I met a dragon face to face the year when I was ten,

I took a trip to outer space,

I braved a pirate’s den (海盗窝点), I took down a bad troll (山怪), and fought a great white shark,

I followed a rabbit down a hole, I hunted for a snark (蛇鲨).

I went aboard a submarine (潜艇), I opened magic doors,

I travelled in a time machine, and searched for dinosaurs,

I climbed onto a giant’s head, I found a bag of gold,

I did all this in books I read when I was ten years old.

Have you ever learned to blow bubbles? I was teaching my granddaughter Anne recently. We got a piece of wire (金属丝), turn it into a circle, and put the circle in some soap (肥皂) water. At first she blew too hard, and the water just ran down the wire onto her fingers. As she learned to blow gently, several big bubbles formed and flew off into the air. She was excited. She tried to catch, watched them break, and laughed. It was a good thing that she had learned something new, because I didn’t know what was about to happen later.

Anne fell over and hurt her knee rather badly. I needed to clean her knee and cover the wound, but it hurt and she didn’t want me to touch it. She was scared it might hurt even more.

I remembered how she’d laughed when she’d blown the bubbles, so, before I started to clean the wound, I went and got our wire ring and soap water. Anne breathed out slowly, big bubble started to form. She watched it fly into the air, a smile appearing. It was as if she were blowing her scary feelings away. Maybe she was imagining putting the bad feelings in the bubbles, flew across the room, away from her. Learning to control her breathing, Anne was having fun making different kinds of bubbles. I cleaned up her wound as she blew away bubbles, not realizing that she was learning how to change her feelings, or how to deal with her pain.

Dr. Jane Goodall is one of the most famous primatologists (灵长类动物学家) in the world. Her love of animals and Africa began when she was little. At 26, Goodall travelled by boat to Tanzania, in Africa. While she was there, she made one of the greatest discoveries in the animal world.

During her time in the Tanzanian jungle (丛林), Goodall used a method different from that of other primatologists. Instead of numbering the chimpanzees (黑猩猩) she was studying, she gave them names and began to earn their trust, creating a connection and then being accepted by the animals as a member of the group. Not only did Goodall prove the idea that chimpanzees are vegetarians wrong—she saw them eating meat in 1961—but she also found that it’s not only humans who make and use tools. Gooddall watched as two chimps, named David Greybeard and Goliath, used sticks to fish for insects. She strongly believed, and finally proved, that chimpanzees have feelings and personalities—just like we do.

In 1977, she set up the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation. It’s a charity that works to protect chimpanzees. In 1991, Goodall and 16 Tanzanian students set up Roots & Shoots, which she describes as a “programme for young people in which they decide on projects to improve the world for people, animals and the environment.” Tens of thousands of young people across nearly 100 countries have been part of Roots & Shoots.

Goodall has written several books and appeared in lots of wildlife documentaries to spread her message of protecting chimpanzees and the planet we share with them. She spends much of her year travelling around the world. She speaks to many different people to make them realize the danger chimpanzees face.

Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer who lived from 1922 to 2007. His work used dark comedy, as well as features of science fiction, to discuss the problems of life in the 20th century.

    33    

Don’t waste your readers’ time

    34     Even a short story can take several hours to finish if you’re a slow reader. Don’t make your readers feel they would rather do something better with their time.

Every character should want something

The characters in your story should want things.     35     Think about your own life: everything you do is because of something you want. Sometimes these things are big, but most of the time they’re small things.

    36    

A writer shouldn’t try to write for every person who might read their work. Instead, imagine one person and think about what your writing can achieve for them. Before you put your pen on the paper, try to think, “Who am I writing this for?”

Break the rules

Perhaps the most important advice Vonnegut has is that good writers don’t always follow the rules. If they did, most writing would be very boring.     37     You never know—it might just work!

There are lots of little things we use around the house every day. Many of these things, such as cleaning and beauty products, help us keep both     48     (we) bodies and homes fresh and clean.     49    , they can sometimes be boring or have chemicals (化学物质) that do harm to us.

Michael,     50     healthcare worker from Virginia, US, solves this problem. He makes his own     51     (nature) soap (肥皂) to use at home. His wife gave him the idea to do so, in fact. “I have a wife who often gets     52     (headache) from popular scented (芳香的) soaps that are sold in stores. My goal was to find scents that would be good     53     her health,” he said.

The recipe (配方) he uses, although simple,     54     (result) in beautiful soaps that are not only gentler than soap sold in stores, but also     55     (cheap). Michael said   that making the soap himself allows him to save money and exercise his creativity.

Michael gives his soap away to friends as a gift instead of     56     (sell) it. He also donates it to local charities that help the people in need.

Although his job and family keep him busy, Michael has been happy to find time to work on this hobby. “    57     (create) soap offered a chance to show myself creatively and make a   product that my home uses daily,” he said.

Sam Draper, “The Bookman”, has the dream job for bookworms. He spends his time choosing books for people, matching their personalities with books. “I had been job-hunting for 6 months,” explains Sam. “I’m good at picking books for people and I love books. So I thought why not give it a try?”

How can Sam choose a book for somebody else? His service is offered over the phone or through an email, so the customers needn’t show their names. He is meeting strangers, so he needs to get to know the person a bit. He studies them and finds out what writers they’ve read—so he can avoid those—and what other books they might be interested in. In this way, people can receive books that are chosen just for them.

During the lockdown (疫情封锁), he offered free books to over 70 people who were staying at home and couldn’t go out. Sam wanted to do something that might make these people feel better and happier. By the end of that first lockdown, he’d given out 350 books. “I got a lot back from it myself—lots of thank-you cards and letters from people who were on their own and loved the company of a book.” Sam said.

61. 神舟十三号顺利返航，宇航员王亚平再次圆梦天宫，凯旋归来。你校正组织以“The hero in my heart”为题的征文活动，请根据以下要点介绍王亚平的事迹并分享你对她的钦佩之情。

	经历与成就	●出生于 1980 年，在学校里热爱学习，擅长体育 ●太空梦始于 2003 年，十年如一日艰苦训练、从不言弃 ●2013 年加入神舟十号航天任务并太空授课 ●中国首位在太空行走的女宇航员
	你的观点	……（至少两点）

The hero in my heart

Wang Yaping is not only an astronaut but also a teacher in space. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________