Mr. Turner was a young man. He was not very rich. One day he went into a watch shop to buy a nice-looking watch for his girl-friend, Rose. He fixed his eyes on a nice golden watch, and decided to buy it. The shop assistant took the watch out, and asked for three hundred pounds for it. Just then, a boy of about fifteen suddenly rushed over and grasped the watch from the assistant’s hand. The assistant hurried out to catch the boy. But it was too late, the boy had disappeared among the street people very quickly.

On the way home, Turner met the boy, who would sell him the gold watch for only one hundred pounds. “The boy didn’t know that I saw him stealing the watch from the shop. And he asked for much less money than that in the shop.” Turner thought to himself. So he paid the boy and took the watch home.

The next day, Turner gave the golden watch to Rose, and told her all about the watch. Rose looked at the watch for a while, then, laughed loudly, “You are really a fool!” she said, “This watch doesn’t cost 100 pounds at all. The assistant and the boy must have planned the whole thing together!”

It seems that technology (技术) is everywhere. Computers and smart phones are at the center of almost everything we do. They constantly (持续地) require (需要) our attention: We text (发短信) our friends with them during the day, sleep with them by our beds and check our messages as soon as we wake up.

In the future, technology will no longer be troubling us all the time. Instead, we will use calm (平静) technology which was first developed by scientist Mark Weiser in the 1970s. In his opinion, calm technology works quietly but constantly. We know it is there, but we don’t pay much attention to it. According to Mark, the best technology should be invisible (隐形的) and let you live your life.

We already use many different types of calm technology in our everyday lives. Do you have a smoke alarm (警报器) in your house? That smoke alarm is always there, checking the air for smoke and quietly keeping you safe. It only reminds (提醒) you it’s there when you’ve burnt your bread! Or there may be lights in your home or school. When somebody passes in front of their sensors (传感器), the lights turn on. You don’t think about this type of technology until you see the light go on.

In the future, we can imagine our houses will use calm technology to open the curtains for us in the morning, to turn down the heat when we leave, or even to choose the best music for our mood (情绪). The minute we walk through the door, our house will respond (响应) by turning on the lights and music, and perhaps even starting to prepare our dinner!

People are hurt by acid rain. A young boy named Marco lived in New Jersey. He liked to open his mouth to catch the fresh-tasting water in the past. This time it was acid rain. It came from pollution created by the factories close to Marco’s home. Marco didn’t know that this kind of rain would make him sick.

Marco, who has asthma(气喘), had a serious attack. He had to go to hospital. He felt terrible. He couldn’t breathe. People with breathing problems suffer when they are exposed(裸露) to acid rain. People who eat plants or animals that have been exposed to acid rain also can have serious problems. Some other health problems have something to do with people eating animals and plants affected by acid rain.

Acid rain burns the leaves on plants and trees. They should be green and healthy, but acid rain destroys them. The rain usually does not kill the trees, but their leaves are destroyed. Then, the plants get weaker because they can’t make the food that they need. Forests in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States have been especially harmed by acid rain. Besides, Acid rain also hurts the soil in the forests, non-living things, such as arts and buildings.

We should work together to make this bad rain go away. Acid rain will go away if the pollutants(污染物) in the air go away. Every family can reduce pollution by using clean energy and electricity. They can also drive less. If everyone helps, acid rain will go away sooner.

I met Rose, my new classmate, on the first day of college. To my surprise, she was already 87 years old. “Why are you in college at such a young age?” I joked. “I’m here to meet a rich man, get married, have two children, and then retire(退休) and travel.” She answered.     16    

Like young students, Rose was outgoing, kind and helpful.     17     Soon, she became a superstar in our college.

At the end of the term, Rose was invited to give us a speech. I will never forget what she said to us, “There are only four secrets to staying young and achieving success.”

“First, you have to laugh and find humor(幽默) every day. Then, you need to have a dream.     18     Next, find any chance to change yourself. Finally, people shouldn’t have regrets(遗憾) for things they didn’t do.”

    19     Over 2, 000 students went to her funeral(葬礼) to express their love to the wonderful woman.

The great woman didn’t live in this world any longer, but she gave us an unforgettable lesson in life. That is—    20     Don’t you think so?

There’s an old saying that eyes are the windows of the soul. We should take good care of our eyes. However, when we can see well, we do not ________ about our eyes often. It is only when we cannot see perfectly that we come to see how ________ our eyes are.

People who are nearsighted（近视）can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Then they have to wear glasses in order to see things far away ________.

People who are farsighted（远视）face just the ________ problem. They can see things far away, but they have difficulty reading a book ________ they hold it at arm’s length（长度）. If they want to do much reading, they must wear ________, too.

