Middle school is like a battleground, and everyone seems to be going through embarrassing (使人尴尬的) changes. For me, height was my ________ as I stood a head above the other girls. “Stand straight, stand tall,” my grandfather would say, as I didn’t want to look so _______ in front of my friends. And each time, I would embarrassingly do as he said. I understand that his ________ was about more than just height.

My grandfather grew up in Europe during World War Ⅱ. When the war suddenly broke out, he ________ to join the army to fight for his country’s freedom. “Stand straight, stand tall” meant something else back then. ________ the war, he went to America. All alone in a new country, he was ready to face his future.

There, he walked on the busy streets of New York. Soon, he met other ________ immigrants (移民), and each of them was trying to find his or her own way to success. If they could do it, ________ couldn’t he? “Stand straight, stand tall,” he would always ________ himself.

With the help of a warm-hearted friend, my grandfather got a clothing shop on the street. At first, he was nervous. He was trying to learn this new ________. Amazingly, with his efforts, my grandfather sold all the clothes, shoes, and gloves in no more than one month as if he had been doing it his whole life.

Listening to my grandfather’s great experiences has changed the way I see my own life. His advice to me has become much more than a ________ to improve my posture (体态). It tells me to be proud of who I am.

My son starts school today. It’s going to be strange and new to him for a while, and I hope you will be nice to him.

You see, until now, he has been the boss of his home. I have always been around to take care of him and make him feel better.

But now, things are going to be different. This morning, he is going to walk down the front steps himself, say goodbye and start a new journey that will be difficult and challenging.

It will require love and bravery to live his life in the world.

So, World, I hope you will take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know. Give him quiet time to think about why there are birds in the sky and flowers on the green hill. Teach him that for every villain (恶棍), there is a hero; that for every enemy, there is a friend. Teach him how wonderful reading can be. Teach him that it is better to fail than it is to cheat (欺骗). Teach him to believe in himself, even if everyone tells him that he is wrong. Teach him gently, World, but don’t protect him from everything. Facing difficult situations will make him strong.

This is a big order, World, but see what you can do.

Yours,

A worried mother

Ancient China produced many types of beautiful works of art. Among them, calligraphy (书法), poetry (诗歌) and painting were the most famous. Often they would be put together in art.

Calligraphy is the art of handwriting. In ancient times, the Chinese considered writing as an important form of art. Calligraphers would practise for years to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of over 40, 000 characters (汉字) needed to be written correctly. And each stroke (笔画) in a character had to be written in a certain order.

Poetry was also an important form of art. Great poets were famous all over the country, but all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang Dynasty, poetry was so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations to become a civil servant (文官) and work for the government.

Chinese painting was often connected with calligraphy. It is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. The most traditional way of Chinese painting is known as “national” painting, which is quite different from Western painting. People can draw mountains, houses, birds, trees and water on it.

Earlier this year, China achieved a new milestone (里程碑) in space research. On January 3, 2019, Chang’e-4 became the first lunar probe (月球探测器) in history to successfully land on the far side of the moon.

The Earth’s gravity (重力) slows the moon’s rotation (自转), matching it to the speed of its orbit (公转). Therefore, the far side of the moon is almost “dark” and has never been seen. It’s this sense of the unknown that makes the far side of the moon such an interesting place for scientific and space research. Being blown by solar (太阳的) winds, the far side may have the special minerals (矿物质 ). For this reason, Chang’e-4 will study the effect of solar winds on the lunar surface and any mineral found by the spacecraft. Chang’e-4 is also carrying flower seeds, potatoes and silkworm eggs to see whether life is possible on the moon. If it is, then the moon will become a possible choice for space travel in the future.

However, research of the “dark” side isn’t easy. As the far side is blocked (阻断) off from us, radio noise coming off Earth is also blocked. This is why China’s relay satellite (中继卫星) Queqiao was sent up in May, 2018. Thanks to Queqiao, the communication problem between Earth and Chang’e-4 has been well solved.

Power supply (电源供应) is also a challenge to the task. Chang’e-4 gets energy from the sun through its solar panels. As we know, a lunar day has the length (长度) of 28 Earth days. After Chang’e-4 was sent up on December 8, 2018, it took the probe over 20 days to orbit the moon to be in a position to be able to land in moon daylight and use its solar panels.

Luckily, everything goes well, Chang’e-4 has worked on the “dark” side for over 5 months. It has sent back many photos of the far side of the moon and has been used to carry out some scientific experiments.

The New York Times used the word “groundbreaking” to praise the task and wrote that “it will offer help to the history and development of the moon”.

“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way to greet other people. But when a person says “How are you?”, they might expect to hear fine in reply, even if the other person isn’t actually fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “fine” isn’t really an answer. They are common ways of saying “Hello” and “Hi”.

Sometimes people don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?” the other person might be thinking, “No, I don’t agree. I think you are wrong.” This doesn’t sound very polite, so they might say, “I’m not so sure.” It’s a nicer way to say that you don’t agree with someone.

It’s interesting when people want to finish talking. For example, when someone wants to finish talking with another person on the phone, they may say “I have to go now.” Sometimes they might give an excuse, such as “Someone is at the door” or “I left something on the stove (炉子)”. The excuse might be real, or it might not. It’s a polite way to stop a conversation and it doesn’t hurt the other person’s feelings. People don’t always say exactly what they are thinking. That’s just part of the game of language.

61. 每个人都有自己引以为傲的人或事物，那么让你感到骄傲的是什么呢？是我们伟大的祖国，是努力拼搏的自己还是可亲可敬的家人呢？请以“I’m so proud of ________”为题写一篇英语短文。

I’m so proud of _________