The Silk Road went from China to Eastern Europe. It went along the north of China, India, and Persia and ended up in Eastern Europe near today’s Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea.

It was called Silk Road because one of the major products (产品) traded was silk cloth from China. Chinese silk was soft and of high quality. So people all over the Asia and Europe loved it very much.     1     Even the Romans called China the “land of silk”.

Besides silk, the Chinese also sold tea, salt, sugar and porcelain (陶瓷) .     2     This was because it was a long trip and traders didn’t have a lot of room for goods.

Traders travelled in large caravan (旅行队). They would have many guards with them.     3     Most of the road was through dry land. So camels were popular animals for transport.

Although there was some trade between China and the rest of the world for some time, the silk trade developed quickly during the Han Dynasty which ruled from 206 BC to 220 AD.     4     During this time the Mongols (蒙古) controlled most of the trade road, and Chinese traders travel safely. Also, traders had a higher social position during the Mongol rule.

    5     It not only helped to develop trade between different countries, but also helped for ideas, culture and inventions to spread across the world.

Last year, there was a movie that talked about the Chinese People’s Volunteers who joined the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (抗美援朝). Its name was The Battle at Lake Changjin. I watched it and was moved a lot. It was directed ________ Chen Kaige, Hark Tsui and Lin Chaoxian. This film has ________ a chance for the young people of China to remember history and heroes, ________ the reality that China’s prosperity (繁荣) and strength cannot be separated from dedication (奉献). It is the best movie I have seen. When ________, my eyes were wet. It is ________ a touching film. “You are only tough enough when your enemies take you ________” is my favorite actor’s line.

More than 70 years ago, many Chinese ________ to fight for our homeland in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. ________ the expectations of the nation and people, the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River and won a great victory after two years and nine months of fighting. For more than half a century, China has never ________ its heroes. We are ________ of them and we will remember them forever.

5 . In ancient Egypt, women did not go to work. They stayed and worked at home. Many Egyptian men were farmers. Some men were builders or fishermen. Other men worked as artists. Some other important persons did not do any farming.

The weather in Egypt was very hot. Ancient Egyptians did not wear many clothes. Men, women and children often wore simple robes made of thin cloth. On their feet they wore light open shoes. People including women, shaved hair from their heads to keep cool.

Children in ancient Egypt grew up to do the same jobs as their parents. Girls stayed at home with their mothers. They learned to look after the home. Boys worked with their fathers. They learned to do jobs their fathers did. They only went to school to learn to write if they wanted to become a scribe.

Many of the games played by ancient Egyptians are similar to games we still play today. Children played racing and jumping games. They also played ball games and with wooden toys. Older children played a game like chess.

The king of Egypt (the pharaohs) hand enough power to master their country. The people thought that pharaoh was a god. He owned everything. Everyone had to do what he told them to do. The pharaohs built huge tombs. When a pharaoh dies, he was buried in the tomb. The tombs were often in the shape of pyramids. When a pharaoh was buried, he was surrounded by treasure and by things to help him in the next world, such as food, clothes, furniture and weapons.

6 . How do we know the time? A clock, a watch or a mobile phone can help us. However, many years ago there were no clocks and knowing the time was not so easy. Over the centuries people have developed different ways of telling the time.

About 5,500 years ago, the Egyptians invented the sun clock. This was a tall stone building. Its shadow (影子) showed the movement of the sun. So people were able to know midday. The Egyptians made a sundial about 3,500 years ago. It was smaller than the sun clock and could let people know the time for half a day. On cloudy days or at night it was impossible to tell the time with a sun clock or a sundial. Water clocks were the first clocks not to use the sun. The idea is simple. Water flows (流动) from one bottle to another. When the water reaches a certain level, it shows the hours. The Egyptians used water clocks about 3,400 years ago. These clocks were popular in the Middle East and China. But they failed to make people know the exact time.

In the 13th century, the mechanical clock was invented. This was more exact, but it was expensive to make one. Over the next few centuries it was developed. For example, springs (发条) were added around 1500. This enabled people to get the correct time and allowed clocks to be smaller. In 1927, the first quartz (石英) clock was developed. Clocks became cheaper to build. It’s also cheaper for ordinary people to own a clock. People began depending on them more and more to run business, markets and so on. More recently, in 1956, came the digital clock. And nowadays satellites send our mobile phones the time to the exact second.

There has been a lot of progress in timekeeping. Clocks are always changing but some things never change. Many of us still have trouble getting out of bed on time and not being late for school or work.

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7 . Ice-cream is a frozen dessert. It is usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream. Most kids like eating this kind of dessert. Do you know _________ first ate it?

Chinese people first ate it many years ago. They _________ orange juice on ice. Later, this _________ was spread (传播) to Italy. Nero, the king of Rome between 54 and 68 AD, _________ to eat ice-cream between violin lessons. He told his men to run to the mountains to get _________. The runners ran back to the palace as _________ as they could. The snow was mixed with fruit and nuts.

Around 1660, coffee shops began to sell ice-cream. Then ice-cream was very _________ in Paris. Most of the _________ shops were owned by Italians. The first successful one was opened by a man from Italy with the name Francesco Procopio.

In the early 1700s, _________ started to make ice-cream, George Washington had ice-cream machines in his kitchen. It could make __________ ice-cream in a short time. Today in the US, ice-cream is not only a food, but also a way of life.

10 . Everyone fails from time to time. We try to learn from our mistakes and move on. But one museum is doing quite the opposite. It’s a show-case for failures, both famous and forgotten.

West, a psychologist (心理学家) from Sweden, founded the Museum of Failure in 2017. The museum once held a traveling exhibition in Shanghai, which displayed over 100 failed products from big-name companies such as Nokia, Apple and Coca-Cola.

“I really hope you see that these famous brands that everybody respects make a mess of something too,” West said. “I hope that makes you feel less anxious (焦虑的) about learning something new.”

West’s opinion isn’t new. The well-known German-American physicist Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” This idea has even been accepted by big companies in the US. Silicon Valley (硅谷), for example, is the home of some of the world’s most creative tech companies. A common slogan is, “Fail fast, fail often.”

However, there are reasons for this. “The best companies are those that encourage failure and allow employees to make mistakes and see what happens,” wrote Simon Casuto of Forbes.

But some people doubt about this so-called “culture of failure”. They are worried that if failure becomes “a badge of honor”, it may even be seen as “uncool” when someone tries to reduce the risk of failure .This may lead to carelessness and lack of effort.

“Sometimes people hide failure when they could have prevented it,” wrote Anna of the Telegraph.

So it’s important for you to set apart the two kinds of failure-the kind that shows laziness or incompetence (不胜任), and the kind that takes you forward. The key is whether you’ve learned Something from your mistakes.