If Confucius (孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on this special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy (哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks (缺点) of Westerners' philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
Moksh Jawa, 16, a student at Washington High School in the US, has already become a legend(传奇) among students. “Why not?” might be his favorite question to ask.
As a seventh-grader, he taught himself coding(编程) by studying on the Internet.
As a high school freshman, he passed the AP Computer Science A exam with a 5, the highest score possible.
As a sophomore (高中二年级学生), he developed his own online course and helped his classmates get through it because his high school didn't teach coding.
Everything he did came from his own interest. His father sent him a link to Codeacademy, an online coding training program, in middle school. He learned a programming(编程) language all by himself after signing up to the website.
“I just fell in love with computer science,”Jawa said. Along the way, he lit a fire of curiosity and passion among classmates to learn coding too.
“All of my friends, especially the girls, were really, really afraid of computer science,” he said. But the subject and exam weren't things to be feared, he said, “Computer science is all about logic(逻辑), not about how smart you are. ”
To make his knowledge available online, Jawa set about creating his own online course, with easy-to-follow lessons. He included quizzes and tests too.
The course has so far attracted 3, 200 students across the US and in 120 countries and regions, including China, Ukraine and Algeria. It shows, Jawa said, the huge need for coding lessons.
When video lecturing, “I deliver it like I'm talking from one high school student to another,”Jawa said. “It's always great to make it as clear and fun as possible, and to try to keep my voice as energetic as possible. ”
He also does that, when teaching members of the computer science club he founded at his high school.
“His tutorials(辅导) were great, ”said Taj Shaik, the club's co-president, who took the whole course last year. “I'm definitely one of the early adopters(使用者) of Moksh. ”
“He's pretty amazing, ”said Bob Moran, principal of Washington High School, who saw him lead the club. “He was just a fantastic teacher—clear, organized and entertaining. When a student got the right answer, he would throw him a candy. ”
Many people may not find the idea of visiting Beijing's Forbidden City just to see its cultural relics(遗迹)very exciting. But what if you got to see deer there too? That certainly sounds like a better day out.
Nine deer were introduced into the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, on Sept. 26 and would make it their home until February. The beautiful animals are part of an exhibition on deer-related relics, including furniture, clothes and artworks. In ancient China, deer patterns(图案)could be seen on lots of items since lu—deer—were considered to be a lucky animal because the Chinese word shares the pronunciation(发音)of the character that means “official salary(俸禄)”.
The deer in the Palace Museum are not only to be part of the exhibition, but also to act as ambassadors(大使)to attract visitors. “It's a better way to bring cultural relics closer to the people,”explained Wang Yamin, a deputy director at the Museum, according to ChinaDaily.
Turning itself into a zoo is the latest effort that the museum has made at introducing academic(学术的)art to ordinary people.
In 2014, for example, the museum's online store started to offer products such as T-shirts featuring the pattern of an emperor's coat, and earphones looking like the necklaces worn by ancient officials. These products soon gained popularity on social media because they allowed people to wear a piece of history.
Two years later, the TV series MastersintheForbiddenCity(《我在故宫修文物》)lifted the mysterious veil(面纱)on the experts who work in the museum—people whose job is to repair the relics within it. And while many of us may have imagined these workers to be old and boring, they're actually quite young and interesting. Some are even in their 20s. They lead a peaceful career, although it can sometimes be dull. Workers aren't allowed to wear any make-up or do their nails(指甲)because the chemicals(化学物质)may damage the relics they're working on, for example.
Little by little, the Palace Museum is shaking off the stereotypes(刻板印象)of being an old-fashioned academic institution. As Shan Jixiang, the museum's director, once said, “Academic research is not alien from the public's interest. We'd like to make visiting the museum a part of people's daily lives. ”
It looks like the Forbidden City isn't so forbidden after all.
People have always wanted to know what the future will look like. Then, how can we? The world has changed a lot in the last 150 years, but we humans are driven by the same basic needs as we were 150 years ago, such as food, sleep, the feeling of being appreciated and loved. No. In addition, generally speaking, the inventions for the last 150 years have been a human effort for freedom and communication, to be able to get in control of the time and world. Since there is still much to do in this area, this will be the focus at least for the next 150 years.
But why do we need to predict the future? Predicting the future is important for two reasons: First, we need to start to think about what kind of future we would like for ourselves and to pass on to the next generation.
How about the virtual worlds? It might be in the future to experience the sand between your toes, and hear the waves, just lying in your bed at home. So, even if a great invention is there for an affordable price, it'll never take the place of the common experience if it is not real. What we'll see in the next 50 years is the transition (过渡) from an oildependent society to a new society. Here there'll be new medicine, continued exploration of space, challenges in the climate change, and new inventions that make life a little easier.
