If you were asked to recite (背诵) lines of poetry (诗歌) that have the Chinese ________ “hua”—which means “flower”—how many could you recite?

He Liran, 13, had to take on this challenge on a TV show aired by Shandong TV. He, a student at Harbin No. 163 Middle School in Heilongiang, ____________ with over 100 other students. The competitors took turns reciting lines   of poetry that used the word “hua”, with He Liran ________ to each one.

One competitor used the line (诗句) “As if the vernal breeze had come back overnight; Adorning thousands of pear trees with blossoms white ( 忽如一夜春风来，千树万树梨花开).” He Liran replied with “________ one night of wind and showers; How many are the fallen flowers .”

In the end, He Liran won, reciting more than 60 out of the 127 lines that were recited in the competition.

Her lifelong love of reading helped her win. Her father started reading to her when she was just 4 years old. She has ________ a bookworm ever since.

She is especially interested in ancient poetry. “The beautiful lines refresh my thinking and inspire me a lot. For example, I love Su Shi’s poems. His optimistic (乐观的) attitudes impress me,” she said.

Though busy _______ schoolwork, she spares time to study at least one poem each day. She thinks ancient poetry is still important, even in ________ times.

Once, I walked along a small path in a forest. The scenery(风景) was the same as ________ is described in the line “松间沙路竟无泥”, which comes from one of Su Shi’s poems. At that moment, the lines from his poem ________ came to my mind and I realized that poems can be part of our _______ lives,” she said.

A Long-March rocket took off under clear skies from Hainan Island on July 23. China launched (发射) its first Mars mission probe (航天航空器) successfully.

A great cheer went up in the control room when the rocket was flying normally about 45 minutes later. The Mars mission probe named Tianwen-1 has entered the scheduled (预订的) orbit without any mistakes, and finally it will enter Mars’ orbit around the sun.

Liu Tongjie, spokesman for the mission, said that the launch was “a key step of China marching toward farther deep space”. He said that China isn’t competing with other countries, but to peacefully explore the universe.

“It’s amazing that another nation has launched a probe for Mars,” said Katarina Miljkovic, a scientist at Curtin University in Australia. “It’s more like this marathon (马拉松) of space that we all want to be running.” Landing on Mars is very difficult. Only the US has successfully done it eight times since 1976.

The name Tianwen-1 comes from the poem Tianwen, meaning “questions to heaven”, written by Qu Yuan (about 340 BC－278 BC), one of the greatest poets of ancient China. In Tianwen, Qu Yuan raised questions about the sky, stars, nature and the world around us. It shows his doubt about traditional ideas and the spirit of looking for the truth.

Like the other Mars mission probes, China’s spacecraft will take seven months to reach the red planet. Tianwen-1 will look for underground water and signs of possible ancient life.

There are a number of animals that glow (发光) in some way—including several kinds of insects and fish. Some kinds of mushrooms (蘑菇) glow, too. But most plants don’t glow. Now, scientists are working to change that.

Now, researchers at a Russian company called Planta, working with the scientists from the United Kingdom and Austria have come up with a new method of creating glowing plants.     47    

The glow came from all parts of the plants—leaves, roots, and flowers. The scientists reported that the greenish light was about 10 times brighter than the light in earlier glowing plants.     49    . But the glow wasn’t bad for the health of the plants.

Have you ever picked strawberries     52     (you)? The sweet fruit looks nice, but light pressure can make them out of     53     (形状), so you have to be very careful when picking them. Nowadays, there are many young people who are just     54     strawberries. They easily break down when they face difficulties. There is a name for them—strawberry kids.   

Why are many children so easy to break down? Many students are     55     only child in their family. Their parents do almost everything for them in their life. They hardly ever get criticized (被批评) at home and always feel good about themselves. If these students are criticized strictly by teachers, they will feel upset and begin     56     (doubt) their own abilities. And many schools care more about     57     (student) grades instead of developing their personality. As a result, students get satisfying grades w    58     they are not mentally (精神上地) strong enough.   

Young people should learn how to make themselves mentally strong. An expert said, “Whenever you are in trouble, don’t ask for help too quickly. You should try to deal with problems     59     (one) by yourself.     60     (take) an active part in sports and social activities. That can help you become much stronger mentally.”

Growing up is not just a happy process. Pains also go along. The most important thing is to face the pains     61     (brave) and learn from them.

When Wang Haiyan was young, her favorite toys weren’t Barbie dolls. Instead, she started learning to make shadow puppets from her father at 13. Now 43, Wang has spent thirty years practicing and spreading the art.

Shadow puppetry is a form of theater that uses puppets made from leather(皮) or paper, accompanied by music and singing. Invented during the Western Han Dynasty, it tells us about folk stories and historical stories, passing down culture and customs over thousands of years.

Shadow puppetry is all about creating the puppets and performing with them. Wang’s hometown of Hua County, Shanxi is known as the birthplace of the folk art.

Puppet-makers must follow 24 steps to make the puppets, including washing the leather, carving(雕刻) and painting, according to Wang. Carving is the most difficult part.

“We have a special carving technique(技巧)—moving the leather under the knife,”Wang said. You have to hold the knife still in your right hand and only move the leather in your left hand.

It took Wang three years to master this skill. She used a brick(砖块)to make her left hand strong while practicing. It takes about 3,000 carves to make a shadow puppet. “The complicated(复杂的) steps make it hard to hand down the folk art,” she said.

But Wang has used some new ways to do so. In 2016, she made shadow puppets based on some cartoon series and gave a livestreaming performance(直播). She used colors like blue and purple that are hardly seen in shadow puppetry and added more sticks to the puppets to make the performance livelier.

Do you often put off doing something that you should be doing? It’s called procrastination(拖延症). Most of the tasks that you procrastinate on aren’t actually difficult to do－you have the skills to complete them－you just don’t want to start them for one reason or another.

2-Minute Rule is a method of dealing with the problem and the goal is to make it easier for you to get started on the things you should be doing. It includes two parts. Part One comes from David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done. It’s surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less, for example, taking out the litter, cleaning up your desk and sending an email. If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, then follow the rule and do it right now.

Can all of your goals be achieved in less than two minutes? Of course not. But every goal can be started in two minutes or less. And that’s the purpose behind the rule’s second part. Once you start doing something, it’s easier to continue doing it. The most important part of any new habit is getting started—not just the first time, but each time. I love the 2-Minute Rule because it accepts the idea that all good things happen once you get started.

Want to study better? Just pick up your books (2-Minute Rule) and begin reading or learning, and soon you will memorize the knowledge that seems difficult to learn.

Want to become a better writer? Just write one sentence (2-Minute Rule) and you’ll probably find yourself writing for an hour.

Want to make reading a habit? Just read the first page of a new book (2-Minute Rule) and before you know it, you have read the first ten pages.

Use next 120 seconds to get one thing done. Go!

2-Minute Rule is a method people use ________ problems. It includes two parts. If we can do something in two minutes, we should do it right now. If it takes _________ two minutes to finish something, we should get started at _________. Because once you start doing something, you will continue doing it more _____________ and all good things will happen.

77. 请你以谚语“Practice makes perfect”为题，写一篇英语文章。

Practice Makes Perfect

As we all know, practice is very important to our success.