Yours,

Li Hua

Flames in kilns (窑炉) around China have been burning since the Xia and Shang dynasties. Along the way     1     (bear) porcelain (瓷器).

Porcelain is made by heating materials, often a mix of China stone and kaolin clay, in a kiln at a temperature as high as 1,200 degree Celsius. Temperature is key to     2     (make) porcelain. Going through the fire of reinvention at a high temperature blesses porcelain with strength and colors. Celadon (青瓷) produced in Longquan, Zhejiang Province, which is     3     technique passed down for more than 1,600 years, is a     4     (character) example of workers’ long-standing dream. It takes 72 steps to produce perfect green. Porcelain has also been a carrier for cultural exchanges. In company with China’s silk and tea, porcelain was one of the first goods     5     (receive) worldwide trade. As it travelled around the globe through the ancient Maritime Silk Road, porcelain enjoyed great     6     (popular) among royal families and upper classes in Europe, most of     7     were attracted to these beautiful artworks. Porcelain     8     (begin) as a practical container and evolved     9     pieces of art. Even when broken into pieces and     10     (bury) deep in mud, cultural values attached to porcelain would exist.

As a memory that is felt with both hands, porcelain is touchable history.

3 . Any time of the day you can commit to exercising is a good time for getting active. However, the best time for exercise is different for each person.     1    

Determine when you have the most energy. Do you struggle to get out of the bed in the morning or do you wake up energized and ready to go? Are you a night owl and never get to bed before midnight? Once you establish what your sleep tendencies are, you will have a better idea of when your body is most ready to exercise.     2     You are more likely to hit the snooze button instead of getting a workout in.

Consider your daily schedule. When are you the busiest?     3     Try to fit in exercise before or at least around these events. Some people would prefer to get it out of the way first thing, while others prefer to put it off until the end of the day when they are all caught up.

Determine your exercise goals. If you are trying to develop a routine, you may want to exercise in the morning.     4     If you are trying to improve your performance, evening exercise may be best. You may experience less tiredness, quicker reaction times, and more strength and flexibility in the evening. If you are trying to lose weight, you may want to exercise in the morning before you have eaten when your body is more likely to use fat instead of carbohydrates (碳水化合物) for energy.

    5     This way, you’ll see how you feel and find the time that works best with your schedule. Keep an exercise log to help you evaluate each time.

4 . Starman, the dummy (仿真人) riding a cherry-red Tesla Roadster (特斯拉敞篷车) through space, has made his closest approach ever to Mars. The electric roadster and its passenger were attached to the top of a Falcon Heavy rocket during the SpaceX rocket’s first test launch on 6 February 2018.

Two years later, the Falcon Heavy rocket and the vehicle at its tip are making their second trip around the Sun. Mr. McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist, found that Starman passed 7.4 million kilometers from Mars at 06:25 GMT 7 October, 2020.

The closest recent approach between the Earth and Mars was 56 million kilometers in 2003, though the planets are often hundreds of millions of miles apart depending on where they are in their orbits. No one can see the Falcon Heavy rocket at its current distance, but orbits over periods of a few years are fairly straightforward to predict, and Mr. McDowell used data about how the rocket was moving when it left the Earth’s gravity behind to locate its recent movements exactly.

Last time Starman circled the Sun, McDowell said, it crossed Mars’ orbit while the Red Planet was quite far away. But this time the crossing lined up with a fairly close approach, though still not close enough to feel a strong tug from Mars.

At this point in time, if you were able to go look at the Roadster, it would probably look pretty different. The strong solar radiation environment between the planets would probably have destroyed all the exposed organic materials.

Without the Earth’s atmospheric and magnetic (磁场的) protection, even the plastics and carbon-fibre materials would start to break up. Over the course of decades or centuries, the car will end up with its aluminium (铝) frame and hard glass parts—that’s assuming that none of them get destroyed in impacts with passing space rocks.

5 . In the day, the view of Wuzhen is dominated by white walls and brown wooden doors, but this scene changes in the night when the different lights in the water town create various stunning colors against the black sky.

Of all the shops in Wuzhen, the workshop selling traditional handmade lanterns stands out the most during the night. The man behind these amazing creations is Gu Yeguang, a 53-year-old craftsman who was born into a family of lantern makers in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

Although Gu has spent nearly his entire life making lanterns, he has never grown weary of the profession, saying that getting to teach the craft to young people is what motivates him these days.

To craft the frame of the lantern, Gu has to chop bamboo carefully into long and thin sticks before using a candle to scorch (烧焦) the areas that need to be handled. After bending the sticks, Gu binds the ends together and wraps the completed frame with paper. All these have to be done with great skills and rich experience.

The lantern workshop is without doubt one of the most popular attractions in Wuzhen. According to Gu, the workshop would receive more than 100 people during its opening hours from 9 am to 5 pm during the peak summer season. To craft a simple round lantern costs 30 yuan ($4.54). The more unique ones cost 50 yuan each.

After a large group of people departs the workshop following their short class on lantern making, Gu returns to his seat and continues work on a complex dragon-shaped creation. But before he could even pick up his tools, a small girl and her mother enter the space.

“Mummy, mummy, I want a lantern!” the girl exclaims excitedly. Gu raises his head and gets back on his feet. “Sure, let’s get started then,” he says. “Let us begin with this bamboo stick.” And with those few words he lights up the workshop, not with his lanterns but the child’s cherubic (天使般的) smile.

Traditional festivals are a significant part of Chinese culture, which we must protect and maintain.     1     这样做有三个理由.

First of all, traditional festivals teach us a lot about our nation’s history. For example,     2     the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in honour of Qu Yuan, a great poet. By celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with rice dumplings and dragon boat races, the story of Qu Yuan is passed down from generation to generation.

    3     Traditional festivals also enable us to learn more about fine Chinese values. Many festivals, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, have a caring, family-centred message at their heart. The full moon on the festival stands for family togetherness and     4     family members will come back home even if they live very far away.

Last but not least, traditional festivals are a source of national pride and help shape our national identity. That’s why we celebrate the Hanshi Festival and the Laba Festival with unique customs, and these shared experiences bring us together as a people.     5     传统节日告诉我们我们是谁and fill us with pride of being Chinese.