Riding a Mobike on the street, you might hear some people speaking Chinese aloud. Turning to the right, you see a Sichuan-style restaurant. After walking into a store, you see that Huawei smartphones are on sale. But you're not in China—you're in Manchester in Britain. In fact, you might see similar things in many other cities. Chinese products have been going all over the world.
Chinese food has been enjoyed in Western countries for a long time. To meet local people's tastes, Chinese restaurants have made some changes to the dishes. "One example is the meat," said Yin Hang, a Chinese student who is studying in Australia. "We like to eat meat with the bones (骨头) in, but people here don't. So the local Chinese restaurants provide big pieces of meat without bones, even for fish."
Some Chinese brands are also becoming more popular. It is reported that in many cities in Europe, many stores sell TCL televisions, Haier fridges and Lenovo computers. More than half of US-owned drones (无人机) are Chinese models, according to China Daily. They're not only made in China, but also designed and developed in the country.
In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap and unreliable. But now, things have changed greatly. More people trust Chinese brands. "Made in China" becomes cool. "They are beautiful and offer something special that American phones don't have," an article on CNN once said about Chinese smartphones.
As it is said, Chinese government has been trying its best to improve its national brands of all kinds to meet the needs of modern life.
|
Compass |
It was a great gift to the world from ancient China. Before it was invented, sailors had to depend on the stars to find directions. After it was invented, the oceans were open to travel. And many new discoveries were made with the help of it. |
|
Gunpowder |
It was one of the greatest inventions. It is said that in the 3rd century a Chinese man wrote about how to make it. At first, it was used for making fireworks. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, people began to use it in wars. The method of making it was spread throughout most parts of Eurasia by the end of 13th century. |
|
Paper making |
China was the first country in the world to make paper. During the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC一9 AD), paper was made in some places in China, It was developed in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD- 220 AD) by Cai Lun. He made paper with bark, ropes, rags and so on. Before it was invented, the ancient Chinese carved characters on animal bones and stones. They also wrote them on bamboo and wooden sticks. |
|
Printing |
It was developed in 1041~1048 in the Song Dynasty. A man named Bi Sheng carved characters on pieces of clay and wood. Then he put ink on them. After the characters were printed on paper, the pieces of clay or wood could be used again. This technology then spread to Korea, Japan and Europe. It was the basic method at that time. |
Sometimes
|
Sometimes I feel lonely, |
|
Like I'm by myself with no one there. |
|
When I'm that way. I call a friend. |
|
My lonely mood soon disappear. |
|
Sometimes I feel excited, |
|
Like I have some news I have to share! |
|
My friends open their ears to me. |
|
They always listen, talk, and care. |
|
Sometimes I feel so sad, |
|
Like my world is cold and darkest blue. |
|
At those times my friends let me know |
|
They're with me, standing strong and true. |
|
Sometimes I feel confused, |
|
Like I just don't know how I should feel. |
|
My friends then help me figure out |
|
What's right and wrong, what's false and real! |
A small robot may help children who are ill in hospital or at home. These children may feel lonely without their friends or classmates. The robot takes their places at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends.
The robot is called AV1. A Norwegian company called No Isolation created the robot. Dolva explains how the robot AV1 works. She says from home, children use a tablet or phone to start the robot. Then they use the same device to control the robot's movements. At school, the robot becomes their eyes, ears and voice.
"So, it sits at the child's desk in the classroom and the child uses a tablet or a phone to start it and control its movements and talks through it. So it's the eyes, the ears and the voice at school." The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communication easy.
AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva says this is important because the robot is supposed to be a friend of the children. "It can't be just a tiny camera because the other kids can't pick it up and take it with them. This is supposed to be their friend." And robots are, quite simply, cool. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they are not in class.
Lu Yu had an unusual life. He lived in the Tang Dynasty. As a homeless child, he lived in Longgai Temple (寺庙) and studied there including boiling tea. Jingling Prefect (太守) Li Qiwu liked the smart boy when Lu Yu was thirteen. He not only gave Lu Yu books as gifts but also introduced him to a famous teacher. Lu Yu learned from his teacher until he was nineteen. He also made good friends with famous people. They often traveled, tasted tea and talked about poems together.
At the age of twenty-one, Lu Yu started to study different kinds of tea. He left Jingling and traveled around the country to search for famous tea. To study tea picking and tea making skills well, Lu Yu lived a long life as a recluse (隐居者) in Tiaoxi. After that, he lived in Miaoxi Temple, collecting, checking, studying and reading documents (资料) about tea. Over years, he finally wrote the first book on the study of tea. That was the book Tea Classic (《茶经》) , which was also the first book in the world on tea studies. This book has over seven thousand Chinese words, including the production place, the morphology (形态) and the growing environment of tea trees as well as tea picking, tea drinking and tea production tools and methods.
Tea Classic has a great influence on Chinese tea culture. Lu Yu is still called Tea God today.
One evening, a boy and his grandfather went for a walk. As they walked, they found a pair of old shoes on the road. They thought the shoes must 1 a farmer who was working nearby. The boy said, "Let's 2 a joke on him. We can hide the shoes and see what he will do." But his grandfather said, "Boy, we shouldn't have 3 by hurting other people. 4, we should help them. Let's put a coin in each shoe, and then hide ourselves to see what will happen."
The boy did as 5 his grandfather said. Later, the farmer finished his work and came back to his shoes. He put his foot into one of his shoes, and then he felt something 6. He was surprised to find a coin in his shoe. Then he found 7 coin. He said 8, "Thank goodness! I can give them to my wife."
After seeing this, the boy's eyes were 9 of tears. The boy said, "Grandpa, you taught me a 10 which I will never forget. It's more blessed (幸福) to give than to receive."
When you talk with someone, you'll need to end your conversation at some point. And there many reasons why you need to do that. Either you or the other person may need to continue an activity, such working or shopping. Or you may have run out of things to say. You just want to keep the conversation short.
Butdo you end a conversation in a polite way？It may on where and how the conversation started. It may also depend on your relationship with the person. If you already know that person, you can just say, "I need to run now. "Or you can say, "I'll catch you later. "You may also give a reason for ending the conversation. "I really need to go—my piano class starts in ten ."
Perhaps you just meet someone in a social situation (社交场合), and you have a nice talk. But then you have to go. You can say, "It was nice meeting you. Maybe we can talk happily again sometime in the . "
Another way to end a conversation is to make it easy for the other person to . If you see the other person is already not patient, you can say, "Well, I'm sure you have a lot to do today. "
You could use these to end a conversation, and you should notice that others may also use them. they do so, you should know that it's time for you to stop and get on with your day.
1）你是否对英语感兴趣？
2）你认为学习英语有什么好处？（至少两点）
3）你是怎样提高英语水平的？（给出三条方法或建议）
作文要求：
1）不能照抄原文；不得在作文中出现学校真实的名称或学生的真实姓名。
2）语句连贯，词数80个左右。作文的标题已经给出，不计入总词数，也不必抄写在答题卷上。
My Views on Learning English
