Besty is a seven-year-old girl and she has a turtle called Mr. T that is 70! One day when she was playing with the turtle, she suddenly felt quite 1 .
"What's the matter?" her mum asked. "You're usually so glad."
"It's Mr. T," Besty 2 . "To carry that big house all day, he has to be so strong. Do you think it stops him from having fun like 3 ? I never see him run or jump as happily as it can be."
"Oh my dear, you don't need to 4 him. Mr. T is fine. Turtles have different needs in life; they're not 5 yours or mine. They love to hide inside their shells when people pass by them. So Mr. T is very thankful for everything he's 6 , which means he doesn't worry about things that he has not."
Then Mum took Besty to the garden and just behind the flowers, picking up a 7 , she said, "This has super power! Every time you go upset when things don't go as planned, you 8 take out your gratitude (感谢) stone and hold it in your hand. It will help you understand Mr. T."
No sooner had they gone 9 , it began to rain. Besty became sadder and tears began to fill her eyes; she wanted to go out again! Remembering her 10 stone, she thought what she could be thankful for to the 11 . Then she remembered, without it, plants wouldn't grow, fish wouldn't live in the sea and rivers wouldn't flow.
At dinner time, Besty didn't like rice or vegetables. But then she remembered the children who weren't as 12 as her to have a healthy and warm meal cooked by their mummies. She finished all of the food with happiness.
At bedtime when Besty was not tired and wanted to play instead, she was 13 for the warm and comfortable bed and lovely toys. But then she remembered she was not 14 the stone. "Mum," she shouted, "I did gratitude and I did it on my own without the stone!"
"Of course you did, my darling. 15 gratitude is always there," Mum said and placed her hand upon Betsy's heart. So gratitude is in all of us and we all have to do.
Music festivals are a big part of British youth culture. Glastonbury Festival, also called Glastonbury or Glasto, is one of the largest outdoor music and performing arts festivals in the world, and all the most popular music artists play there.
The festival takes place at Worthy Farm in southwest England. It was Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily Eavis, local farmers and owners of Worthy Farm, who organized (组织) this huge event. The festival was first hosted in 1970 and had only 1,500 visitors at that time. Since then, it has been held almost every year at Worthy Farm in southwest England and has attracted more and more people every year.
The festival is held over three or four days in the open air. That means performers and audience (观众) must either live in tents or in caravans. Also, the fine weather is especially important. For some people, they will hardly sleep for 3 days so they can listen to all their favorite or new bands! The festival is quite funny because it is often very rainy in England, and sometimes thousands of people will wear wellington boots (威灵顿长筒靴) and even dance in the rain!
Glasto is still growing with varied kinds of music at the festival, such as rock, dance, world music, folk music and hip hop. It has grown into a huge event that attracts many of the world's top musical acts, including singers, dancers, comedians, circus acts and so on. All of the performers prepare very well before the festival to "strut their stuff" on over 80 stages, so that they can attract more people.
Today, tons of people who visit the Glastonbury Festival do so for the music, art, and dances. Visitors have a lot of fun enjoying the festival and many excellent performances. It is amazing that tickets for the festival always sell out within an hour or two of going on sale each year!
The earth is now covered by space junk after nearly 70 years of space exploration. An accident in 2023 made the clean-up more difficult to start.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), scientists plan on testing their "junk truck", ClearSpace-1, in 2025. It's a spacecraft with four arms that can catch debris (碎片) and bring it back to the earth. One of its tasks is to bring back VESPA, a 113-kilogram, two-metre-wide rocket part.
But it was hit by another piece of space junk in August 2023, creating new pieces. The ESA is now changing its clean-up plan. "We must … reduce the creation of new space debris and begin to actively reduce the influence on other objects," said the agency.
Most satellites today are sent into the earth's low orbit (轨道), which reach up to around 2,000 kilometres above the earth. There, spacecraft are most likely to hit each other. There may be as many as 170,000,000 pieces of space junk in orbit, according to the ESA. Big or small, any of the pieces can cause harm to a spacecraft. For example, if an object as large as 10 centimetres hits a satellite, the satellite will break apart.
▲ One popular plan is to send a spacecraft carrying harpoons (鱼叉) and magnets (磁铁). The craft would shoot the harpoon to stick into the debris before "throwing" it back to the earth. Magnets could move the debris changing its direction. The debris would burn after entering the earth's atmosphere (大气层) so there wouldn't be much left when it reaches the earth. Scientists are also considering shooting lasers (激光) from the spacecraft to heat up the debris surface, creating a small push that would change the debris' orbit. This change would allow the debris to be caught by the earth's gravity.
Space junk can be very dangerous, and space agencies around the world are testing and planning the clean-up. But why haven't they done anything yet? One reason is the high cost. But they will still keep on testing the cheap and fine clean-up.
Beth received a piano as a gift from her neighbour Mr. Laurence. It had belonged to his late granddaughter. Beth liked it very much and tried it. Her sisters said it was the greatest piano they had ever heard.
"You'll have to go and thank him," said Jo, Beth's elder sister.
