If you are planning a trip for this summer, don’t miss the grassland tour in Chifeng. The following information in the poster may help you.

What will the homes of the future be like? To deal with the crowded space and climate (气候) change, future homes need to be smarter and greener. Some of them maybe beyond (超出) your imagination.

Sunlight-warming homes

These homes have huge glass walls and their windows face south. Sunlight can go into the homes easily. They keep the heat through winter, which saves a lot of energy.

Underground buildings

There are buildings underground. They go many floors into the ground. People can live, work and do sports all underground. During earthquakes, these buildings will not fall.

Floating (漂浮的) buildings

Many companies think of building floating homes. Instead of using electricity, floating homes will use solar power. They can rise, fall and turn in different directions with the moving water. People can also grow plants on roofs.

Born in 1991 in Anshan, Liaoning Province, Xu Mengtao had a hard childhood. A small room, a stove, and a small bed were all she and her parents had at that time. Her father supported the family by selling mutton skewers(羊肉串) around busy streets. After making his first money, her sports-loving father bought a television set. They watched different sports events every day.

Xu began to learn gymnastics(体操) when she was only 4 years old. To help her in training, her father picked up a small carpet(地毯) near his home, washed it clean, put the carpet on the ground, and setup a small “gymnastics field”.

Finishing sixth in her first Olympics at Vancouver 2010, Xu won the second place at Sochi 2014. Then 2018 seemed to be her time to win gold. But she finished ninth. After so many peaks and valleys, Xu finally realized her dream of winning Olympic gold in the freestyle skiing women’s aerials event(自由式滑雪女子空中技巧) at Beijing 2022.   

“Looking back, I need to thank my parents, especially my strict father,” Xu said.

There are lots of ways to enjoy birds. You can watch them on your own, with your friends or join a group of bird fans. You can draw them, take photos of them, and help to look after them. It is called birdwatching.

Birdwatching never stays the same. It changes with the seasons. In spring, you lookout for birds starting to make their nests(巢). You can also see baby birds from their birth. Waterbirds such as ducks and geese are some of the easiest to watch. In summer, get to know the young birds in your local area. How many are there? How do they look different from their parents? Summer is also a good time to go on a boat trip to visit seabirds. It may be crowded, noisy and smelly, but you will surely see some amazing birds. In autumn, many birds migrate(迁徙). They spend the summer in one part of the world, laying eggs and raising their chicks. Then they fly to other parts of the world for the winter. During the cold days in winter, we need to watch out for birds. Make sure you put out water and food for birds and then enjoy watching the birds that come to drink and eat.

When watching birds, don’t get too close, and keep away from their nests. Don’t drop litter, or pick or harm any plants.

It was Ian’s bedtime. When I looked at the living room floor, toys were all over the place.

“Ian,” I said, “You need to _________ all those toys before you go to bed.”

“Daddy,” he said, “I’m too tired.”

My first thought was to _________ him to clean up the room. Instead, I went into the bedroom, lay down, and said, “Ian, come here. Let’s play Humpty Dumpty.”

He climbed up to my knees and I said, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great _______.” And he fell. Ian laughed and said, “Let’s do it again.” Well, after the third fall, I said, “Okay, but first go and pick up those ___________.”

Without thinking, Ian ran into the living room and ___________ the job in ninety seconds.

My mother told me an experience that happened to me when I was about two years old.

It was a summer day, and everybody had gone outside to enjoy the weather. My sister and her ________ jumped into our backyard pool to play. I did not know how to ________ yet. My mother would always watch us very closely. Just at that moment, the telephone rang. She had to ________ it. She told my sister to watch out for me for a minute, but my sister was ________ playing with her friend.

Before anyone knew it, I fell into the pool. No one heard me because I was so little.

What ________ next was amazing. My mother suddenly felt as if someone tapped (轻拍) her on the back before reaching the house. She ________ around, but no one was there. Just then she couldn’t see me. She ran over to the pool immediately. She saw me in the pool kicking and waving my ________ in the air. She jumped in and pulled me out. ________, I was okay.

All of this happened within less than a minute. No one really knew ________ my mother turned around. Now I am a mother of three children. I know it’s because of a mother’s ________ for her children.

Once a poor man hoped for good luck and     36     a tree in the wild. He took it home and grew more trees from its seeds(种子). This really made him a     37     man, so he named it the money tree. People say that the trunk(树干) of the money tree can     38     luck in it. The five leaves stand for metal(金属), wood, water, fire     39     earth—the five things of balance. That’s why Chinese people like the money tree     40     than other plants.

Now the Chinese money tree is popular for those celebrating Lunar New Year. People believe it can bring good luck into     41     life. People also give the tree to friends or to new neighbors to show     42    . This plant can get to 15 meters tall, but we     43     see them as desktop plants of maybe a 1.2-1.5 meter tree.

The tree is very easy to care for and can     44     for years. It grows best in temperature between 18℃ and 27℃. It’s better to keep the tree away from     45     air. Don’t put it near an outside door.

Active listening is needed when communicating with others. It has an effect on your relationships and your work. How to be an active listener? The following suggestions may help you.

It’s impolite to break in when someone is speaking. Don’t express your thoughts immediately. Wait for a second, so that the other person can finish his sentences.

Make sure that you listen with your eyes, heart and ears. To hear what other people are really saying, you also need to listen to what they’re not saying.

Ask questions. To be an active listener, you can also show your interest in what he is saying, and you want to know more. By doing this, you can develop friendship with the speaker.

Active listening can help you truly understand what people are saying in conversations.

There is a kindergarten(幼儿园) in a mountain village of Tongren, Guizhou Province. Rao Si is the only teacher working there for 18 children.

Inside the kindergarten, various plants can be found in a small garden. Walking out of the kindergarten’s door, the children can see terraced fields(梯田) in the clouds. It helps them get a better understanding of nature. When she sees children’s pictures and artworks with imagination on the wall, she finds her work helpful.

“Most children in my class don’t live with their parents. Their grandparents care for them. They are like my family. We care about each other and grow up together,” Rao says.

There were no kindergartens in Tongren when Rao was born there in 1991. Things have become greatly different over the past ten years. Every village has a kindergarten now.

In order to make children’s learning interesting, Rao gets training and often visits city kindergartens. She watches how the teachers teach and shares teaching experience with them.

Though great changes have taken place, there are still some difficulties. For example, they don’t have enough musical instruments and painting materials. “We don’t have the material(物质) conditions like those in city schools, but we are close to nature. Nature is the best teacher,” Rao says.