A 16-year-old student has won a televised Chinese poetry competition, winning fans over with her keen knowledge of the country’s ancient culture and works.

Wu Yishu, a student at the High School Affiliated(隶属的)to Fudan University in Shanghai, beat other competitors in the second season of the Chinese Poetry Conference on China Central Television on Feb. 7.

“I get feelings from ancient poetry that modern people cannot give me. I pay little attention to the competition result, but I love poetry, and it is enough as long as I enjoy the happiness brought by the poetry, ”Wu said.

In the final, Wu performed strongly in many sections, such as competitors recalling poems by looking at sand paintings and reciting poems as many as they could think of relating to the Chinese character“Jiu, ”meaning liquor.

As early as Feb. 1, when Wu recited an ancient Chinese poem about the months of the year, the judges estimated that Wu must have remembered more than 2, 000 Chinese ancient works.

Wu’s strong performance in the Chinese ancient rhythm works earned her many fans and inspired others to learn ancient works.

The 1. 8-meter tall Wu said that she kept only one ancient poetry book on bookshelves at her dormitory room instead of other books such as math, physics and chemistry books that her classmates have kept on their bookshelves.

She is known among her classmates and teachers as she loves reading poetry and wearing ancient Chinese clothes.

Zhou Hong, a professor from the Department of Chinese language and literature of East China Normal University, said that he had read some of the girl’s poetry in 2015, and had published some on his blog.

In 2012, I had just recovered from a serious illness when I received an invitation to a writer’s conference in Orlando, Florida. My family and friends persuaded me that a holiday might be just what the doctor ordered, so off I went.

Arriving in the Sunshine State was not easy, but I managed to catch a taxi to the hotel. The next morning, I caught another taxi to do some shopping. Later I went to a café to buy some lunch, but having my sandwich and drink in my hands, I saw that all the tables were occupied(占用). Then I heard a friendly voice saying, “You can share my table.”

I thankfully sat down with the smiling elderly lady and we shared a happy lunch together. As the meal drew to a close she asked how long I would be in Orlando. I had already told her that I hadn’t hired(租用) a car, and hadn’t realized how costly taking taxis would be. After a while she said, “My dear, don’t use any more taxis. It would be my pleasure to drive you wherever you wish.”

I told her that I couldn’t put her to that trouble, but she insisted. She took details of where I was staying and the next morning she drove me to Disney World. She took me through the park’s gates and spent some time with me before leaving me to explore alone. At the end of the day, she returned to take me back to my hotel. The next few days, she drove me around Orlando’s tourist areas. I offered her money but she refused to take any.

When we had lunch on my last day, I thanked her for her kindness. I’ll never forget that wonderful lady who filled my holiday in Florida with wonderful memories.

Today, the technology that is being developed for cell phones is surprising. Soon our cell phones will be able to do things that we thought impossible or not even thought of at all.

When picturing the future, there are quite a few things that we would love our cell phones to be able to do. Let’s take a look at the ones that are likely to be in the next generation of cell phones. Cell phones of the near future will be able to start and unlock cars, turn lights on and off in houses, make payments(付款), work as computers. This sounds too good to be true, right? Fortunately, this future is just over the horizon; you won’t wait too long. New technology for phones is being developed to realize eye scans(扫描)and fingerprint scans as new“unlock your phone”, so you needn’t worry about your information being stolen.

What do I want my phone to be able to do? I want it to be special. For example, I will shout to my phone across the room“Give me directions to the market”and it pulls up the directions and sends them to my printer. Is it possible? Yes. Maybe someday cell phones will be able to change into robots and walk our dogs and clean our houses too. Who knows? In the last 30 years we have gone from hardly knowing what a cell phone was to surfing the Internet with excellent cell phones.

It is hard to believe that technology is advancing as quickly as it is, with no end in sight. In 5 years the technology of today will be a thing of the past, and the world won’t look back one bit.

How to be a good roommate

Roommate horror stories are pretty popular topics of conversation at school. Follow a few simple tips to ensure you’re not the awful roommate everyone’s talking about.

Respect each other

First and foremost, you need to respect your roommate.

    31    If your roommate is sleeping, keep the noise and light levels down. If your roommate is studying, don’t have loud conversations in the same room. If in doubt, ask yourself whether you would be annoyed if your roommate didn’t do the above things for you.

Keep it clean.     32    Hair in the shower or bathrooms littered with magazines or dirty clothes. Respect means keeping your side of the room clean. And hopefully, if your roommate sees you keeping your side clean, they’ll be more likely to keep theirs clean.

