Soon after we arrived, the whole family sat down at the table for dinner. The farmer put me on the table, with some small pieces of bread and meat. I was very afraid of falling off the table. The farmer and his family were happy to watch me eating with my small knife and fork. 

But when I started walking across the table to the farmer, his youngest son, a boy of about ten, picked me up by the legs. He held me so high in the air that my whole body was shaking. Luckily his father took me away at once, and angrily hit the boy hard on the head. But I remembered how bad children can be to small animals. So I decided to forgive him. I fell on my knees and asked them not to punish the child any more. They seemed to understand. 

Just then I heard a noise behind me. It sounded like twelve machines running at the same time. I turned my head and saw a huge cat, three times larger than one of our cows. The farmer's wife held it in her arms, so that it could not jump at me. But in fact, because I showed no fear, there was no danger, and the cat even seemed a little afraid of me.

At the end of dinner, a servant (仆人) came in with the farmer's one-year-old son in her arms. He immediately started crying, because he wanted to play with me. His mother smiled and put me in his hand. When he picked me up and put my head in his mouth, I shouted so loudly that he dropped me. Luckily, I was not hurt, but it showed me how dangerous life was going to be in Brobdingnag.

After eating, the farmer went back to his work in the fields. ▲ , because she put me carefully on her bed and closed the door. I was very tired, and slept for two hours.

December 22, a special day, is the shortest day of the year. Chinese people call it Dongzhi. The name means "the coming of winter"—the (cold) days in a year. On this day, people in northern China eat dumplings. They usually fill the dumplings different vegetables and meat. Sometimes, people put a coin inside. you happen to get the coin, you will have good luck. People consider eating dumplings a way to stay healthy. As the old saying goes, "Eating dumplings on Dongzhi can help (keep) the ears from frostbite (冻疮)."

In(south) China, people eat tangyuan on the day of Dongzhi. The little tangyuan balls(make) from rice. They have different (kind) of sweet fillings (馅料). People hope eating tangyuan can bring them happy and sweet life. In some places, people also make a special kind of rice wine. The drink brings the body (warm) on cold days.

①There are many arguments(争论) for and against children owning pets. Pets help to keep children company, help to keep children fit, and they also help children to learn new responsibilities. However, pets can be dangerous. They require a lot of care, and they cost a lot of money to be taken care of properly.

②The first argument that supports pet ownership by children is that they are good company. When children come home from school, pets are always there to greet them. They love children and are always willing to play. As a result, children will be less likely to experience loneliness. They will also help to keep children active as they will need to be walked and played with every day.

③Secondly, owning a pet encourages children to learn new responsibilities. Pets need to be looked after and be taken care of every day. Children will learn different skills that they can use later in life. For example, washing and feeding pets are important skills to learn. Learning these responsibilities will ensure that children will be able to look after themselves, and possibly their children one day. 

④____ Some dogs, for example, may bite others, and children may become afraid of animals as a result of this happening to them. Cats also look very soft, but they do have very sharp claws(爪子). If they are treated in the wrong way, cats can use their claws to scratch. In addition, pets require a great deal of care. Many pets need to be regularly groomed, exercised and bathed. As a result of this, children may neglect their studies because they are too busy worrying about their pet and its well-being.

⑤A further argument against pet ownership is that pets are costly; buying food and maintaining their care is expensive. Finally, the cost of owning one falls on parents, and as a result, children don't fully understand the responsibility of having one.

⑥In short, there are many arguments for and against pet ownership. Pets help to keep children company, fit, and they also help them to learn new responsibilities. However, pets can be dangerous, they require a lot of care, and they cost a lot of money to be taken care of properly.

Do you want to have fun in Oxford? Take a bus tour!

School life is many things for many different people. For you it may be fun, necessary, boring, or maybe even surprising sometimes. You may find it surprising for many reasons, and one of these reasons is being bullied (霸凌). According to a recent report, 1 in 5 young people, between the ages of 12 and 20, had been bullied in the UK. Bullying is a problem in many places. School-aged children are most likely to be bullied. Being bullied can make your school life difficult as someone or a group of people are actively trying to hurt you. Being bullied can be difficult to deal with and it is important that you know how to deal with it. 

If you are being bullied, it's very important to tell your parents first. Many children often believe they are the only ones this is happening to, and no one else cares about them. Actually it's not true! Tell your parents the entire story. They are here to help and want to know what is going on with you. They may then be able to get in touch with the staff at the school in order to try to stop the bullying.

Inform teachers, principals, and other school helpers. These people have the power to help stop bullying. Sometimes bullies stop as soon as a teacher finds out. If you're being bullied, teachers can provide protection by letting you stay in the classroom. It's important to let your school know about any bullying incidents because there may be other kids being bullied by the same person.

Don't be afraid to speak up. Bullying is not a small matter. It helps if everyone who is bullied speaks up. Getting help is the right thing to do when dealing with bullying.

Don't use hit, kick, or push as a way to deal with someone bullying you or your friends. Fighting back satisfies bullies because it shows them that they can get to you. Fighting back can also be dangerous. If you fight with bullies, someone could get hurt and you could get in trouble. It's best to stay with others, stay safe, and ask the nearest adult for help.

Do you have a good memory? Can you remember English words you learnt last week? Or have you forgotten the deadline of your project? Many of us often say "My brain doesn't work well". Maybe you can try a new way of training your brain—Learn with your team members.

