Snow leopards (雪豹) are large cats. Just at ________, baby leopards are 300g to 700g. When they become adults, they usually ________ between 27kg and 55kg. Some of them can even reach 75kg. They have a short body. It’s only 75cm to 150 cm from the head to the tail. However, some of them have quite long tails, at 80cm to 100cm.

Snow leopards are used to living in freezing weather ________. Their bodies are fat and their fur (毛皮) is ________, and their ears are small and round. All of these help them lose ________ heat. Their tails are also very thick. When they sleep, the tails can ________ their faces. Snow leopards eat whatever meat they can find. They can kill animals two to four times heavier than ________.

Now, ________ snow leopards are endangered and their living places are getting smaller and smaller. Two of the main ________ are mining (采矿) and climate (气候) change. “However, the snow leopard still has a future.” says Dr. Charu Mishra, a researcher. “But we need to make sure to protect as many living places for snow leopards as possible,” he added.

Cat lovers all over the world celebrate World Snow Leopard Day on October 23rd. They hope that more and more people will know ________ these beautiful animals and help improve their situation.

“Grandma, can you tell me something that happened when you were a little girl?” I asked.

“Well, let me tell you an interesting trip. When I was about five, my family went to visit Uncle Wally in the country. I was a true city kid, so that was going to be a great adventure(冒险). Uncle Wally’s house was special. There was no bathroom in it,” she said.

“No bathroom?” I asked in surprise.

“No, it was several metres outside. Aunt Florence told us that we could use the chamber pot(尿壶) at night. But it must be cleaned in the morning. Otherwise, there was a torch(手电筒) to see our way outside. There was no way I was going out there at night, torch or not torch. I decided never to eat or drink after dinner. You know, I dislike the chamber pot.”

“I found it hard to get to sleep that first night. The sound outside was strange. I had never heard that before. I spent hours sitting on the bed while the adults were talking in the living room.”

“A few days later, none of those things seemed strange. I had one of the best times in my life. There were so many new things to do—like making new friends and learning to swim.”

Henry found a job in a bookstore after he finished middle school. He wouldn’t do anything but wanted to get rich. Mr. King thought he was very lazy and was going to send him away. Henry was afraid and had to work hard.

It was a cold morning. It was snowing and there was thin ice on the streets. Few people went to buy the books and the young man had nothing to do. He hated to read, so he watched the traffic. Suddenly he saw a bag fall off a truck and it landed by the other side of the street. “It must be full of expensive things,” Henry said to himself. “I have to get it, or others will take it away.”

He went out of the shop and ran across the street. A driver saw him and began to whistle (鸣笛), but he didn’t hear it and went on running. The man drove to the side, hit a big tree and was hurt in the accident. Two weeks later Henry was taken to court (法庭). A judge (法官) asked if he heard the whistle when he was running across the street. He said that something was wrong with his ears and he could hear nothing.

“But you’ve heard me this time,” said the judge.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Now I can hear with one ear.”

“Cover the ear with your hand and listen to me with your deaf (聋的) one. Well, can you hear me?”

“No, I can’t, sir.”

I was travelling by train from Circular Quay to Central in Sydney. Quietly sitting there reading, I suddenly found myself listening to the train guard’s announcement(通告). Usually the train guard’s announcement is quite boring or hard to understand. Few people will listen to these messages. But this one was different.

The guard said something along these lines, “Good morning, ladies, gentlemen and children. This is the 7:35 a.m. service from Circular Quay to Central. You’ll be pleased to know that we are right on time. And what a lovely morning it is in Sydney today. The sun is shining, the temperature is about 21 degrees, birds are singing, and all is right with the world. Thanks for catching my train this morning and I hope to see you again soon. Have a great day.”

Wow! Have you ever heard an announcement like that? I certainly hadn’t. As I looked up from my paper, I noticed that other passengers were also looking up and listening. Not only that, ________!

