Sitienei, a 90-year-old Kenyan grandmother, has become the world’s oldest primary school student. She is studying at the local primary school to learn to read and write. She is from a small_________ in Kenyan. She has spent most of her life_________ as a midwife (接生婆), helping women to give birth to babies. She wants to pass on her midwife skills to the young. She said she didn’t have a chance to go to school when she was_________. So she wants all the children in her village to_________.

The head teacher at the school said, “I’m proud_________ her. She is loved by every student. They all want to learn and play with_________.” He also said, “She is doing well considering her_________. I can say I have seen a big difference in this school_________ she came.”

Sitienei often said, “I want to tell children,_________ girls in poor areas, that__________ will be your wealth.” She added, “With education, you can be whatever you want to be — a doctor, a teacher, a scientist, and so on.”

The earth is about 4,600 million years old. Modern man has lived on the earth for only 35,000 years, but during that time, we have changed our planet in many ways. Many of the things that we have done are good, but more are not good for the earth.

Water Pollution

A lot of people, birds and fish die each day because of water pollution. Factories have polluted the land and the water. As a result, many rivers and lakes are now dead.

Air Pollution

In big cities, factories, as well as cars, trucks and buses are the main causes of air pollution. Many people in cities now have serious health problems. For example, Mexico city used to be a beautiful sunny capital, but today it is always covered by thick brown clouds.

Soil Pollution

In order to have a good harvest, most of the farmers use chemicals too much in their fields. That’s bad for the soil. But this kind of pollution is difficult to stop.

Hope For The Future

These problems are very serious for our future, so all of us should do something to improve our environment. If we can stop pollution, our planet will become more and more beautiful and our health will be better. Let’s be greener people!

Once there was a piano player in a bar (酒吧). People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.

“I don’t sing,” said the man.

But the lady told the waiter, “I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!”

The waiter shouted across the room, “Hey, friend! If you want to get your money, sing a song!”

So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!

He had talent (天赋) he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.

You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.

If you watch the sky for about an hour after the sun goes down, you may see some “moving stars”. But they’re not really stars. They’re man-made satellites. And the biggest of all is the International Space Station（ISS）. From May to July is the best season to watch the ISS flying over the earth. And people can see it with their eyes.

The ISS is the biggest satellite（人造卫星）and scientists want to live on it. They think that the best way to learn more about space is to live there.

When the space station is finished, it will be like a city in space. People will stay and study there with many of the things they have at home. Laboratories, living rooms and power stations are being built. The ISS is the most expensive space program. Billions of dollars are being spent on it every year.

Scientists hope that the ISS will be a stepping stone for future space exploration（探测）. “The ISS will help us understand the human body better, explore space and study the earth. It can help us make life on the earth better,” said Kathryn Clark, an ISS scientist.

Sixteen countries are part of the program: the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, Brazil and 11 European countries. China isn’t an ISS country, but it has helped with some of the experiments. In 2003, China sent some rice up to the ISS to find out what space would do to it.

It is 40 meters long and 6 meters wide. This must be the biggest bus you have ever seen. It can carry 1,200 to 1,400 people.

It is China’s new Super Bus. It is going for a test run in Beijing at the end of this year. Some other cities are also interested in running the Super Bus. They hope the traffic problems will be solved.

The Super Bus runs along fixed tracks (固定轨道) . The bus sits on top of two 2.2-meter-tall legs. The legs have wheels at one end. Small cars can drive under the bus, so the Super Bus does not take up road space.

The bus runs on electricity and solar power. It can travel up to 60 km every hour. Its creator, Song Youzhou, says a lot of traffic jams (堵塞) will be reduced.

The Super Bus can do the work of 40 buses. In that way, it can save 860 tons of fuel (燃料) every year, according to Song.

“To build a Super Bus and its track costs less than building subways. Subways are nearly ten times more expensive to build.”Song said.

Some people worry that the Super Bus may not be safe. However, Song says there’s no need for concern. The Super Bus has laser scanners (激光扫描仪) between its legs. The scanners make sure the cars keep a safe distance.

A Special Delivery (快递)

Ben and Sally lived in California with their two daughters. Ben liked traveling.     46    , but sally stayed home with the girls. Ben and his friends owned a company. People at the company liked to play jokes on each other. One day, Ben’s friends wanted to play a joke on Ben and Sally.     47     The letter said,

I’m having a great time here in Africa. I’m sending a special gift to you.

I hope you like it. Please take good care of it until I get home.

Love to you and the kids,

On the same day, Sally also got a phone call. The caller told her that a delivery was coming. At one o’clock, a truck stopped in front of Sally’s house. The truck driver gave Sally a rope. An animal was tied to the rope. It was a baby elephant!     48    , and it began eating grass.Then the driver drove away. Sally stood there and held the rope to the elephant. She asked herself, “What can I feed an elephant with? Bananas?”    49     He said, “It’s illegal (非法的) to have wild animal here.” Then the policeman gave Sally a ticket.

Ben’s friends were hiding in the backyard and laughing.     50     They had rented (租借) the elephant from a zoo and asked the policeman to write the ticket! Ben’s friends also made a film of everything. They wanted Ben to watch the film.

When Sally learned about the truth, she couldn’t help laughing.

The common Chinese greeting of “Ni chi le ma” may soon be replaced (代替) by a new     61    : “Have you     62     your plate”

The Clean Your Plate Campaign (光盘运动) began on the Internet in 2016. It calls on people to reduce (减少) food waste. China in     63     (recently) years has experienced serious problems with wasted food. CCTV reported in January that the food Chinese people waste every year is enough to feed 200     64    (hundred) people for a year.

Chinese people are well-known for their friendly behavior (举止) towards guests. Many even feel that they lose face if their     65     have eaten all the food.

It’s     66     for everyone to reduce food waste. However, wasting food is still a serious problem in China. We still have a long     67     to go.

President Xi Jinping is     68     (encourage) people to be less wasteful, and he told Party members to cut back on wasteful holiday banquets (宴会) . He said they should be more careful when spending the people’s money.

Wasting food certainly goes     69     [ə'ɡenst] what Xi Jinping calls, “the Chinese tradition of being hardworking and thrifty (节俭).” Having a “clean plate” is just a     70     [trə'dɪʃənl] and important thing to do.

Have you cleaned your plate?

71. 以 The Changes in My Hometown为题，写一篇80字左右的短文。

The Changes in My Hometown