In the Western Jin Dynasty there was a man named Yue Guang. He was generous. One day, he invited a friend of his to have a ________ at his home. When they were drinking, Yue Guang’s friend took notice of a small ________ in his own cup. Though uncomfortable, his friend still ________ the wine. As soon as he got home, he was ________.

Several days later, Yue Guang heard of his friend’s illness and the ________. He thought that there ________ be a snake in the wine cup. So he went back to go over the place ________ they had the drink and ________ he found the cause: there was a colorful bow on the wall of the hall, and the shadow (影子) of the bow happened to throw ________ at the place where his friend had put his wine cup. Yue Guang ________ to his friend’s home and told him about this. As soon as his friend came to understand that it was not a snake ________ the reflection of a bow in his cup, he felt ________ terrible at once.

We can learn a lot from the story. First, be open-hearted, do not doubt without ________. Second, be good at thinking and have the courage to make ________. Third, don’t be ________ by the illusion (错觉) of things.

The 2023 China Seed Congress was held in Hainan in early April. Experts gathered to discuss how to improve China’s seed industry. About 2,000 kinds of seeds were on display. Let’s learn about some of the country’s main crops.

Rice: China is the world’s largest producer of rice. More than 28 million tons of rice were produced in 2022. Hybrid rice (杂交水稻) technology largely increased production.	Chili pepper: More than 20 million tons of chili peppers were produced in China in 2021, making it the biggest crop used for seasoning (调味品) in the world.
Corn: Corn is the main food source for one-third of the global population. China is the second largest corn producer.	Peanut In China, half of all peanuts produced are used for oil production, making it the second largest source of vegetable oil production in the country.
Wheat: China is the world’s largest producer of wheat. It has harvested 2.4 billion tons over the last two decades.Wheat is an important crop for trade.	Watermelon: China is the world’s largest consumer of watermelon, with the country’s watermelon production accounting for almost 70 percent of the world’s total.
Soybean: It is an important source of protein (蛋白质) for humans, as well as a source of oil production. China is now the world’s largest importer (进口商) of soybeans.

I clearly remember one experience in China that opened my eyes to the way food can cross cultures. A Chinese friend had rushed me to a restaurant in Beijing, showed me a famous dish. I was promised something unique, something that I had never seen before and that would change the way I thought about food forever.

What I was given was a bowl of ban mian. Although delicious, I couldn’t help feeling I had tried this dish before. As I twisted the noodles with my chopsticks, it hit me: is this not just Spaghetti (意大利面) with Chinese characteristics?

I had grown up hearing stories of the Italian explorer Marco Polo bringing back pasta (意式面食) from his journeys in China in the 13th century. But the truth may be that pasta had been taken to Europe from China a lot earlier, possibly helped by Arab traders moving across Central Asia. British Spaghetti Bolognese is evidence that this type of food didn’t stop changing.

The first bites of my meal made me consider the historical journey of the noodle. As my father’s family were Italian, spaghetti was never far away. I remember one lesson clearly from my grandma. That is the only way to tell if spaghetti is cooked properly is by throwing it at the wall. If it sticks, it’s ready to eat. If it falls, it still needs time to cook. I wondered to myself whether the walls of the kitchen at this restaurant were covered by spaghetti.

How much water is there on the moon? This is a question scientists have tried to answer for years. Scientists from China and the UK have now discovered that the moon may have plenty of water, according to a recent paper.

Over billions of years, space rocks have hit the surface of the moon, causing the soil to melt (融化) and be pushed out suddenly into space. It is then cooled down and falls back to the lunar surface, forming beads (珠子) of glass.

The Chang’e 5 probe, which returned to Earth on Dec 17, 2020, brought back a total of 1,731 grams of rocks and soil from the lunar surface, including glass beads, reported Xinhua.

The international research team looked into the 32 glass beads. They found that about one ton of glass beads may include 0.5 kilograms of water. “This ‘water’ was in the form of hydrogen (氢气) included in the glass beads, which can easily be turned into the water we can use,” Hui Hejiu, one of the study authors said. Researchers thought that the water included in the glass beads could reach as much as 270 trillion kilograms.

The solar wind could be the source of the water in the beads, according to the study. The glass beads have lots of holes inside to catch hydrogen from the wind.

If the water in the beads is easy to get, it will be a “really big deal” for space exploration, Phil Bland, an expert in Australia said. At present, water used by astronauts during their long stays in space stations is recycled. The urine (尿液) produced and water used by an astronaut per day is about 2 kilograms. They are collected and purified (净化), and then provided to astronauts to drink. With this new finding, human settlements on the moon could have plenty of water in the future.

Shadow puppet（皮影）shows started in the Han Dynasty. One day, a man saw     56     (children) shadow under the sun. He got a great idea. He made a show like that. And it     57     (quick) became popular.

In a shadow puppet show,     58     (act) hold puppets from behind a white cloth. With music and songs, they make the puppets     59     (move).

Believe it or not, playing in a puppet show is not     60     easy thing. This term, our teachers asked us to put on a show for kids. We wanted to do a puppet show.

Things didn’t go well at first. It was difficult     61     (hold) a puppet. We needed to hold it really     62     (high) and keep it there for the whole show,     63     our arms became really sore（酸痛的）. And we also needed to keep our wrist（手腕）at 90 degree     64     (make) the puppet face the kids.

During the practice, my arm began to shake after a while. Backstage, we looked very funny just     65     long-necked kangaroos. We practiced for days. I was glad that the kids al liked it!