There are many great stories in Chinese history. This is one of the most educational stories.

Kuang Heng was a very famous person in the Western Han Dynasty, and he was born in a ________ family. He liked reading very much. He needed to work in the daytime, so he had to read books during the night. But he was too poor to buy a ________.

One day, he found his neighbor had candles, but the light couldn’t go ________ the wall. After thinking for a while, he had an idea. He ________ a small hole in the wall in his house so that he could use the light from his neighbor’s house to read books. From that day on, he read books every night ________ the light went out. After some days, in his house there were no books for him to read. Then he went to a rich man’s house and worked for him without ________ any money. Hearing this, the rich man thought that Kuang Heng was ________ but still asked, “You meant you would work for me for free. But why?” Kuang Heng replied, “Well, I only want to ________ your books to read. That’s enough.”

The rich man was deeply moved and he ________. Kuang Heng read the books in the rich man’s house one by one. ________, he became a great scholar (学者). If you are still worried about reading books, it’s necessary for you to learn from Kuang Heng.

Li Qingzhao (1084-1155) is one of the best-known female writers in Chinese history. She showed great love for writing and was known as a talented special woman then. But her life was a bittersweet story.

Born into a famous literary (文学) family, Li was someone who always wanted to destroy old customs and traditions from the start. Women in the Song Dynasty stayed indoors. They didn’t discuss politics, and only spoke when spoken to. But just at the age of 17, Li Qingzhao made a name for herself.

She was lucky in her marriage. In 1101, she married Zhao Mingcheng, with whom she shared the interest in the art collection. They lived in present-day Shandong. They were not wealthy, but they lived happily together. Li and her husband collected many books. They shared a love of poetry and often wrote poems for each other. They sold clothes and went hungry to slowly build up a big library, and they always spent their nights on literary drinking games like this one: An event would be chosen from a pile of books, and the person would win if he/she first named the book, chapter, page, and line where it was found.

This happy life was ruined by the wars of 1127. The Northern Song capital fell this year during the Jin-Song wars. Fighting took place in Shandong and their house was burned. The couple took many of their possessions and ran away to Nanjing, where they lived for a year. Zhao Mingcheng died in 1129, leaving her childless and alone. Li Qingzhao’s life was full of twists and turns (波折), but she left many valuable poems to us.

a. The Northern Song capital fell during the Jin-Song wars.

b. Li and her husband tried their best to set up a big library.

c. Li left her hometown with her husband because of the war.

d. Li made a name for herself.

e. Li lived alone after Zhao Mingcheng’s death.

A．

B．

C．

D．

Imagine that you have woken up on the first day of your vacation. You enjoy a delicious breakfast, take a walk on the beach, and read the morning newspaper as you drink coffee. You are feeling happy and relaxed. But you may start to feel bored by the time the late afternoon comes around!

If you have ever felt like this, you’re not alone. It turns out that having unlimited（无限的）free time is not always as great as we expected. What is the best amount（数量）of free time for our happiness?

Researchers tried to answer this question by surveying tens of thousands of people, collecting data（数据）on how they spent their time and how happy they were. After looking at the data, the research team found that having less than two hours of free time a day was not enough to be happy. People with under two hours of free time a day usually had more stress（压力）. It means that they were simply too busy with work to get their happiness.

The fact that being too busy cuts happiness is true. It might lead to the answer that more free time is simply better. Surprisingly, having a lot of free time is not a panacea for happiness. People surely get a certain sense of joy from finishing tasks. Having more than five hours of free time a day makes us lose the sense of joy. It is in fact cutting our happiness. But I think it is how we spend our free time that matters. When free time is used in more active ways, like playing a team sport, then five or more hours a day can keep off（阻挡）even produce happiness. However, spending five or more hours of free time alone can stop happiness.

Every year, when the Dragon Boat Festival comes, Chinese people often hang a kind of plant on the door. It is called wormwood (艾草).     56     On the other hand, its special smell can also keep annoying insects away from rooms.

In fact, wormwood tastes bitter but smells very pleasant.     57     So it can be seen in Compendium of Materia Medica (《本草纲目》). This book is widely believed to be the classic of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The writer of the book is Li Shizhen.     58    

Wormwood is well-known for its ability to treat a great number of illnesses. Hundreds of years later, in Qichun, Hubei Province, it is still serving local people. Recently, Qichun has been busy preparing for the World Wormwood Industry Show.     59     And it will be good for the popularity of TCM and the traditional Chinese culture.

Wormwood has become the main industry in this area.     60     At the same time, wormwood is gradually known around the world as a kind of traditional Chinese medicine.

Time Will Tell

Some students often ask, “Although I work hard, I still cannot get good scores on tests. Why? How can I enjoy success?”     61     story of Chinese astronaut Deng Qingming (邓清明) might help to answer their questions.

Deng     62     (choose) as a backup (后备) astronaut in 1998. Since that day he had spent almost all of his time training hard to become an astronaut. Over the years, Deng     63     (see) his fellow trainees go into space one after another. However, he was always a backup. He often felt upset. Sometimes, he even cried     64    . (sad)

Deng never gave up. Although he was     65     his fifties, he kept training hard. “I must be ready whenever the opportunity (机会) comes to me,” he once said. Finally, on the night of November 29, 2022, he and two other astronauts boarded the Shenzhou 15 aircraft and     66     (fly) into space. Deng had waited 24 years for this very moment.

So,     67     you want to give up learning something, think about Deng’s story. Be patient and try     68     (improve) your methods and keep going. One day, your door     69     (knock) at by success! Unlike Deng, you probably won’t even have to wait 24     70     (year) for that moment!