When Wang Haiyan was young, her favorite toys weren’t Barbie dolls. Instead, she started learning to make shadow puppets from her father at 13. Now 43, Wang has spent thirty years practicing and spreading the art.

Shadow puppetry is a form of theater that uses puppets made from leather(皮)or paper, accompanied by music and singing. Invented during the Western Han Dynasty, it tells us about folk stories and historical stories, passing down culture and customs over thousands of years.

Shadow puppetry is all about creating the puppets and performing with them. Wang’s hometown—Hua County, Shanxi is known as the birthplace of the folk art.

Puppet-makers must follow 24 steps to make the puppets, including washing the leather, carving(雕刻)and painting, according to Wang. Carving is the most difficult part.

“We have a special carving technique(技巧)—moving the leather under the knife,” Wang said. You have to hold the knife still in your right hand and only move the leather in your left hand.

It took Wang three years to master this skill. She used a brick(砖块)to make her left hand strong while practicing. It takes about 3,000 carves to make a shadow puppet. “The complicated(复杂的)steps make it hard to hand down the folk art,” she said.

But Wang has used some new ways to do so. In 2016, she made shadow puppets based on some cartoon series and gave a live streaming performance(直播). She used colors like blue and purple that are hardly seen in shadow puppetry and added more sticks to the puppets to make the performance livelier.

【推荐3】Yeti tries to find his way back home

Yi is a girl from Shanghai. One day, she finds a young Yeti on the rooftop of her home.

Yi is very happy to meet the Yeti. She calls her friends Jin and Peng over to see it. They name it "Everest". The Yeti is from the Himalayas. A zoologist caught(抓住)it. But then, the Yeti ran away from the zoologist. It wants to go home.

Yi and her friends want to help Everest get home. They start a 3,000-km journey(旅程)to the Himalayas together. Still, the zoologist wants to catch Everest. They have to stay ahead of him.

Can they make it to the Himalayas? You can find out in the movie Abominable. It came out in mainland theaters on Oct 1.

Learn more about the Yeti

The Yeti is a character(人物)from Himalayan legends(传说). It is tall and furry. It can't speak, but often makes animal sounds. It lives in the cold mountains of Nepal. People tell children scary stories about it. No one knows if the Yeti is real.

【推荐1】The Voyages of Zheng He

(A)郑和是一位著名的中国探险家。In 1405, he (B)set off from China on the first of seven great voyages. This was (C)nearly a century before Columbus first set sail on his journey of discovery to America. His travels were so important that (D)they are still studied today.

Zheng He was born in Yunnan in 1371. He rose to become a trusted official of the Yongle Emperor of theMing Dynasty. The emperor ordered Zheng He to visit and explore the lands (E)________ China. His task was to develop relations and set up trade routes (F)________ foreign countries. In a few years, (G)he built a great fleet of ships, the biggest in the world at that time. The ships were known as treasure ships. They were big enough to carry 25,000 people as well as very large quantities of goods.

【推荐2】When Hill was young, he was a famous bad boy. When Hill was 9, his father married his stepmother(继母). At that time they lived a poor life in the countryside, but his stepmother was from a rich family.

His father told his stepmother, “Dear, I hope you notice this is the worst boy in the entire shire(整个郡). He made me have no other ways. Maybe before tomorrow morning he will throw a stone(石头) at you, or do a bad thing you will never imagine.”

To Hill’s surprise, his stepmother went up to him with a smile, held up his head and looked at him carefully. She then turned around to tell her husband,” You’re wrong. He is not the worst boy in the entire shire, but the cleverest and most creative boy. He just doesn’t find a place to show himself.”

His stepmother’s words warmed his heart. His eyes were full of tears. Because of this, he started forming friendship with his stepmother. Before his stepmother came, no one praised him as a smart boy. His father and neighbors saw him as a bad boy. However, his stepmother’s words became the drive (动力) of his life. His stepmother cheered him up. He understood his stepmother’s strong feeling of interest in his family because he saw it with his own eyes. She changed his family. So he would do as well as she expected him to.

The strength from his stepmother made him a rich man and famous writer in the United States and one of the most important people in the 20th century.

Praise will always be necessary for children. A little praise is better than 10,000 bad words.

【推荐1】Cui Qingtao, 17, was mixing mortar at a construction site with his parents on Sunday when he received his admission letter from Peking University, which is regarded as the best university in China.

On this year's gaokao, or China's college entrance examination, the young man from a low-income family scored 669 points and applied to Peking University, where he was accepted as a student in the School of Journalism and Communication.

Cui's home is in a small village in the city of Qujing in Southwest China's Yunnan province. He is the family's oldest son, with a younger brother in high school and a sister in the fourth grade.

On Sunday, Cui's family was doing construction work at the site of a new home when Cui Qingtao saw a postal van come onto the property. Cui and his parents and sister were excited as they finally received the long-expected admission letter.

Helen Keller was a very bright and beautiful girl. At the age of six months, she could already say a few words. But before she was two years old, she was hit by serious illness. She could not see or hear, and soon she could not talk. When she was six, her parents invited a teacher for her. With the help of the teacher, she began to “see” and “hear” the world around her through her hands. She learned to read books for the blind people. She also learned to swim and ride a horse. After she grew up, she became a famous writer in America. Her first and most famous book is The story of my life. Her story has brought hope to many blind and deaf people. It encouraged them to live and work.

【推荐3】I am a student named Li Lei from No. 1 Middle School. You can also call me Peter, my English name. I have learned English for nine years at school. At first, it was hard for me to understand the teacher when she talked to the class. She spoke too quickly. Also, I was afraid to speak in class because I thought my classmates might laugh at me. I couldn’t always make complete sentences, either. But now I am enjoying learning English. I have come to realize that it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand every word. One of the secrets of becoming a good language learner is to do lots of learning practice. I often watch English programs on TV and listen to English songs. I’ve also joined the English club at school to improve my spoken English. And, my way to learn new words is reading English magazines. At the same time, I learn new words by looking them up in the dictionary. I take lots of grammar notes in class. In order to practice my writing, I keep a diary. Most importantly, I keep on trying and never give up.