Have you heard of the air taxi? An air taxi can carry people from place to place by air. It looks like a helicopter (直升机). It doesn’t need a long runway to take off or land. It can go straight up. and down.
On February 27, an air taxi finished its first test flight (飞行) in Guangdong. The flight started from the Shekou Cruise Homeport in Shenzhen to Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai. The 60-kilometer trip took about 20 minutes. By car, the same trip takes two or three hours.
The air taxi is powered (驱动) by electricity (电). It has a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour and can carry up to five people. On one charge (充电), it can travel 250 kilometers. If everything goes well, it hopes to start carrying passengers in 2026.
1. What does an air taxi look like?2. How long did the air taxi fly for its first test flight?
3. What's the top speed of an air taxi?
4. How many people can an air taxi carry up to?
5. How far can an air taxi travel on one charge?
Linda is excited. Today she will go hiking in Mount Washington. Her teachers, Mrs. Green and Mrs. Chang, love to hike, who know a lot about hiking and mountain safety.
Mount Washington is the tallest mountain in New England. It is almost 6,300 feet high. Mount Washington can get twenty-six feet of snow in a year! So much snow can take a long time to melt.
Mrs. Green leads the way. There are seven girls and two adults. Mrs. Chang makes sure everyone hikes safely.
Everyone has a full bag. The hikers need lots of water, snacks, and lunch. They have more clothes too. Everyone needs a jacket, a raincoat, a hat, and gloves. Even in summer, mountain weather can be cold.
“I’m tired,” Inez says. After a rest, Linda and Inez sing songs. Inez feels better. “Hiking is hard work,” Linda says, “but I love it!” The group hike higher up Mount Washington. Linda finds the snow first. “I can’t believe there is snow in July,” Linda shouts, “My brother won’t believe me!” The girls put on their jackets, gloves, and hats, and they play in the snow. They feel cold now. The wind blows. They are happy to have warm clothes.
After another rest, Mrs. Green calls the girls. “We have to hike back now,” she says. “Can we come again next summer?” Inez asks. “Please!” Linda says, “Next year I want to hike to the top!”
1. What do Mrs. Green and Mrs Chang know about?2. How many people go hiking in Linda’s group today?
3. What should be brought when hiking in Mount Washington?
4. Why do hikers have to wear more clothes?
5. Do you think hiking is good or bad ? Why?
The flu easily spreads from one person to another. If you are weak, you probably catch the flu easily. Do you know how you can avoid the flu? Here are four suggestions:
First, you can eat everything you want but make sure that your diet is healthy. The healthier you are, the better it is for you to avoid (避免) any type of illness around. Most doctors suggest drinking lots of fresh fruit juice and water is helpful to avoid the flu.
Second, if a member of a family or a friend has the flu, stay away from him or her until he or she is well. The flu is very communicable (可传染的). If you stay with the person with the flu, you can catch the flu easily. Wear a mask (口罩) and avoid using things that the person with the flu used.
Third, exercising will make you stronger, which means a stronger immune system (免疫系统), too. Exercise often so that your body will keep healthy. It doesn’t matter what kind of exercise it is.
Finally, happy people are healthy people. Their life isn't stressed out, so they may be safe from illness. If you are unhappy, you will easily get sick.
Follow the suggestions above and you can avoid the flu easily.
| |
| | Eat |
| Stay away from him or her when a person has the flu. Wear a mask and avoid using things that the person | |
| Exercise often to | |
| Be a happy person to be safe from illness. | |
When the new term came, I had a new classmate, a little old lady with a warm smile. She said, “Hi, handsome! I’m 87 years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I said heartily, “Of course!”
“Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.
She joked, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have children, and then travel around.”
“No, seriously,” I asked.
“I always dreamed of having a college education. Now I’m getting one!” she told me.
Over the year, Rose became an icon (偶像). She easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she enjoyed the attention from other students.
At the end of the term, we invited Rose to speak at our banquet (宴会). I’ll never forget what she taught us.
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. Here are the secrets of staying young: You have to laugh and find humor every day as well as have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.
