江苏省扬州市宝应县北片2022-2023学年九年级上学期第二...

—Yes. What ________ great progress we Chinese made last year!

—Yes. That's why Mencius's (孟子的) mother moved house three times.

—Good idea! _______, we should form a habit of recycling the waste.

—So she did. We all felt very sad about the loss of a great actress.

—Wonderful. I think it is the best one ________ tells us the importance of family.

—______. It's too good a chance to miss.

Once a wise man and his student traveled on the horses to a mountain village which even couldn't be found in a map. They were well1at a small house by a family of five. The wise man asked, "How do you live in such a2place?"

"That's what keeps us going," said the host, pointing to a thin and tired3. "She gives us milk, some of which we drink and some we make into cheese. When there is extra, we4the milk and cheese for other food."

The wise man5them and left the village. When he reached the first turning in the road, he said to his student, "Go back and get the cow, take it to the cliff(悬崖) and push it off."6the student was shocked and angry, he obeyed.

Years later, the student still felt so7what he had done, so he returned to the poor family to find out what he could do.8, in place of the small house there9a large one with trees all around. He recognize(辨认) the host standing on the opposite who once treated him. He10to the man and asked, "What happened?"

The man replied with a smile, "Our cow fell off the cliff and died. Firstly, we lost heart and didn't know how to survive. Later, we faced the fact and tried to11new ways of doing things and develop new skills. And so, we are now much12."

The story did teach us a good lesson. Sometimes we13something small and limited. That is the biggest obstacle(障碍) to our growth. Once you14yourself of the thought "it's little but it's certain," then your life will really change. I hope you have the15to recognize your "cow" this new year, and the courage to push it off the cliff.

One of the passengers on the boat was a rich, young gentleman from New Orleans. His name was St Clare. He was travelling with his daughter called Eva, who was between five and six years old. She was a beautiful child, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was always busy or running around, and Tom noticed her and thought that she looked like an angel. She often went where the slaves sat in chains and looked at them with sad eyes. Sometimes she brought them food.

One day, she talked with Uncle Tom for the first time. "So, Uncle Tom, where are you going?" Eva said. "I don't know, Miss Eva." Tom said. "Why not?" said Eva. "Because my master is going to sell me, and I don't know who will buy me." "My papa can buy you," said Eva. "I'll ask him today." "Thank you," said Tom.

Later that day, Eva and her father were standing together on the upper deck on the side of the boat. Suddenly, the child moved too quickly and fell into the water. Tom saw everything and he jumped into the water immediately. He caught her and swam back to the boat, where many people helped to lift her out of the water.

Eva was with her father, who was talking to Haley. "So what's the price?" The father asked. "More than thirteen hundred dollars," said Haley. "He's very good." "That's too much!" said St Clare. "Show me your papers." "Papa, please buy him! The price is not important." Eva said.

The trader showed the papers signed by Mr Shelby. St Clare read them, signed a document and paid Haley. He took his daughter's hand and went over to Tom. "Hello, Tom," he said, "I'm your new master. Can you drive horses?"

—Taken from Uncle Tom's Cabin

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. In China, the 24 solar terms were created thousands of years ago to guide agricultural production.

Rain Water stands for the increase in rainfall and rise in temperature. With its arrival, lively spring—like scenery starts: the river water melt, wild geese fly from south to north, and trees and grass turn green again.

Here are four things you may not know about Rain Water

Rain in spring is as precious as oil.

According to an old Chinese saying, the rainfall in spring is as precious as oil. In northern China the spring drought is common and the rain of this season is only 10 to 15 percent of yearly average(平均) rainfall.

Return of a cold period

Extra care is needed to deal with a returning cold time in the late spring that often happens during Rain Water. The fast increase in air humidity(湿度) can result in lower temperature and wet weather.

Visit to in-laws(姻亲)

One of the main customs during Rain Water is sons-in-law visiting their in-laws and giving gifts. According to the tradition, gifts are usually two cane chairs with four meters of red belt which represents good health and long life. Another typical gift is a pot of cooked dish that contains pig's knuckles(蹄) with soya and kelp. The son-in-law expresses his respect and thankfulness this way.

