There are many kinds of ball games in the world, basketball, volleyball, football, baseb all… But my favorite ball game is ping-pong.

Ping-pong is an interesting game. People call it ping-pong for a sound. They think the ball sounds like ping and pong when people play it.

People also call ping-pong table tennis. Two or four people play it at a time. They hit a small ball. They hit it over a net (网). The net is on a table. The table is small. It is about 2.7 m long. It is about 1.5 m wide. The ball moves fast. Players must be fast to win.

Ping-pong started in England. Two students played it. They used a cork (软木塞) for a ball. Later on, people liked to play the game at parties. In the 1870s, it was a popular sport. Sometimes, players used books as a net because the books were like a net.

Ping-pong balls are white or orange. They’re very light.

It doesn’t matter how this game got its name. It has become an important sport event. Today ping- pong is in the Olympic Games. Players like to play it. They need to practice hitting the ball very fast. Ping-pong games are fast and fun! It is becoming more and more popular.

【推荐2】A group of kids gathered around a climbing equipment（器材）. “What a tall climbing equipment!” they said to each other.① “It would be exciting to climb to the top!”

The group of kids then decided to play a game to see who could climb to the top of the equipment first. Their mothers were sitting not far away, looking on at their children as they played.

One of the kids was an 8-year-old boy. In the group, （A）他是最矮的孩子. Nobody thought he would win the game.

Then the game started. ②Although the climbers all made it halfway up the equipment before David did, he reached the top first in the end.

His mother was happy to see this. Then she asked him, (B) “My boy, how did you succeed in reaching the top so quickly?”

“It was easy.” The boy said. “The other kids kept looking down as they climbed. ③When they realized (C)_______ high they were, they got scared and were afraid of falling down. I, however, looked only up. When I saw how close I was, I kept going higher and higher (D)_______ I reached the top.”

It is true in life that if we just keep going forward without looking back, we must reach our goals.

At the 2023 Shenzhen Marathon (马拉松), 45-year-old Luo Shujian crossed the finishing line with his 13-year-old son Xiaobai. His son was born with cerebral palsy (大脑性瘫痪) so he had to sit in a special push-chair all the time. They finished the half-marathon race in an hour and 59 minutes.

Now Xiaobai likes to watch the world from his push-chair with his father during races. Though he cannot express feelings in words, he shows them through expressions and body language. He claps his hands and smiles to show his happiness. The other runners are friendly and cheer them on as they pass.

Their marathon races have taken them to Chengdu to see pandas, to Beijing to climb the Great Wall and to Lanzhou to take photos along the Yellow River.

Luo plans to keep running with his son to allow Xiaobai to live the best life he can.

Mind map

【推荐1】Most students don’t enjoy doing housework. Some of them think that cleaning the bathroom or cooking dinner for the family is boring. However, if you try the following ways, you will find that housework is not as boring as you think.

Learn to do small things

You should learn to do small things, such as doing the dishes, sweeping the floor and making the bed. Part of growing up is to be able to take care of yourself. Doing some small things around the house shows that you are becoming responsible (有责任感的).

Divide(分开) housework among the family

In fact, it’s too tiring for one person to do all the housework alone. It’s good to divide housework into different parts. All the family members will do the housework together. Dividing housework among all the family members will make everyone’s job much easier.

Make it fun

Cooking is one part of housework. Cooking can be very funny if you put your heart into it. If you learn how to cook your favorite food , you will also get a feeling of satisfaction.

【推荐3】Our smart phones are amazing, but our connections can be so slow. The future in science-fiction movies seems so close, yet so far away. 5G technology makes that future look easily achievable. What is 5G? It’s the latest generation of cellular (蜂窝状的) network technology. It is faster and more stable (稳定的) than 4G. This powerful wireless network will change the way we live.

Transportation

With the introduction of 5G and smart technology, traffic lights, buses and even cars begin to communicate with each other. We will be able to check traffic flow so that traffic jams (拥堵) may soon become a thing of the past. Moreover, it’s reported there is a good possibility of seeing driverless cars on our roads. With the help of 5G, these cars will be able to react to sudden changes in their environment at once, such as a dog running across the road.

Medical treatment

With 5G networking, all the people can have the chance to use top medical resources. Before treatment, 5G will support video calls with doctors and provide advice for those who can’t visit a hospital at once. After being treated, wearable tech will send information to doctors in no time, allowing hospitals to monitor the patients from their homes. It also allows surgeons to perform operations remotely, using robots. In March, 2019, China completed its first 5G-based human brain surgery between a doctor and a patient located more than 4,000 kilometers away. Five months later, robots guided by Beijing doctors completed a test operation in three different locations at the same time!

It seems that 5G will make our life more exciting and convenient wherever we use it.

Title: 5G Makes a Great Difference

All around the world people are changing their daily habits and customs at work and at home to reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading.

In Beijing, red billboards tell people not to shake hands but to join their own hands together in a sign of greeting. Loudspeakers tell people to make the traditional gongshou gesture (a fist in the opposite palm) to say hello.

At a press conference in Rio, the health ministry has recommended that citizens not share the metal straws (吸管) traditionally used to drink the caffeine-rich South American drink mate. And a kiss, even if it is not on the mouth, is totally advised against.

In a sign of the times, German interior minister Horst Seehofer refused Chancellor Angela Merkel’s attempt to shake hands with him or hug him one Monday, smiling and keeping both his hands to himself. They both laughed and Merkel threw her hand up in the air before taking a seat.

The United Arab Emirates, as well as Qatar, are advising citizens to stop the traditional “nose to nose” greeting. It also said that people shouldn’t shake hands anymore or kiss. Greet each other “by waving only”, it said.

When someone does something for us or gives us something, saying “Thank you ”is good manners. When we want others to pay attention to us, it’s good to say “excuse me”. However, good manners are more than words. Good manners are also actions.

When we give someone else our seats on a crowded bus, when we hold the door open for another person to walk through, and when we knock before opening the door of a room, we show our good manners. When we meet someone for the first time, it’s good manners to smile and say “hello” and give our name.

Sometimes, good manners can be the things we don’t do. For example, when we don’t talk with a full mouth or cut in line, that is showing good manners.

People often feel “not quite right”. Bad weather, a busy day, and health problems can make people sad. If we use good manners, we make getting along easier for everyone.

There are many holidays and festivals. Dads have Father’s Day. Mums have Mother’s Day. But do our grandparents have a special festival? Yes, they do!

The Double Ninth Festival is a special day for older people in China. It started long ago. The festival is on lunar September 9th. On this day, people show love and respect for their grandparents.

Respecting older people is a tradition in China. That’s because the Chinese know that older people have much knowledge and experience that young people can learn. There are many ways in which Chinese people express their respect. When an older person enters a room, everyone should stand up. Also, people are introduced from the oldest to the youngest. When we present a book to an older person, two hands are used. And young people always offer their seats to older people on a crowded subway or bus.

In Western countries, however, older people have different lifestyles from those in China. Western seniors don’t often live with their children—they live alone. They’d rather do everything themselves than get help from others. They even don’t want to be offered seats by others. Besides after retirement（退休）, they would like to take up new hobbies, do part-time jobs and join in different kinds of activities.

Westerners still respect their older people. For holidays, families usually get together at the grandparents’ homes, and a great smile and a warm hug for their parents are enough for grown children to show their respect. What’s more, seniors usually don’t have to buy tickets for trains and buses. They are given discounts（折扣） in stores and restaurants as well.