out to check on Daniel, his face is pressed on the fence（篱笆）.

The woman says, “You wait right here; I’ll be right back. ”

She returns with a saw（锯子）. There’s a whirring. A circle in the wooden fence drops out of sight.

“Dad! Sandy just drilled out a hole in the fence so Sandy and I can talk! ” Daniel spins around.

I hadn’t known her name was Sandy. We’ve lived here a month before Daniel was born.

Daniel’s and Sandy’s murmuring voices continue. Whenever Daniel is outside, he circles near the fence that isn’t a fence any more. Some days my son just goes to stand at the hole, yelling, “Sandy! Saaaaandyyyyy!” Sometimes I hear bits of their talk.

“We painted a ghost at school.”

Or: “Wheeler and Jackson were playing football, and they told me I couldn’t play.”

“That wasn’t very nice, ” says Sandy. “Did that hurt your feelings? Did you let them know that?”

I can’t hear how he replies. A moment of envy runs through me. He never talks about his school things with me.

Daniel and Sandy not only keep chatting through the hole, they also exchange gifts. A coloring book, then a Hot Wheels car. It’s unclear what Daniel gives Sandy in return.

One afternoon, I hear Sandy’s voice floating over the top of the fence with the hole. “I thought maybe Daniel could come for a play date.”

We ring the bell on Sandy’s porch. She’s a middle-aged woman with smiling eyes. Sandy’s yard is sweet with the smell of flowers. We have a pleasant afternoon with Sandy, my son’s adult friend, the first friend Daniel has made on his own.

A month later, Sandy leaves to care for her mother in Kansas. She left behind a box of presents: a coloring book, sidewalk chalk, the missing orange part in the Hot Wheels track. When I look at Daniel, he’s looking down at his shoes.

He sometimes wanders down to the fence. Instead of calling “Sandy! Saaaaandyyyyy!” he cries. “Hello! Helloooooo!”

One day, Daniel receives Sandy’s postcard. They write frequently, warmly.

Researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, a State-owned defense contractor, have developed and made the world’s first robot whale shark（鲸鲨）.

The robotic shark has been on display in an aquarium（水族馆）at Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park since January.

A whale shark is a slow-moving carpet shark and the largest known living fish.

Designed and built by engineers at the Shenyang-based No 111 Factory, the underwater robot is 4.7 meters long, weighs 350 kilograms and can move 42 meters a minute.

Powered by a lithium battery, it can swim, turn, float and dive like a real shark by moving its mechanical fins（鳍）. The mouth and gills（鳃）can also open and close like a shark’s. The biomimetic shark is made of sensors（传感器）, multi-joint fins, batteries, and systems which enable it to avoid what’s in the way in all directions.

“The robot can reach a depth of 10 meters and work for as long as 10 hours,” said Fang Xuelin, a senior researcher in charge of the robot shark program.

“The shark can be remotely controlled and can also swim based on preset programs or its own sensors,” he said.

“We have built multiple kinds of robot fishes, and the robotic whale shark is the largest mechanical fish we have made so far,” Fang added. “Our robots are to serve three purposes—to perform in aquariums for entertainment, spread knowledge about the sea and aquatic（水生的）animals among youngsters, and carry out scientific tasks such as hydrological surveys, underwater photography and environmental inspection.”

“The factory now plans to develop more types of aquatic robots, including some extinct mammals（哺乳动物）, for display in parks and schools. It will also promote the products to businesses engaged in fields such as underwater salvage and mineral prospecting,” he said.

You don’t know me unless you read a book called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck’s my name, Huckleberry Finn. That book ends like this: my best friend, Tom Sawyer, and I found $12,000 in gold in a cave. We became rich. We got $6,000 each.

My mother died long ago and then my dad, Pap, disappeared. He was always drunk and he often beat me. Then a kind old lady called Widow Douglas took me into her home to live. She gave me a bed to sleep in and bought new clothes for me. She read stories to me and taught me how to eat at a table. She sent me to school every day.

I hated those new clothes. I missed my old life. I put on my old clothes and ran away and was free and happy, but Tom Sawyer found me and said that if I wanted to join his club, I would have to return to live with the widow. For this reason, I returned to live with her.

The months passed and winter came. The weather got cold. One morning I woke up and there was snow on the ground. On my way to school I saw some footprints outside the widow’s house. My heart jumped. Pap!

“He’s heard about my money,” I thought. “And he wants it! ”

When I lit my candle and went up to my room that night, there sat Pap—his own self! I expected to be scared of him now, but I wasn’t. I stood looking at him; he set there—looking at me.

Pap was nearly fifty years old. His black hair was long and uncombed and dirty. He had allowed hair to grow on his face, which was ghostly white. Just looking at the ugly white skin made me feel sick. His clothes? —dirty and torn. His feet showed through large holes in his shoes. His hat was on the floor—an old black hat with a large hole in it.

—Taken from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Grand Canal（大运河）is a man-made waterway that runs north and south in eastern China. Dating back 2,500 years and stretching 1,794 kilometers, it is among the world’s oldest and l
61． canals. Yangzhou China Grand Canal Museum is located on the bank of the ancient Grand Canal in Yangzhou, one of the eight c
62． in Jiangsu province sitting along the Grand Canal.

The museum o
63． its doors to the public on June 16,2021. It covers an area of some 80,000 square meters. It has two structures: a four-story building in the s
64． of a giant ship waiting to set sail, and a 100-meter-tall Tang-Dynasty-style tower.

The museum has 11 themed exhibitions（展览）. They are telling the h
65． of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal built during the Sui and Tang Dynasties（581-907）, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the East Zhejiang Canal. These canals offer a wealth of historic and cultural attractions w
66． they continue to be used for transport, irrigation（灌溉）and flood control. The 25.7-meter-long, 8-meter-high ancient Bian River section is c
67． by many as the “treasure of the museum”.

So far, the museum has over 10,000 exhibits（展品）, including 20 groups of large ones, making it the best collection to show the grandness of the canal and h
68． people changed nature.

Passing t
69． the exhibition hall and into the antiquated（老式的）streets, visitors can see restaurants and shops along the street, as if walking in the water village on the canal during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Yangzhou China Grand Canal Museum is different from all the other m
70． which are themed on the Grand Canal in China. Why not come and visit it yourself?

最近，你校开展了“巧手制书签，书香满校园”主题活动，请你以“A DIY bookmark for my favourite book”为题，根据表格中的内容提示写一篇英语短文，向学校英文报的读书专栏投稿，介绍制作书签的目的和过程，并分享制作心得。

A DIY bookmark for my favourite book

Last week I took part in our school’s Reading & Bookmark-making activity. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________