1 . Books of the Week

In recent years, science fiction (科幻小说) has become more and more popular in China, especially after the sci-fi writer Liu Cixin won the Hugo Award in 2015.       1     It has been popular all over the world.

In an interview, Liu said that science fiction would open our minds to everything in the future. “     2     And it opens up a new world to them,” he added.

According to Liu, young readers should read different books in order to find out what they are truly interested in. Liu once said, “I’ve read a lot of works of Leo Tolstoy and Arthur Charles Clarke.     3     ”

The Chinese sci-fi film The Wandering Earth was a real hit in 2019.     4     Liu said the success mainly came from the hard work of the movie’s team. “As the first Chinese sci-fi movie, I must say that it’s very exciting and encouraging,” he said.     5     He believed that there would be different kinds of Chinese sci-fi movies in the future.

5 . After opening a free online Harry Potter center in April, British writer JK Rowling brings even more good news.

In May, Rowling started writing a new story called The Ickabog, which is free to read online to cheer people up since they stayed at home for a long time because of COVID-19. “The Ickabog is good for children from age seven to eight,” said Rowling. The Ickabog was put online in English, but Rowling planned on bringing out the story in other languages soon.

The new story talks about a monster (怪物) known as the Ickabog, a fierce child-eating monster who lives in the northern top of a magic land known as Cornucopia and has superpowers (超能力).

The book is mainly written for children but it is also a wonderful story for older people, just like my brother and my father. It talks about many things.

“The Ickabog is a story about the true side of everything and how to use the power,” Rowling wrote on the Internet. “It talks about things that are common in life and could be used in any time or any country.”

Rowling put the first two parts online on May 26th, with everyday writing to follow till July 10th. She also published (出版) the book later in November. Pictures of the book are from children all around the world including Chinese kids. Rowling gave away the money from its sales to companies to help the groups in trouble because of COVID-19.

6 . Late last night, I was woken up by a sudden sound. I felt very tired and tried to sleep, but the sound didn’t stop to let me _________. Finally, I got up to see _________ the sound came from. I went to the backyard of my house and saw a very bright light in the sky going towards the woods nearby. I felt anxious and decided _________ what it was. I _________ my bicycle and followed the light. Minutes later, I was in front of _________ huge spaceship.

I was amazed. When I touched it, I _________ aside by a wave. I felt as if my whole body was paralyzed (瘫痪的). I could not move my body _________ I could still see. I saw a human...no, a monster...

Then, I lost consciousness (知觉).

When I woke up, I was in a large cage. I saw _________ men and women in nearby cages. They had _________ passed out or perhaps died. I examined the cage and found a small window covered __________ dust. I cleared the dust and saw through it. I saw space!

I also saw the earth getting smaller and smaller as we moved away from it.

I was confused as to how I got here. Suddenly, a strange creature caught __________ attention. He was half-human and half-monster. For sure, he was not a person living on the earth—he was an alien!

The creature was __________ each cage. Suddenly, he appeared in front of my cage. He said __________ like, “Zoom zappa zew zhumu zam zeus.”. I didn’t understand it, but then a loud sound came. It said, “New Human. We are the Grays.” It was probably the translation of the words __________ the creature had just said, I guessed. I felt frightened. “What is the alien going to do to me?” I __________ wondered.

Hi! I’ m Leo and I am 16 years old. I live in New York. Every morning I wake up early. First I have breakfast. Then I take a shower (淋浴).

At 7: 30 a. m. I take the bus to school and get to school at 8: 00 a. m. Classes start at 8:15 a. m. My friend Bruce goes to classes with me. We have lunch together at noon. I always have meat, vegetables and orange juice. After lunch, I go to my favorite class: science!

School is over at 3: 00 in the afternoon. Bruce and I often do our homework and then play football together.

One day in a museum, a spider bites (蜘蛛咬了) me. I become very strong. I can run fast and climb high walls. In my free time, I often wear my red and blue costume and go out to help people in New York. But no one knows I am Spider Man.

Spiderman’s story is the story of Peter Parker. Peter     1     his parent in an accident at a young age and has to live with his aunt and uncle now. He is     2     shy, quiet boy wearing glasses and has few friends. One day,     3     the way to a science museum, he gets bitten（咬）by a special spider. Soon, Peter finds that he has amazing powers: He is as strong and quick as a spider, and he     4     has a type of sixth sense（第六感）. He no longer needs his     5     because he can see things clearly! Remember what his uncle has told him: “With great power comes great responsibility（责任）”, Peter decides to     6     power to fight bad people. And so, Spiderman is born.

Although Peter is a superhero, life is not     7     for him. He loves Mary, but he can’t tell     8     about his amazing power. Peter always needs     9     , so he has to sell photos of Spiderman to a newspaper to make a living. And he keeps losing his other jobs     10     he’s so busy saving people!