When I was in seventh grade, I was a volunteer at a local hospital in my town. I worked about thirty to forty 1 a week during the summer. Most of the time I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. 2 seemed to care about his condition and he never had any visitors.
I spent many days there holding his hand and 3 to him. He became my close friend, even though he reacted with only a squeeze (捏) of my 4 from time to time. Mr Gillespie was in a coma (昏迷).
I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I 5 Mr. Gillespie was gone. I didn't have the 6 to ask the nurses where he was. I was afraid that they might tell me he had 7.
Several years later, I was at the gas station when I 8 a familiar face. I asked him if he was Mr. Gillespie, 9 if he had been in a coma five years ago. With an uncertain look on his face, he replied yes. I 10 how I knew him and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. His eyes became wet and he gave me the 11 hug I had ever received.
He began to tell me how he could hear me talking to him and could 12 me holding his hand the whole time. He thought it was an angel, who was there with him. He 13 believed that it was my voice and touch that had kept him alive.
14 I haven't seen him ever since, he fills my heart with happiness every day. I know that I made a 15 between his life and his death. I will never forget him and what he did for me: he made me an angel.
FACTS ABOUT EARTHWORMS
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Send us your questions. Dr. Francis Rogers is a doctor who studies animals. Today's topic is the common earthworm. |
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Why do I sometimes see earthworms on the sidewalk after raining? It's really awful to clean them off my shoes. I've heard that they die if their holes are filled with water. |
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Earthworms breathe (呼吸) through their skin, but they're also able to live for a long time in water. Scientists think that earthworms leave their holes because the rain hits the ground. |
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I've been thinking about starting an earthworm farm. I can make lots of money by selling them to fishermen. I've heard that if I cut one in half, each half will grow into another worm. If this is true, I'll be rich in no time. |
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I hope you haven't started cutting yet. That's only a playground legend. If you cut a worm in half, one half will die and the other half, with the head, may be dead too. Put your knife away and feed your earthworms a lot instead. |
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Do some people really eat earthworms and why would they want to? |
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Please don't throw up, but many people do eat earthworms. In some places, people eat earthworm pies. In other parts of the world, people fry them and some even eat them without cooking. Earthworms are low in fat and high in protein. They're healthier than eating beef. |
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In the small village of Arbora, Italy, lived an old man named Geppetto.
He lived alone in his small house. When it was late at night, he was often lonely. Every morning, Geppetto went into the forest to collect wood for carving.
"This is a good piece of wood, but it is too small. I can't make anything out of this." Geppetto threw the wood on the ground.
"Ouch!" said a voice. "Hey, don't leave me here! I'm not too small! I am good wood. You can make something out of me!" the voice said again.
Geppetto turned his eyes all around and was very surprised. It was a talking piece of wood! "I must be crazy! It's only a piece of wood!" Geppetto cried.
"Only a piece of wood? Take me home, sir, and I will show you I am not only a piece of wood."
Geppetto was worried that he was crazy. But he was also lonely. "This talking piece of wood might know interesting stories or funny jokes," he said to himself. He decided to take the wood home.
"Hmm, what should I do with you? I could carve you into a flower or a small birdhouse," Geppetto said.
"What? I don't want to be carved. That sounds painful!" said the piece of wood.
"Well, if I don't carve you into something, you will only be a piece of wood."
"Fine, you can carve me into something. But please, make it something interesting," said the wood, hopefully. "I don't want to be a flower. And I don't like birds. I want to see the world and go on adventures. I want to run, walk and talk. How about a boy? Can you make me into a boy?"
"A boy? Hmm." Geppetto touched his nose, thinking.
"Yes, please! I promise to be a good boy too," the wood said. "If you carve me into a boy, that means I will be your son. We can live together and have fun!" It added. In fact, the piece of wood didn't really want to live with Geppetto. It wanted to travel around the world.
"A boy. Yes, I think that is a good idea." Geppetto said.
(Adapted from The Adventures of Pinocchio)
Xue Gailian, 65, has created many works with gourds (葫芦) using pyrography (烙画) in Shanxi Province over the past twenty years. She has also helped her villagers make money with the art form.
Twenty years ago, like most villagers of Wucun village in Shanxi's Wenshui county, Xue's family made a living by growing grapes. But they made only a little money because of the local weather and planting environment.
"One day, my husband brought back a good-looking gourd when he returned from outside the county," she said. "I liked it very much and wanted to keep it. So I made a painting on it."
Xue has been interested in painting since she was young. After learning and doing some researches, she started to plant gourds on her farm. After a good harvest (收获), she began to try pyrography. The art has been practiced since ancient times.
"At the beginning, I found it was not very easy for me to make good paintings," she said. To improve my skills, I traveled to Shandong Province and Tianjin to learn from skilled artists."
Day by day, Xue's art became well-known in Chinese and foreign markets, including Japan and Singapore. She also set up a gourd pyrography society and has taught more than 100 local people for free.
"In the future, I will introduce more modern planting technology to improve the scientific planting of gourds," she said. "I will also further research and teach gourd pyrography skills to help villagers improve their lives."
