A. but B. an C. at D. first E. in F. used |
From Tenez! to tennis
Tennis first appeared in England and France in the 16th century. It was called royal tennis and only kings and queens played it. It was indoor sport and players started the game by saying "Tenez!" and that's how it got its name.
Modern tennis appeared the 1860s. It was first called "Lawn Tennis" and players only played on grass. The tennis match was at Wimbledon, London in 1877. Nowadays, players play on other kinds of courts, too.
In the past, players didn't use plastic rackets. They wooden rackets and they were quite heavy. Men wore pants and shirts and women wore long dresses. The first person to wear shorts at Wimbledon was Bunny Austin in 1933. In the past, players also wore shoes, players wear sneakers (胶底运动鞋) nowadays.
Today, tennis is an Olympic sport. It is also part of the Paralympics and athletes play in wheelchairs.
Phoebe Snetsinger had just returned from a trip to Alaska when her doctors told her that she had cancer. She had less than a year to live. Phoebe was 50. As soon as she heard the 1 , she decided to spend the rest of her life doing what she loved most—watching birds.
She immediately went off to some of the world's most amazing natural places. Her 2 were very hard. But Phoebe surprised her doctors and her family as she carried on travelling. A year came and went, and she was still 3 . She was doing something that she loved and that helped her to be healthy for another ten 4 .
The cancer came back, but even then Phoebe Snetsinger decided not to 5 . At the age of 61, when she had seen 7,530 species (物种), she was named "the world's leading bird spotter (观察者)".
In Missouri, Phoebe 6 a group of people who were interested in birds and plants around the Mississippi River. She became very worried about 7 and its bad influence on the environment. "We have to protect nature," she said. "If we don't, people won't be able to enjoy 8 these beautiful birds in the future."
Sadly, when Phoebe was 68, she died in a car accident. Four years later, the American Birding Association 9 her memoirs (回忆录), Birding on Borrowed Time. Many people have enjoyed reading this 10 book. It isn't just a story about a bird spotter's travels, but a touching human record of how her hobby helped her to live much longer than expected.
Hongqi School Sports Day! A day of fun and exercise! This year, we have some new sports and games for you to take part in! You can choose to join in: Sign up (报名) for the following workshops (讲座): Sports workshops are run by skillful coaches. They will teach you more about the sports and how to do them. There are only a few spaces for each workshop. Sign up early to get your first choice! Time: Friday, October 18, 9:00 a.m.—4:30 p.m. Place: the Students' Sports Center Call Mr. Li at 293-7742. |
Some people are worried about the effect that social media has on the lives of young people. The following text was written by a reporter: He tried to find out whether social media has a positive or negative effect on children.
1. Social media websites are communities where users can share photos and talk to each other online. They are very popular—millions of people use social media every day. Although some people think social media is a positive thing, many are worried about the negative effects it can have on young people.
2. James, a 15-year-old student, thinks that social media has many benefits. "I get very nervous when I talk to people in real life—I find it so much easier to express myself when I use social media. Another advantage is that I hardly ever forget anyone's birthday now because I can look it up online!" Lots of users agree that social media helps young people stay connected to their friends and make new friends from around the world.
3. However, social media also has many problems. Social media may help young people find friends, but it also makes it easier for bullies to hurt them. Some parents believe that social media makes it harder for families to spend time together. They say their children are so crazy about social media that they ignore (忽视) the rest of their family. Many teachers think social media can distract (使某人分心) their students from schoolwork.
4. There is no doubt that social media has some problems, and it is very important to avoid spending too much time online. However, generally speaking, social media can be a positive thing for young people. It is a way for nervous people to make friends and for young people to stay connected.
Do you speak a dialect (方言) in daily life? While many Chinese people speak putonghua, some local dialects are in danger of disappearing (消失). To save them, the Chinese government started the Chinese Language Resources Protection Project (中国语言资源保护工程) a few years ago.
This project looks at how people talk in 1,712 places. Their languages include 103 dialects that are almost gone. It has helped China to build the largest language resource library in the world. There's an online library where people can learn dialects from over 5.6 million audio clips and over 5 million videos.
