"Meera, do you remember what day it is tomorrow?" asked Rani.
"It's Mummy's birthday!" cried Meera. "What are we going to give her as a 1 ?"
That was the 2 . They couldn't think of anything! Maybe they could buy her some flowers or make her a birthday card. But that didn't seem 3 enough for Mummy!
Both girls 4 how they could make Mummy's birthday an extra surprise. They asked Papa for help. After an hour of discussing with Papa, the girls nodded to each other. They finally had a 5 !
Next morning Papa 6 the girls very early, even before the sun had risen properly. Quickly and quietly, the three of them started to 7 . Papa and Rani blew up balloons—red, yellow, green, blue—and Meera 8 them all around. Soon the room was looking very 9 indeed.
Then they got into the 10 . "Let's make breakfast!" Papa began giving 11 in a low voice. Rani and Meera did as Papa said. 12 the children made the breakfast ready. There were sandwiches, a fruit salad, a glass full of 13 orange juice and another full of warm milk.
Mummy came out of her room. The girls 14 to her and hugged（拥抱）her. "Happy birthday!"
"What a wonderful 15 !" cried Mummy, looking at the balloons and the breakfast table. It was the best breakfast Mummy had ever eaten.
Best kite festivals around the world
Imagine a sky full of colorful kites of all shapes and sizes. Isn't it wonderful? Now, we'll take you on a journey through some of the best kite festivals around the world.
Name | Weifang International Kite Festival | Washington State International Kite Festival | Dieppe International Kite Festival |
Time | Every year in April. | Every year in August. | Every two years in September. |
Place | In Weifang, China. | In Washington, US. | In Dieppe, France. |
History | Since 1984. | Since 1981. | Since 1980. |
Features | There is a big parade（巡游）. Visitors can try their hand at kite making. | It's celebrated for about a week with kite fights and races. It still holds a world record about kite flying. | It shows kite designs with different themes. There is an evening light show with thousands of kites. |
Holly gets a pet dog. She's so happy, and the dog is happy, too! "I want to call him Eco," says Holly. "Come here, Eco!" And Eco wags（摇摆）his tail.
"That dog is your responsibility（责任）, Holly," says her father. "No problem!" Holly agrees.
Before school, Holly takes Eco for his first morning walk. She feels very tired. It's really cold and dark—and it's so early! But Eco doesn't mind. He runs, stops, runs again, sees a black cat, tries to run after it and nearly pulls Holly off her feet!
Holly realizes it's late when she gets back from the walk. She quickly eats a piece of bread, takes her bag and jacket, and runs to school.
What a busy morning! But that's not all for looking after a pet dog.
When Holly takes Eco for his evening walk, it's quite dark outside. Holly feels nervous. She runs along the road with him, but it's difficult. Because Eco often stops to study the bushes and trees. And he often tries to catch birds, or play with sticks and fallen leaves.
A few days go by. Then…
It's raining outside. Eco enters…and the trouble starts. Eco's dirty paws leave prints everywhere, on the floor, on the blanket, on the sofa… "Come here, Eco!" says Holly. She wants to stop him, but it doesn't work.
Holly gets really angry now. She decides to punish Eco. So that night Eco is kept in the green house alone.
When Holly enters the green house next morning, it's a disaster. Her mum's plants and flowers are lying on their sides or on the floor. And the pots（花盆）are broken into a hundred pieces. And Eco is sitting in the soil and leaves.
"Oh, no," says Holly. She realizes it's time to train the dog. "He needs to know the rules. "
Every day after school, Holly repeats simple orders to Eco. If he can do as ordered, he can get nice bones. The amazing thing is, Eco really enjoys it. For him, it's one big game.
So Eco learns to sit when Holly says, "Sit!" He learns to come when Holly says, "Come here!"…And he doesn't get into trouble!
a. Holly keeps Eco in the green house.
b. Eco leaves the green house in a mess.
c. Eco makes the house dirty on a rainy day.
d. Holly decides to help Eco learn some rules.
e. Eco doesn't listen to Holly and that makes her angry.
If you grew up in an unusual family and felt limited by heavy thoughts, how would you change your life story? In the book Educated, the US writer Tara Westover shows us how she deals with hard times.
The book talks about Westover's life. Her father had a junkyard（废品场）in Idaho, US. It's a very small mountain village. Tara and her brothers and sisters worked every day. Before she turned 17, she had never traveled outside. None of the kids in her family had ever been to a school or a hospital. As she got older, she felt that she needed to get away from this uncomfortable situation. Luckily, Westover's older brother taught her to read. With hard work, Westover went to college on a scholarship, and later got a PhD（博士学位）in History at Cambridge University.
