In a beautiful country, ________ a king and a queen. They have a little princess (公主). ________ skin (皮肤) is as ________ as snow. Her lips (嘴唇) are as red as a cherry and her hair is as dark as ebony (乌木). She is called Snow White. The family live a ________ life.

But the queen dies (死) later. The king marries (娶) ________ woman. She’s beautiful, ________ she can’t bear (忍受) anyone being more beautiful than her. She has a magic mirror (魔镜). “Mirror, mirror ________ the wall, who is the most beautiful of all in the world?” she often _________.

“You, my queen, are the most beautiful of all,” the mirror answers. Hearing this, the queen feels happy.

As Snow White grows up, she becomes more and more beautiful. Everyone ________ her, except (除了) the queen.

One day, the queen asks the mirror as usual, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, ________ is the most beautiful of all in the world?”

“You, my queen, ________ beautiful. But Snow White is much more beautiful than you.” ________ this, the queen feels very _________. The queen asks her guard to kill (杀) Snow White. The guard finds Snow White in the forest. She is helping a little rabbit. The guard says to her, “The queen wants me ________ you. Run away as far as you can and never let the queen ________ you.”

——A passage from Snow White

What do you know about the Tang Dynasty (唐朝)? It is one of the most famous dynasties in Chinese history. Many great poets (诗人) were from this dynasty. Gao Shi and Li Bai were just two of them. The film, Chang’an, tells the life stories of these two good friends.

At the beginning of the film, you can see old Gao Shi. He remembers (回想起) his old friend, Li Bai. He remembers how they first met, how they traveled together, and how they helped each other. The poets both loved Chang’ an, and used their whole life to go after (追逐) their dreams.

The film is about 3 hours long. It is an interesting film. From it, you can also learn about 48 Tang poems (诗), traditional Chinese culture and history.

A poor little girl walks in the street. Her clothes are ragged (破旧的). She has only her mother’s big slippers (拖鞋) on her bare feet (赤足).

“Matches! Matches! Does anyone want to buy matches?” she cries. But no one notices (注意) her. People walk past her quickly. They’re busy buying Christmas presents.

Soon it’s noon. But the little girl doesn’t sell any matches.

She comes to the window of a beautiful house. She looks into the window. There’s a very beautiful Christmas tree in the house. Two children are playing by the tree with sweets. The sweet paper is so beautiful. “How happy they are!” the little girl says to herself.

Then she thinks of her sick mother. And her eyes are full of tears (眼泪).

She keeps on walking and calling, “Matches! Matches! Sir, Madam, would you please buy some matches?” Still, nobody notices her.

Suddenly, a carriage (马车) runs by fast. The little girl is so afraid that she runs away quickly.

The little girl gets away from the carriage, but she loses (丢失) her slippers. One is lost. A boy gets the other one. He kicks (踢) it around. The little girl wants to ask for it back. But the boy kicks it far away.

The little girl has to walk barefoot in the cold snow now.

—A passage from The little Match Girl