学进去

There are many schools in ancient China. Today let’s see the four ancient academies (书院) of China.

·Yingtianfu Academy

Yingtianfu Academy in Shangqiu, Henan Province, also known as the Nanjing Guozijian, was built by Yang Que, who loved education and teaching.

Later, Fan Zhongyan came to study here, then settled down and served as a main teacher of this academy. In 1043, Song Renzong changed Yingtianfu Academy into Nanjing Guozijian, making it the highest academy in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Located at the foot of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan Province. Yuelu Academy has been famous since it was set up in 976 A.D. in the Song Dynasty. The academy, experiencing the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, has seen a history of more than one thousand years without a break, so it is called the “one-thousand-year-old academy”.

Songyang Academy is at the foot of Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, which was built during the North Wei Dynasty over 1,500 years ago. It was called Songyang Temple at first.

After changing its names several times, it became Songyang Academy in 1035. Since then, it has become an education institution in ancient China. It was also one of the birthplaces of Neo-confucianism (理学) in the Song Dynasty.

Bailudong Academy, located at the southern foot of Wulao Peak, Jiangxi Province, is regarded by some people as “the best academy” in China. It was built in 940 A.D. as the first comprehensive (综合的) academy in history.

Zhu Xi, a Confucian scholar in the Song Dynasty, rebuilt the academy to personally teach and set the rules and purposes. Later, the rules of Bailudong Academy have influenced the school-running model for centuries. They have now spread to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other areas.

Coronaviruses (冠状病毒) are a large family of viruses (病毒). It can cause disease (疾病) in animals. It can cause sickness from the ______ cold to much more serious disease like SARS. Experts still know little about the new coronavirus.

The disease is called a “novel” or new coronavirus because it is _____ for the first time in humans. It is said that the virus has spread to humans from wild animals. Chinese officials say the disease is able to spread from one person to _____. This makes it especially hard to _____.

Signs of the patients have included (包括) fever, cough, shortness of breath and general breathing _____. In more serious cases, the virus can cause pneumonia (肺炎). Some people report few or no signs. _______ others have gotten very sick or even died. It is reported that signs of the virus may appear between 2 and 14 days after being near someone who is ill.

There is no special treatment for it. _____, many patients can get well, as long as they’re in good _____. Because the virus is so new among humans, no available vaccine (疫苗)is _____ to protect against the disease. But the WHO (世界卫生组织) advises people to avoid close touch with anyone showing signs of a breathing disease, such as coughing. It also says people should wash their hands often and pay attention to the food safety.

The government also gave some helpful suggestions. It says washing your hands for at least twenty ______ with soap and water, avoiding touching your face with unwashed hands, staying at home when you are sick, and cleaning objects and surfaces that are touched often.

When we visit museums, we see cultural artifacts(古器物). However, debate surrounds(围绕)these artifacts and whether or not countries should return these if they were stolen.

By the 18th and19th centuries, European countries such as Britain, France, and the Nether-lands had ruled many African and Asian countries. During their rule, they brought artifacts to their own countries, showing in museums.

Over the years, European museums have been asked to give back the artifacts. In 2009, Egypt demanded that France return five pieces of a wall painting. In 2012, Nigeria asked for the return of thirty-two cultural items. In 2017, the Government of Benin tried to reach an argument with the British Museum to return their Benin Bronzes.

The debate took a turn in 2018 when under President Macron: all objects brought to French museums would be returned! With the official report, museums all across Europe began reconsidering their previous policies(政策).

In France, twenty-seven artifacts had been identified for return, but only one has been returned. Then, on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, France’s National Assembly officially passed a bill(法案) promising the return of these artifacts, but didn’t set a certain date.

Those who suggest returning these objects to their homes argue that with technology enabling online museum tours, returning these artifacts to their homeland does not take away the opportunity to learn about them.

Those against the return hold the view that culture is a shared treasure and the artifacts are in fact “cultural ambassadors(外交)” that promote(增进) understanding. They believe that while stealing them was wrong, history is full of “good” and “bad” actors. Moreover, they feel that keeping the cultural objects in the current museums has kept millions of artifacts safe from damage.

What do people around the world think of China? According to a global survey published on September 15th, 1．

The survey was done by the China International Publishing Group and Kantar, a leading data and consulting company（数据咨询公司）. 2． The survey’s questions covered from one general impression of China to its performance in global affairs（事务）.

Generally, developing countries had better impressions of China than developed countries, giving China an average score of 7.2. 3．

China’s performance in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic（新冠肺炎疫情）has been recognized by the world. In 2020, many countries closed their borders（边境）and stopped the export of medicine and medical equipment. 4． China has sent 34 medical expert teams to 32 countries and offered help to 150 countries and four international organizations.

As for the future, 5． Its international image will continue to improve.

Touch down to Earth

China welcomed three heroic astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu home on April 16. This return ended the Shenzhou XIII astronauts’ six-month space mission. It also marks a major (重大的) breakthrough for China’s efforts in space.

In order to return home safety, they did a lot of preparation before leaving the space station.

If you are coming home after a long journey, you have to pack up. For astronauts in space, besides their personal belongings, they “packed” experimental data (数据) and samples, so they would be further researched on Earth.

