1 . In America, children of different ages have to do certain housework at home. American people think it plays an important role in a family. And they should tell children about their duty (责任) in the family. Use this list of age and housework for your children.

A Report on Growing Potato Plants

What I prepared (准备):

●A potato with sprouts (芽).

●A flower pot with soil.

●A camera.

What I recorded;

Day 1: The colour of the soil looks darker because I just watered it. In the centre of the pot, I see a little sprout. I call it Buddy. Buddy is green and yellow. I wonder how fast it will grow.

Day 6: Without much change in the past five days, I finally see that Buddy grows taller today. It’s exciting to see new life like this.

Day 11: Buddy is getting larger! Three more new sprouts grow around Buddy! I guess I need to be a bit more patient.

Day 13: Buddy grows taller. The leaves on the new sprouts grow a bit.

Day 15: Finally, the leaves on the other sprouts are 3 cm tall. They’re so green. I hope they will soon grow into new potatoes.

What I learned:

I think it’s really interesting to grow potatoes by myself. During these fifteen days, I learn that growing potato plants needs plenty of water. If the soil is dry, the potato will fail to grow. I also learn that the temperature needs to be right. If it is too cold, it won’t grow.

I feel that growing plants is just like trying to succeed (成功) with anything in life — it takes time, lots of hard work and patience.

3 . What do the following animals have in common? Pandas, tigers, whales, lions and camels? They are all in danger! Animals are in danger for many reasons. Sadly, the human activity is the main one.

Excessive (过度的) hunting: For centuries, humans have hunted elephants for their tusks (长牙), killed tigers for their fur, and caught many other animals for meat.

Human migration (人类迁徙): In 1505, Europeans discovered a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean named Mauritius. They brought dogs, pigs, monkeys, and rats with them. It was bad news for dodo birds. They did not have any natural enemies before. They picked up fruits falling down from trees and built their houses on the ground. Shortly after humans came, dodo birds were in big trouble—man killed them for their meat, and those animals broke their homes and ate their food. The number of dodo birds became less and less and then this kind of bird was extinct. The last dodo bird was killed in 1681.

Nature remaking: People cut down forest for farming and houses and build dams (水库) to make sure that they have enough water to use. When people are remaking nature to make their lives comfortable, the land for animals to live on becomes less and less.

4 . As a successful example of the development of science and technology, the Internet has a great influence on people’s lives. It has changed the way we work, the way we communicate with each other, the way we shop and the way we learn. Here, I list some of the influences of the Internet.

Information about everything is available (可获得的) now.

With the help of search engines (SE) like Baidu and Google, information about almost everything can be found easily. The information on the Internet isn’t always right, but it makes us know more knowledge about a lot of different things than before.

Software (软件) in the computer makes work more efficient (高效率的).   

In the computer, there are many kinds of software. People can use these kinds of software to do many things, such as working, studying, shopping and communicating with each other. With the help of the software, people can learn many new skills and work in a more efficient way.

Online learning saves people lots of time.

More and more people are choosing to study online these days. It is freer for them to study online than go to classes. They can study anytime and anywhere with the help of the Internet. And some people also find that studying online is much easier than going to classes.

6 . When Oxford University Press chose “rizz” as its 2023 Word of the Year, many young English speakers said, “Jeepers (Oh, my god)! That is unbelievable!”

“Rizz” means the ability to attract a person. Are you good at making friends? Do your classmates often laugh loudly at your jokes? If your answers to these questions are all “yes”, you probably have “rizz”. As in the phrase, “rizz up someone”, “rizz” is used as a verb. The word first appeared on social media as teen slang (俚语). Similarly, in China, words, like “xianyanbao” and “qimengle” are used by young people in a humorous way.

These changes show that both English and Chinese are alive. A healthy language, researchers said, should always have, new words being created, new words borrowed from other languages, and old words given new meanings. The changes also show that people born this century have more influence on society. The differences in lifestyles and ways of thinking have also played a role in the language.

As we look back on 2023, one thing we can’t miss is AI. AI systems have “rizzed up” many users around the world with their ability to write articles, draw pictures and sum up (总结) books. However, it’s hard to imagine an AI system coining a new word without any instructions and then influencing the way we human speak and write.

You should be proud of your ability to play with words. But before you go and create another hot slang word, always remember to be polite. Also, don’t use slang in your exams because it won’t “rizz up your teachers”!

