2 . After traveling nearly 10,000 kilometers, a package from Britain arrived at the memorial hall for the Lisbon Maru incident on Dongi Island in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province this month. Inside the package was a painting belonging to Graham Saxby, which was his gift to the fishermen on Dongii Island.

In October 1942, an armed Japanese cargo ship, the Lisbon Maru, was torpedoed (鱼雷击中) by the Americans off the Zhoushan islands in Zhejiang. The ship was transporting some 1, 800 British prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Japan, among whom was Saxby’s father. While the ship was sinking, the prisoners were confined (监禁) in the holds. As they tried to escape, many were shot by the Japanese. Local Chinese fishermen risked their lives during the shooting and rescued as many prisoners as they could using their small boats. A total of 384 British prisoners of war were rescued by the fishermen, for which the British government and people were deeply grateful. A special screening of the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru was held in London on August 15. Survivors recalled the incident in the film.

After learning that Saxby was going to gift the locals a painting, Wu Xiaofei, a painter on Dongji Island, returned his friendship with a painting. “My grandfather was one of the fishermen who took part in the rescue, rowing a boat back and forth several times to rescue the British prisoners of war,”Wu says. She finished her drawing, which shows the joy, unity and harmony of fishermen, in just three days.

To help bring the forgotten historical event to light, Saxby is now asking a professional painter to create a work to show the rescue scene, while another painting related to the incident by Wu has been completed and is ready for exhibition.

Last Saturday, I took an impressive science and technology exploration tour in the city science museum.

Knowing me, knowing you

One night, a married couple got into a fight. The reason     1     they had a fight was that the woman had bought too expensive a dress. It was common for them to stay in a war of silence after such a fight. And this time was not different. For most of the night, the couple     2    (ignore) each other and even when preparing for bed, they didn’t say a word.

However, her husband started getting anxious because he would catch a flight at 5:00 am the next morning. He always devoted     3    (he) to his work.     4    (give) a promotion(晋升) in his company recently, he made more efforts to do his work. The man was a heavy sleeper and     5    (absolute) depended on his wife to wake him up. Otherwise, there was a good chance that he would sleep right through the alarm.

In order not to lose face, he didn’t speak with her directly although he wanted to, but he wrote something on a piece of paper, reading, “Please wake me up when it’s 5:00 am.” He put the note on his wife’s pillow,     6    (believe) that his wife would for sure see it there. He then fell asleep with satisfaction.

The next morning when he woke up, it was already 7:00 am! He took     7     deep breath because he couldn’t take his journey to meet their customers that day. He thought     8     some extent, his boss as well as their customers was sure to get annoyed with him. To his     9    (embarrass), he was preparing to blame his wife when he noticed a handwritten note beside his pillow, saying, “It’s 5:00 am. You     10     get up right now, needn’t you? A note has been put beside your pillow already.”

Most of the time, how you say something is more important than what you actually say. When you need something, do not let pride get in the way of asking for help in the right way!

6 . On a Sunny Saturday, Alyson Machigua, three, screamed with laughter as she and her mother, Marlen, played a game in the front yard of their home. Suddenly, tiny Alyson _______ the backyard of a neighbor. About half way across the yard, Alyson disappeared, seeming swallowed (吞没) by a hardly _______ opening in the ground, which meant the opening was not easy to find. Marlen cried loudly for help.

The neighbour Luz Jimenez, 26, was preparing dinner in her kitchen and _______ the cries were the sounds of children playing. However, when she ran outside anyway, she found Marlen _______ and dialing 911.

“Alyson fell into the hole!” Marlen cried to Luz. Then Luz heard Alyson’s cries from deep underground. Luz ran inside her own _______ and down to the basement for a gray rope to drop into the hole. Back in the yard, she used her hands to dig the hole, _______ the opening. When the policeman Aaron Perkins arrived a few minutes later, Luz was in the hole up to her _______.

“Get out of there,” Perkins told Luz, raising her up by the _______. “It’s dangerous for you.” “It’s more dangerous for the baby,” Luz said. “She’s going to _______.” After Perkins tied one end of the rope to a tree, Luz lowered ________, little by little, down the 15-foot-deep hole. Below, she saw water covering the floor of the hole. Alyson’s neck was covered. Luz dropped the remaining few feet into the water beside the baby. “Everything is going to be fine,” she told the little girl. “Don’t worry.”

As they waited for help in the two feet of dark water, Luz prayed that there were no snakes swimming at her feet. She ________ nothing more than snakes. Aboveground (在地面上), Perkins talked to Luz, keeping her ________.

Just minutes later, the Hacketts-town Fire Department and Hacketts-town Rescue Team arrived and lowered a ________ into the hole. Luz climbed up with Alyson in her arms, and then handed her over to her mother. Emergency workers rushed the baby to an ambulance, ________ her clothes to survey the injury. Alyson was scared and covered in dirt but ________, she was uninjured. Luz saved the baby’s life.

7 . The Chinese Students and Scholars Association in the UK held a Spring Festival gala (庆典) on Wednesday in London to count down to the Chinese New Year. More than 900attendees, including representatives from British universities and education institutions, as well as Chinese students and scholars, joined to enjoy a feast of Chinese culture.

This year’s Chinese New Year falls on Saturday, and 2024 is the year of the dragon based on the Chinese zodiac. The dragon is considered by the Chinese people to represent dignity, prestige, and fortune.

The festival gala, with a theme of “Soaring Dragon’s Spring Melody”, featured Chinese folk music, dance, singing, martial arts performance and more.

During the event, Zheng Zeguang, China’s ambassador to the UK, made a speech to the attendees, highlighting major accomplishments achieved in the past year and stating China’s future development focuses.

He pointed out that China will determinedly pursue high-quality development and Chinese modernization to advance the great rejuvenation (复兴) of the Chinese nation. China will also call for an equal and orderly multipolar (多级的) world as well as for inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, Zheng noted. “Our motherland has bright prospects for future growth,” he said.

The ambassador praised Chinese students and scholars for being hardworking and behaving in a controlled way, saying that the number of Chinese students in the UK has significantly increased due to the transformation of China. “I hope you will carry on the tradition of patriotism. I hope you will ai m high and work hard. I hope you will unit e and help each other, as well as make friends widely. I hope you will grow into the backbone of the nation in the near future,” he said.

Alistair Fitt, vice-headmaster of Oxford Brookes University, extended warm wishes of good fortune and prosperity in the year of the dragon and expressed hope for progress in Sino-British relations. “I am very sure that our two great nations will continue to expand all of our very successful relationships,” he said.

If you want to know about other Chinese traditional festivals, just write to me.

Yours,

Lì Hua