"Teamwork makes our brains work better. The memory expert, Jonathan Hancock said, "Being part of a team has many advantages for remembering things."In his memory research, he finds that the participants(参与者) in a

team always behave better than people who work independently. That's because they have less personal pressure, more time to think over each question.

But there's even more going on according to Canadian researchers, who've shown that our brains get a natural improvement when they've got company(陪伴). Their study suggests two reasons. First, when we're with people who are trying to remember something, we can easily feel that tip-of-the-tongue feeling, so we also want to join in to challenge ourselves. Second, after knowing others can remember things well, we can be encouraged to make it too.

To make better use of the power of team learning, you can use the contagion(传染效应) to awaken and improve memories. For example, go over new words together with your partners. Believe it or not, you'll be amazed at your magic memory. Also, you can share the duty together. If you have many tasks to remember, ask your partner to remember the date of school play while you're in charge of remembering project deadline. In this way, both of you will remember things more easily and deeply.

注意：（1）文中必须包含所给的内容要点 ， 可适当发挥；写作参考仅提供思路；（2）文中不得出现真实姓名、学校等信息；（3）词数80~100。

Dear Not an Artist,

Glad to hear from you. I know exactly how you feel when seeing a better drawing from your friend! I'm surely not the best 1 in the world, but I've always loved making pictures. That's why I got so 2 about Rafael's cookie-label(标签) idea.

Rafael is my father's friend who owns a cookie shop. One day he happened to stop by when my friend and I were 3 with sidewalk chalk in front of our house.

"Wow! Amazing pictures!" he said, trying not to step on them 4 he walked toward the door. "I really love your 5 drawings! Would you be up for making some pictures that I can use 6 the label?" He patted us, "You needn't 7 making everything perfect, just have fun." Then he left.

And away we drew! We both enjoyed the way we were drawing. 8 , we stopped and looked at each other's work. But it was seriously 9 . One minute, I liked my drawing. And the next minute, I felt like the 10 artist ever after comparing our works.

Rafael returned. With a smile on his face, he said, "I truly 11 your drawings. Each style is special. And I think they could work together in a fun and eye-catching way. That will be the front. "I could see what Rafael 12 . Each piece was different and amazing in its own way—even mine.

So, dear Not an Artist, I know it can feel disappointing when you start comparing 13 with other people. But please try not to 14 ! There's no right or wrong way to make art. And since everybody has different styles and tastes, nobody has to agree about what makes a piece of 15 good. Sometimes your art will turn out great, and other times it won't be your best, and that's OK. The coolest thing about making art is that it's fun!

Ciao for now, Arizona

A student project has discovered another power of AI: It can be good at locating(定位) where photos are taken.

The project is called Predicting Image Geolocations(or PIGEON). It's the work of three Stanford students. They designed it in order to recognise locations on Google Street View(谷歌街景). The team showed the AI a few personal photos it had never seen before, it could tell where they were taken.

PIGEON works well because it can pick upon all the little things in photos. It can notice small differences in leaves, soil and weather. The group says the technology can be used in many ways. It could recognise roads or power lines that need fixing. It may also help researchers do surveys of invasive(入侵的) plants in an area.

However, this new power is likely to be a double-edged sword. It could be used to reveal people's private, personal information, says Jay Stanley, an expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Stanley worries that companies might soon use AI to find out where you've traveled. Governments might check your photos to see if you've visited certain countries. Stalking (跟踪) is also a possible threat, he says. People have long been able to remove GPS location information from photos they post online. That may not work any more. Luckily, the Stanford students are well aware of the risks. Because of these worries, they haven't given the public entry to their program.

Stanley thinks the use of AI for identifying locations will become even more powerful in the future. What will that mean? Well, be very careful about what's in the background in the photos you post online, he says.

①There is really no reason for my writing the life of Su Tungpo except that I want to do it. For years, the writing of his biography(传记) has been at the back of my mind, but the regret is never quiet down. Now that I am able to apply myself to this task, I am happy, without any reasons.

②A vivid personality isn't that easy to be understood. One might say that Su Tungpo was an unchangeable optimist(乐观主义者), a friend of the people, a prose master, an original painter, a great calligraphist, an experimenter in wine making, an engineer, a secretary to the emperor, a dissenter in politics, and a poet. And yet that might miss the sum total of why people like Su Tungpo. Su Tungpo's complex personality gives a reason. Always deeply stuck in politics, he was always greater than politics. Without trick and without purpose, he went along singing, composing, and criticizing, to express something he felt in his heart, paying no attention to what might be the results of himself. He wrote just because he enjoyed writing, and today we enjoy his writing just because he wrote so beautifully, generously, and out of the clearness of his heart.

③As I try to find the reasons why for a thousand years in China each generation has a crowd of crazy admirers of this poet, I come to the second reason, which is the same as the first, stated in a different way. Su Tungpo had charm. The chief charm of Su Tungpo was a force of character (that could not be stopped by anyone), a force (that, started at the moment of his birth, had to run its course until death closed his mouth and stopped his laughing chatter). He wielded his pen almost as if it were a toy. He could be curious, or humorous or serious, very serious, and from his pen we hear various human emotions of joy, happiness, worry and love.

④On the whole, we get the impression that he played and sang through life and enjoyed it greatly, and when sadness came and unluckiness fell, he accepted them with a smile. That is the kind of charm which I am trying to describe in my way and which has made him the favorite poet of so many Chinese experts.