Judie’s class was studying Chinese culture. One day, her teacher went into the classroom ________ some kites. He told them that kites ________ in China more than 2,000 years ago. At the end of the class,he said,“The Chinese make kites that mean something important to them. I expect each of you   ________ a kite that means something important to you. You will have a ________ understanding of kites than before.”

Judie decided to ask her dad for help as it was ________ first time to make a kite.

“What do you think of when you see a kite?”her dad asked.

Judie thought for a moment and ________ , “Butterflies.”

Judie’s dad agreed that it would be a good idea to make a butterfly kite. They made a cross with some wood sticks, ________ then Judie pained a butterfly on a piece of white paper. Next they stuck the paper on the cross.Finally they tied a long tail to the bottom.

The next morning,they took ________ kite to the park and tasted it. “Wow!” she cried proudly. “ ________ high my butterfly flies!”

“Judie,can you tell me ________ you like butterflies?” asked her dad.

Judie replied, “To me,butterflies mean beauty and freedom.”

The 24th Winter Olympic Games were just hosted in Beijing, but the city was no stranger to competitive (竞争性的) sports on snow and ice.

Actually competitive winter sports were already popular in China a thousand years ago in the form of bingxi (playing on ice). Bingxi began in the Song Dynasty and became really popular during the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Qianlong hosted bingxi nearly every year. He had the first one in 1742, almost two hundred years before the first Winter Olympic Games.

Events of bingxi were recorded by many ancient palace painters. A bingxi painting just shows scenes of bingxi during the Qing Dynasty.

In bingxi,three types of ice skating are performed. The first one is the speed race which is similar to modern speed skating. Participant(参赛者)race to the emperor’s ice bed, the emperor is seated inside his ice bed. Whoever reaches the emperor first wins first prize. The second is finger skating. Jumps, spins (旋转), kick and try to score goals. If the “tool”for scoring goals is changed from legs to sticks, it is similar to today’s ice hockey(冰球).

The love of winter sports has never diminished in China. Since Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, more and more people have taken part to winter sports.

There are many different kinds of disasters（灾难）around the world. As an adult you know what to do during a disaster, but what about the children? Some adults think it would probably never happen to them, so they don’t teach their children what to do. Before it’s too late, here are ways to help you prepare your child for a disaster:

Educate: It is always good to let your child know about possible disasters. This doesn’t mean children have to live in fear. When teaching them about disasters, you can keep the conversation positive（积极的）by telling them there is a solution（解决办法）to the disaster. Keep the conversations short, and allow for questions and answer honestly.

Prepare: Always be prepared, and that is the best advice for children. For example, when preparing for bad weather, get the tools you need, like candles, radios, food, water and medicine. Teach your children what is needed in certain disasters so that they know what is available for them.

Plan: You should always have a plan for you and your children for any dangerous situation. Write out a simple list that they can read. The plan could start with “listen to an adult’s advice or call 119”.

Practice: Once you have got the correct safety tools and worked out the right plan, practice every few months. Practicing what to do during a disaster with your children will help them if the time comes.

Disasters can’t be avoided but they can be lessened（减轻）once you are prepared and ready for one.

On September 1, 2021, schools all over China welcomed their students’ return. Yet this term was special. In the summer of 2021, the Chinese government introduced a series of measures known as “double reduction（双减）”, to reduce the burden（负担）and anxiety of students and parents.

Primary and junior high school students in Beijing have benefited from the new education policy, as they are allowed to stay at school to pursue（从事）other after-school activities.

At 5:40 pm, on the first day of the new term, many students walked out of the campus（校园）of a primary school in Chaoyang district. More parents were waiting outside the school to pick up their children instead of grandparents. Previously（先前）, when schools closed at four pm, many parents were still at work. “It’s great that I can come to pick up my daughter,” said a mother of a second-grade student.

“We have a reading course after classes end at 4 pm,” said Zhang Ziqi excitedly, a second-grade student. “Then we do our homework at school. I don’t have to do my homework when I go back home.”

Lao Lan, a junior high school student, said she stayed at her school until 6:30 pm. “Our teachers have asked our opinions on what after-school activities we would like to attend, which I’m looking forward to do very much.”

Besides, primary and junior high schools in Guangzhou have been required to reduce the burden of students while improving the quality of education. At Xiaobei Road Primary School, students in the first and second grades are not given written homework. Other graders’ written homework is designed to be finished in less than an hour. Meanwhile, the teachers are also working hard to make the homework more interesting and helpful to students.