It was a rainy, windy October afternoon. Garth stood outside his house with a wide smile. This was 1 weather for testing his new invention—Umbrella Hat. He could hardly wait to see whether it could keep the rain off. He carefully 2 the hat on his head and started walking 3 along the street. It worked!
Suddenly, three boys in his neighborhood appeared and 4 him. Todd, the biggest one, pulled his Umbrella Hat off his head.
"What's THIS?" he asked.
"It's an Umbrella Hat. You can wear it on rainy days and…" Garth said.
The boys 5 , "Will anyone wear that stupid thing?" Todd threw the hat onto the ground and they ran off.
Garth picked up his Umbrella Hat from the ground in tears. "Maybe Todd was 6 …in reality, who would ever need his invention?" He lowered his head and thought to himself.
Suddenly he 7 and saw a lady looking at him. "I was just leaving my house 8 I saw you and those boys. Are you okay?"
Then she saw the 9 Umbrella Hat and asked, "Er… what's that?"
"It's my Umbrella Hat. I thought of it and made it myself…" answered Garth.
"What a creative 10 you have! Don't ever let stupid boys put you down! Keep inventing and one day you will 11 something really great!" said the lady.
"And you have given me a wonderful 12 ," she continued, "I have a gadget (小器具) shop—Gadgets4U—and I'd like to hold a 13 to find the best young gadget inventor in our town. I will display (展示) three best inventions in my shop. I'm sure you will have a(n) 14 of winning a prize. "
Garth was very 15 . Gadgets4U was one of his favorite places and the thought of having his invention displayed in that wonderful place was too exciting for words. He suddenly felt much better and could already feel lots of new ideas coming out, waiting to spring into life!
Should manners matter? Everyone has to care about their manners at some time. Manners have developed over thousands of years and are always changing. Some people say that manners show respect for others. But perhaps they are just rules that people follow because they're told to do so. Here are two ideas.
Pros(正方)The reasons why good manners should matter |
Thinking of others means they are more likely to do the same. They help make the world a better place. Putting dirty feet on seats and coughing over food can spread diseases, so manners help to keep everyone healthy and safe. Manners cannot always keep the same. Even though they are updated as time passes, they always make people feel happy and respected. |
Cons(反方) The reasons why good manners should not matter |
·Manners can put pressure on people to act in a way that hides the way they feel. Lots of manners, such as not putting arms on tables, do not make any sense. Because they are out of date. Manners are just a set of rules. As long as people are kind to each other, they should be allowed to act how they like. Now that you've read a bit more about it， tell us what you think of it at www. thoughts. cn. |
In September and October, Hangzhou was a popular city because of the 19th Asian Games and Asian Para Games. Do you know the two Games well?
The themes(主题) of the Games
Four themes of the Asian Games are "green, smart, economical and civilized(经济和文明)". They were shown by many things. For example, the electricity was from Xinjiang's wind power. There were more than 100 million "digital torch bearers(数字火炬手)"online, who came from 130'countries and areas around the world. Many of the venues(场馆) will still be used for sports and be open to the public after the Games. For disabled players, they could enjoy the voice service.
The culture in the Games
The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City(良渚古城遗址) stands in Hangzhou. Jade Cong(玉琮) is a famous finding there. The pattern of "man-and-beast patterns"(神人兽面纹) is an important symbol of Liangzhu culture. "Divine bird(神鸟)" is part of Liangzhu culture, too. We can find all of these symbols of Liangzhu culture in the 19th Asian Games.
In the 19th Asian Games, both players and the city Hangzhou got great achievements. More than12,000 players from 45 Asian countries and areas were in Hangzhou for the Games. They took part in481 events. It was the largest Asian Games in history. Finally, China got 201 golds, 111 silvers and 71bronzes. "We have achieved the most successful Asian Games in history," said Chen Weiqiang, an organizer. The Hangzhou Asian Games brought together Hangzhou's history, technology and life. It is an important chance for the city to "take off".
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People believe that every word has its correct meaning(s). When we are not sure, we usually check online, or turn to our teachers or dictionaries. But do you know how dictionaries were made in the past?
