One bright morning, I was out for my usual run when I met an elderly lady who was waving her phone at me and speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. It sounded like she was ________ a hurry to get somewhere. I quickly ________ that she was lost and couldn’t speak any English.

She showed me some map screenshots (屏幕截图) on her phone, ________ I had no clue how to read them. So I quickly downloaded a translation app (翻译软件) and we used ________ to communicate. She spoke into the microphone (麦克风) in her language and it   ________ her words into English for me to understand. I typed my responses and we were ________ to communicate!

We ________ figured out that she needed to get home, which was a long walk away. She didn’t want to use any ________, so I walked with her to a bus stop where she could call her daughter for a ride. As we ________, we laughed and joked, even though we couldn’t understand each other’s language. It was a pretty ________ experience!

The elderly lady was very ________ for my help and kept thanking me for my time. I had to keep ________ her that it was no trouble at all and that I was happy to help. It was amazing how just a small act of kindness made such a big ________ to her.

Finally, we ________ the bus stop and she made her call. We said our goodbyes and she gave me a heartwarming ________ that made me believe in the goodness of humanity. Even though we used technology to communicate, it was lucky that we could help each other out and not be stopped by our different languages.

Water is the softest thing in nature, but Lao Zi really admired it. The gentleness of water does not mean weakness, but rather it     24     a spirit of perseverance (毅力) and determination (决心). Compared to those hard     25    , water is gentle.     26    , with continued efforts over time, even water droplets (水滴) can break through hard rocks. Water reminds     27     that once we have chosen our goal, we need to stick to our plan.

So, if you are the weaker one, don’t be     28    . You should     29     on what you are doing and never give up. And if you are the stronger one, don’t be too proud because anyone weaker than you still has a chance     30     you. King Goujian of Yue gave up his     31     to meet the unreasonable demands (无理的要求) of Fuchai, the king of Wu. Emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty avoided fighting Xiang Yu     32    . Instead, he built up his     33     over time and defeated Xiang Yu’s army in one final war. These people show us that in order to succeed, we should keep a     34     attitude. We need to think wisely about the balance of power, and stay focused on our goals.

How fast can someone climb 15 meters-the height of a five-floor building? The answer from Chinese speed climber Cao Long is 4. 98 seconds.

The 23-year-old climber is the third person to have finished the speed climbing route (竞速攀岩路线) within 5 seconds. The other two are Indonesian athletes Kiromal Katibin and Veddriq Leonardo. The records of Katibin and Leonardo are 5 seconds and 4.90 seconds. People call Cao “the fastest man in China” or “Chinese Spider-Man”.

According to Cao, the result of speed climbing can change every time because it’s a highly stressful race where two climbers compete at the same time. It’s also a sport that finishes in seconds. If you want to succeed, everything has to be perfect.

Cao tried climbing at the age of 8. Like many kids who first got into climbing, Cao was mainly doing bouldering (抱石) and lead climbing (先锋攀岩). He was doing very well. However, he got injured and had a surgery (手术) at the age of 18. He then decided to try speed climbing because it uses different skills from bouldering and lead climbing and puts less pressure on his body.

It turned out that Cao was great at speed climbing as well, even though he thinks he is hardly the strongest athlete. He understands how to use his body to win. “I know how to better divide power to different parts of my body,” Cao said.

In his eyes, the national record of 4. 98 seconds has become a thing of the past. “I’ll keep trying to do better and be better,” said Cao.

Science shows why we trust people who are confident. Imagine this: one person tells a lie confidently, while another says something true in a hesitant voice. Which person would you trust?

According to British scientist Dean Burnett, humans are far more likely to believe information expressed confidently by a confident person or in some other ways using confident language.

“Humans trusting confident people over those who are more uncertain is a known thing,” wrote Burnett for Science Focus magazine. “When two people are trying to make a decision but each person says different things, confidently expressed arguments are seen as passing on better information, which decides the decision.”

Why is this the case? As Burnett said, humans are social animals. In our ancient past, most of our information about the world came from our tribe (部落), the people around us. So, if ancient humans heard someone confidently saying “There’s a tiger coming.”

On a more personal level, we use our own experiences to understand what other people do and say. That’s how our brain works. When we are confident, it’s for good reason. Therefore, they must have good reason, too.

However, we need to realize that confidently expressed information may be more persuasive (有说服力的), but that doesn’t mean it’s correct. As Burnett wrote, we are living in a more and more different world. Trusting very confident people without checking the facts can lead to “unexpected results”.

The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, was officially listed as a UN floating holiday in its calendar of conferences (会议), 2023.     53     About one-fifth of humanity (人类) celebrates this festival in different ways.

The first day of the first lunar month is Spring Festival, the beginning of a new year for China. It is China’s biggest day for family reunion. It is usually a fifteen-day celebration.     54     The cleaning of the home is thought to sweep away bad luck from the previous (先前的) year and bring good luck for the coming year. The color red is everywhere during the Spring Festival. They decorate (装饰) their homes with pieces of red paper. People wear red.     55    

On New Year’s Eve, the family members get together and have a big meal. We often eat dumplings. At midnight, fireworks (烟花) are let off to welcome the new year. The whole country bursts with the thundering (雷鸣般的) joyful noise of fire crackers (鞭炮) as every family joins.     56     Gifts are exchanged and older people give younger ones hongbao, often called “lucky money”. They think it brings good luck.

    57     It’s the Lantern Festival. A popular activity at the Lantern Festival is the guessing of riddles (谜语), which are written on paper and placed on the lantern. Families will also light lanterns, which symbolize the brightness of spring.

63. 本卷阅读理解，七选五篇介绍了近期中国传统节日春节被联合国确定为联合国假日。中国文化包罗万象，作为新时代的中国青少年，我们应当了解并弘扬中华优秀传统文化。假如你是李华，你校本月将举行中华优秀传统文化演讲比赛，请根据下面表格中的要点提示，写一篇英语演讲稿。

I’m Li Hua. It’s my honor to stand here and make a speech.

That’s all. Thank you for your listening.

Yours,

Li Hua