Life is like a box of chocolates, and you never know what you are going to get. My foot still didn’t heal (愈合) from an earlier injury before our school sports meeting. I even didn’t know ________ or not I should attend the meeting. But there I was, ________ for the 3,000-meter run.

“Ready…set…” The gun sounded and we were ________. The other girls ________ ahead of me. I felt ashamed as I fell farther and farther behind.

“Hooray!” The crowd ________. It was the loudest cheer I had ever heard at a sports meeting. The first-place runner was two laps (圈) ahead of me when she ________ the finish line.

“Maybe I should ________,” I thought as I ran. However, I kept going. During the last two laps, I ran in ________ and decided not to race next year, even if my foot had healed by then.

When I ________, I heard louder cheers. I turned around and saw that the boys were ________ for their own run. “They must be cheering for the boys,” I thought. I was leaving the meeting when several girls ________ me. “Wow, you’ve shown a lot of ________!” One of them told me. “We were cheering for you. Did you hear us?”

I had hope again and ________ to stick to the run next year. I realized that strength and courage aren’t always measured (衡量) in medals or victories, but in the ________ we overcome.

The ________ people are not always those who win, but those who don’t give up, even when they are losing.

China has had lots of achievements in space science. Let’s look at some information about Shenzhou spaceships.

When your friend has a bad day, what will you do for him or her? Hugging (拥抱) can help them feel better, Time reported.

According to scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, hugs can be good for a person’s mood and stress levels. Hugging can bring positive (积极的) feelings and take away negative feelings.

Researchers talked to about 400 people. They asked them about their mood, whether they had any conflicts (冲突) with others and if they had a hug that day.

They found that when people experienced conflicts but didn’t get any hugs, they reported more negative feelings. But when people had both on the same day, they reported more positive feelings and fewer negative feelings.

When you receive a hug, your body lets out a certain hormone (荷尔蒙). This hormone lowers blood pressure as well as stress and anxiety, Michael Murphy from Carnegie Mellon told Time.

Of course, hugging is not the only way to care about others. People sometimes give advice or try to solve the other person’s problems. However, doing this might make people feel like they’re being criticized (批评). But the physical touch like hugging “makes people feel like they are cared about and have someone who is there for them,” Murphy said. “But that doesn’t make any judgments (about right or wrong).”

Scientists are still studying hugs. They want to know if it matters who the hug is from, or whether the person in question actually needs a hug. But Murphy said hugging is always a simple and helpful way to give support to someone you care about.

Shadow theater (皮影戏) is a special art form and a type of opera in China. The puppets (影人) for the show are carved (雕刻) from the skins of cows, horses or sheep. Making puppets includes several steps, such as choosing materials, carving, painting, sewing and inking.

No matter how complex the puppets are, two tools—a carving knife and a wax (蜡) board, are necessary and enough to produce a play. Performers use these puppets to tell wonderful stories.

In the past, the shadow theater was performed in the fields, with all performers hidden behind the scenes, Some controlled the puppets and sang, while others managed the music. A team was made up of six or seven people and a box of puppets. When putting on a play at a market or square, performers would start the show after fixing light boxes and curtains. A team could perform up to 30 or 40 times a day, even into the night at times, and when the curtain fell, the performers would pack up and move on.

Rooted in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province during the Western Han, the shadow theater is considered the oldest active film art in the world. Some people call shadow theater “the ancestor (祖先) of the modern art of making films”.

And among all the country’s branches (分支), Beijing shadow theater stands out for its techniques in carving and modeling the puppets, as well as its specific tunes (曲调). Beijing shadow theater was divided into two schools: east and west. The eastern school disappeared very early on, while the western school came into being during the Ming Dynasty. In 1842, Lu Decheng inherited (继承) this art and established the Beijing Xiangshun Shadow Theater. Since then, the art of Beijing western-school shadow theater has been passed down generations of the Lu family.

In our daily life, robots are often found to do work that is too dangerous, boring, difficult or dirty. And we often see kids play with toy robots.

But what exactly is a robot? There are some important characteristics that a robot must have.     46     They will also help you to decide what you will need to build into a machine before it can be considered as a robot. A robot has these important characteristics.

Sensing

    47     Give your robot sensors (传感器): light sensors (eyes), touch sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing sensors (ears) and taste sensors (tongue).

Movement

A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. It can move on wheels, walk on legs or be driven by small engines (发动机).     48    

Energy

A robot needs to be able to power itself.     49     The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.

Intelligence

    50     A programmer is the person who gives the robot its “smarts”. The robot will have to have a certain way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.

The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气). Thousands of years ago, they     61    （create）to help with farming, but the solar term culture is still very useful today to guide     62    （people）lives. Grain Buds is the     63     （eight）solar term of a year. It means that the seeds from the grain are becoming full but are not ripe. This year Grain Buds falls on May 20, and lasts 16 days. Here are some things you may not know about Grain Buds.

A saying about rain during this time     64    （say）, “A heavy rainfall makes the river full. “Because of a lot of rain, rivers are full of water and a great number of fish. You can’t miss the chance to enjoy them. Also, it is such a golden season for     65     （fisherman）!

Wet and hot days     66     （be）common in this season. It may make you get skin illnesses easily. It is necessary     67    （take）more exercise. Walking, jogging and practicing tai chi are popular.

It is a good period for flowers to grow     68    （rapid）. Caring for your garden becomes even     69    （important）than any other time. If you take good care of them, your plants     70    （be）healthier.

71. 假如你是李华，你的英国笔友Mike即将在暑假来宿迁研学旅行。请你根据以下提示给他写一封英文邮件，帮助他适应在宿迁的生活。

I am so glad that ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Best wishes.

Li Hua