3 . I walked to Mrs. Windsor’s house and waited outside. She was working with another student, and I was not supposed to________them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and________what I’d rather be doing. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn’t have a________for it. Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons________, so I felt it my duty to try.

The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to________my sheet music. Today Mrs. Windsor________her niece Pasha to teach me.

With a smile, Pasha sat beside me on the piano bench, opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I________my fingers on the keys. Then I frowned and concentrated to make the notes on the page________the finger movements. I had to admit I was a rather________pianist.

After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as it to________my fingers. There was a long pause. “What are you hearing in the music?” I looked at her rather________and admitted I didn’t know what she meant. “Like a________. Here, let me try and you listen,” Pasha advised.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers________lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. “See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?” Her fingers ________and fell gently on the keys. “Now a princess appears and she’s picking flowers from the water’s________.”A happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha’s dancing fingers.

4 . Scientists say the plant enset, an Ethiopian staple (主食), could be a new superfood and a lifesaver in the face of climate change. The banana-like crop has the potential to feed more than 100 million people in a warming world, according to a new study.

Enset or “false banana”, almost unknown outside of Ethiopia, is a close relative of the banana, but is consumed only in one part of this country. The banana-like fruit of the plant is inedible, but the starchy stems (茎) and roots can be used to make porridge and bread. Research suggests the crop can be grown over a much larger range in Africa. “This is a crop that can play a really important role in addressing food security and sustainable development,” said a university professor in Awasa, Ethiopia.

Using agricultural surveys and modelling work, scientists predicted the potential range of enset over the next four decades. They found the crop could potentially feed more than 100 million people and boost food security in Ethiopia and other African countries, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Study researcher Dr James Borrell, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said planting enset, as an alternative for lean times, could help boost food security. “It’s got some really unusual features that make it absolutely unique as a crop,” he said. “You plant it at any time, you harvest it at any time. That’s why they call it the tree against hunger.”

There is growing interest in seeking new plants to feed the world, given our reliance on a few staple crops. Nearly half of all the calories we eat come from three species — rice, wheat, and maize. “We need to diversify the plants we use globally as a species because all our eggs are in a very small basket at the moment,” said Dr Borrell.

5 . The Beijing Expo Park, where the International Horticultural Exhibition (国际园艺展) took place in 2019, has become a camping resort this summer. Twelve camping areas each named after the constellations (星座) have recently opened to the public at the park.

“When I see parents and children put down their mobile phones and enjoy their family time, I feel happy. At this moment, all our efforts in organizing this camping festival have paid off, ”said Xue He, a camping operator at the park.

“Located in the Yanqing district of Beijing, the camping area covers about 280, 000 square meters. It provides more than 1, 000 camping spots where tourists can spend their leisure time on picnics, fishing, horse riding, boating, and many other activities, ” said Han Weiwei, a manager of the Beijing Expo Park Investment and Development.

At the camping area named after Sagittarius, tents are spread throughout the woods, while a wooden trestle (支架) connects the campsites. “We pursue harmony between humans and nature, so the original plants were preserved as much as possible, ” said Liu Xiao’ou, an operator in the area.

“Horse riding is one of the most popular activities here, ”Liu said, adding that campers can ride horses in the Sagittarius area under the guidance of coaches. Children can also interact with some little cute horses which are less than one meter in height.

As the altitude in Yanqing is higher than that in downtown Beijing, the expo park is much cooler in summer. “This is favorable for camping. These abundant activities have given is so much fun, ” said a resident surnamed Yin from downtown Beijing.

In the coming three months, the Beijing Expo Park is going to host more than 30 activities during the camping festival, including bicycle races, fishing contests and night runs, according to the organizers.

6 . Dreams of world peace are as old as wars. But as the women of Wales were recovering from World War I, they demanded peace in droves.

Still sorrowing the husbands, sons, and loved ones who fought in the war, in 1923 the Welsh League of Nations United (WLNU) drafted a petition (请愿书) at Aberystwyth University calling for a warless world.

The petition was signed by roughly three quarters of all the women in Wales and was said to be seven miles long. The document was then packed in a large oak chest and sent across the Atlantic.

It was the WLNU’s hope that America would join in their mission for peace, and so they toured with the petition across the country before President Calvin Coolidge gave it to the Smithsonian for preservation.

As the centennial anniversary of World War I approached, a plaque was found in the archives at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff mentioning the petition, but nobody knew what it was, says Mererid Hopwood, chair of the Women’s Peace Petition Partnership.

So in 2017, an email was sent to the Smithsonian inquiring about the status and location of the chest and its petition.

Having arrived at the National Library of Wales on March 29 this year, Hopwood received it along with other members of the Peace Petition Partnership and described opening the chest and finally getting to see its contents (内容) as an emotional moment.

Hopwood is hoping more Welsh citizens will have similar experiences now that the petition has returned to its original home. The petition will be digitized, along with all signatures and addresses, so the public can view it online and see if their grandmothers or previous tenants of their homes signed 100 years ago.

Clearly the world has not yet achieved the petition’s great goals, but Hopwood said the signatures gave her hope.

7 . The Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon, an endurance race of 875 km, was considered the toughest in the world. It used to be a five-day race, with only the world-class athletes daring to attempt it. Most athletes who took part in this ultramarathon were under 30 years of age.