____ According to Harold Palmer, a world expert on language, "dialects are a key to store local cultures. Language clearly shows the history and beliefs of an area," he said.
Scholar Zhang Hongming talked about his concerns about the disappearing of dialects. "For about over 10 years, in the Wu dialect areas such as Shanghai and Suzhou, children aged 6 to 15 can understand but hardly speak the dialect. Young people above 15 years old sometimes speak it, but not very well. If this keeps happening, the dialect might disappear," he said.
So how did China make this big library? "A big national effort has been put into the project to make it happen," said Cao Zhiyun, an expert on the project. "Over five years, more than 350 universities and research groups joined in, along with over 4,500 experts and more than 6,000 dialect speakers."
The project is now entering into its second part. This includes creating digital (数字化的) tools like apps and mobile dictionaries to help people learn dialects.
Asking for advice is not so easy. In a recent study, 74 percent of people said they were afraid to ask for advice. But people who ask for advice are more likely to succeed at a task. So how do you ask for advice?
●Look for the best person to give you advice. It might be easy to ask all your friends on social media for advice at once, but will you value all the advice equally (同等地)? It might be better to choose one or two people whose opinions you value most. Ideally (最理想的是), you can ask for advice from people who have experience in the topic you're asking about.
●Provide enough information clearly. For example, imagine you can't decide how to organize a club activity. When you ask for advice, you should mention the topic, the place and the time. If your questions require a lot of thought, you should ask the person for advice when he or she is clear-headed.
●Be specific (具体的) when you ask questions. Imagine you want to own a business someday. Do you ask a business owner, "" No, because it's not specific enough. Instead, try asking, "What college classes did you find helpful for starting a business?"
● If you can't solve your problem by following the first person's advice, why not ask someone else who may think differently? The key is: Don't be afraid to ask for advice.
A. Probably not.
B. The answer is yes!
C. Here are some ways for you.
D. What advice do you have for me?
E. You should also consider when to ask.
F. Sometimes you may need to ask for a second opinion.
She makes the world hear the "voice of China"
Zheng Xiaohui is a Chinese student in Milan Italy. To spread traditional Chinese culture to the world, she has given lots of erhu shows on the street.
Zheng has been playing the erhu since she was 9. and she has won prizes in many national music competitions. Zheng arrived in Italy in 2021. Since April 2023, she has been performing on the street during her free time. And now she does three or four street shows a month.
At first, Zheng did not plan to perform on the street. But after watching a video of a violinist's street performance, she changed her mind.
Thinking back to her first street performance, she said she was worried at the time. But the enthusiastic response (热情的回应) from the audience (观众) cheered her up. "When I played Goodbye, my friend. a grandfather started to dance. Many people in the audience followed him. Even I could not help dancing along with them," Zheng said.
After performing a few times. Zheng began sharing videos of her street shows on the Internet. And these videos soon became popular online. Zheng says she wants to show the beauty of Chinese erhu to the world. "I believe that Chinese music has built a bridge for cultural communication," she says.
Talking about the future. Zheng looks forward to it. She says whatever she does and wherever she lives, she will bring her erhu with her. "I hope to hold my own special concert in the future to make more people learn about Chinese folk music." she says.
Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings of all time, in 1503. He was working on a special painting for a church at the time, but it was not going (good). The woman who can be seen in the Mona Lisa is said to be Madonna Lisa del Giocondo. She was the wife of an Italian businessman. Her husband asked da Vinci (paint) a portrait (肖像) of her.
After da Vinci finished the painting in 1506, he was invited by the French King to visit France he took the painting with him. Today the Mona Lisa is kept in the Louvre, an art museum in Paris, and it is seen by about six million (visit) a year.
The painting measures (测量为) only 77 centimeters by 53 centimeters and is painted oil on wood. In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, a worker at the Louvre, stole the painting. He took it out of the museum by hiding it under (he) coat. Two years later, police officers found painting when he tried to sell it.
In 1962, the Mona Lisawas (take) to Washington and New York for artwork shows. For the journey, the museum (want) to insure (给……投保) the painting. The insurance company set the value of it at 100 million dollars, making it the most (value) painting ever! Today, the value of the painting would be over 700 million dollars.