Half a century ago, a boy called William Lindsay in Britain had never thought that a dream of his would drive him to spend ten years in a foreign country. When in primary school, he loved studying maps. The saw-tooth (锯齿般的) line in China caught his eye. He decided to visit the line, that is, the Great Wall of China.

Driven by this dream, Lindsay set off on his Great Wall journey in 1984. However, he didn’t realize its difficulty. Only a few days later, he became ill and had to give up his plan. After returning to Britain, he began to exercise more often. He even learned some basic Chinese.

With full preparation, Lindsay set off again in 1987. The hike took him about 160 days in total. This tall man encountered difficulties when he was found to be walking alone along the Yulin Great Well in Shaanxi. “Where is he from? What is he doing here?” the local villagers wondered. Finally, the police came. Lindsay tried to explain his love for the Wall but without success. As a result, he had to leave.

Nothing could stop his strong will. One year later, Lindsay continued his journey from Inner Mongolia. After many difficult days of hiking along the Great Wall, he was finally able to arrive at Shanhaiguan, a major pass at the eastern end of the Wall and the end of his great journey.

Through this trip, Lindsay developed a deeper understanding of the Great Wall. Since then, he has made great efforts to protect it. Later, he organized more than 120 volunteers to pick up litter on the Great Wall. Lindsay soon realized the difficulty of collecting all the litter on the Wall. He started to give speeches around the country and began looking for more volunteers.

Lindsay’s wife and two sons have now also joined him in protecting the Great Wall. The British man said he would spend the rest of his years in China—for his family and for the Wall.

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Chinese years are named according to the twelve zodiac (生肖) animals. But what do we call this year, the Year of the Dragon or the Year of Long? The Chinese dragon, or Long, is a mythical animal. It’s made up of the parts of nine animals. It’s said that the Chinese dragon can fly and has the magical power to control wind and rain.

Of all the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, Long is one of people’s favorites. That’s because it has many good meanings, such as power and good luck. When people name newborn babies, “龙,” the character for Long, is popular. It is hoped that they will grow up to be as strong and energetic as a dragon.

________ As we see in movies, the Western dragon has the body of a big snake, the huge wings of bats, and strong and sharp claws. It is usually a bad character in stories to be beaten by heroes.

According to written records, Long was first translated as “dragon” in The Travels of Marco Polo in 1299. Since Long is similar to the Western dragon in some ways—both are huge, for example— “dragon” may have been the best word to describe Long at that time. But it’s very different from all the meanings that Long has in Chinese culture. In a way, it can confuse (迷惑) Westerners.

The discussion on whether it’s right to translate Long as “dragon” has been going on for many years. Some think it is unacceptable. Others consider it reasonable to understand the idea of Long by calling it a dragon. China is the home to Long and there aren’t any expressions for Long in Western languages. Therefore, they argue, it’s just a good idea to borrow the word “dragon” to describe it.

In recent years, some people have come up with better ways to translate Long. For example, Loong Air (长龙航空) writes Long as Loong. The word is similar to the pinyin for the character “龙” and is easy for Westerners to pronounce.

No matter which way Long is translated, we must know that the Chinese dragon is a warm and joyful image (形象). It’s very different from the Western dragon. We should always try to explain Long clearly so that Westerners won’t get lost in the translation.

During the holiday, many people want to search for dazi (搭子) or activity partners for doing many things.     31     Everyone has his or her own opinion. In some ways, finding dazi is a new form of social contact for young people.

Unlike friendship, the idea of dazi is simple—people with the same interest come together to join an activity.     32     From eating to studying, working or even going to the toilet. It helps people find the person with the same hobbies and doesn’t take people too much time. With one or a few dazi, people have more fun in the activities.

A girl called Mu Qing, a high school student from Hangzhou, enjoys talking with her meal dazi when she is having lunch. “We love to share our ideas on the food and find other fine food.” said the girl, “If my meal dazi doesn’t come to school one day, I will be upset.”

“Traditional friendship requires a lot of time and emotion to maintain, while having dazi means not needing to worry about it.” said another girl.     33     She can feel relaxed and then focus more on study.

    34     People sometimes find dazi on the Internet to work together, like playing games. Some people may put on fake masks and lie on the Internet. For example, a young and beautiful girl on the Internet may be an old, short, and heavy man in real life. Therefore, think twice when finding dazi.

There was once a large bottle of fresh, clean water. Every drop of water in the bottle felt     66     (骄傲的) of being so clear and pure. Day after day, they would congratulate each other on how clean and     67     (优秀的) they were.

But one day, one of the drops got bored with his clean existence. He wanted to see what it would be like to be a dirty drop. The other drops tried to talk him out of the idea, but     68     (失败).

When the drop came back all dirty, he     69     (转变) all the other drops in the bottle into dirty drops, too. They tried to get clean again, but couldn’t . Several     70     (月) later, someone put the bottle in a pool. A lot of clean water entered the large bottle, and the drops finally made     71     (他们自己) pure again.

Now the drops reach an     72     (同意) that if they want to be clean, then each one of them will have to stay clean. Correcting the mistake of     73     (甚至) one single drop requires a lot of hard work.

To some degree, this bottle of water is just like the Earth. If we want to live on a clean planet , each one of us will have to be a “clean drop. ”    74     (无论何时) someone or some country becomes a “dirty drop” and pollutes the air or the ocean, the whole Earth becomes a bit dirtier. It will be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to make this “bottle of water” clean again.

The same may also happen to you and your class (or school). If you want your class (or school) to be among the best, then each of you will need to     75     (表现) well. Are you a “clean drop”?

76. 假如你是李华，请你对英国朋友Jim的邮件进行回复。词数80左右，可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Yours,

Li Hua