Cliff was a farmer from Australia with a dream of running a race. When he attended the race, he was 61 years old. He had no specialized sportswear. Instead, he wore galoshes overalls. When he appeared at the venue, the onlookers thought he was probably a spectator. To their surprise, Cliff picked up a race number.

Having grown up on a farm, Cliff had to go out to round up the sheep every time there was a storm, because his family could not afford horses or tractors. Two thousand sheep scattered across two thousand acres of land—it took him as long as three days of chasing the animals, but he always succeeded.

The race began, and the strong and young racers started leaving Cliff behind. The racers had a strategy. They would be running hours each for the five days of the race, and sleep for the remaining 6 hours. Nonetheless, Cliff had no such strategy! Being an amateur athlete, he was not familiar with any such game plan. So, he just ran on and on, and the next morning, when the other athletes woke up, they found that the old man had caught up with the others by jogging all night. By the final night of the race, he had surpassed the other competitors and became the champion.

The next time Cliff’ caught attention again when he was 76. He took up the challenge of running along Australia’s border, across a distance of 16,000 km with the aim of raising money for homeless children. Unfortunately, his crew member fell ill, and Cliff had to withdraw from the race, after running for 6520 km.

Cliff, a simple farmer, created a one-of-a-kind history. Instead of withering away, he started his new life, and showed the world that it’s never too late to start following the heart and pursuing dreams.

8 . Jonathan Jones, 12, was overcome with emotion after his principal, who is also color-blind, let him _______ his unique glasses during science class last week.

As soon as Jones put the glasses on, he appeared to be immediately _______ . He initially smiled and laughed, _______ he broke down moments later. He then walked around the classroom excitedly, _______ the now-vivid colors around him.

“I was feeling joy that I could _______ see all this color, and a little bit of _______ that I couldn’t see color my whole life,” Jonathan told ABC news.

The boy’s mother posted a(n) _______ of Jonathan seeing color for the first time online and started a GoFundMe campaign to buy a pair of the unique glasses for Jonathan, which reportedly cost $350. However, so many people were _______ by Jonathan’s story, and the campaign actually ended up _______ more than $25,000.

She wrote: “After posting the video we’ve been touched by how many ________ people have wanted to help him. We’ve had multiple pairs donated to Jonathan and will use 100% of ________ funds to purchase color-blind glasses for those who can’t ________ them.” “The glasses company will match every pair we purchase with a free pair, which ________ the number of people we can ________ ,” she continued.

For Jonathan, with the new glasses comes a new ________ of the world. He said his favorite color is blue and he’s excited to visit the Caribbean this winter so he can see the ocean in all its glory.

9 . We all have an idea about the common types of environmental problems. However, light pollution may be a new term to many of us. But, the fact is that it does affect mankind, other living forms and the environment as a whole.

What is light pollution? It presents all forms of misused man-made light. The obvious cause of light pollution is the use of outdoor lighting products improperly. It can be office lighting, car headlights, station lights, streetlights and many more.

Light pollution is harmful to both animals and plants. Upon studies, it is found that obvious effects are observed in the behaviour of animals that are active at night. Needless to mention, bright light at night makes it difficult for these animals to hunt, wander and perform their regular activities. Light pollution is directly or indirectly responsible for causing several diseases. Its effects are related to disturbance in the physical rhythm (节奏). It contributes to risks of developing cancerous cells. So, it’s nothing less than a threat to human health.

You have already seen the negative effects of light pollution on animals and human health. Apart from this, the actual cost of misused light is about millions of dollars every year. It also leads to the release of greenhouse gases and global warming. After all, coal or gas is used for producing electricity.

While outdoor lighting and using man-made lighting products are part of our modern lifestyle, some simple ways will surely help in reducing light pollution. For example, while installing (安装) outdoor lighting, make sure that they are pointed downwards. Also, use only the required lighting equipment for both home and offices. Believe it or not, many people living in the urban areas cannot view clear sky and stars at night. Let’s contribute our part in reducing the pollution.

10 . Conservation scientist Kim Williams-Guillen was trying her best to come up with a way to save endangered sea turtles (海龟) from egg thieves when she had an “aha” moment: If she placed a fake (假的) egg containing a GPS tracker in the reptiles’ nests, she might be able to track the thieves.

Williams-Guillen found a flexible plastic material to mimic (仿造) the shell of real eggs. She and colleagues then used a 3D printer to produce the fakes of the same size, weight, and texture and put the smallest GPS tracking devices inside each. The researchers then went to four Costa Rican beaches, where green sea turtle come ashore to make their nests. As mothers laid their eggs under cover of night, the researchers slipped a fake egg into each nest. Once the fakes are covered in sand and mix with the real eggs, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the two.

Of the 101 fake eggs, 25 were taken by thieves. The farthest moving egg traveled 137 kilometers inland. The fake egg sent its final signal the next day from a residential property, suggesting that the research team had tracked the eggs through “all of the players in the entire chain.”

By understanding that chain, Williams-Guillen says researchers can identify trading hot spots. She emphasizes that the tracker is not a way to catch local thieves, many of them living in poverty, but a tool to better understand their routes, which could help them and eventually law enforcement (执法部门) identify larger players in the chain.

In the meantime, Williams-Guillen and her colleagues are working to get their fake eggs to other sea turtle conservation organizations. Ultimately, though, scientists and nonprofits are going to engage communities with local outreach and education programs to save sea turtles. She says, “The real meat and potatoes of conservation isn’t going to come from deploying (布署) eggs.”