Many people think of cities and nature as two unrelated (不相关的) things. If you want to see wildlife, you need to get out of the city. But does it have to be this way? Some cities around the world are taking action to bring nature into cities.

In order to make better use of city gardens, places like Los Angeles in the US have made community gardens. This brings people from all walks of life (各行各业) and encourages healthy lifestyle. In their traditional gardens, people can rent a part to grow their own food. In educational gardens, people are taught about gardening and eating healthily. People also grow vegetables on city farms to sell at the market with the money going to people in need.

To help keep animals’ living places connected (相连), some wildlife bridges and passages have been built in Edmonton, Canada. The bridges serve as corridors (长廊) for animals. Trees on the bridge act as a shelter (防护) for animals as they cross. In China, along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, there are also special bridges for Tibetan antelopes and other animals to cross.

Just as a sponge (海绵) can take in water, a “Sponge city” can deal with heavy rain. Wuhan is one of China’s first cities to start the project. People created rain gardens — low grasslands to collect and take in water. Man-made wetlands were built, too. When it rains heavily, rainwater can be held. So there will be less flooding.

The Chinese character fu is a necessity in the Spring Festival celebrations. It expresses people’s best wishes for the coming new year. It’s recorded that people have     1     practiced this tradition since the Song Dynasty.

The character fu can be pasted (粘贴) either normally     2     upside down, because in Chinese, the “reversed fu ” and “fu arrives” sound similar to each other, both being pronounced as “fu dao le”.

There is a     3     about the origin of pasting the “reversed fu”. Zhu Yuanzhang, the     4     emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once used the character fu as a secret signal to punish (惩罚) a family for insulting (冒犯)     5     wife, Empress Ma. To avoid the disaster, the kind-hearted Empress Ma ordered every family in the capital to paste the character fu in front of their doors before the sun     6     the next day. Everyone followed her order, but one family posted the character upside down, because they couldn’t read or write.

The next day, when the emperor ordered his soldiers to check, they     7     the character fu everywhere, including the upside-down one. The emperor was very     8     and immediately ordered his palace guards to punish the family who had pasted the character differently.

Realizing the situation was not good, Empress Ma said to the emperor, “That family knew that you were coming to     9     them today so they pasted the character upside down on purpose (故意地). Doesn’t it have the same meaning as fu arrives?”

After hearing this, the emperor immediately set the family     10    . From then on, people began to paste the character fu upside down for the purpose of hoping for luck and honoring Empress Ma.

Now students’ English handwriting (书写) gets worse and worse, making their teachers feel worried. Is your English handwriting beautiful?     1    .

Use paper with lines

When you write English words or sentences, you can use paper with lines, which will make your handwriting straight.     2    . Be sure to fill the lined space completely. And make sure these capital letters (大写字母) are written properly.

Slow down

If your writing is hard to read, just slow down a little.     3    . If you write too quickly, it’s hard for you to stop where you should, and you may make more mistakes easily.

    4    

When you hold your pencil in the correct way, writing is much better. Some kids press down really hard when they write. That makes the handwriting bad. Try to be relaxed and don’t hold the pencil so hard. Let your writing app ear nice and clean. If you do so, people will guess you are a student with a good habit.

Draw more pictures

    5    . While you are drawing pictures, you need to use the skills to control (控制) your pencil better. Even though you have no chance to draw at school, you can practice by drawing at home.

Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a famous movie star or a well-known sports player, what do you do when your fans run up to you? Give them your autographs (亲笔签名), of course!

5 . In ancient China, the study room of intellectuals (文人) was called wen fang in Chinese. Because the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone are commonly used in the study room, they are called the “Four Treasures of the Study” or wen fang si bao in Chinese.

The writing brush is a special writing and painting tool in ancient China. Brushes are usually made of animal hair. Rabbit hair was the first to be used. According to record, the ancient Chinese also used human hair to make brushes.

Ink is a black material used in calligraphy (书法) and painting. It was born later than the writing brush. After the Han and Wei dynasties, ink-making technology became more and more developed, and Huizhou became the national ink-making center in the Ming Dynasty. The “Hui Ink” produced there is famous all over the world.

