Many of you have probably had this experience: You get on a train and are ready to take a nap (小憩) or read a book, only to find that the passenger in front of you is watching a TV show on his tablet (平板电脑) without headphones. The child next to you won’t stop crying. And the old lady behind you talks on her phone during the whole trip.

Wish the train could be less noisy? There might be a solution for you. The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, one of China’s busiest high-speed rail lines, will have “quiet” carriages (车厢) staring from Dec 23, 2020.

In quiet carriages, videos will be muted (静音) and announcements (信息播报) will be made at a lower volume (音量). Doors at the ends of the carriage will be kept closed to reduce noise from other carriages. Train attendants (乘务员) will be responsible for making sure that passengers remain quiet and follow the rules.

Passengers who are willing to follow the rules can choose the quiet carriages when booking their tickets, according to China’s national railway operator. Some people think that this kind of quiet environment should be offered in all carriages.

While some Internet users are in favor of the new service, it has also sparked discussion about just how quiet travelers should be in quiet carriages. Many people have raised questions such as “What if I snore (打呼噜)?” and “Can we talk to our travel companions if we need to?”

David Attenborough is a well-known English broadcaster and natural historian. He has made over 40 documentaries over the last 67 years. At the age of 93, he made his most recent documentary – A Life on Our Planet《地球的一段生命旅程》. It describes everything he has seen and experienced in his life.

Looking back, Attenborough says what strikes (震撼) him most is that wild animals are becoming harder to find. The documentary shows how the global ecosystem (全球生态) is being destroyed (摧毁) by humans. This can lead to another mass extinction (大灭绝). As Attenborough says, “In the natural world, no one can stand alone.”

At the end of his film, Attenborough falls into silence in front of the camera. It is a very tense (紧张的) moment because he is thinking about what he has just told us. As I watched it, I felt like I was carrying the weight of the story on my shoulders.

But the documentary doesn’t end there. Attenborough still gives people hope. He says there are ways for us to restore the natural balance. From small habit changes to large-scale government rules, there are lots of things we can do to help our planet become “wild” again.

This is a documentary for everyone on Earth because we are all part of this. We need to take action now!

Peter was a sensitive (敏感的) boy. He was so sensitive that even his hair was ticklish (怕痒的). You only had to touch his hair a little bit and he would start laughing. When he started laughing, no one could make him stop.

Peter tried everything to control his ticklishness, but nothing worked. So he began to feel sad for being different. One day in the street, he met a special clown (小丑). The clown was very old and could hardly walk, but when he saw Peter was sad, he went to cheer him up. It didn’t take long to make Peter laugh. Later Peter told him about his problem, and he asked the clown why such an old man could keep on being a clown.

“No one will take my place,” said the clown. “ but I have a very serious job to do.” Peter looked at him, surprised. “Come, I’ll show you,” said the clown. So the clown took Peter to many hospitals full of children who were sick. As soon as they saw the clown, their faces changed completely and lit up with a smile. The short time spent with the clown changed everything for them. That day was even more special, because in every show Peter’s laughter made the children even happier.

When the visit came to an end, the old clown said to Peter, “Now do you see why I can’t retire (退休), even at my age?”

That was how Pete became a clown, and took the old man’s place. From that day on, the fact that Peter was different actually made him happy, thanks to his special talent.

    44     you 　　1　　 (hear) the saying “The Yangtze River is China’s mother river”? Sure, it is. The Yangtze River is almost 6,400 km long. As the world’s third     45    (long) river, its valley (流域) covers one-fifth of China’s land area.

    46     Dec 26, China’s top legislature (立法机关) passed the Yangtze River Protection Law, which will take effect on March 1, 2021. It is the first law to protect a waterway in China.

The “mother river” is in great need of protection     47     something is wrong with it. For example, due to overfishing and water pollution, the river’s Chinese paddlefish (白鲟) has died out after surviving for 150 million years. There is also desert land and soil pollution near the upstream part of the river in Qinghai province.

According to the law, fishing will be banned (禁止) in all of the Yangtze’s natural waterways. Those who     48     (catch) fishing will be fined 50,000 to 500,000 yuan.

This story comes from Nagaland in India. The Nagas say that, many years ago, the moon lived     54     to the Earth near their village and made friends with the people there. One day, an old woman was     55     her house. She hit the moon with her brush when she was not looking. The moon began to cry in pain (疼痛). The children     56     at the crying moon and started to throw stones at it.

Only one little girl felt sad because the children were hurting the moon. She told the children to stop but they did not listen. Soon the moon decided to go and live     57     away from the Earth in the sky so the children from the village could not find it. The moon turned its     58     away from the Earth so the children could not see it.

The little girl was sad and sang a song to make the moon return. This was     59    , every month, the sky was dark except when the moon turned its face to the Earth again to     60     to the little girl singing.

People read books less often these days. With the invention of radio, television and most recently, the Internet and computer games, it seems that reading books is no longer a popular activity. However, I believe that books are an important part of our lives.

Books offer an outstanding wealth of learning and at a cheaper price than taking a course. Books can make people cleverer, because heavy readers have greater knowledge of how things work and who or what people were.

Everything in today’s society requires reading. Imagine trying to do something as simple as reading the directions on a medicine bottle without good reading skills. Someone could not understand them and become very sick or even die.

Even something as simple as walking or driving through the city could become very dangerous without enough reading. Sometimes, you must be able to understand what is written and explain the meaning of them.

Some people say that reading is a waste of time and we can do better things with our time. Even if we don’t read books, we still read every day, and reading books can strengthen (加强) our abilities. Reading is one of the greatest things we can do in our spare time.

With a book, you can travel anywhere you want, do anything you want, and talk to anyone you want. Reading is very important in our lives, no matter your age. So I think people should read books.

66. 对抗新冠肺炎，我国取得了伟大胜利，但是全球范围内疫情一直在蔓延，我们在生活中仍要注意一些问题。请你根据以下图示内容写一篇短文，倡导同学们“爱护校园环境，健康快乐生活”。