At commendation meeting of poverty alleviation (脱贫攻坚表彰会), an elderly woman in a wheelchair receiving a medal from President Xi Jinping touched many people.

Over the past 15 years, 97-year-old Xia Sen has given most of her personal savings to help students from poor families to get good ________. Xia worked as a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ________ retiring in 1982.

In 2006, she started to support students in Danfeng county, Shaanxi province, and Shangyou county, Jiangxi province. She has ________ more than 2 million yuan ($307,800) to help 182 students attend college.

In 2006, Xia visited Danfeng. The ________ condition of the school and lack of facilities (设备) and teaching materials saddened her. She borrowed 20,000 yuan from friends and acquaintances (熟识的人) and immediately bought desks and books for the students. In 2008, she donated 200,000 yuan to ________ a teaching building. She soon took out another 20,000 yuan from her savings to reward (奖励) and encourage outstanding students at the school: In 2013, Xia used 1 million yuan of her savings to set up the “Xia Sen Scholarship (奖学金)” to support high school and college students from poor families. ________, at least 182 students have benefited (受益).

To our surprise, Xia and her husband live a very simple life and the furniture in their home is old. We ________ by Granny and her husband, both of them are members of the Communist Party of China. She often says ________ life has improved so much compared with what she had in the early age. Now her only hope is that her money can be used to help students.

An advice to remove (取消) English as a key subject at this year’s two sessions (两会) has led a public discussion online. To answer the question, we have to take into two factors.

First, when the education course included science (for example, physics and chemistry) in the new education system in 1922, the decision got a great opposition, because some believed these subjects were “useless”, while others thought the time was not right to teach science.

But later the fact is that most of the students who had learned physics and chemistry may not have directly used them in their daily lives, but the knowledge they had learned about science played a key role in improving science literacy (素养) in China and changing the Chinese people’s way of thinking.

Our students began to learn English 20 years ago at school. It came at a time when China was having a great change. The reform and opening-up (改革开放) needed to communicate with the world. Although English language teaching caused some problems, China’s development in the following years tells us the decision was right.

And school, whether we should learn English or not depends on the students and their development, as well as their ability to learn a new language, culture, thinking, and horizon of vision (视野). Social development requires students to learn new languages, deepen their cross-cultural (跨文化) understanding. If we do not teach English, which is the world’s most common language, what other language shall we teach? In general, Chinese people’s ability to communicate in different languages is low.

In short, foreign languages should be taught as a compulsory subject in schools, and the necessity to do so is stronger today than before.

Success is not a Destination (目的地)

Should people stop once they have achieved something? No! In life, they are always trying to make things better or have more of the same success.

Athletes are continuously competing to shorten time for races, increase heights or distances.

    54     Christian Barnard performed several successful heart transplants (移植). Other medical experts have achieved organ (器官) transplants. Throughout the ages, mankind has found treatment and cures for cancer and other diseases. A cure for AIDS might soon be discovered.

    55     Tina Tuner at 54 is still singing in abundance (丰富) and attracting sell-out crowds wherever she goes. Comedian George Burns, in his 90s, wants to perform at Caesar’s Palace when he turns 100.

Success does not belong only to the rich and famous.     56     Many successful people have had humble (卑微的) beginnings. Would you believe that actress Michelle Pfeifer of Cat was a supermarket checkout girl?

At work, we try for success, too.     57     Sometimes, it is not singing somebody’s praises or the promotion (提升) that makes it worthwhile. Often, ti is the inner thrill (一阵激动) and satisfaction of achievement, no matter how small it may be.

Aiming for success doesn’t mean you are greedy (贪婪地) or dissatisfied. It is all part of gaining new experiences.     58    

The journey to success has is road blocks, discouragement and distractions (令人分心的事). It takes great wisdom and achievement to overcome problems to move on successfully.

When we’re young, we have a tendency (倾向) to value the opinions of our friends more than we value those of our own. This is a feeling that almost everyone has at some points of their life. If you pay attention to “being within yourself”, and make good choices along the way, you will come to understand what you should do with your life.

Be Your Own Friend First

To become who you really are, you have to turn away from many of the influences that other young people may have to you. Please don’t let your sense of self-worth comes from the opinions of others; let it come from yourself. If you’re going to achieve the goals you have set for yourself, and develop a meaningful life, you must listen to your inner voice and keep your focus on the truth.

Listen to the Beat (节奏) of Your Own

Maybe you’re a young person who hasn’t been overly influenced by others. Maybe you’re already marching to the beat of your own. If so, that’s great! I wish you the best as you make the choices that’ll allow you to complete the goals.

By Yourself

We all know that it isn’t easy to live without being influenced by friends, but there’s one last consideration we should keep in mind—the group of friends will change over time. It’s a great change for you. Therefore, you must work now to choose friends that are right for you over the long term, not necessarily right for the friends you have today.

So, please don’t let your sense of self-worth come from the opinions of others; let it come from yourself. You are an important person who has great value.

Chinese translator Zhang Jing has got a lot of fans on Chinese social media following her calm and brave performance and translation at the high-level China-US meeting in Alaska, leading to applause (掌声) for the Chinese female.

She translated several that were more than 10 minutes     70     fluently (流利地) and accurately (准确地) into English, which earned her applause and respect from netizens.

She was born in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. After graduating from Hangzhou Foreign Languages School in 2003, she     71     by the China Foreign Affairs University, where she studied     72    . Then She worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外交部) in 2007.

According to a media interview with Zhang’s high school teacher, Zhang had been able to enter top Chinese universities like Peking University and Tsinghua University,     73     she chose to go to China Foreign Affairs University to one day serve the country at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Zhang in 2013     74     as an translator during the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (全国人民代表大会) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (全国政协代表大会) in Beijing. She is known     75     her good manners and translation skills.

“Zhang Jing helped     76     China’s voice to the world through her specially; and compared with the US translator, she performed far     77    . She also showed ‘the power of Chinese women’”, one netizen commented on Sina Weibo.

“I think the women     78     have appeared in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent years are wonderful. They have presented China’s image on the international diplomatic stage and have increased China’s reputation with     79     talents,” another Sina Weibo user wrote. “Translators are usually the ‘heroes behind the scense’”, one netizen said.

80. 教育部正在制定作业管理办法，初中生每天作业量平均不超过90分钟。对初中生来说，适当的课后作业是对所学知识的巩固和深化。优质高效地完成作业还可以培养学生良好的学习习惯和独立思考的能力。与同学一起调查，小组讨论或参加社会实践活动，有利于学生创新能力培养和综合素养提升。

请你谈谈对作业的认识，根据图片提示或你的生活实际，讲述一次你觉得有意义的作业体验，以及它对你的影响或启示。

Whether homework is an angle (天使) or a devil (恶魔), it depends on what you will get from it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________