Papermaking was invented in the Western Han Dynasty and was improved by Cai Lun during the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, with papermaking technology improving gradually, more and more types of paper appeared. The most famous one is Xuan paper, which is named after ancient Xuanzhou because it was made there. Xuan paper is thin but tough, and doesn’t change color easily. So, it’s known as the “thousand-year-old paper”.

The inkstone is a necessary tool for grinding (研磨) ink. The inkstone is generally made of stones. In the Qing Dynasty, people carved (雕刻) some patterns on it. Since then, the inkstone has not only been practical, but also had the value of collection and appreciation.

The development of science and technology has greatly changed our life, and the improvement of the tools for writing also has brought us much convenience (便利), but when we talk about calligraphy, it is clear that only traditional tools can better show the greatness of Chinese culture. So we must try our best to protect them.

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6 . For many people around the world, the third Sunday in June is a day to honor their fathers. It’s Father’s Day and celebrates father’s important role in the family.

Father is just as important to a child as mother is. Children depend on their fathers for their physical and spiritual well-being (身体和精神上的健康). For daughters, father is the first man they look up to, while for sons, father is an idol (偶像) and the strongest man in their life.

The idea of a “Father’s Day” was given by Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington in 1909. She wanted a special day to honor her father William Smart, whose wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself. It was after Sonora became an adult that she understood the strength and selflessness (力量和无私) her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. The first Father’s Day was held in Washington on June 19, 1910. And it was in 1966 that then-US president Lyndon Johnson made the third Sunday of June Father’s Day. In 1972, then-US president Richard Nixon made it a national holiday.

Over the years, the idea of celebrating Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June has spread across the world. Celebrating the day gives people a chance to express their love and thanks to their fathers. Celebrating the day also makes fathers feel that their efforts are acknowledged (认可) by their children and society.

7 . Kids who don’t drink water are having more sugar and junk food in the US now. They get sugar from sodas, sweet juice and some other drinks. There was a new study. It was on 8,400 children. They were between the ages of 2 and 19. It found that twenty percent of the children didn’t drink any water. That’s on any given day. It also showed that those kids got more calories from sweet drinks. That’s compared to children who did drink water every day. Children who do not drink water can have almost twice as many calories. “Kids should drink water every day. And the first drink for kids should be water because it is healthy,” said one teacher.

The study showed two thirds of the children have junk food for lunch for it is fast and delicious. Junk food, like hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries, makes children in the US overweight and brings many health problems. This is because it has lots of salt and sugar. Children who eat junk food four to five times a week are easy to have heart diseases. “Kids should keep a balanced diet with both vegetables and all kinds of meat because giving what our body needs is important,” said another teacher.

To many in the Gulf (海湾), Ghanim Al Muftah is a familiar face. Ghanim was born in May 2002 in Qatar, without the lower half of his body because of an unusual disease. Even though the young boy was only given 15 years to live by his ________, his parents didn’t give up on him.

Ghanim’s school life was not easy. He was often very ________ because no one liked to play with him. His mother comforted him that his classmates were just afraid of ________ him, not scared of him. She also ________ the boy to communicate more with his classmates and let them know more about his illness. His mother’s words ________ him up and made him become more optimistic (乐观的).

Now, at 20, Ghanim is an example to the world and ________ to those struggling with physical disabilities. He did not make his disability a reason to give up. Instead, he used his weakness to ________ strong personality.

A surprising fact about Ghanim is that he loves sports and actively takes part in ________. He is also one of the youngest businessmen in Qatar. His ice cream business provides jobs ________ the people in the city. At the same time, with his family’s support, Ghanim has also set up an organization to give away free wheelchairs to disabled people in need.

The young boy lives up to the meaning of his ________. “Ghanim Al Muftah” means “the winner” in Arabic (阿拉伯语). He is not just a kid who survives (活下来) a deadly disability, but he lives a wonderful life. He is an image of strength and courage who teaches the world that no difficulty is big enough to prevent someone from living the life of their dreams.