Stephen Curry, American professional basketball player, was born on March 14, 1988, in Akron, Ohio, USA. He is a team guard     1     the NBA Golden State Warriors(NBA金州勇士队).

Stephen’s father     2     Dell Curry, was an NBA famous shooter(射手). Stephen has always regarded his father as his idol since he was very young.

After     3     high school, Stephen Curry attended the Duke University basketball training camp and joined the famous Duke University. But at that time, Coach K of Duke University and his coaching team agreed that the small man was too thin and short, so they     4     attracting(吸收)him.

His small size at that time made many schools refuse     5     him into their school basketball teams. They didn’t believe in his abilities or skills. Stephen didn’t become a national star until he entered Davidson College. After three years at Davidson, he joined Golden State Warriors. During his career(职业生涯)so far, he     6     many NBA records and made a name for himself.

Stephen Curry never gives up when facing questions from outside. With hard work, he is not only one of the best players in the NBA,     7     one of the best in the history of basketball.

“He is something special. It’s like he is a greater actor on a Broadway stage,” said coach Steve Kerr. “He sings his best notes, dances his best, steps and recites his most beautiful lines at the perfect time.”

He is 1.91m, still baby-faced and still young enough. From too small to too good, Stephen Curry is always     8    . He’s not the next generation, he’s NOW.

Can plants talk? Modern research has found something amazing: they do communicate with each other.

It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets attacked by insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help: “I’m being attacked!” When another plant gets the chemicals, it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Others attract the wasps (黄蜂)! The wasps kill the insects that are eating the plants. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warming system, so that we can use it to grow more crops.

More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can’t hear these sounds, but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots. Corn and chili (辣椒) plants do this. Some trees make clicking noises when there is not enough water.

Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can link nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. The wood wide web is connected underground by fungi (霉菌). It links the roots of different plants to each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However, it may lead to bad effects. Plants may use it to steal food from each other, or spread chemicals to attack other plants. Perhaps one day scientists will learn how to create a “firewall” to help prevent these attacks within the wood wide web.

Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to “talk” with them ourselves.

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Yangzhou paper cutting, with a history of 2,000 years, can be dated back to the Sui Dynasty, making Yangzhou one of the places where paper cutting first became popular.

In the Sui Dynasty, the people of Yangzhou would cut colorful paper or silk and satin(缎子) to celebrate festivals. It is said that Emperor Yang came to Yangzhou three times. In winter, the flowers and trees in the garden became dry and weak. The emperor ordered the girl servants to cut fine silk and satin into flowers and leaves and use them to decorate the trees and lakes, copying nicely the looks of spring and summer. Since then, “colorful cutting” has become a popular art in Yangzhou.

In the Tang Dynasty, the paper cutting industry was highly developed and a large amount of high-quality paper was made as presents to the Court(宫廷).

In the Qing Dynasty, because of the economic(经济的) development, the people of Yangzhou became interested in wearing fine clothing, especially embroidered(刺绣的) clothing. The embroidered designs were based on paper-cuts, the most well-known of them was from Bao Jun, a paper cutting master. He won a high reputation(名声) as Magic Scissors for his wonderful cutting skills.

After the People’s Republic of China was started, the Chinese government accepted the importance of paper cutting like many other arts and skills. In 2007, China Paper-cuts Museum opened to the public in the back garden of the Wang’s Residence(住所), Yangzhou, greatly helping the development of Yangzhou paper cutting.