Education changed her, her life, her way of thinking and even her luck. After reading the book, I come to feel the deepest thanks for my own family, and the education I got. Education allows girls like Westover to fly like birds toward their own goals. It allows us to get a different view, find new experiences, better understand others and explore the wider world. I wish for all of us to be like free and powerful birds, growing and changing through challenges and difficulties.
As we know, eating vegetables is good for us. Why do some people like them but others don't? A new study has found that other people's likes and dislikes could be a reason. According to the research, people who eat vegetables and show a clear dislike for them can influence others.
People may make facial expressions（面部表情）when eating. How does it affect a person watching them? A team of scientists in the UK did a study. They asked more than 200 young women to watch videos of other adults eating broccoli（西兰花）. The people in the videos had different expressions while eating. They would smile, seem neutral（neither happy nor sad）, or look disgusted.
The study found that when people in the videos look disgusted while eating broccoli, people watching them began to like broccoli less. The opposite was not true, however. When someone had a smile while eating broccoli, people watching them did not like broccoli more.
By watching others, humans learn which behaviors will be good for them. Scientists believe that people might avoid food that looks terrible. In this way, people can protect themselves from eating something bad or dangerous.
The research focused only on adults, but the team believe that the results could also work for children. This means, if children see their parents not enjoying certain foods, including vegetables, they might not want to eat them either.
How does the behavior of adults influence children's choices of food? The team said they hope to understand more about it. This could help find ways to encourage children to eat more healthy foods.
When winter comes, cranes migrate（迁徙）from northeast Siberia in Russia to Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, China. However, climate change has influenced the birds' living conditions.
In some years, the Poyang Lake experiences floods, while in others, it experiences dry weather.
To help deal with the problem, the local government has planted 70 hectares（公顷）of lotus roots（莲藕）in Nanchang. The birds' population has risen from about 3, 000 to more than 5,000 over the past 20 years.
Over the years, China has worked hard to protect migratory birds. Recently, 1,140 places in the country have been taken as important breeding（繁殖）grounds, wintering grounds and migratory stops. They play a key role in cleaning water, preventing floods, and keeping the balance of the environment.
The law sets rules to help manage wetlands. And it stops harmful activities, including giving out waste water. Thanks to these efforts, China has reported more birds wintering in the wetlands.
A. Most of them are wetlands. B. We need more people to count the birds. C. About 95% of the birds spend winter there. D. It's important for us to do something to protect them. E. In this way, they provide food during the winter for the cranes. F. Both of these lead to the problem that there isn't enough food for cranes. G. To protect wetlands, the Wetlands Protection Law was introduced on June 1, 2022. |
Community connects us with each other. A community is a p where people live, work and play together. It's just like a school, where s help each other to learn. People in a community h one another, too.
People in a community have different skills. They often help neighbors s all kinds of problems. For example, sometimes people do not feel well. The d and nurses will make them feel better. There are also some engineers. They may help people f their broken bicycles or washing machines. When people don't know what to wear to a party or how to design their homes, the artists will give them some a.
Some college students work as volunteers in their s time. They often do some cleaning for the old people and help students with their h.
Community is not a building or an organization. It is like a big f. Members of a community have a sense of trust, safety and caring for each other.
use; such as; fill…with; in front of; places of interest; blow; scientist; cheer…up; connect with; make a difference |
—That's OK. I'll ring you later.
A talented young band, called Esinaba, became one of the top 10 winners at a national music competition this year. The band came from Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture（阿坝藏族羌族自治州）, Sichuan. The band's name means "azalea flower" in the Qiang language.
The band was formed in March last year. It is made up of six children, including lead singer Li Guoran, guitarist Zhang Ruixiang, and drummer（鼓手）Qiu Zixin, with an average（平均）age of 10.
"The original（起初的）idea of forming a band was to make music class interesting. Our goal is to make folk music popular so that this beautiful music can reach more people," says Ha Xue, a music teacher at two local primary schools. She adds that one of the members in the band is Yu Meng xiaofeng, who plays a Qiang musical instrument made of sheepskin.
"We collected old songs of our ethnic group（民族）. Many of them are not written. They are passed down by elders singing to their children," says the teacher. "I worked with the children to turn the old songs into new pieces with modern instruments. We plan to hold a concert this year."