Other people do not see clearly because of cataracts（白内障）. Long ago these people often became ________. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them. Also, some people’s eyes are not ________ the right shape. When night ________, colors become very weak to the eyes and finally disappear. After your eyes have become used to the ________, you can see better if you use the side of your eyes rather than the centers. Sometimes, after dark, you see a small thing to one side of you, which seems to ________ if you turn your head in its direction. This is because when you turn your head, you are ________ at the thing too directly. People sometimes think they see ________ moving to one side of them. When they turn to look straight at it, they cannot see it anymore and they believe they were mistaken. However, this mistake ________ because the center of the eye is very sensitive（敏感的）in daylight and it’s not as sensitive as the sides of the eye after dark.

In a word, we should ________ our eyes well.

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of     36     growing plants.

Sometimes, the word “green” means young, fresh and growing. For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience. In the     37     century, a greenhorn was a young cow or an ox whose horns(角) had not yet developed. A century     38     , a greenhorn was a soldier who had no experience in war. By the 18th century, a greenhorn had the     39     as it has today—a person who is new in a job.

Someone who is good at     40     plants is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early 20th century. A person     41     a green thumb can make plants grow quickly and well.

Green is also the color used to describe the powerful     42     , jealousy(嫉妒). The green eyed monster (怪兽) is a safe animal from outer space. It is an expression used about 400 years ago by the British     43     William Shakespeare in his play Othello. It     44     the unpleasant feeling when someone doesn’t get anything he wants.

In most     45     in the world, a green light is a signal to move ahead. In everyday speech, a green light means approval(赞成) to continue with a project.

Baby animals have lots of stories. These baby animals grow up in different ways.

Some animals are born helpless but their mothers protect them. A newborn kangaroo stays in its mother’s pouch. She closes her eyes for at     46     five months. A newborn monkey is too weak to walk. He is carried     47     his mother.

Other baby animals walk soon after they’re born. They learn to run with their mother     48     danger is near.

Some baby animals are born in a place that is safe, while other baby animals may be born in     49     places. Baby wolves are born in large holes. A baby elephant is born on open, grassy land. Animals that     50     their mothers’ milk are called mammals (哺乳动物). They are interesting to study.

After appearing as a special event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, Wushu, widely known as Chinese Kungfu, will make its first appearance as an official（官方的）sport at the 4th Youth Olympic Games in 2022.

It’s a long-awaited breakthrough（期待已久的突破） for IWF（国际武术协会）, which made applications（申请） to IOC（国际奥林匹克委员会） in 2001, 2008 and 2011, but failed. The first two applications were refused at the very beginning. The third application made it to the final voting for taking part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games but missed out once again.

Over the years, both IWF and CWA（中国武术协会） have done a lot to make improvement with strong support from the State General Administration of Sport of China（中国体育总局）. The Administration not only offers technical （技术的）support, often sending experts or teachers to help their Wushu training camps, but also generously（慷慨）provides a great deal of Wushu equipment（设备）for free.

Every year, many local Wushu groups are sent abroad to put on Wushu shows, trying to improve the influence of Wushu in foreign countries. Through their continuous efforts, Wushu has become widely popular across the world, especially among young Wushu fans. Studies show that, today, about 120 million people are attracted to Wushu around the world.

China successfully included Wushu as an official Olympic sport in January, 2020, which helps to make it more international quickly.

A total of 48 athletes from across the world will compete in four Wushu events: men’s and women’s Changquan and men’s and women’s Taijiquan.

Thanks for your last letter. Yes, I’m enjoying myself on my exchange programme （交流项目）in France. It’s even better than I thought it would be. I was a bit nervous before I arrived here, but there was no reason to be. My host family are really nice. They go out of their way to make me feel at home. And you wouldn’t believe how quickly my French has improved! I’m very comfortable with speaking French now. Although I still make lots of mistakes, it doesn’t make me worried as it used to. My biggest challenge（挑战） is learning how to behave at the dinner table. As you can imagine, things are really not the same as the way they are at home. For example, you shouldn’t put your bread on your plate. You should put it on the table! I thought that was very strange at first, but now I’m used to it. You shouldn’t eat anything with your hands except bread, not even fruit! You have to cut it up and eat it with a fork. Another thing is that it is very rude to say you’re full. If you don’t want any more food, you should just say, “It is delicious.”Also, it’s rude to put your hands in your lap. You should always keep your hands, but not your elbows（肘部） on the table. I have to say that I find it difficult to remember everything, but I’m gradually getting used to the things. I don’t find them so strange any more.

I’ll write soon and tell you more about my life in France. Hope you can have a good school year.

Yours,   

Li Ying