“How was your day?” Dad asked as we drove home. It seems to be a ________ that parents have to ask this question.

There was no ________ that I was telling him about failing the test again.“Wrestling (摔跤) with Hassan. That was cool…”

But Dad interrupted me.“Wrestling?”

“Not real wrestling. We were just playing.”

“I should hope not,” Dad parked the car. As we arrived home, he was trying to say something, so I decided to ________ the subject.

“Dad, I can’t work out what song to sing at the coming show.”

“How about that song you like best?” Dad asked, looking at his crossword (纵横字谜) on the table.

“Monsters?”

“That’s it,” Dad then picked up his crossword and sighed (叹气).“I am ________ stuck on it. Usually, I can solve it quickly.”

“I guess we all have bad days,” I opened my homework, but the questions looked like ________ symbols.“Do you feel like you’ve got a worm in your brain?” I asked Dad.

“A worm?”

“My scores are going down, as if everything that I know is being eaten away. And I think I’m going to ________ the coming exams. Everything is going wrong.”

“Is that true? Or is it just that you’re worried that everything will go wrong?”

How could Dad think that I wanted to fail my exams?

“Imagine you’re playing wrestling with Hassan. He raises his fist (拳头) and tells you,‘I’m going to hit you.’That’s what Hassan says, but he doesn’t ________ it. Ash, your feelings are real, like the raised fist, but that doesn’t mean they are telling you the truth. You’ll meet difficult questions in exams. It’s OK to feel ________. But when your fear tells you that you’re going to fail, you don’t have to ________ it.”

“But it might happen,” I cried.

“Ash, even if you fail, you are still you. You are still my bright boy who does well at school, but just ________ to have a bad day. And we all have bad days,” Dad smiled and waved his unfinished crossword.

B

A．	B．
C．	D．

About 2000 years ago, Volcano Vesuvius erupted (火山喷发), destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Now scientists are working to decode (破译) one of the great mysteries of that time—the scrolls of Herculaneum (赫库兰尼姆卷轴).

In 1752, workers digging in Herculaneum discovered over 600 scrolls. Most of them were made from papyrus—a paper-like material. The heat from the volcano had burned the scrolls so much that they looked like chunks of charcoal (木碳块). The scrolls were so fragile that just touching them could make them fall apart. So scientists have been looking for ways to read the scrolls without opening them.

Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky has been working on this for over 20 years. He developed a method of using a CT scanner to take 3D X-ray images of a papyrus scroll. In 2016, his team used this method to read a burned scroll found near the Dead Sea. But the scrolls from Herculaneum are much harder. This method didn’t work well. Still, Dr. Seales hoped to decode them and trained an AI program. Though he was making progress, it was slow going. Then he met with two businessmen. They had the idea of holding a competition for decoding the scrolls.

The competition offered large prizes. About 1,500 people have taken part in it. These people are sharing information as they make progress, so everyone can build on those ideas.

In August, 2023, Casey Handmer found a pattern that showed where the ink had been on the scrolls. Following his lead, Luke Farritor, a 21-year-old student, created an AI program that found a whole word: “πopφúραc” which means “purple”. This was the first word ever read from these ancient scrolls.

Soon afterward, Youssef Nader used a different method to find the same word. For their efforts, Mr. Handmer and Mr. Nader each won $10,000. Mr. Farritor won $40,000.

Now people are working to earn the competition’s $700,000 top prize, which is for decoding four longer sections of the scroll.

“With all the recent progress, it’s likely that someone will win this prize, too. For me, reading words from within the Herculaneum scrolls is like stepping onto the moon,” Dr. Seales says. “Now it is time to explore.”

Have you ever noticed you feel happier after helping someone else? Volunteering isn’t just great for the people you support, and it can bring you happiness too.

Volunteering means that you give your time, energy or skills to help others but don’t expect others to give you anything back. There are more than one billion volunteers helping others all over the world, and there are lots of ways you can join them, including raising money for charity, helping in your local community,or even carrying a neighbour’s shopping goods home.

According to Susan Albers, a psychologist, volunteering can reduce stress and make you feel better about your life. This is because being kind and doing things for other people activates (激活) the reward part of the brain and releases (释放) feel good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. Albers says that volunteering has other benefits (益处) too, such as feeling part of a community, making friends and learning skills.

There are lots of ways you can volunteer. Albers recommends finding something that is meaningful to you. If you love sports, say, then ask if your club needs help like coaching younger players. If you’re passionate about protecting the environment, organize a litter pick or beach clean. You could also ask at your local library, community center or school for volunteering opportunities (机会). Before you start, remember to make sure you check with your parents. What’s more, Albers says volunteering is an activity that everyone can do. You needn’t have a lot of skills or spend much time.”

Title: Volunteering

65. 学生更喜欢纸质书还是电子书? 学生最喜欢什么类型的书籍? 假如你是李华，就相关问题在班里做了调查，结果见下图。学校英语社团将举办“Reading Habits”主题活动，请你准备一份英文交流稿，包含以下内容：   (1)基于以下图表，简要叙述你的调查结果；   (2)陈述你自己的阅读喜好及原因；   (3)分享一本你最喜欢的书籍。

I’m Li Hua, from Class 3, Grade 9. It’s my honor to share something about reading habits with you.

Recently, I’ve done a survey about my classmates’ reading habits.

Books are like a key to the door of a new world. Hope we all can enjoy exploring the new world.