Mark is good at math. He usually gets a good grade on every math test. However, he did very _________ on last week’s test.

When Mark got his test paper, he saw some _________ on the top of it—see me after school. Mark was afraid that _________ math teacher Ms. Smith was going to punish him.

_________ school was over, Mark went to the teachers’ office.

“Mark, is everything all right? Are you having any _________ at home or in school?” asked Ms. Smith.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Smith. I didn’t understand the new topics you _________ in class,” answered Mark.

“Why didn’t you ask me in class?” asked Ms. Smith.

“I was afraid that other students would _________ that I’m stupid,” replied Mark.

“Oh, Mark. Asking questions doesn’t mean that you’re not _________. In fact, smart people ask the most questions! You and your classmates are all here to _________, so it’s important that you ask when you don’t understand. If you don’t feel like asking questions in front of others, you can always find me __________ class,” said Ms. Smith.

“I’ll do just that. Thank you so much. Ms. Smith,” said Mark with a smile on his face.

When I was in the second grade, I discovered my parents’ old camera. To my surprise, it still worked! That night I took pictures of my family and my dog. The next day, I took it to my class and took pictures of my friends. Soon I fell in love with taking pictures.

From then on, I always asked my parents if I could borrow their camera during my vacations. I loved taking pictures of everything. And I got happiness from the moments I recorded. I also loved looking at photos and thinking of the memories behind them.

In senior high school, I took some photography (摄影) courses. The courses were mainly about how to use Photoshop. I learned about what a great tool it was. When I chose college, I was interested in art schools because of photography. I knew deeply in my heart that I wanted to do more with photography.

In my first year of college, I took a special course on photography. The course studied how pictures could show the injustices (不公正) people face. Suddenly, I realized the meaning of photography. I started Angelica Carrete Photography in 2016 to do more with my hobby. I try my best to practice photography skills and hope to become a great photographer in the future.

Pandas are China’s ambassadors (大使) and loved by many people around the world. In February, pandas including Xiang Xiang and Yong Ming came back home. Before this, they were on loan to Japan.

Since the early 1980s, China has stopped giving away pandas as gifts because of their falling numbers. In the 1990s, China started 10-year loans of pandas to other countries. Today about 60 pandas are living abroad.

Making the pandas feel at home, this may lead you the question: How do overseas (海外的) zoos make sure they have what the pandas need to be comfortable?

Wei Rongping, the head of the Wolong Panda Base in Sichuan says the over-seas zoos need to meet several conditions. For example, there must be a healthy and safe environment for pandas to live in. In 2017, to welcome pandas Xingya and Wuwen, the zoo in the Kingdom of the Netherlands built a Chinese style panda house. It offers a clinic (诊所), a cold bamboo keeping room and a nursery (育婴室) when pandas are ready to have babies.

Also, the zoo must give pandas enough food because a panda may eat 12 to 38 kilograms of bamboo in a day, which means they spend at least 12 hours eating each day. Pandas Sihai and Jingjing traveled to Qatar last year. Every week, the park buys 1,000 kg of fresh bamboo from their hometown, Sichuan. Keepers there also learn the Sichuan dialect (方言) to better talk to the pandas.

From National Treasure to The Chinese Poetry Competition and then Everlasting Classics (《经典咏流传》), there are a growing number of TV shows about traditional Chinese culture and they’ve caught much attention. Now a new music show about traditional folk music, Flowers Bloom in Spring, has won praise since it first met the public last March.

This popular show was in the form of a singing competition and finally chose four best singers through its 12 episodes (集). A total of 28 groups of young artists took part in the show, and three well-known musicians played the role of Bole.

An Desheng, the producer of the show, said the artists performed over 140 folk music works. The show gave folk songs many modern elements (元素), making young people love to listen and sing. It also combined (使结合) traditional and classic folk songs with popular songs, allowing people to experience the folk songs in a fresh way.

“Now lots of traditional songs, which were created in the countryside, are nearly disappearing. We can’t admire the folk songs sung by the working people while taking a walk in the busy streets full of high buildings,” said Lei Jia, one of the three musicians, adding that she was touched by what the show had done to help young people develop an interest in folk music.

Flowers will bloom in spring, and folk songs will return to life with a brighter future. The new age has added wings to folk songs, and by singing, we’ll welcome the future together.

You’ve probably heard the term “fake (虚假的) news”. It refers to (指) news articles that are made up to look like the real ones.     41     Fake photos can make people believe things that aren’t true. And experts say they can be even more powerful than fake articles. After all, we often believe what we see more than what we read.

Each day, we can see countless fake photos on the Internet.     42     People often create them to get a laugh or a lot of likes on social media (社交媒体). But others may do it for a more serious purpose.     43     Exposure (接触) to all those fake photos can make us doubt real photos.

What’s worse, it’s easy to put fake photos online and fake photos spread quickly.     44     Experts say the more likes and shares a photo gets, the more likely we are to think it’s real. And when we believe what we’re seeing, we’ll share the photo too. But when we share fake photos, we help make things worse.

    45     The key is to be skeptical (怀疑的). If a photo seems unbelievable, that’s a warning sign that it might not be real. Then don’t share it. It’s as simple as that.

56. I want to say ________, my friend

当我们收获快乐的时候，我们想要分享的对象首先就是朋友；当我们面对困难的时候，我们最先想到的可能也是朋友。好的朋友是终身的财富，陪伴我们一起经历，一起成长。你的好朋友做过哪些令你印象深刻的事情？你有什么话想对他/她说？请根据提示问题，完成一篇英语短文。