Nutritious porridge

The wet and damp weather during Rain Water is considered harmful to people's health according to Chinese medical practice. So a bowl of nutritious porridge is the best choice to keep the body alive and healthy.

You might have seen beautiful rainbows in the sky before. They form when sunlight falls on water drops in the air. But in fact, moonlight can also create rainbows in the same way. They are called "moonbows". They are similar to rainbows, but they are created by moonlight instead of direct sunlight.

Moonbows are rarer than rainbows. Different weather and astronomical（天文学的）conditions have to be just right for moonbows to be created.

The moon has to be very low in the sky-only 42 degrees from the horizon（地平线）. The moon period has to be a full moon or nearly full. The sky must be very dark for a moonbow to be watched clearly—any bright light can obscure it. Water drops must appear in the air in the opposite direction of the moon.

Moonbows appear on the opposite side of the moon and usually look white to the human eye. This is because their colors are not bright enough to be noticed by the human eye. It is possible, however, to view the colors in a moonbow using long exposure（长时间曝光）photography.

Moonbows more often appear in some locations around the world. Most of these locations usually have waterfalls, which create thin fog in the air. Some of these locations are the Yosemite National Park in California and Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Kentucky, US; Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe; and Waimea in Hawaii, US.

Moonbows do really happen. So at a certain time and a certain place, when a moonbow happens to appear, you can't miss it if you're right there.

Beijing Opera is one of the traditional Chinese drama art forms with a history of more than 200 years. It is said that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty loved the theatre. At the beginning, there was no Beijing Opera. Kunqu Opera was the most popular, but Emperor Qianlong gradually became bored with this style. Various local operas were brought to Beijing to please the emperor. Drawing on the good points of these local operas, the new Beijing Opera came into being and became Qianlong's favorite.

Beijing Opera mixes different art forms, including singing, dancing, acrobatics and Wushu. All these art forms are put into one performance. Facial painting (脸谱) is one of the most important signs of Peking Opera. It shows the roles' personalities. For example, a red face usually shows the role's bravery; a white face shows the treachery and guile; a black face shows the role is a strict man.

Beijing Opera has spread to many other places. Mei Lanfang, a famous performer, was the first to introduce Beijing Opera to foreigners and made highly successful tours to foreign countries.

"You will doubt and sometimes be a little bored, but you will be interested gradually. You will be strongly attracted to Beijing Opera, even if you know nothing about the drama background." This is how one traveler described his first experience in watching Beijing Opera.

Beijing Opera is China's national opera and it is full of Chinese cultural traditions. Welcome to China and enjoy Beijing Opera.

In July, China introduced the "double reduction" policy (双减政策). It hopes to reduce students' learning burden (负担) by reducing homework and after-school classes. Three months have p since the new term began. How do students feel about this new policy?

"Our homework is clearly l than before," said 13-year-old Shen Yu from Beijing. "We are not encouraged to buy workbooks anymore. The exercises are m from the textbook."

According to Shen, teachers now teach at a much slower pace (节奏). Students have enough time to process new knowledge. "Our teachers are also giving us more c to do experiments (实验) and learn from real life," said Shen. "For example, we went to research earthworms (蚯蚓) in a field during a biology class. This is a much b way to learn things than just hitting the books."

For 13-year-old Zhang Ming from Tianjin, the best thing about "double reduction" is the increased time in after-school activities. "We can now spend more time t part in clubs and activities, such as dancing, volleyball and drama." said Zhang.

Both Shen and Zhang find there are fewer exams now. But they think it's probably not a good thing. "Each exam shows my progress as well as my weak points. Exams push me to study h," Zhang said.

She also pointed out that when burden is lightened (减轻), self-discipline (自律) is of great i. "Some students now spend more time having fun when homework is f early. But if you use all the free time to r, you might fall behind your peers (同龄人)," he said.

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Our dreams

Recently, we have held a discussion to talk about our dreams. Here is the report about our ideas.