—Don't lose heart. Maybe you can try to ____them with interesting things.
From the balcony（露台） of my grandma's tenth—floor apartment, I search the sky, hoping to see stars.
"Stars are afraid of city lights, but a little song is1 good for something, "Grandma puts her arms around me and sings softly in her low and beautiful 2 .
But stars are still3.
So I rest myself deeper into her arms, hoping for a few more minutes of her warmth as much as I hope to see at least one star.
"Tomorrow won't come if you don't dream tonight, Sally!"She kisses my hair and points me to 4.
The next day, I wake up and take the 5 with Grandma as usual.
On the fourth floor, the lift stops suddenly and it goes dark. I feel my6 beating in my ears. Grandma rings the bell and is told that the electricity is off along the whole street.
Grandma holds my hands, and we sing together in the dark lift.
Before long, Mr. Smith comes and helps us get out safely. Grandma takes my hand, and we walk 7the stairs to the first floor. Grandma points to my school.
"Am I still going?"
"School has electricity, dear Sally. And you are not8 for school."
The electricity is still off when I come home that afternoon.
After dinner and homework, we come to the balcony and watch day turn to evening. Lights come on several streets away, but it's9 here.
"Stars night makes me not be so afraid tonight, "I say.
"Star light, star bright…" I start to10 , and Grandma joins in.
One, two, three... Thousands of stars light the sky bright!
Hanna is a 10-year-old little girl. She learned how to call 999 at1. She did what she learned well2she wanted to save people's lives when she grew up. She didn't3 very
long to save a person's life. Just a week later, her mother Michelle collapsed （晕倒） at home, and Hanna was very calm and did everything4. She knew every second is important.
The lady who 5the call stayed on the phone and told Hanna what to do.6what she had learned at school, Hanna moved Michelle to her side and tilted（倾斜） her head back to help keep her airway （气道）7. Hanna stayed calm, kept talking to her mum, and told her mum that she would be safe.
The doctors quickly8and took Michelle and Hanna to hospital. Michelle was so thankful that her daughter had known what to do. Hanna was just great. She knew what to do because she had9 how to call 999 at school, " Michelle said. Hanna's teacher Mrs Wood head shared, "It's a（n）10 that I think all children should know. They can help each other and help their family."
A: Hi, Kate. Would you like to go shopping with me this afternoon?
B:I'm busy writing my report.
A:
B: It's about protecting the environment.
A: It's a good topic!
B: Many things. For example, we should turn off the tap（水龙头） while brushing our teeth.
A: I see.By the way, we are asked to organize an activity to call on students to protect the environment next month.
B: Sure. You can call on students to collect wastepaper and used bottles and then recycle therm.
A:Thanks.
B: My pleasure.
|
A. Great idea! B. It's nothing. C.What's it about? D. I'm afraid I can't. E. Could you give me some advice? F. When will the report be handed in? G. As teenagers，what should we do to protect the environment? |
|
Lanzhou noodles With the development of society, more and more people pay more attention to our traditional culture. Here are four forms of our country's intangible cultural heritage（非物质文 化遗产）. |
|
Temple fair（庙会） Temple fair is a type of intangible cultural heritage in Beijing. They are big gatheringswhere people show respect for gods and groups of businessmen do business. Several templefairs are held at different ancient temples during the Spring Festival. |
|
Mature vinegar（陈醋） Mature vinegar is a type of intangible cultural heritage in Shanxi. It is made fromdifferent crops, and has a strong flavor. Mature vinegar has been around for about 3, 000years. It is very popular in northern China. |
|
Single—string musical instrument（独弦琴） Single-string musical instrument is a form of intangible cultural heritage from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region（广西壮族自治区）.The instrument is made out of big bamboo pipes（管子）.It has only one string, but it can create beautiful sounds. |
Cousteau had seen places in the middle of the sea that no one had seen before. The sevoyages（航行）made Cousteau worried about sea life.Sea creatures'（生物）lives were in danger. He saw that pollution from factories had killed fish and plants. Cousteau then thought of a way to show people what was happening in the sea. He wanted to make films about the sea.
So Cousteau changed a ship into a travelling boat where he made films. But they weren't helpful to solve the problem. Factories didn't stop polluting. They felt it would cost too much money to stop.
Cousteau then started a group to save the sea and he also showed many wild places in his films. He called for people to help protect the sea. When he found that the problems could be solved by new laws, he called the government for help. Soon new laws were made to protect sea animals and plants.
For nine years, Cousteau had a TV show. It showed what life was like underwater. The show gave people such a wonderful underwater landscape （景观） that people were amazed.
In his lifetime, Cousteau wrote over fifty books. For forty years, he and his team had studied life under the sea. Thanks to what they have done for the sea, the environment in the sea has caught many people's attention and been greatly improved.
Dough figurine （Mianren） art has been dated back to over 2, 000 years. It's said that before the Hanshi Festival in Spring, people made dough（面团）swallows（燕子）and hung them above the gate. It was to express their good wishes to the coming spring.