“There is a big difference between growing old and growing up. Anybody can grow old. That doesn’t take any talent or ability,” she added. “But to grow up, you have to find the chances in change. Have no regrets. We usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do.”
One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. She taught us by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.
1. What was the writer’s new classmate like?2. Why was she in college at such an age?
3. According to Rose, what’s the secret of staying young?
4. What does the underlined word “that” refer to (指的是)?
5. Would you like Rose to be your icon? Why?
I enjoy reading, which helps me improve my English a lot. How to enjoy reading like me? Here are some suggestions for you.
Firstly, it’s important to choose a book which is the right level for you. If you are just starting out with English, don’t try to read a 600-page classic novel!
Secondly, although having a dictionary at hand to look up words is useful, you should try not to translate word by word, or you will soon get bored. Look up the words that you think are difficult to understand the text and learn them in a sentence. This will make it more likely that you will remember them in the future.
Finally, interest is important but perseverance (毅力) is the key. Although at first it may seem that reading has become a chore, you will soon get into the story and you will end up not being able to put the book down! The feeling of finishing a book in a different language is very satisfying. If you finish one, don’t stop there! The more you read, the more vocabularies you will learn and the more you will become familiar (熟悉) with sentence structures and common phrases.
If you want to learn English well, I hope you will pick up more books in English from now on.
Firstly | It’s important to choose a book which is the |
Secondly | You should try not to |
Finally | Don’t stop reading! Pick up and read more books in |
Wu Yuren, a retired (已退休的) professor of physics from Tongji University, has caught much attention on Douyin for her efforts to the popularization (普及) of science, Wu has already practised science popularization for 16 years. However, science popularization is never an easy task. Translating difficult physics principles (原理) into easy-to-understand language requires both a deep knowledge of physics and a strong ability to express and show the principles with experiments (实验). And it is even more difficult to teach science to children.
To help solve these problems, Wu and her team turned to short-form videos three years ago. In the videos, Wu shows people interesting physics experiments. To her surprise, her videos are popular with people of all ages.
So far, Wu’s popular science videos have attracted (吸引) over 1 million fans on the Internet.
In her videos, Wu often wears a multifunctional vest (多功能马甲) which has many pockets all over it. Her pockets are full of magical “toys” such as water bottles, coins and glasses. She uses them as teaching tools. She is always able to make use of these everyday things to explain complex phenomena (复杂的现象) found in the field of physics.
“Physics is very interesting. I hope to tell teachers and kids how to teach or learn physics,” she said. As long as more and more people can realize the beauty of physics and enjoy endless fun in the world of science, she feels that all of her efforts are worthwhile (值得的) .
1. How long has Wu Yuren practised science popularization?2. How did Wu Yuren solve the problems she ran into in science popularization?
3. What does Wu Yuren’s multifunctional vest look like?
4. What does Wu Yuren hope to tell teachers and kids?
5. What do you think of Wu Yuren?
Honesty is valuable in the world. There are five qualities (特征) of honest people.
Honest people have no interest in competition for popularity. They don’t pay too much attention to what others think of them.
Honest people don’t go looking for fights, but they aren’t afraid to speak their mind. Honest people will express their opinions bravely even when their beliefs (信念) are against other people. While sometimes this may cause some trouble, most people respect honesty and admire those who stick to their beliefs.
Honest people don’t get angry easily. It requires a thick skin (不计较面子) to stay honest. Not all people love to hear the truth. When honest people tell the truth, other people may get angry. Honest people may be hurt by them so that they need to have thick skin.
Honest people often have long, deep friendships. Their friends know that they won’t discuss them behind their back, and will instead deal with problems in a direct way. This allows for deeper, healthier relationships.
We can ask honest people for help and advice. They will not tell us the story that we want to hear. Although it may help avoid bad feelings, sometimes the difficult truth is the only thing we really need to know.
| Five qualities of honest people | |
| Honest people don’t compete in order to be | They don’t care too much about others’ opinions of them. |
| Honest people stick to their beliefs. | Although honest people don’t ask for trouble, they are brave enough to tell others their opinions. They are respected and |
| Honest people don’t get angry easily. | They need to have thick skin to protect them from being hurt by people who are not happy about hearing the |
| Honest people have close friends. | Their friends understand that they deal with problems |
| Honest people are always helpful. | Honest people can offer help and advice to us, |
Wu Dajing won the first place in the men’s 500m short track (短道) speed skating, in the ISU (国际滑冰联盟) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series in Dordrecht, the Netherlands on November 27, 2021.
