1 . Beijing Opera is famous to us. It has a history from 1790. Its music and singing come from Anhui and Hebei. There are four main roles in Beijing Opera: Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou. Beijing Opera is full of famous stories, beautiful facial(脸部的) paintings, wonderful clothes and fighting. Some of the stories are mainly from history books, but many of them are from famous novels(小说). The people in the stories usually can’t agree with each other. They became angry, unhappy, sad and lonely. Sometimes they are frightened and worried. Then they find a way to get on well with each other. Everyone is usually happy in the end.

Beijing Opera is an important part of Chinese culture. In the past, it was popular with old people while young people didn’t like it. But now, more and more young people are becoming interested in it. At the same time,more people around the world are learning about Beijing Opera.

2 . Do you know how to do goose step (正步走)? Can you make your quilt look like a piece of tofu? You can learn all these skills in military raining (军训). Schools in other countries also have military training programs for students. What do they usually do? Let’s take a look.

In South Korea, men between the ages of 20 and 30 must serve in the army (服役). They usually serve for two years. Children also have military training in primary school. They have different kinds of activities, such as hiking and walking through mountains at night. Sometimes, the activities are very hard. For example, students need to exercise in the snow with no shirts on.

US schools don’t ask students to do military training. If children take an interest in the military, they can join military camps. The government also holds activities for children to experience military life. Children learn how to work in a team and work out hard problems themselves. For example, a group has to climb over a high wall. If even one person falls down, the whole group needs to do it again. So everyone must help each other and finish the task together.

In Russia, boys between the ages of 15 and 16 have to take part in a five-day military training program. They learn skills like shooting (射击), parachute jumping (跳伞) and cooking outside. Students also learn military history. Recently, Russia has encouraged all schoolchildren from 14 to 18 to try military training.

3 . In Canada, when you see a group of students wearing funny hats or summer T-shirts in winter, don’t get a surprise. Maybe they are enjoying their School Spirit Week.

School Spirit Week is a time for students to show their personalities and class cultures. It is a school festival. Students from primary schools to high schools can hold it in any week of a year. And students’ family and friends can go to the special festival, too.

School Spirit Week usually has a central theme. According to the theme, students wear special clothes and decorate (装饰) their classrooms. Every year, there is a different theme. And the themes for young kids are usually very simple.

Each theme has games, competitions and parties. Students can choose different activities by themselves and they always have fun.

School Spirit Week asks students to use their creativity to make their own clothes. For example, in a fashion (时装) week, students can wear different clothes made of anything on each day. Monday may be funny, followed by Shirt Day on Tuesday and Jeans Day on Wednesday. Thursday can be Sports Shoes Day, followed by School Uniform Day on Friday.

Do you want to have a look at the wonderful photos of the festival? Click (点击) “READ” you will see them.

6 . A teacher gives young students some advice on how to deal with danger.

If you are in a traffic accident

If a car hits you, you should remember the car number. If it is a bicycle, try to telephone your parents before you let the rider go. This is because you don’t know how seriously you are hurt.

If it is raining hard and there is lightning （闪电）

Don’t stay in high places and stay away from trees.

When there is a fire

Get away as fast as you can. Put wet things on your body and try to find an exit （出口）. Don’t take the lift.

If someone is drowning（溺水）

If you can’t swim, don’t get into water. Just cry out for help.

Remember that danger is never as far away as you think. Take care of yourself all the time.

Complete the chart according to the passage with only one word for each blank.

7 . Most of us probably don’t like doing housework. And most of us think that cleaning the bathroom or cooking dinner for the family makes us tired. However, the fact is that someone has to do it. Most of the time, our parents have to do the housework. Is it really fair?

Doing housework is really not as bad as it sounds. If we all do our part, it will seem less annoying (烦人的). Why should your mother have to wash your dirty clothes? You are able to take care of yourself. Doing some housework will show that you are becoming more and more independent.

Some of us may think that we are too busy to do housework. But most parents work all day and are then expected to keep a clean house! Dividing housework among the whole family will make everyone’s job much easier.

Please remember: Learning to do housework can provide you with valuable skills for the future.

9 . The Ministry of Education (教育部) announced a notice in 2021 that restricts (限制) primary and middle school students from carrying mobile phones to school.

The government wants to improve students’ focus on study and fight addiction (沉迷) to the Internet and games.

According to a 2020 report by the China Internet Network Information Center, China had 175 million Internet users under the age of 18 in 2019. This is worrying, as long-time use of smartphones harms children’s eyesight, cervical vertebrae (颈椎) and even the brain, according to the World Health Organization.

Many schools in Beijing have taken action to restrict students’ phone use at school. According to Zhou Dandan, an English teacher at Beijing No. 20 High School, every classroom in her school has a box to store students’ phones during class.

Li Jisen, a student from Beijing No. 101 Middle School, agrees with the new policy. Li believes that restricting phone use at school is a good way to put the focus back on schoolwork.

However, Liu Yanping, headmaster of First Branch of Beijing National Day School, told South China Morning Post that it’s not wise to take a “one size fits all” (一刀切) method.

Kathy Chen, a parent from Shanghai, allowed her daughter to take her phone to school. Chen said it’s more important to develop kids’ ability to self-manage and develop good habits of phone usage.

10 . Somebody is calling for help in the water. You want to jump in and save them, but that might put you in danger. What do you do?

Soon this won’t be a problem anymore because a robot swimmer called Swumanoid will be on hand to help.

Scientists from Japan designed this robot to swim like an Olympic athlete (运动员). They mapped a swimmer’s body and looked at how every part of the body moves while swimming. The robot can swim just like a human does.

Swumanoid can swim the backstroke (仰泳) and the front crawl (自由泳) at a speed of 0.64 meters a second, about one-third of the world record speed for these swimming styles, according to the Daily Mail.

Motomu Nakashima, head of the team that designed the robot, hopes that robots like Swumanoid can serve as lifeguards in the future.

Besides saving lives, Swumanoid can also be used in swimming research. It can test water resistance, which makes it move more slowly. And it helps to find out how people swim. The information that is collected could help scientists find ways to improve a swimmer’s skills.

Unlike human swimmers, robots don’t get tired from doing the same stroke (泳姿) again and again, so they do not slow down. Therefore, they can collect information more efficiently (有效地).

But the robot is not yet ready to take the place of human lifeguards. Scientists say there are still certain things that need to be improved, such as its motors (引擎) and waterproofing design (防水设计).