Keep your hands off their stuff.     33    If you really need to borrow something of theirs, always ask before you do. If they say no, don’t get angry. Some people just don’t like other people using their stuff.

Set basic rules

You and your roommate should establish some basic rules. For instance, I really don’t like it when people have phone conversations in the room while I am studying.     34    I’d rather be writing my paper than listening to you tell your best friend about your weekend. So discuss that with your roommate. Make a compromise, but the tie should go to the person studying. Another example is to discuss cleaning duties. Dividing cleaning duties will make your room cleaner and it will help ease roommate tensions.     35    

We shall never look down upon the disabled. The experience on my twelfth birthday convinced me again.

On that day, my parents and I ________ toward a building to select a dog for me. Wheel-chaired since my birth, I really needed a ________ .

Two angelic Shih Tzus ________ me. A white male and his smaller sister, a black-and-white puppy.

I was more ________ the male which was far more playful. Yet the girl was so tiny, her black eyes attractive and sweet.

I held them ________, the male against the center of my chest, while the female in the warmth of my lap.

Seeing this, the employee whispered ________ me, “ Look, if I were you, I’d take the boy because the female’s _________. Her legs are deformed (变形的) ; she stands like a ballerina (芭蕾舞女) in first position.”

My eyes widened. Hadn’t he seen my legs or the wheelchair I sat in? I wondered.

Noticing my _________, the employee continued, “I don’t ________ to upset you, but she’ll need constant care. And the last thing you probably face is another pile of doctor bills.”

Wanting to _________ him wrong, I placed her on her feet. But _________ her great effort, she couldn’t keep her _________. _________her almost out of breath, I was moved. I knew her struggle far too well. I recalled those times ________ I had used all my strength to stand upright, and that unforgettable second when I stood tall – only to come crashing down.

“Okay… I’ll take him,” I said sadly.

As we were _________ good-bye to the little female, she struggled to back herself up. Her eyes bursting with ________.   she pushed her brother out of the way and then carefully placed one foot in front of the other, as she began to climb across my lap and up my shirt. She didn’t stop until she rested against my heart.

_____ and crying at the same time, I ________, “I hear you, ballerina dog. You’re coming home with me.” We would ________ whatever care she needed.

“Excuse me, sir,” I announced loudly, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m taking ________.”

Considering himself a farmer, Yuan Longping, one of China’s most famous scientists, has     56     (struggle) for growing supper hybrid rice for the past five decades. This special strain of rice makes     57     possible to produce one-third more of the crop in the fields. Thanks     58     his research, the UN has more tools in the battle to rid the world of hunger,     59    builds up the confidence for China. People make     60    (comment) on it and think Dr Yuan is the first agricultural pioneer in the world to grow the hybrid strain.

Dr Yuan is quite content     61     his life. However, he doesn’t care about being famous. He feels it gives him less freedom to do his research. He would rather     62       (keep) time for his hobbies, such as listening to violin music, playing mah-jong, swimming and reading. Spending money on himself or     63     (lead) a comfortable life also means very little to him.

One dream is not always enough,     64    (especial) for a person who loves and cares for his people. He now has another dream: to export his rice so that it can be     65     ( grow) around the globe.

I remember the first time I met Roy. He was telling a joke. When he reached the final line, everyone burst out laughing. “A popular boy, ”I thought to myself. My name is Daniel. I was the new boy in the class. There were 33 students in my new class, and most people weren’t very interested in a shy new boy. Roy was kind to me. He often invited me to join his particular group, and we became good friends. We trusted each other and we could talk about personal matters.

Five years later, Roy and I are still in the same class. But just under a year ago, Roy’s father was knocked over by a car. He died a few days later. The family had difficulty with finance. Roy changed completely. He started losing friends, including me.

About three months ago, a group of us were playing football together after school. Having left something in the classroom, I went inside to get it, and found Roy going through the pockets of people’s coats. In his hand he had a wallet—and I knew it wasn’t his! Roy went bright red. “I’ll put it back right now, ”he said, and he did so. I turned round and walked out without saying a word. I really hoped that Roy would explain why he had been stealing, but instead he started avoiding me.

Last week our school had a big fair in order to raise money for a charity and we made about￡500. But to our surprise, the next morning, we were told that the money had been stolen. This morning I decided to ask Roy about the theft so I went to see him. Roy was out. I put his jacket on and put my hands in the pockets. I could feel a lot of paper notes and I pulled them out. It looked as if there was about￡500 there. I was so surprised that I just stood there, holding the notes in my hand. At that moment, Roy walked in.