They weigh almost nothing, yet they are stronger than steel. In fact, some spiders’ webs are among the world’s strongest materials, and they can be pulled     1     than elastic (橡皮筋). They can also be     2     into different shapes. Spiders have hundreds of small openings (开口) in     3     bodies. Silk comes out of these openings as liquid (液体), and then it becomes thread-like (像线一样) when it reaches the air.

Spiders can make many different kinds of threads. They can be thick or thin, wet or dry, or sticky (粘性的). Each kind has a different purpose. Some webs create an egg box. Others provide hiding places. The     4     common purpose of spiders’ webs, however, is to catch food.

There are many     5     a spider can use to catch food using its web. For example, some spiders produce a single thread. An insect then sits on it without realizing what it is doing, and becomes stuck.     6    , the spider moves towards the insect. Suddenly, it covers its food in silk.

Some spiders use a different kind of trick. They make webs that cheat insects. At     7    , an insect sees the web and thinks it is a flower. It then lands on the web. The spider can feel even the smallest movement of the web, and     8     at the insect before it can get away.

Spiders’ webs are so amazing that engineers have studied them for years. They want to learn why they are so strong and elastic. However, for the moment, spiders are     9     the secrets. Although they have made great progress in science and technology, humans have not     10     able to copy natural webs till now.

More and more scientists are interested in learning about dinosaurs. They want to find out the reasons why dinosaurs died out.

Most scientists think that millions of years ago, dinosaurs lived on the earth happily and safely because the     1     earth was warm and wet. At that time, there were rain forests everywhere. Dinosaurs could easily find enough food. About 95 million years ago, most of the earth became cold and dry because a little planet hit the earth heavily. As a result, almost all the forests     2    . The dinosaurs couldn’t find enough food, so most of them died.

However, other scientists don’t think so. Some of them think fighting between the animals is the main     3     for the dinosaurs’ death. At that time, there were also many     4     between dinosaurs. Another reason is that they think about 95 million years ago some new kinds of animals with big brains came to the earth and they killed many dinosaurs. Although these happened more than 100 million years ago, we can tell by the animals’     5     they left.

Believe it or not, forgetting some things helps your brain remember others! The brain is a complicated (复杂的) part of the body. Scientists will be learning about it for many years to come.

However, one thing that they have     1     is that your brain needs to forget some information. If it remembered everything, then pulling out a certain piece of information from lots of stored—up memories would be impossible. Let’s     2     your brain as a bucket (桶) that is filled with papers. How could you find one little note in all of that clutter (杂乱的东西) ?

According to the scientists, some forgetting is     3     a very natural and normal process, rather than a failure of memory. Our brains may want us to remember the     4     part of what we’ve experienced because that will be most helpful for us in the real world.

For example, let’s say you remember a friend’s phone number, but that friend moves away and gets a new phone number. Remembering the old number becomes     5     and may make it harder to remember your friend’s new number.

So your brain chooses important information to     6     and it clears out the rest. Now your memory bucket is much easier to sort through (整理) quickly.

But this isn’t a perfect system. Sometimes your brain     7     a thought that you wish it had kept, you can help it figure out which information you want by practicing those memories and facts or by using other memory     8    .

Poverty (贫困) is a big problem around the world. But China has done a good job of dealing with it. On Feb 25, President Xi Jinping announced that China has made a “complete victory” in its fight     1     poverty. President Xi honored role models and places in the fight. Here are two of them.

Zhang Guimei, 64, Principal of the Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Lijiang, Yunnan

Born in Heilongjiang province in 1957, Zhang traveled to Yunnan at the age of 17. She has been helping girls pursue (追求) education for more than 40 years.

As a teacher, Zhang was heartbroken when she saw her students quit school (辍学) after     2     senior high school. It was possible for many of them to go to college. However, they couldn’t do so     3     their families couldn’t afford it.

So in 2008, Zhang started a     4     school for poor girls. Since then, Zhang     5     busy asking for donations to provide money for the school. She has convinced (说服) parents to send their daughters back to school. The school has sent more than 1,800 students to universities and colleges.

Mao Xianglin, 62, Village head of Xiazhuang village, Wushan county in Chongqing

In 1997, 38-year-old Mao started to work as the Party secretary (党支书) of his village. Around the village are 1,000-meter-tall cliffs (悬崖峭壁), and there was only one pathway out of the village for many years. It     6     villagers three days to walk to the nearest town. Mao decided to build a road.

“We can’t stay poor forever. I’ll lead us as we try,     7     it will be hard.” Mao said.

He led more than 100 villagers to build the road with their hands. They hung from ropes and used hammers and drills (钻) to create the road. Falling rocks     8     the deaths of six villagers.

It took them seven years to build an eight-kilometer road. But their work has improved people’s     9    . It now takes just one hour to drive to the nearest town.

Mao then encouraged the villagers to grow oranges. Last year, their orange yield (产量) was     10     40 tons. Young people have returned to the village to sell oranges online.

By the end of 2019, 269 villagers had been lifted out of poverty. The per capita income (人均收入) reached 12,670 yuan, 40 times more than in the 1990s.

Have you heard of Xu Yuanchong? He is famous Chinese     1    . Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province in 1921, he studied with Qian Zhongshu, Wu Mi and other Chinese masters at the National Southwest Associated University. He went to University of Paris for     2     study after graduating from Tsinghua University.

Over the course of a translation career lasting more than seventy years, Xu has translated about 120 works,     3     The Book of Songs, The Songs of Chu and The Red and the Black, with a special focus on poetry. Xu is also the only person in China who has     4     translated poetry to from Chinese, English and French, in a very beautiful way. Thus, English and French-speaking readers are able to better understand Chinese literature through Xu’s translations. Meanwhile, Chinese readers can appreciate foreign works in the same way they would read novels and poems written in     5     mother tongue.

His works are often     6     as textbooks for foreign language learners.

Xu sticks to     7     the beauty of sense, sound and form. He will leave something out and add something to make the translated works more beautiful, During his translation career, he has been at the center of many heated debates(辩论) with others. But Xu said, “I am not afraid of having an     8     with others because the truth becomes clearer with each debate.”

To everyone, he sends a wish: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better, and your better is best.”