Every year in March, government officers give reports to the public. They hold news conferences（新闻发布会）and answer questions from reporters from both home and abroad. During this time, many people are paying attention to China. Therefore, interpreters（口译员）are very important.

Zhang Lu is a professional interpreter. She usually interprets for top leaders, including Premier Li Keqiang. Zhang is known for her translations of Chinese literary quotes（文学典故）. From the poem Li Sao to the shi, ci and qu writing, she can interpret them right away.

How are interpreters like Zhang able to translate so exactly and quickly?

It’s mainly because of skill and hard work. Most of them learned English in college and went through a great deal of training. After they become interpreters, they never stop learning. Zhang watches and listens to foreign media such as BBC, VOA and CNN on TV or the radio every day as part of her training.

Usually a month before the two sessions（两会）, the interpreters are told who they are going to interpret for. They then make full use of the month to prepare themselves. They try to predict what kinds of questions might be asked. They also look at literary quotes that the spokesperson（发言人）might use when they answer questions.

There is no “secret” to the success of China’s best interpreters. It’s all a matter of skill and hard work.

古人有云：“业精于勤，荒于嬉”，可见努力对于成就学业、实现梦想至关重要，请你就此写一篇短文谈谈你的看法。内容包括：:

When you are learning English, reading can be important and helpful. When you read, you cannot only learn some new words, but also learn how to use these English words. When you read, the sentences in the reading materials (素材) can give you good examples of writing. Here are some good reading tips.

Try to read something at the right level. Read something that you can more or less understand. If you always have to stop and use a dictionary every time you read a few new words, the book may be too difficult for you.

Try to improve your vocabulary. When there are four or five new words in a passage, don’t look them up at once. You should try to guess their meanings as you read first. Then you should write them down in the notebook and try to memorise them.

Try to read regularly (有规律的). Read for a short time every day. Reading for fifteen minutes every day is better than two hours every Sunday.

Read what interests you. Choose a book or a magazine about the subject that you like because you are going to spend money and time buying and reading it.

I’m very glad to share my ideas on how to learn English well with you.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That’s all. Thank you for listening.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most famous buildings in Australia. This summer holiday, I got the chance to visit it and found out what made this building so great.

As our guide told us, the Sydney Opera House was built with a kind of self-cleaning material. This kind of material is very rare (稀有的) even today.

First, we visited the Drama Hall. We learned about the designer of the Sydney Opera House—Jorn Utzon. He was the winner of an international design competition. However, he designed the Opera House according to his own tastes, which caused several problems. The project was completed 10 years late. The cost of building was over budget (预算). Utzon didn’t get to see the house after it was built.

Then, we visited the Joan Sutherland Theater which is the second largest theater. The theater was refurbished (翻新) in 2017 with new high-tech equipment (设备). Finally, we arrived at the largest theater—the Concert Hall. It has hosted many kinds of performances, from classical to rock music. A few years ago, a sports event was even held there.

Before we finished the tour, the guide told us the rest of Utzon’s story. In 1966, Utzon had an argument with the government and refused to give in. He had to leave the country. It was a hard time in his life. But many years later, people understood him and saw the building as the most popular work.

From this tour, I learned that the Opera House is not only a famous building but a holder of history and culture.

Important life skills for teens

Though scoring good grades is important, teens should also develop other necessary life skills.

In some western countries, many children do housework to get pocket money (零用钱). They usually start to do this when they are ten years old.

School students have to do homework and study for tests. They don’t have much free time on weekdays. They often do housework on weekends.

Young kids only do easy housework. So they don’t get much money. But that’s enough (足够的). Many of them only want to buy candy. And candy is cheap! They often help wash the dishes, clean the floor or fed (喂养) the pet cat or dog.

When they get older, they want to buy more and more things. They want more expensive things than candy. So they have to work harder! They often help their parents wash the family car, cut the grass or cook meals.

Some jobs are difficult. But it is a good way for children to learn new things. For example, they can learn how to use a lawnmower (割草机) or how to cook delicious food. Of course, their parents help them at first.

Do we have too much food? Of course not. According to the UN World Food Programme, there were about 900 million hungry people all over the world in 2013. About six million children die of hunger every year.

So think about it. We should say no to the people who waste food every day. An old saying goes, “Every grain on the plate comes from hard work.” It tells us everybody must save food.

China is taking action to cut down on food waste. The government has started a new campaign to encourage people to think about the amount of food they waste. It is called the “Clean Plate Campaign”. President Xi Jinping wants people to reduce the amount of food wasted. He called the waste “shocking and distressing” (触目惊心). There are many reports in China that a food crisis (危机) is coming. Food production has decreased (减少) because of the COVID-19 and floods in southern China. Experts say this will not lead to a crisis, but the government wants people to pay more attention to how much food they leave on their plate. President Xi said China had to keep a sense of crisis about food security.

节约粮食，是我们每个公民应尽的义务，浪费是一种可耻的行为。假如你是李华，是某一中学的学生，你对浪费食物这一现象感到非常无奈，你决定写一封以“How to Save Food”为题的倡议书向所有同学发出倡议，内容包括以下几点：

1. 浪费粮食现象。

2. 粮食的重要性。

3. 如何节约粮食(至少2点)

4. 呼吁所有人节约粮食，拒绝浪费。

1. 不能照抄原文；不得在作文中出现学校的真实名称和学生的真实姓名。

2. 语句连贯，词数80左右，开头和结尾已给出。

I am writing this letter to call on saving food.    6    

Sincerely yours,

Li Hua

In China, a lot of food is wasted every year and the wasted food is enough to feed(喂饱) 200 million people. The food is wasted in restaurants, at home and in schools, etc. In restaurants or at home, people often order or cook too much food. But they can’t eat it up. When they go out of a restaurant, full and happy, they never look back at the uncertain food on the table again. Should Chinese consumers (消费者) feel sorry for the terrible waste?

In schools, we can often see a lot of students throw food away after meals. Everyone is supposed to have enough food to eat. However, in some places, the food is so little that a lot of people died from hunger. Although China has tried hard to solve the problem of hunger over the past thirty years, the job is not finished yet. Food is important to us all. We can’t live without food. So it is necessary for us to love food and try to eat up everything on our plates. When we eat in restaurants, we should pack up the leftovers(剩菜剩饭).

近年来，中国的发展日新月异，“中国速度”正在深刻地改变着我们，惊叹着世界。假设你是李华，在我们伟大祖国70周年诞辰之际， 你为新华社投稿，介绍你家乡的变化，赞美祖国。内容包括：

Changes in My Hometown

I live in a small town in Guangdong. In the past _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________