I started thinking about this. As I got off the train at Central, I walked up to the guardroom and started to thank him. “Well, I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful announcement this morning. It made me feel cheerful. Most importantly, it got everyone’s attention and had everyone smiling. Thank you so much for giving me and the other passengers such a good start of the day. Please keep doing it.”

There is an important message for me in what happened today. When people are happy in their work, it shows in what they do and say.

China has great traditional culture, especially Chinese characters(汉字). They are one of the most representative(有代表性的)     66     of Chinese culture. The history of Chinese characters dates back to ancient times. It is agreed that hanzi began     67     simple pictures, images that the ancient Chinese people drew, painted, and carved(雕刻) to describe nature and     68     lives.

The     69     Chinese characters are found on ancient animal bones. These 3000-year-old symbols, jiaguwen, show us     70     ancient Chinese saw the world around them and their great creativity.

When someone     71     look at Chinese characters, he may feel that they are very complicated(复杂的). In fact, about 80% of Chinese characters are made of much     72     parts, they are combined(结合) in many different ways to form tens of thousands of hanzi.     73    , you need to know only about two or three thousand characters for use in daily life.

Chinese characters have a     74     relationship with Chinese culture. China’s writing system forms a strong bridge between the Chinese people and culture of the present with those of the past. As China takes its place in the international community,     75     of international students are studying Chinese and are coming to appreciate China’s impressive culture every year.

Three years ago, Bing Dwen Dwen was chosen as the mascot (吉祥物) for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Now the panda in an ice shell has been made into toys and models, as well as printed on notebooks, bags and so on.

The design was chosen from 5,816 works from 38 countries and regions (地区). Cao Xue, the chief designer of Bing Dwen Dwen, said the idea first came from the traditional Chinese snack bingtanghulu — the syrup (糖浆) coat later turned into an ice shell. However, a simple snack couldn’t stand for a country by itself. Cao’s team tried many animals and plants and finally decided on a panda. “We don’t need to explain anything to have it understood across different cultures.” said Cao. However, there were already too many cartoon images of pandas. The mascot needed to be original (独创的) and creative. Cao first decided that it should be a baby panda instead of an adult one. This determined (决定) the body of Bing Dwen Dwen — its body has the same length as its head.

Cao's team looked all around the world to collect all the panda designs they could find. They wanted to make sure their panda looked different. They visited the panda nature reserve (保护区) in Wolong, Sichuan, to get ideas. They saw that baby pandas are pigeon-toed (内八字) and often lean in (向前倾) while standing.

“If we say artists are like actors who play themselves, designers are actors who have to fit into different roles,” Cao said. “Design is like dancing with chains. I’m glad we performed a good dance.”

It is easier to have a good conversation with our friends or loved one. While starting a conversation with someone we don’t know can make most of us feel nervous. But the ability to talk with strangers can be developed with practice.

Prepare before the conversation. Think about some common topics (话题) before the talk, such as your interesting experiences, TV shows and website news. And prepare a list of questions you could ask. These questions may include asking others about their job, classes, interests and hobbies.

Introduce yourself. It doesn’t need to be clever when you introduce yourself. Simply be honest and friendly. Give the other person a warm smile and clearly say your name. Explain why you want to have the conversation.

Start the conversation. Bring up a general topic to begin the conversation. Avoid talking about uncomfortable topics, such as personal questions, religion (宗教) and politics (政治). Then give the person enough time to reply and listen carefully when he speaks.

End the conversation. When you run out of things to say or need to do something else, prepare to end the talk. You may say that you need to use the bathroom or go for a friend. Let the other person know you enjoy talking with him and hope to talk with him again.

86. 假如你叫金峰，在昨天下午的篮球比赛中不小心伤了左臂，医生建议你在家休息两天，你要向班主任赵老师请假，并请老师不必为你担心。请根据以上信息写一则请假条（30-50词）。

Asking for leave

                                                                                                 Your student,

Jin Feng