The teacher stood before his class and was going to hand out the final exam papers. “I know how hard you have all worked to prepare for this test,” he said. And because I know you can do it well, I am willing to give a B to anyone who would ______ not to take the test.

Many students jumped up to thank the teacher and left the classroom. The teacher looked at the remaining (剩余的) students and said, “Does anybody else want to get a B? This is your last ______.” Two more students decided to go.

Seven students remained(留下). The teacher then handed out the ______. There were only three sentences typed on the paper: Congratulations! You have just ______ an A in this class. Keep believing in yourself.

I never had a teacher like that, but I think it is a test ______ any teacher could and should give. Students who do not have ______ in what they have learned are B students at best (充其量) .

The same is true in real life. The A students are those who believe in what they are doing because they have ______ both successes and failures. They have learned life’s lessons, either from normal education or from events in their lives, and have become ______ people.

Scientists say that by the age of eight, 80% of what we believe about ourselves has already been formed. You are a big kid now, and you ______ that you have some limits (限制) . ______, there is nothing you can’t do or learn or be. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount. Everest said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer (克服) but ourselves”.

How to clean the keyboard

Turn off your laptop before you do any cleaning. Even though you won’t be putting water directly onto your laptop, you should turn off the power to make sure nothing gets damaged if a little moisture does get inside.

Turn the laptop upside down and gently tap or shake it. This will remove big pieces of dirt, crumps (碎屑) or other debris (碎片) that’s hiding in your keyboard. Tip:   It may help to spread a towel under the laptop before you shake it, to make cleanup easier.

Spay between the keys with compressed air to remove dust. The air of the force will blow the dust that’s trapped between and under the keys.

Remove dirt with a cotton ball and alcohol (酒精). Alcohol evaporates (蒸发)quickly, making it a safe alternative to using water on your laptop. Alcohol is especially good at removing the dirt left by your fingers. In addition, alcohol is good at removing germs (细菌).

I was telling my boy Sonny the story of the hare (兔子) and the tortoise (乌龟). At the end I said. “Son, remember: Slow and steady (稳固的) wins the race. Don’t you think there’s something to learn from the tortoise?”

Sonny opened his eyes wide, “Do you mean next time when I’m taking part in the 60-metre race I should wish that Billy and Tony and Sandy would all fall asleep halfway?”

I was shocked, “But the tortoise didn’t wish that the hare would fall asleep on the way!”

“He must have wished that,” Sonny said. “Otherwise how could he be so stupid as to race with the hare? He knew very well the hare ran a hundred times faster than he himself did.”

“He didn’t have such a wish,” I insisted, “He won the race by perseverance（坚持）, by pushing on steadily.”

Sonny thought a while. “That’s a lie,” he said. “He won it because he was lucky. If the hare hadn’t happened to fall asleep, the tortoise would never have won the race. He could be as steady as you like, or a hundred times steadier, but he’d never have won the race. That’s for sure.”

I gave up. Today’s children are not like what we used to be. They’re just hopeless.

You’ve probably never seen a movie quite like this one. Loving Vincent is the world’s first hand-painted animated movie. It is made fully with paintings. Every scene was created using oil paint on canvas(画布). Twelve paintings were needed just to show one second of the movie. If a character turns their head, the head and shoulders will be taken off the main painting and redrawn to show movement. It took more than 100 artists seven years to complete it.

The movie has gotten good reviews since it came out on the Chinese mainland on Dec. 8. Its box office (票房) has reached over $20 million(132.43 million yuan) worldwide, according to Variety.

The film tells the story of the final months of famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The story is told through his paintings and the characters in them. It shows his death as being part of a murder mystery, as Hollywood Reporter said.

A young man named Armand Roulin serves as both detective and storyteller. A year after the death of Vincent van Gogh, Armand is instructed by his father, Postman Joseph Roulin, to personally send a letter to Vincent’s brother, Theo. Armed isn’t fond of Van Gogh, but to satisfy his father he agrees to give the letter, traveling across Europe to the town where Vincent spent his final months. When he finds that Theo has died of a disease shortly after his brother, he visits several important people in Van Gogh’s life to find out the truth behind his death. He talks with Van Gogh’s friend, a doctor, and the owner of the hotel he lived in. But each person tells a different story.

There are many examples of the artist’s work in the movie. It shows over 120 of his paintings, such as The Night Café, Wheat field With Crows, and The Starry Night. It’s no wonder Empire Magazine called it “ one of the most beautiful films of 2017”.

The real-life letters that Van Gogh wrote to his brother are shown as well. The movie lets you see the real Vincent van Gogh in a different way.

a. Armed was asked to send a letter to Thero

b. Vincent van Gogh died in a small town

c. Theo died of a disease

d. Armand interviewed several important people

e. Armand travelled across Europe

Because of digital technology, most people live more easily in modern society. With a smartphone in hand, you can shop online, watch TV shows and catch a taxi. However, for many elderly people, such technology only makes their lives confusing(困惑).

China has 904 million Internet users, according to the Statistical Report on Internet Development. Among them, those aged 60 and above take up just 6.7 percent. That’s why elderly people are sometimes called digital refugees (数字难民)”

For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people are often asked to show a green health code (健康码) on their phone to get into public places. But most elderly people don’t use smartphones. Even if they have one, many don’t know how to get a code, People’s Daily noted.

“We have made a lifelong contribution to build our society, but now we feel abandoned (被抛弃) by it,” a 75-year -old Beijing resident surnamed Bai told the Global Times.

For the elderly, one way of mastering digital technology is to learn from younger family members. However, not all of these younger people have enough patience to teach the elderly. In addition, aging results in many physical problems, such as weak eyesight and bad memory. This makes it harder to use smartphones.

The government and some NGOs (非政府组织)in China are trying to help. See Young, a Beijing-based NGO, aims to help China’s elderly use mobile services. College student volunteers in the organization have been providing free computer and smartphone training for elderly people in over 200 communities across the country.

Digital technology has made life     66     for most people. Nowadays, you can almost do everything by you smartphone. China has nearly 1000 million Internet users and 6.7% of them are at or     67     60. Some of them have no smartphones or have     68     in using them. These elder citizens have devoted their life to     69     our society when they were young. But not all the young are     70     enough to help the elderly. Luckily, the government and some NGOs in China are trying to help.

Atlantis, a beautiful and wealthy island, is supposed to exist over 11,000 years ago. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it was a center for trade. Its people were very wealthy and powerful. The rulers of Atlantis controlled their people and land, and their power spread to Europe and Africa.

The weather was very good in Atlantis, and therefore people could grow food all year around. Many different kinds of vegetables, fruits and nuts grew there, and a lot of different animals lived on the island, including elephants.

Atlantis was the home of Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea. Poseidon had ten sons, who became the first rulers of Atlantis. The island’s many hills, fields and rivers were divided between the ten brothers. The eldest son, Atlas, was the first king of Atlantis. He controlled the island’s central hill and its area nearby.

At the top of the central hill, a temple was built in memory of Atlas’s father, Poseidon. Inside the temple was a huge gold statue of Poseidon. The rulers of Atlantis discuss laws in the temple.

For centuries, the people of Atlantis lived simple, honest and happy lives. However, over time they began to change. They enjoyed the power they had and wanted to have more of it. When the God Zeus saw how corrupt(腐败) the people of Atlantis were, he was very angry and gathered the other gods together. At last, the gods agreed with Zeus and decided to sink(下沉) the island. In one short day and a half, the island of Atlantis, its people and its memory were destroyed forever, swallowed(吞) up by the sea.

Atlantis: The Lost Island