Dictionary writers first read the important books of the period or the subject that the dictionary was about. As they read, they copied necessary information on cards: interesting words, common words—both in their daily uses and unusual uses, and also the sentences where they were used. That is to say, the words, along with the uses of each word, were collected. For a really big dictionary, millions of such cards were collected. This task could last for years. As the cards were collected, they were put in alphabetical order (A—Z). When this was done, there would be several hundred cards for each single word.
Then, to define a word, the dictionary writer placed its hundreds of cards before him. He read the cards closely, threw away some, read the rest again, and divided up the cards according to what he thought were the common uses of the word. Finally, he wrote the definitions, following the hard-and-fast rule: each definition must come from an example on a certain card in front of him.
So, the writing of a dictionary was not a task of inventing meanings of words, but a task of recording their meanings. The writer of a dictionary was a historian, not a law maker.
As time develops, the way of producing dictionaries has greatly changed. Nowadays, we can use online dictionaries too. When choosing our words in speaking or writing, we can be guided by the dictionary. However, we cannot be controlled by it, because new situations, new experiences, new inventions, and new feelings, are always pushing us to give new uses to old words.
Now there is a family problem. In fact, we are probably 15 or 16 years old. In their eyes, we are always little ones and often do wrong things. For example, when we need to stay at home alone, they always worry about us and our life without them.
Most parents always think that they have offered the best things to make their children live in a comfortable world. They buy their children pretty clothes, cool shoes and expensive school things. They think that they have done everything that they can do for their dear children.
But why still can't we understand our parents? Does it mean that we still want more material things? No. Actually, what we want is a true family. I think it means a place where we can hide ourselves from the cold world outside. From here, we can get warmth, we can get consolation (安慰), and we can get happiness. And one important thing is that we will become stronger and more confident in the outside world because we know that we have a true family.
I think that parents should sit down to talk with their children to let them know that they have a happy family, so the children and their parents can understand each other better and better. That's what we really need from our parents.
A. What does a true family mean?
B. Parents do this to love their children
C. Not everything can be transmitted (传达) through materials.
D. Then, parents will not treat their children as little ones.
E. In return, they only want their children to get good results in the exams.
F. Nearly every parent says that we never grow up.
During this year's May Day holiday, Yemeni (也门) student Mohammed Saleh Ahmed and his Chinese friends visited Pingyao ancient city in Shanxi Province. They even experienced the ancient way of getting money in (early) bank of China.
"The historical relics (遗迹) in China's ancient cities have made me want to learn more about the country's past," Mohammed said. In recent years, tourism industries have developed rapidly (rapid) and these relics( become) new favorites of tourists.
Xinzhou ancient city in Shanxi, a history of more than 1,800 years, has had over 500 stores and restaurants. During the five-day holiday, Xinzhou ancient city r more than 400,000 visitors.
" My restaurant is always busy. During the peak (高峰) season, the yard is crowed with (tour)waiting for dinner," said Wang Guodong, a businessman who (owner) a restaurant in Xinzhou ancient city.
Geng Yeqiang, an expert from Shanxi University, said that historical relics can form a cultural tourism cduring their protection and development. process can increase local economic(经济的) growth. The expert also said, "At the same time, relics protection organizations and the tourism organizations should work together to make this economic model better.
a modern city meets its old past, not only can the tourism be developed better, but the local culture and history can also ( know)by more people.
Project: Exploring the Chinese Culture and Customs | |||
Research Subject | the Lantern Festival | the Dragon BoatFestival | |
Methods(How we did it) | ·watch a lantern show ·. . . | ·visit a local museum ·. . . | |
Information(What we'velearned) | History | ·about 2,000 years | ·about 2,000 years |
Time | ·the 15th day of the first lunar month | ·the 5th day of the fifth lunar month | |
Celebrations | ·riddle(谜语) games ·. . . | ·boat races ·. . . | |
Food | ·zongzi | ||
. . . | . . . | . . . | |
A New Plan(What we'll do) | . . . | . . . | |
注意：(1)短文必须包含表中你所选节日的所有信息，并适当发挥。(2)文中不得出现与你身份相关的信息。(3)词数：90左右，短文开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear classmates,
I'm very happy to share our research with you. The subject we've chosen is
That's all. Thank you!