A. So what will the future look like then?
B. Will this change in the next 150 years?
C. Predicting the future can help us in many ways.
D. However, you'll never get the feeling of being there.
E. Well, to understand the future, you must know the past.
F. However, no matter how real the experience will feel, it doesn't happen for real.
G. Then we need to know what decisions we need to make today that will give the best result in the future.
My father was born in a small town in the US. He wasn't sure what he wanted from 1, but something told him to 2 and begin a new adventure.
He began that adventure traveling to cities in the US before going on to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. He took my mother and us three daughters with him and went wherever the road 3 him.
It's easy to feel4 when you're on the road. We made lots of new friends on our trip — most of them are mechanics, since we often 5 hours in repair shops. But that was a way much6 than sitting by the roadside while waiting for the engine to 7 when it was 40 ℃ outside.
Getting along well sometimes seemed 8. There were always a lot of 9, especially among us back seat passengers about who had to 10 in the middle. But even if it was hard, we learned a lot about 11. When we were traveling in the Philippines, we drove to Quezon City one day. It should have been an hour's drive but was nearly three thanks to bad roads and 12 traffic. "Did you put our suitcases in the car?" my father asked my mother as we arrived there. From the back seat, we saw her 13 turn toward my father. "No," she said. "I thought you did." That was how a seven hour car trip turned into a 16hour one, which was mostly spent in 14.
On occasions like that, we had to learn to let go of our anger because we were 15 in a rolling box with the same people for the rest of the 16. Even if I sometimes felt like opening the car door and 17 one of my sisters out, I kept my feelings to myself.
This is why road trips were like 18 universities to us. We 19 our PhDs (博士学位) in how to get along with other people just by traveling in our old car.
If we were 20 given a second chance at life, we would do it all over again. Only this time would I put the suitcases in the car myself.
After four years of living here, I have a better (understand) of northern China's food.
Northern China's hearty food is (general) more acceptable to Westerners. They can enjoy Beijing roast duck, beef and dairy from Inner Mongolia, and Korean dishes in the northeast. Northern China experiences cold and dry winters, and hot summers, (make) calories and salt replacement more important. As a result, northern dishes have strong flavors, compared with the south dishes are lighter in flavor.
Wheat is the main crop of northern China, and you will find a variety of wheat-flour (product). Rice is also eaten in the north, but it is certainly secondary to wheat. Dumplings are very popular in the north, (serve) with vinegar for dipping.
Northerners tend to eat more meat and dairy for the purpose fighting against the cold weather. Most meat dishes (base) on mutton, pork, beef, chicken, and fish.
are less fresh vegetables available because of the cold weather. Fruit is traditionally limited to a few hard seasonal varieties like apples, so it doesn't feature much in the cuisine, although the northwest is famous for (it) dried fruit and wine.
1). 表示欢迎；
2). 就她购买纪念品的计划说说你的看法；
3). 推荐一个你认为最值得参观的古迹，并说明原因。
注意：
1). 词数100左右；
2). 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3). 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Lucy,
I learned about your travel plan from your email.
Best wishes!
Yours,
Li Hua
Billy was 15 years old then. He grew up in a very poor neighborhood. No one in his family had gone to college before. Actually, few people around him had received higher education. They all struggled to live a good life. Therefore, Billy knew nothing about colleges or scholarships and he never thought he would go to college one day. Although he was a smart boy, he didn't study hard al school and often got into trouble with other teenagers in his neighborhood.
One day, while Billy was walking on the playground, a boy of his age started making fun of him. Then that boy pushed him hard and Billy fell onto the ground. Billy became so angry that he stood up and beat that boy. So a fight began.
It happened that Billy's English teacher Mr. Smith was walking nearby. He immediately ran to the boys to stop the fight. Billy was a bit worried because he knew his teacher was very strict with students. He was afraid his teacher would punish him. However, to his astonishment, his teacher didn't do that.
"Billy, let's have a talk," said his teacher.
Billy, not knowing what his teacher wanted to do, was very worried. But he nodded. So they went to a bench nearby and sat down. After they sat down, Mr. Smith began, "Billy, I know you're a smart boy, but you're wasting your life now. Why don't you study hard to go to college so that you can change your life and have a bright future?"
Hearing that, Billy didn't know what to say. He had never thought about it. Billy was in silence. Mr. Smith continued, "I know you may have never thought about going to college. But everything is possible. When I was at your age, I was a troublemaker just like you and never thought I'd be able to go to college, either. It was all because of the support and encouragement of Mr. Howard, my math teacher in high school."
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1
Then, Mr. Smith began to tell Billy his story.
Paragraph 2
Billy was greatly touched by Mr. Smith's story.