She added: "I hope we can show more people the beauty of Chinese traditional arts and works through gourd pyrography."
a. Xue Gailian started to grow gourds on her farm.
b. Xue Gailian taught local people gourd pyrography for free.
c. Xue Gailian painted on a gourd that his husband brought back.
d. Xue Gailian found it difficult to learn gourd pyrography skills.
You'll need to create a password to do just about everything on the Web, such as checking your email, banking online, logging in WeChat and so on. And while it's simpler to use a short, easy-to-remember password, this can also cause serious risks to your online safety. To protect yourself and your information, you'll want to use passwords that are long, strong, and difficult for someone else to guess while still keeping them easy for you to remember.
A strong password is one that's easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Let's take a look at some of the most important things to think when setting a password. First, never use personal information such as your name, birthday, user's name, or email address. This type of information is often publicly available (可获得的), which makes it easier for someone to guess your password. Second, use a longer password. Your passwords should be at least six characters long or even longer. Then, don't use the same password for each account (账户). If someone discovers your password for one account, all of your other accounts will be in danger.
You can try to use numbers, symbols, and both capital and small letters. You have to avoid using words that can be found in the dictionary. Like "swimming", it would be a weak password. So random (随机的) passwords are the strongest.
Instead of writing your passwords on paper like books or notebooks where someone might find them, you can use a password manager (a kind of App) to store them safely online. Password managers can remember and enter your password on different websites. That means you won't have to remember longer passwords. So it is a good and safe way to keep your passwords.
There are about 250 kinds of turtles. Most turtles live near fresh water. However, land turtles, also known as tortoises, do not swim at all. Sea turtles live nearly their whole lives in salt water.
Tortoises
Tortoises are slow. They have short, thick back legs. Their front legs are very good for digging. Many tortoises can pull their heads, legs, and tails inside their shells. They quickly do so at any sign of danger. Their strong shells can protect them. Unlike most other turtles, tortoises eat only plants. Tortoises hatch from eggs. The mother tortoise digs a hole, lays some eggs, and covers them with earth. When the baby tortoises hatch, they must dig their way out of the hole. The largest tortoises can grow to four feet long. They may weigh up to 600 pounds.
Sea Turtles
Like tortoises, sea turtles lay their eggs on land. The mother turtle comes out of the ocean onto the beach. She digs a hole, lays her eggs, and returns to the sea. When the baby turtles hatch, they head straight for the water. Sea turtles can swim very fast. They use their front legs like wings to "fly" through the water. Although most turtles can pull their heads and legs inside their shells, sea turtles cannot. The green sea turtle eats only plants. Other sea turtles eat both plants and animals. The largest of all sea turtles can weigh over 1,000 pounds.
Get to know different kinds of turtles and compare them.
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Live in salt water and very fast. They use their front legs to fly through water. They can't pull their heads, legs and tails inside the shells. They eat both plants and animals the green sea turtles. |
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They are slow and don't swim at all. Their legs are used for digging. Most of them can pull their heads, legs and tails inside the shells. They eat only plants. They both have shells. They both dig a and lay eggs on land. Their babies hatch from eggs. |
When will tortoises pull their heads and legs inside the shells?
I haven't seen Mr. Jenkins since I finished school, but I often think about him. I wasn't very good at school subjects before I (遇到) Mr. Jenkins. I suppose I was a bit lazy, (尤其) in science. But everything changed when I went into Mr. Jenkins' class at the age of (十五).
Before Mr. Jenkins taught me, science had simply been a subject (充满) of strange words to me. I didn't know what oxygen was. And I didn't really want to know, (也). I found it so boring and difficult. But Mr. Jenkins made everything interesting. He used to explain things which seemed difficult with lots of easy (例子) and in simple words. He even asked us to build a rocket by ourselves!
I wasn't an (积极的) student, but I wasn't slow to learn new things. The problem was that I was not confident in (我自己). Mr. Jenkins made me feel that I had my own advantages. He once asked me to give a presentation about stars and planets to the class. I had never done that before. And now it's my job! When I'm (准备) a class, I often think about how Mr. Jenkins would do it. I hope I can always have the (机会) to ask for his opinion!
In February, 2021, international students at Beijing International Studies University celebrated Little New Year—usually a week before Spring Festival—at one of (they) teachers' home in Beijing.
For Marcela Vazaves, celebrating the Spring Festival is to spend it the people she loves, whether with friends and teachers around her or with parents and relatives in Mexico online. However, this year, she and two of her classmates (invite) to a teacher's home. It was her (one) time to make dumplings and learn about the culture behind Spring Festival.
Marcela wasn't able to travel home the COVID-19 epidemic (流行病) was serious. However, she felt (luck) that she was safe and well in China. "The university (take) really good care of us since the epidemic broke out more than a year ago," she said.
"The university has paired all international (student) with people in Beijing and bought presents for them, so they are hoped (spend) the festival with local people and enjoy a real festival environment." said the teacher. "Inviting students to my home is good way to make friends with them. I teach international students Chinese language, I also want to build true friendship between us," he said.
要求：1）短文应包括上述要点，可适当发挥，参考词汇仅供选择使用；
2）短文不能出现真实的人名和校名；
3）词数：90—110。
参考词汇：epidemic (流行病)；have an NAT (做核酸检测)；mask (口罩)；DingTalk (钉钉)