Wu Dajing was born in Heilongjiang Province on July 24, 1994. He started skating when he was ten years old and entered the national team in 2010. He loves to play basketball in his free time.
In 2014, Wu Dajing won a silver medal in the men’s 500m at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and bronze medal in the men’s 5,000m relay. In the same year, he won a gold medal in the men’s 500m at the World Championships (锦标赛) in Canada. He was chosen as China’s flag bearer at the 2017 Asian Win Games.
Wu Dajing said, “I believe that as long as I work hard, I will succeed.” In 2014, he was presented (颁发) with the May 4th Youth Medal. It’s the highest honor for young people in China.
Wu Dajing surprised the skating world by breaking the world record twice in the men’s 500m short track speed skating race and winning the only gold medal for China at the Winter Olympics in 2018, which is very meaningful for China! He became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold medal on ice!
An introduction of Wu Dajing | |
| Born in Heilongjiang Province on July 24, 1994. He started skating and entered the national team in 2010 | |
| In 2014 | He won |
| After 2014 | He was He |
Over the past thirty years, many big changes have taken place in our hometown, Yuwan. Many big companies and factories have been opened. Lots of tall buildings are standing here and there. In the past, Yuwan was only a lonely seaside village. Now it has become a modern city.
Look! This is the new train station. In the past, people here never saw trains or buses. Few people had bikes. Most people walked if they wanted to leave Yuwan. Now the train station is big. And there are more buses to take people to every part of the city and other places. There are also parks, museums and places for people to enjoy sports, music and art. The city government has built more roads. Some people have stopped riding bikes. They have bought cars. The traffic has been very heavy today. It’s a modern city now.
Thirty years ago, there were only one thousand people living in Yuwan. Now the population is much larger. More and more people are coming here to work or live. It has become a new tourist attraction (吸引地) as well. More supermarkets have been opened and you can enjoy beautiful beaches. Sea food and some places of great interest.
Changes to our hometown | |
| In the past | Our hometown was only a lonely seaside village |
| Only one thousand people | |
| It was hard to see a bike and people had to go to other places on | |
| At present | People have changed Yuwan into a |
| People can take trains, buses or their own car to other places if necessary. | |
| You can find many tall buildings, companies and museums. Now it has become a new | |
For pupils at a village school in Yiyuan country, Shandong Province, Ren Jilan has not only been teaching them but also showing them how to face life bravely, especially when things just don’t seem to be working out.
Ren came from a poor family in a Yiyuan country village. She had to do more housework than other children when she was young because both her father and mother were in ill. With support from her relatives and villagers, Ren completed her 12-year school study and was accepted by Qufu Normal University. But the four-year university experience didn’t go well. Her father died and then she had to care for her mother. At the difficult moment, it was her teacher, Li Zhenhua, who offered help.
After graduation, Ren was faced with chances to work as a teacher in cities, but she chose to return to her hometown and work as a country teacher at Fuluping Primary School. “Teacher Li gave up a well-paid job in a big city to teach children at the village school. I’d like to follow his path,” Ren says.
Fuluping Primary School is 50 kilometers away from downtown Yiyuan country. It was once among the schools with the worst conditions in the country. But the school has its own beautiful and comfortable playground now.
Ren works hard on teaching and taking care of her students. She also spends a part of her money helping two poor students. She received the China Youth May 4th Medal—the country’s top honor for excellent young people.
“Life was not easy for me, but luckily I had nice people around me. They gave me a helping hand when I was in need, and it encouraged me to go on,” says Ren.
1. Who helped Ren complete her 12-year school study?2. Where did Ren choose to work after graduation from university?
3. How is the playground of Fuluping Primary School now?
4. What honor did Ren get from the country?
5. What do you think of Ren Jilan?
