Less work for students

Zhong Kaitong, a fourth-grader from Guangzhou, enjoyed a fun vacation this summer. ________ of attending English or math training courses, she played football and basketball most of the time.

A new guideline (指导方针) introduced by central authorities (中央政府) on July 24 helped Zhong ________ some free time during the summer. Aiming to reduce the schoolwork on primary and junior high school students, the guideline calls for reducing homework, ________ the quality (质量) of education and regulating (规范) after-class ________, Xinhua reported. According to the guideline, children ________ the third grade will not have homework any more. It should take no ________ than 90 minutes for junior high school students to ________ their homework.

Off-campus tutoring institutions (校外培训机构) ________ not allowed to offer overseas education courses or advanced (超前的) teaching. No subject-based (基于学科的) training will be allowed ________ weekends, national holidays or during winter and summer vacations.

More than 75 percent of children in Chinese cities from grades 1 to 12 are taking private tutoring courses, Global Times reported. “Parents are ________ that if their children start behind, they will stay behind. Some training institutions have taken advantage of (利用) parents anxieties to make ________.” said Chen Xianzhe, a professor at South China Normal University. The ________ is meant to calm (安抚) the anxieties of parents and society as a whole.

“But this does not mean the tutoring courses will ________ disappear, because exams still exist (存在),” said Chu Zhaohui. One-on-one or one-on-two tutoring might see a ________ because of this need. “So, schools ________ improve the education quality, take the main responsibility for students’ education and not push them into tutoring courses.” Chu added.

You pick up your phone and look at it, and the screen unlocks (解锁) right away. The phone knows who you are. It recognizes the shape of your face. This kind of face recognition technology is called Face ID. Nothing has been more simple, natural and effortless.

Actually, your face isn’t the only part of your body you can use as a password (密码). Many smartphones already accept fingerprints. Other systems check the shape of the ear, patterns in the eye, or the way a person walks. All of these are special enough to say who you are. People like using body parts as the password because it’s easy and convenient. Besides, it’s also usually very safe. It’s hard to make another person’s body parts, isn’t it? However, it is not impossible. The face may be one of the easiest body parts to copy. Most teenagers put plenty of their own photos online. These could help some bad people easily hack into a system of their phone like Face ID.

There is one more thing that worries experts. It would be easy for someone else to hold your phone in front of your face to unlock it. For example, your brother may unlock your phone against your will and see something you don’t want to show him. Some people don’t worry about that. It’s just so cool to be able to unlock a phone with a quick look.

What do you think? Is facial recognition a good thing, or are you worried about its safety?

Many people attend physical exercise every day. For the first time in recent 10 years, the United States government has changed its guidance（指导）on how much exercise people need to stay healthy and when they should start.

The new guidance says that children as young as 3 years old need to exercise. Earlier guidance used to begin at the age of 6. Dr. Girior says that the most important time for children to begin exercising is between 3 and 5. He notes that boys and girls in this age group need at least three hours of activities every day.

Doctors say it is important to begin at a young age. They add that from the birth to the age of 5, a child’s brain develops more than at any other time in life. These developments have a lasting effect on a child’s ability to learn and to succeed in study and in life. As for children between 6 and 17, at least one hour a day.

For adults, the suggested time for exercise remains the same — 150 minutes per week. However, those people who are over the age of 65 should include activities that help their balance. Better balance means fewer falls and less chances of injury.

Many people are excited and satisfied with this guidance. But some find that it has changed nothing about the dangers of sitting too much. Because there are still lots of people who sit too much every day. It is harmful and can even undo（破坏）the benefits of exercise you may have gotten. Because of that, let’s sit less and start young.

“I can’t see clearly, because I forgot to wear my glasses today.” We always hear people saying something like this. Glasses are very important to many people.     51    

Glasses took a long time to develop into what you can find in the glasses store today.     52    

They thought that those glasses had magic, but they didn’t think that glasses could help eyes to see.

In 1262, the inventor, Roger Bacon, discovered the amazing function (功能) of lenses (镜片).     53     Twenty years later, in Florence, Italy, the inventor, Alessandrodi Spina, made the first pair of glasses that could help people to see.