Yes, I mean to. I guess I'll go now before I get frightened thinking about it.
Though Beth was shy, she also decided to show her gratitude. To her whole family's surprise, Beth walked towards Mr. Laurence's house.
"Mr. Laurence became cross (易怒的) after his granddaughter died. Beth is such a shy girl; how dare she talk with him?" cried Hannah, her mum, staring after her, while the girls became quite speechless by the miracle (奇迹) they saw later.
Beth knocked at the door before she gave herself time to think. A gruff voice called out, "Come in!" She did go in, right up to Mr. Laurence, saying in her low voice, "I came to thank you sir, for…" But she didn't finish, for Mr. Laurence looked so friendly that she forgot her speech, only remembering that he had lost the little girl he loved. After a while, she put her arms round his neck and kissed him.
If the roof of the house had suddenly flown off, the old gentleman wouldn't have been more surprised. But he liked it. He liked it amazingly! And he was so touched and pleased by that little kiss and all his crossness disappeared. He just set her on his knee, and laid his wrinkled cheek against her pink one, feeling as if he had got his own little granddaughter back. Beth wasn't afraid of him from that moment, and sat there talking to him as cozily as if she had known him all her life, for love casts out (赶走) fear, and gratitude can conquer (征服) pride.
When it was time for Beth to go home, Mr. Laurence walked with her to her own gate, shook hands and touched his hat as he marched back again, looking very stately and erect like a handsome soldierly old gentleman, as he was.
a. Beth visited Mr. Laurence. to thank him.
b. Mr. Laurence gave Beth a piano as a gift.
c. Mr. Laurence's little granddaughter died.
d. Beth and Mr. Laurence had a good time together.
Do your parents always ask you a lot of questions? How do you feel about that? What kind of question do your parents often ask? Here are some questions that are usually asked by parents.
Sometimes you want to show that you have grown up and you can manage your time well and choose friends wisely. You need your own secrets and lifestyles.
Unless you get all As and Bs, you'll never want to hear this question come out of your parents' mouths. How do they know it is the report card day? And they will be angry if they see you get a C in maths.
"YES," you shout downstairs as you start running around your room, hiding all the clothes on your floor under your bed. You must finish all of this before your mum comes into your room to avoid her seeing your room in a mess.
You can't understand why your parents always ask such a question. You find it difficult to give an answer. They are just close friends.
Maybe sometimes you think it's more convenient to ask classmates or friends for help. Of course, teachers can have a clear structure of the knowledge, but they are always very busy. Sometimes it's a waste of time to find teachers.
Maybe most of you are bored with their questions and don't know how to deal with it. To some degree, maybe both sides need some changes and try to understand each other better.
A. Who are you going out with?
B. What's the relationship between them?
C. Have you cleaned up your room?
D. Why don't you ask teachers for help?
E. When will you finish your homework?
F. What was your score in this exam?
along consider happy long deep |
China has rich food culture. There are different kinds of traditional Chinese foods.
The first one is hot pot. Hot pot has been popular (……当中) Chinese people for a long time. As as in the Shang Dynasty (16th century—11th centurn BC), people boiled foods in bronze cauldrons (青铜鼎). The cauldron had two parts—one was the pot to cook foods in soup and the other was to hold firewood. People s to divide pots into several parts during the Han Dynasty. Therefore, people could enjoy different t while having hot pot. Yuan Mei was a poet and foodie (美食家) in the Qing Dynasty, who mentioned huoguo in a book about different kinds of foods, including meat, v and so on.
Another famous Chinese food is "Dongpo pork". It is called "Dongpo" b it is said to be created by the poet Su Dongpo of the Northern Song Dynasty. According to folk stories, the dish (出现) when Su went to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to take office. One day, there was a big flood (洪水) and Su went out to help people. Later, people gave him a lot of pork to show thanks. But Su couldn't eat all the pork h. What could he do with the pork? He thought about it all night. On the (第二) day, he cooked the pork in his own special way. Then he gave the dish to every family in the city and every worker on the street. People thought it was one of the most d foods in the world. Very soon, the dish became famous in Hangzhou and it got the name "Dongpo pork".
What can a nearly 80-year-old man do in your opinion? In August 2023, Miguel, 79-year-old man started his dream to get a high school diploma (文凭)，which he had to give up as a secondary school student in New York.
When his parents separated in his teens, Miguel (choose) to start working to support his family by his father. Later, he found a job and stayed there about 20 years.
Miguel said he would depend on his wife for certain things, he always knew that he could not go further without that high school diploma. So, when he moved to Arizona his wife passed away, he found The Excel Center that is aimed at improving people's lives by giving any adult over the age of 18 the chance to finish any unfinished high school education for free.
"For these adults, the chance to get their high school diplomas affords them a (good) life than they had before. In many ways, it is not only for (they) but also for their children," said Sue Sackman, the school director.
For Miguel, he paid more attention to more new (way) to solve some maths problems. He planned to spend the next several months (get) the education needed for his own place. "The education will (final) decide what my future will be, because I will have all this knowledge," he said. "I've got my whole future in front of me."
