【推荐2】At an early time, a paper ticket was necessary even for passengers who bought tickets online. But now people are saying goodbye to paper tickets.

Passengers can swipe (刷) an ID card to pass through a gate before taking a high-speed train. This helps the railway operator (铁路运营公司) improve its e-ticket service.

“It’s very convenient and fast,” said Wu Yuanzhen, a passenger from Guangxi. “I am a salesman and travel a lot by train. For us, time is money. E-tickets save time picking up (取票的时间) and improve travel efficiency (效率).”

For passengers who need to change or return their tickets, they can change the tickets or get a refund (退款) through 12306.cn or the ticket office at the station.

Since 2011, passengers have been able to swipe their ID cards at self-service machines (自助操作机) to take the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

Checking in (办理登乘手续) by swiping an ID card is now available (可用的) at high-speed railway stations in most big cities across China, especially in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Wuhan. However, at stations in some remote areas, passengers still need a paper ticket to get on a train.

【推荐1】Fencing(击剑) is a one-on-one sport played all over the world. It is popular in the United States. Here, one of the biggest fencing games is the Junior Olympics. In order to take part in the Junior Olympics, fencers need to get enough points by taking part in local competitions. There are three different kinds of swords used as a weapon (武器) in fencing. With different weapons, the parts of the opponents’ (对手) body that fencers must hit to score are different.

This year’s Junior Olympics were held in Denver, the capital of Colorado. Denver is a big city with about 300 days’ sunshine a year, but it’s also at a very high elevation (海拔), which made the players feel more tired than usual.

I went with my teammates Anacan and Cameron to fence in a team event. All three of us wanted to win in this event. We warmed up and felt ready and excited to take on the rest of the competition.

During our matches, we had a lot of fun and cheered each other on. We made quick changes that were taught by our coach. At the same time, we encouraged each other and shared ideas on how to fence against the opponents. The encouragement from other teammates and our coach made us all to fence at our highest level.

It was an exciting match and we fought really hard. But unluckily, we lost by one point. We all felt very sad. However, we were still happy to take part in the competition and help each other.

Have you seen this meme (表情包) online before? The man in the meme is Michael Rosen, a famous British children’s book writer who has written about 140 books. He’s known as “nice granddad” in China.

Michael Rosen was born in Middlesex, the UK in 1946. His parents were both teachers. Michael Rosen started writing poems about people he knew when he was twelve years old. Michael Rosen is busy with the teaching of writing and the reading of literature (文学作品) in schools. He visits schools to encourage children with his love for books and poems. He is one of the first poets to make visits to schools around the UK and the world. He is also one of the first poets to write about his own childhood experiences and to write them in the language children actually use.

However, life hasn’t always treated Rosen well. Eddie, his second son, died at the age of 18. Rosen couldn’t forget how he felt. The death of his son was the inspiration for Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. In March 2020, Rosen was sent to the hospital because of COVID-19. Later, Rosen recovered, but one of his ears went deaf and he had to learn how to stand up again, just like a kid.

However, for Rosen, it was not the end of the world. He turned the sad experience into writing. He wrote the book Many Different Kinds of Love and faced up to life with the most important thing—optimistic (乐观的) spirit.

【推荐1】Tom lost 30 gold coins(金币). He goes to his friend Robert’s house and tells Robert how he loses his gold coins. Robert is kind, and decides(决定) to help him to find them.

The next day, Robert goes to Tom’s house and tells Tom he finds his 30 gold coins. After counting the gold coins, Tom says, “I have 40 gold coins. Ten of them are missing(不见的). You must take them, and you should pay me back.”

“No, I don’t take them,” says Robert.

Tom goes to the court(法院) and tells the judge(法官) the story.

“How many gold coins do you find?” the judge asks Robert.

“Thirty”, answers Robert.

“How many gold coins do you find?” the judge asks Tom.

“Forty”, answers Tom.

“Then those coins are not yours,” says the judge “because you lost 40, and your friend finds 30.” Then the judge tells Robert to take the 30 gold coins home.

“If anyone finds that 40 gold coins, I will give them to you.” The judge tells Tom.

Then Tom says that he doesn’t tell the truth and that he lost 30 gold coins, but the judge does not listen to him.

【推荐2】Mr. Brown is a very old man. Every morning he goes for a walk in the park. And he comes home at half past twelve for his lunch.

But today a police car stops at his house at twelve o’clock. Two policemen help him out. One of them says to Mr. Brown’s daughter. “The old man can’t find his way in the park. He asks us to take him home in the car.”

The daughter thanks the policemen. After they leave, she asks her father, “Dad, you go to that park every day. But today, you can’t find the way. What’s wrong with you?”

The old man smiles like a child and says, “I can find my way home. I don’t want to walk home today, you know.”

【推荐3】Tom was eight years old. He was a good boy. But he couldn’t get up early. He slept until nine or ten o’clock in the morning. He was often late for school.

Tom’s mother didn’t want him to be late for school. So she bought him an alarm clock. She said to Tom, “You must get up when you hear the clock ring.”

“Yes, Mum,” said Tom. After that Tom got up at seven thirty when he heard the clock ring.

One day his mother forgot to make the clock get ready to ring. And the next morning Tom didn’t get up at seven thirty. It was time for breakfast. Mother went to see him. Tom was in bed and his eyes opened.

“Why didn’t you get up?” Mother was angry.

“You told me to get up when I heard the clock ring. So I am waiting for the bell.”