Among different art styles of dough figurines all over the country, Dough Figurine Lang, created by Lang Shao'an, is an art unique（独特的） to Beijing. The subject of Dough Figurine Lang is mainly about describing the real traditional life of Beijingers. Mianren Lang has top skills in the art of making dough figurines.
▲ You should be calm, careful and quick. If your hand moves carelessly, you will make mistakes. So keep calm. Then you should find the right place to stick the nose and other parts on. You must be quick, or else, the dough gets dry and useless.
Lang Jiaziyu, the grandson of Lang Shao'an, is the third—generation inheritor（继承人） of this craft. He is creative and finds ways to introduce Dough Figurine Lang to the young generation. He has introduced movies and cartoons into dough figurine art. His creativity has won the hearts of many young people. In order to let more people know about this art and understand the culture behind it, Lang Jiaziyu also teaches students how to make dough figurines in some schools.
Over a million people around the world lose their lives to car accidents （事故） each year.
While nearly all of these deaths are the consequence of human mistakes, there are no good ways to reduce the number of deaths. Surely one of the best plans is driverless technology.
Driverless cars are no longer an idea of the future. With the technology for the driverlesscar already developed for quite a long time, and some important inventions already seen in some cars, the driverless car could soon be with us.
This is wonderful because driverless technology is expected to reduce the number of roaddeaths. A research group in the United Kingdom says that driverless cars will lead to 2, 500fewer road deaths before 2030.
How are driverless cars safer? Firstly, driverless cars can help manage traffic. By using communication technologies to "talk" to each other, driverless cars find the best roads. Information such as distance（距离）between cars, traffic and time is sent to the cars.This means fewer chances of these cars running into each other. Secondly, the use of driverless cars means fewer accidents will happen because of human mistakes. For example, accidents caused by little sleep or drunk driving will be avoided.Finally, the driverless technology of the future, is expected to be more reliable（可靠的）than a human driver.
If lives can be saved by driverless cars, let's hope these cars will be on our roads very soon.
On winter nights, the wind usually blows strongly. Most of us stay inside our warm homes.
Few of us think of the homeless. These people have no choice but to sleep on the streets. Some of them are so poor that they have no money to buy food.
A young man in Birmingham, England, made a decision to do something about this. Every night, he puts on a Spider—Man suit and gives food to the homeless he meets. He makes sure that these people won't go hungry.
The man refuses to make his name public. The local people call him the"Birmingham Spider-Man".The young man hopes his action will show others that everybody deserves（应得）a helping hand.
The 25-year-old man started his night activities in 2015. Every night at 9, he buys some sandwiches. Then, he finds a quiet alley（小巷） and puts on his"uniform".After that, the"Spider-Man"starts handing his food out to people in need.
The man said, "I wear the Spider—Man suit in order to get attention." Without the suit, few people took a second look at him when he was handing out food. When people see the"Spider—Man", however, they come over and ask what he is doing.
The Birmingham Spider—Man" has already got lots of attention. Many people wanted to give away money to him. But the young man never accepts the money. Instead, he encourages people to go out and help people in need on their own. He said, "If more people give a helping hand, the cold winter nights won't be so cold any longer."
Once upon a time, there was a poor village. People there did not like to share. One day, a traveler came to the village. He was very tired and hungry. He stopped at a house and knocked at the door, hoping to get some food.
A woman opened the door. "Would you like to give me some food?" the traveler asked.
The woman shook her head, "We don't have enough food to give away."
"Would you like to have some of my stone soup?" asked the traveler.
"Stone soup?" the woman asked in surprise.
"Please lend me a pot of hot water first, " the traveler said with a smile. The woman gave him a pot of hot water. The traveler put a stone in the pot. "It's good, " he said, "But if you had just a little salt and butter, the soup would taste better."
A little angry but curious（好奇的）.the woman got him some salt and butter.At that time, some neighbors came to stand around the traveler.
"It's almost done, " the traveler said, "But it would be even nicer if there were somecarrots, potatoes and meat soup."
"I have potatoes, "volunteered an elderly man.
"I have carrots, " cried a young man.
"I have chicken soup, " said a neighbor.
Minutes later, the traveler put the vegetables and chicken soup into the pot. Soon, the air was filled with the smell of the soup. The traveler tasted a spoon of the soup. "Perfect!" he cried. Then, he shared the stone soup with everyone.
The villagers liked the stone soup very much. From that day on, they learned the importance of sharing.
习作栏目正在开展"我的成长故事"征文活动, 请以"An Unforgettable（难忘的）Thing"为题, 写一篇英语作文投稿。要点如下： 1.难忘的事是什么?2.你从这件事中得到了什么启发?注意： 1.词数80~100；2.可适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯；3.文中不能出现真实姓名及学校名称；4.文章的开头已给出, 不计人总词数。
An Unforgettable Thing
There are many unforgettable things in my middle school life.