Although these glasses worked, scientists didn’t understand how glasses helped eyes to see. They thought that eyes sent out light onto whatever a person was looking at, and then the light came back to the eyes, so people could see.     54    

Inventors continued to improve glasses. In 1784, Ben Franklin created glasses that had bifocal (双焦点的) lenses.     55     Astigmatism is an eye problem that stops the eyes from seeing things clearly.

One day, a teacher went into her classroom with a glass of water. She wanted to explain stress management to her students. First she asked her students, “How     66     is this glass of water?”

They gave many     67     answers. Some students said it weighed 200 grams, others simply said they didn’t know.

She smiled and replied, “Actually, the weight of the glass doesn’t matter. It     68     on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I have a(n)     69     in my arm. If I hold it for a day, I’ll have to call an ambulance(救护车), In each case, it’s the same weight, but the     70     I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “That’s the way it is with stress.     71     we carry our burdens(负担) all the time, sooner or later, they will become increasingly heavy. We won’t be able to carry on. Just like putting down this glass of water, you have to put your stress down for a while and rest before     72     it again. When we’re refreshed(精神振作的), we can carry on with our burdens- holding them more     73     each time.”

As this teacher said, we shouldn’t carry our burdens around all the time.     74     them today and pick them up tomorrow. No matter     75     burdens you’re carrying now, put them down for a moment and get some rest, your mind will thank you for it.

For the last three nights, I haven’t slept too well. 1. I wake up an hour earlier than normal and then I’m unable to get back to sleep, I was a bit tired when I went into my bedroom to watch TV this evening. I picked up a book and tried to read, but could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Finally, I closed them and laid my book on the table. Suddenly I felt something rousing（唤醒）me. It was warm breath hitting me right in the face. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a long, sweet-looking face covered in white and gold fur. Its pink nose was breathing on me and its big, brown eyes were looking at me with love.

I smiled and said, “Hello Fluffy.” Suddenly my face was covered in dog kisses. I hugged his neck, and laughed as he continued to show me with his love. I thought to myself   “2. If only we humans could love each other as purely（纯真地）as our dogs love us. and how wonderful that would be.”

3. Dogs are our best friends and greatest teachers of love. We should not forget their lessons. We should give our hearts freely and our love joyfully. We should live our lives on the side of love.

William Shakespeare was a writer of plays and poems. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth. He wrote thirty-seven plays in all. They are still popular today.

He was born in 1564 in England. At school he liked watching plays. He decided to be an actor when he finished school at the age of fourteen. In 1582, he married a farmer’s daughter. She was eight years older than he was. Their first child was a daughter. Later they had twins. In 1585, Shakespeare left his hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon. His wife and children stayed behind. No one knows why he left or what he did between 1585 and 1592.

At twenty-eight, he moved to London and joined a theatre company which opened the Globe Theatre in 1599. He became an actor, and he also wrote plays. He usually acted in his own plays. He made almost no money from his writing. But he made a lot of money from acting. With the money he bought a large house in his hometown.

At the age of forty-nine, Shakespeare retired and went to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died at the age of fifty-two in 1616. He left his money to his family. He left the genius（天才）to the world. You still see his plays in English and in many other languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the world.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it. Life today is easier but there are some new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious. With the fast growing of people, man is slowly polluting the whole world. In other words, the more people, the more pollution. Pollution is beginning to harm our health and even our life.

Many countries don’t let people burn anything bad for air in houses and factories in the city. Pollution by SO₂ is now the most dangerous pollution. It’s partly caused by heavy traffic. People say it’s best to ride bicycles. When you are riding, there is no pollution.

Plastic has been one of the most used products in the world. But it is dangerous for plant, human and animal life. When people don’t know what to do with plastic bags, they drop them into the ocean. Instead, we can use paper bags and bottles which are made of environment-friendly materials.

The most important thing to know about plastic bags is that they will take millions of years to decompose (分解). Environmentalists have been encouraging people to stop the use of plastic bags almost in every country. It would be very helpful if more and more people make this world a better place with the help of recycling and not using plastic bags.