Once upon a time, a hippo (河马) lived in a river next to a big tree.

One day, a bird came and nested (筑巢) in the tree. The songs of the bird filled the hippo with so much envy (羡慕) that he couldn’t think of anything else. Every day he would think why he wasn’t born to be a bird even though the bird told him many times he was so lucky to be so big and such a good swimmer.

Finally, the hippo made up his mind that he would come out of the river, climb the tree, and start singing. However, when he tried to climb the tree, it was very clear that the hippo didn’t have wings, nor claws to climb with.

Realizing that he would never climb up the tree, he angrily hit the tree until it came crashing to the ground. Then he stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree, and began singing.

Unfortunately, hippos can’t sing, either. All that came from his mouth were terrible noises, and when the other animals heard this, they all came around to make fun of the hippo.

He was so embarrassed by this. He also felt bad about having knocked the tree over. He used all his strength to raise the tree back up again, and looked after it until it completely recovered (康复).

Why is clean water so important to developing countries. A recent report shows that about 80 percent of diseases in developing countries are caused by poor water and low sanitation (卫生) conditions. In those countries, women and girls spend several hours collecting water being polluted, far away from their families. The polluted water more or less influences their health. In this case, there is an urgent (迫切的) need for people in developing countries to have access to (有机会或权利使用) clean water to improve their health.

Here is a short story about Hajar Zakari, a 12-year-old girl in Niger. Having access to clean water changed her life. She learned about the importance of hand-washing when the school first received clean water three years ago. That evening, she told her father, “You shouldn’t eat with me unless you clean your hands.” Her father was very angry and shouted at her, “It’s not up to you to tell me what to do!” Stunned (目瞪口呆的), Hajar sat in silence. But she knew she was right. In protest, Hajar refused to eat dinner that night. After her father questioned Hajar’s head teacher, he understood the importance of hand-washing and his daughter’s intentions (目的). The girl really wanted her family to live longer and healthier lives.

For people in developing countries, clean water can change many things, especially improve their health. So, from now on, let’s avoid wasting water and take action to save water, which is important to people all over the world.

Where does your food come from? How is it made? These days, many people worry about food safety. But food safety is not a new worry. In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle. The book is the story of a poor family in Chicago.     26     People were so worried that the U. S. started testing food.

These days, most food in the world is safe. Laws control where food comes from.     27     Laws are important. But it’s more important to make sure the rules are followed. A good food safety system (系统) keeps people safe. It also helps them eat healthy food. Labels (标签) on food give people important information.     28    

Although food safety systems usually work, there can be problems. Sometimes mistakes are made. For example, a truck might carry eggs and then ice cream. The ice cream could make people sick when the truck isn’t cleaned before carrying it.     29     Sometimes companies break rules to make more money. When this happens, people don’t know if their food is safe.

As we all know, food is closely related to our daily life.     30    

A new font (字体) designed by a Finnish software company could make your writing more polite and hopefully cut down cyberbullying (网络暴力).

It is called Polite Type (文明打字). It can take the place of     36     language with nicer words as you type (打字). For example, if you type “you are     37    ”, it will be replaced with “you are not traditionally beautiful”. “We want bullies (欺凌者) to rethink words they use and the actual meaning behind them,” said the company     38     Kia Haring.

The problem of cyberbullying has been around since the computer was     39    . Nearly everyone who has used the Internet has experienced it or at least seen it in action.

Polite Type is a good step in the right     40    . But how do we actually deal with cyberbullying? For one, we can choose to be “invisible (隐形的)”—that is, to surf the Internet without making any profiles (个人资料) or leaving any comments (评论). This, however, isn’t a good idea     41     it forces (强迫，迫使) us to give up “existing (存在)” online.

We can also choose to simply take no notice of (不理睬) bullies. However, this isn’t perfect     42    , because it can be hard to forget people who are especially cruel.

A better solution could be to block (拦截) and report. If you block someone on social media (社交媒体), they won’t be able to see or comment on your posts. Most websites are making great     43     to deal with cyberbullying. They have rules     44     harmful language. If you report a bully’s profile to the website, they will often     45     that person from using the website. Sometimes direct action like this is the best action.

[1] Many have heard of shark fin soup. This famous and expensive dish is especially popular in southern China. But do you realize that you’re killing a ① shark each time you enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup?

[2] When people catch sharks, they cut off their fins and throw the shark back into the ocean. This is not only cruel, but also harmful to the environment. Without a fin, a shark can no longer swim and slowly dies. Sharks are at the ②     of the food chain in the ocean’s ecosystem. If their numbers drop too low, it will bring ③ to all ocean life. Many believe that sharks can never be endangered because they are the strongest in their food chain. But in fact, around 70 million sharks are caught and traded in this industry every year. (5) The numbers of some kinds of sharks have fallen by over 90 percent in the last 20 to 30 years.

[3] Environmental protection groups around the world, such as WildAid and the WWF, are teaching the public about “finning”. They have even asked governments to develop laws to protect sharks. So far, no scientific studies have shown that shark fins are good for health, so why eat them?

52. 党的二十大完美落幕，对我们国家的发展进行了重大的战略布局，在中国共产党的领导下，我们的国家从以前的峥嵘岁月到现在的国泰民安。作为中学生，我们有责任让更多人了解我们的国家。根据下面思维导图内容提示，请以“China in My Eyes”为题，写一篇英语短文，介绍一下我们亲爱的祖国！

China in My Eyes

Hello, everyone! I am from China and I like my country very much. Now I’d like to introduce my country to you! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________