The astronauts had to tidy up a large number of materials, including goods on the Tianzhou 3 cargo (货物) spacecraft, according to Zhong Weiwei, a researcher at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

Since the space station had no room service, the three astronauts needed to “clear the house” themselves. They collected a great amount of waste. This included leftover foods, sanitary (卫生) waste and waste from in-orbit experiments. The waste was then put into the orbital module (轨道舱), which burnt up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.

They also had to put all equipment in place correctly since there would be a gap of more than one month before the astronauts of Shenzhou XIV enter the space station, according to Zhong. They needed to make sure some items, such as gym equipment, were fixed to the walls to avoid floating and slipping (滑落).

Astronauts experienced microgravity for long periods of time during their stays on the space station, which had an effect on their bodies. This included a loss of fluid (体液) muscle atrophy (萎缩) as well as bone loss.

To ensure their safe and sound return, the three astronauts had been doing physical exercises to train their muscles for the return to Earth. Based on their in-orbit physical examinations and data, experts had customized (定制) exercise plans for each of them to ensure a safe landing.

Just like a house that will be vacant (空着的) for a long time must have it’s water and power switched off, astronauts checked everything before they left. Based on experience at home and abroad, they checked and adjusted 40 to 50 items to ensure that the space station could transmit valid parameters (参数) to the ground during subsequent unmanned missions.

Three Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou-13 manned spaceship returned to the Earth after completing their six-month mission. One of their major goals was to prepare the station for future groups of taikonauts（中国航天员）who will complete theassemblyof the space station.

Thanks to a new quick return procedure carried out for the first time, Shenzhou-13’s return trip lasted about nine hours rather than the 24-hour trip for Shenzhou-12, with the return capsule only circling the Earth five times before entering its final return orbit instead of 11 times as in past missions.

The Shenzhou-13 crew was responsible for taking out some of the science instruments to be used for experiments on the station. They also performed two spacewalks, conducted more than 20 different science experiments in addition to delivering two live educational lectures.

Taikonaut Wang Yaping, who gave the first public class from the Tiangong-1 space station, gave two such classes on this trip to Tiangong-2, which were viewed by millions of school children in China.

In addition, the taikonauts were sent questions from 20 schools in 13 U.S. states by American school children. The pre-recorded questions and responses were shared with students, parents and teachers at a “My Questions to Taikonauts” event on April 9 sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

This was the first six-month mission, which will give those on the ground the opportunity to study the effects of the longer duration mission on the taikonauts, especially on the ageing process. The six-month stay will be common for astronauts in the future.

Visiting the Wenchang Space Launch Center on April 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the facility serves China’s new-generation, heavy-lift carrier（运载）rockets and plays a significant role in the country’s deep-space exploration. The Chinese President called for efforts to achieve “world-leading standards” for China’s spacecraft launch facilities.

In our daily life, our parents do many things for us. But what can we do for them? Students in one class got special homework last weekend. They were asked to wash their 1． feet.

However, only 12 out of 54 students 2． the homework. Some said it was a funny thing, while others just thought the teacher was 3． to attract attention. They even asked, “They can take a shower. Why should we wash their feet?” However, the teacher had his own idea. “I want them to know how hard their parents work 4． them. Washing feet is just a way of showing love,” he said.

5． parents has always been considered as a virtue(美德). 6．, nowadays many young people don’t respect their parents and some even do cruel things to parents. They got angry 7． when they thought their parents were too strict with their studies.

When one student wanted to wash his parents’ feet, his father said “Why, my son? Are you in need of money?”

Another student Andy said he washed his parents’ feet 8． about five minutes. And he found it’s a useful experience. “I talked a lot with my parents 9． washing their feet,” he said. “As I grow up, I would possibly talk to my teacher that we all think doing this homework has made us 10． to our parents.

Rocky neighbours

Avebury is near the far more famous Stonehenge (巨石阵). What is interesting about it is that a village has grown up around a collection of stones, unlike Stonehenge, which stands alone. Avebury and Stonehenge are just two of about 1,300 stone circles all over the UK. Many of them are in fantastic locations.

Stone circles through history

Some of them are UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) sites, and several have local stories connected to them. For example, the Merry Maidens in West Cornwall is a group of 19 stones. According to the story, they were young women maidens who became stones for dancing on a Sunday. This story shows some of the effects of Christianity (基督教) in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

When and why?

Early historians thought that the stone circles were temples (寺庙) for the Druids, the priests (牧师) of people who arrived in the UK in about 500 BC. Later research has shown that they are far older than that-at least 4, 000 years old. Stonehenge could have been built 5,000 years ago. Some experts believe they acted like calendars and have shown that some stones line up with sunrise or sunset on the longest and shortest days of the year. Others believe they were places for the dead bodies of the local rich and powerful.

Can I see one?

We may never know their original purpose, but each one leaves the visitor with a strong sense of the shortness of our existence in the sea of history. There are groups of stone circles and other prehistoric monuments (历史遗迹) throughout the British Isles, so wherever you are staying, you must make at least one to be part of your tour.

Title: Stone Circles in the UK