7 . Camera shots mean photographs or a particular sequence (一系列) of pictures in a movie. When a movie is made, different kinds of camera shots are used to create a mood for the story.

Close-up shot

A close-up shot is taken of a person’s head from just above the head to his chest. It can also be used to film a person or a thing closely. It has little or no background. Since it is taken closely enough to see a person’s feelings, a close-up shot is often used to show a new character.

Long shot

A long shot is taken from a distance (距离). It shows the whole person and other characters, but background takes up almost the whole picture. A long shot allows the viewers to know clearly about the relationship between the characters and their environment.

POV shot

A POV shot shows the point of view of a character so that we can see what he sees. In this shot, you’re expected to see yourself in the mirror or people watching over you. It makes the viewers see the world through the character’s eyes.

Top shot

Also known as “a bird’s eye view” shot, a top shot. is, taken from a high angle (视角) as if something is seen by a bird in flight. A top shot looks down directly on the subject. This shot does, however, put the viewers in a godlike position. In this way, they can get a better idea about the whole situation.

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8 . Recently, an online video maker Jiang Wei used AI technology to “talk to” the greatest poet Li Bai in his video, he asked Li Bai how he became the greatest poet in history. He also told Li Bai about the movie “The Longest Day in Chang’an”. After that, he shared this experience on the Internet and some students showed their own ideas online.

I think using AI to talk with people who lived in the past is fantastic. It gives people a way to know about the life in the past. What’s more, when talking with them, we may get some encouragement and hope so that we can improve ourselves.

—Xin Chengji, 14, boy

For me, if we could use Al to make a call with some loved ones who died, it would be really meaningful. I think this idea is great because I really miss my grandma and want to talk with her again.

—Shi Kejiaer, 15, girl

The idea may sound great, but in fact, the person we talk with through AI could never be the real person. The talk is made up! So I think it’s meaningless.

—Zhang Qingwen, 14, boy

9 . Suppose you want to write the sentence: “I must run or I’ll miss the last bus”. You are not fully satisfied with it because the word “run” is not enough to describe how hurried you felt at that moment. But where can you find a more suitable word? In a situation like this, you might need a thesaurus (同义词典). It can help you find the most suitable word to express your ideas. As for the sentence above, “fly” might be a better choice than “run”: “I must fly or I’ll miss the last bus”. With the help of a thesaurus, you can easily improve your writing.

However, you must be careful when you are using a thesaurus. Very few words are freely interchangeable (可互换的). Take the word “good” as an example. If you look up “good” in a thesaurus, you will get words like “superb” and “acceptable”. However, “a good meal” is different from “a superb meal” or “an acceptable meal”. “A superb meal” is far better than you would have expected. “An acceptable meal” is not bad, but it’s not good enough.

Just as Mark Twain once put it, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug (虫).” You’d better have an English dictionary on hand whenever you are using a thesaurus. Carefully study a word before you use it in your writing.

Using different words to get your point across will make your writing more interesting. It will also help you communicate with your listeners more clearly. As long as you use it properly, a thesaurus can be a great tool.

10 . How much do you know about the food in your hometown? No.1 Secondary School from Chengdu asked its students to do something different with the food.

Lin Tingyue, 14, traveled with her dad in western Sichuan during 2022 summer holiday. She tasted so many delicious foods along the way. So she drew a food map. There is mutton, beef and bread pieces in soup in Dawu, diced pork in the pot in Hailuogou and more. Her favorite dish is the fish hot pot in Ya’an.When she finished eating the fish, she got a gift from the restaurant: a fish bone sword(鱼骨剑) which is believed to be able to drive away bad luck! “After drawing the map, I felt proud of my hometown and its food culture!” Lin said.

Another student, 14-year-old Tang Zihan, made Paocai. He put in carrots, apples and pears together. Then he boiled them with sugar, salt and wine. Finally, he put all these things into three pots. People say Paocai can be unhealthy because there is nitrite (亚硝酸盐) in them. So Tang tried three different ways of fermentation (发酵法): using DVS (发酵剂) , recycled pickle water (老窖水) and natural fermentation. It turns out that the pot with recycled pickle water is the best! It has the least nitrite in the first days and tastes better than the other two!

Do you have any special experiences with the food in your hometown? If you do, why not share with our readers!

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