During 1907-1909, British explorer EarnestShackleton explored Antarctica on foot. In 1911, two explorers—a British mannamed Scott and a Norwegian named Amundsen—raced 1, 400 kilometres to the SouthPole (南极).Amundsen arrived first.
YangHongwei, 56, was born into a kite-making family in Weifang. When she was young,she often saw kites with bright colors and different shapes in hergrandfather’s workshop.
In the large yard stood thirteen trees ofdifferent sizes. One day, while Joey was playing with his sister under thetrees, he noticed that a tree trunk (树干) had a sad look. He raninto the house to tell his mom about it. She told Joey to find the reason whyit was sad.
As a boy, Kevin visited national parks and helearned the Earth is in ___12___ condition. He felt worried, and hewanted to ___13___ the Earth. In 2009, he went to swim in water nearNorth Pole(北极)todraw people’s attention to the melting glaciers(融化的冰川).
Long ago, a poor old couple lived on the coast.One day, an old storyteller came to their village. The old couple gave him ameal. In return, he gave them a coffee mill (磨粉机)and said, “Say, ‘Mill, please grind (磨粉)’,”
Thinking that her dream could never come true,Kelly was in low spirits and ____18____ her studies at school. Hermother did all she could to cheer her up, ____19____ Kelly refused tochange. She even took out all her anger and ____20____ on her mother.
Taiping nijiaojiao is made of the mudfrom the local mountain. It takes more than ten steps to make the clay toy, andthe key step is to knead (捏) it with your hands. You can knead the clay toyinto anything, like animals and plants. The blowhole is the most difficult partto make, for the size of the blowhole makes a difference to the sound. Whilecoloring, you can use traditional cultural elements (元素) thatcarry good meanings. It’s hard to make taipingnijiaojiao. But when you finally make it, you will feel proud of yourself.
When itcomes to a meaningful life, we might think of love, happiness and health. Alife filled with meaning is what most of us want for ourselves. Then, whatmakes a meaningful life?Manyresearchers agree that a meaningful life comes down to three factors (因素): havinglong-term goals, believing that one’s life matters, and feeling that one’s lifefits together and “makes sense”.But we believe there is more to consider. Sometimeslife enables us to experience small moments of beauty. When people are open toappreciating (欣赏) suchexperiences, these moments may improve how they see their own life. We callthis experiential appreciation (EA).
Each ofthem has their own experience- two people with synesthesia may both “feel”music, but they almost never feel the music in the same way. For example, onemay feel the music of the violin lightly brushing his face; the other may feelit on her ankle (脚踝). And one’s experience of synesthesia is alwaysthe same. If they see the number 5 in the color blue, then 5 is blue every timethey see it.
“We thankall the Chinese people for their support and encouragement. Our thanks also goto our workmates who took part in the mission (任务) and worked with us allthe time,” Zhai said to the reporter after he landed on the ground. “It is thepower and strength of our country that built the high-flying space station. Iam proud of our great motherland.”
Paper cutting or tearing is a cultural traditionin China. For centuries, it has been passed down from one generation(一代人) tothe next, especially from mothers to daughters.
FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest sportsevents in the world. It ___11___ every 4 years. The first World Cup wasin 1930. It has a history of over 90 years. During the World Cup, ___12___fans watch the games and cheer for their favorite teams or players. We haveknown some famous football players from the football competitions, such asBeckham, Messi, and Figo. They have excited football fans for many years.
The boy named Li Banghua is from Hefei. AnhuiProvince. He made the plane completely by himself. The plane is 0.6 meterswide, has a wingspan (翼展) of 4.4 meters and weighs about 40 kilograms.According to a local report, Li just finished his high-school entrance exam ayear ago and got good grades.
Studying is not always the most interesting taskwithin your day, but it is a necessary one. Even though it is required,everyone has got bored at one time or another while studying.
Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping andYe Guangfu carried out the Shenzhou-13 spaceflight mission (任务) that started on Oct. 15,2021. This mission lasts 6 months, which was also a national record. Zhai isthe commander (指令长)who performed China’s first spacewalk in the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008.
Fiveyears ago, Jennifer, a girl from Australia, came to Xiangtan University tostudy Chinese. There she fell in love with Chinese culture and met her husband,who is a local (当地的) young man. They got married after she finishedher study. Since then, she has started her new life in Xiangtan City.
Bill doesn’t like doingfamily housework at all. He likes to play with his friends in the park.Bill asks his four friends about their housework.Bill: What do you have to do at home, Dan?
Tim: _______36_______,Bob.Bob: Good afternoon, Tim. Icalled you just now, but nobody answered. _______37_______?Tim: I went to the cinema.And I watched a movie named The Battle atLake Changjin.Bob: Oh, great. It’s very famous nowadays. _______38_______?
I often use old clothes that people don’t wearany more to make bags. I opened a small shop in my community and set up awebsite to sell the bags online. Many customers think they are fantastic. Now Iplan to write a new book about ways to use old clothes.
Theoil paper umbrella is a traditional Chinese handicraft(手工艺品).It has a history of over 1,000 years in China.In early TangDynasty, it was introduced to Japan and Korea, so it was called the “TangUmbrella”. Later oil paper umbrellas were spread to other Asian countries, suchas Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, and each had its own style. However, assteel-ribbed(钢骨的)umbrellas appeared in the last century, thehand-made oil paper umbrellas became less used in daily life. They were turnedinto decorative artifacts(装饰性工艺品).