3 . Traveling on an airplane can be a very tiring task even in the best of circumstances, which is why when Sophie Murphy boarded a recent flight from Sydney to Melbourne and noticed an “awful tension” in the cabin, she first thought it was caused by typical bad-tempered passengers. But as the flight neared its end, it became obvious that something was very wrong.

A teenage boy with Down syndrome (唐氏综合征) who was traveling with his family had become upset and would not return to his seat, regardless of the cabin crew’s warnings over the loudspeaker that it was almost time to land. The pilot was forced to circle above the airport, delaying the landing—and angering people on the already tense flight.

“If it were a cartoon,” remembered Murphy, “there would have been smoke coming out of people’s ears.”

As the boy’s elderly parents and adult brothers and sisters tried to persuade him to get off the floor and back into his seat, but in vain, Murphy, 42 — who had been a teacher for more than 20 years — stood up and quickly headed to the back of the plane.

She found the boy in the passage between rows of seats, lying on his belly, and lay down on her stomach to face him. She began chatting calmly with him, asking his name, his favorite book, and his favorite characters. He told her he felt sick and she tried to comfort him.

Minutes later, he allowed her to hold his hand—and then together they got properly back into airplane seats. Murphy asked for sick bags, and held them as the boy threw up several times, including on her. As she helped him clean up, she repeatedly told him everything would be okay and that they’d get through it together.

After the plane was finally able to land, no one was impatient to step off the flight as one might expect. Instead, calmed passengers—obviously following Murphy’s amazing example — allowed the boy and his family to depart first, smiling at them as they passed. His parents tearfully thanked Murphy for what she had done, and a doctor sitting nearby also let her know he had even taken notes on her expert way of handling the situation.

The historical drama Serenade of Peaceful Joy has been a trending topic since it     1     released on April 7. It has attracted almost 7.5 billion views and over 190,000 comments on Sina Weibo by May 5.

The show is an     2     (adapt) from the novel Held in the Lonely Castle written in 2014 by Milan Lady, with     3     (vary) editions published since 2018. The story follows Emperor Renzong,     4     (play) by Wang Kai, of the Song Dynasty as he struggles between maintaining his ideologies (理念) of governing the country and his love for his daughter, Princess Huirou.

The four-decade reign (在位时期) of Emperor Renzong, from 1022 to 1063,     5     (mark) the high point of Song Dynasty’s powers, has great influences     6     Chinese history. Many of the best-known     7     (writer) in Chinese history lived during this period, some of     8     are featured in the series, including Su Shi, Wang Anshi and Fan Zhongyan.

A few days after its premiere (首映),     9     show is highly praised for its outstanding props, costumes, make-up and writing, which     10     (accurate) described the features of the Song Dynasty.

6 . To the untrained eye, a ping-pong ball is just a ping-pong ball. To a Beverly Cleary fan, it's two motorcycle helmets（头盔）for mice. Just cut apart and add rubber band chin straps. Ever since I read Cleary's series about Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, I've never looked at a ping-pong ball—or the world—the same way. And why shouldn't it be? It's perfect.

I wanted a mouse of my own to ride a toy motorcycle around my house! Thanks to Cleary's genius, a talking mouse friend seemed not only possible but probable.

Cleary, who passed away at 104, was one of the main reasons why I became a children's author. While much of children's literature attempted to explain the world from the point of view of a wise and gentle adult, Cleary created main characters who saw the world as only children can. I carefully read every title that bore Beverly Cleary's name. She seemed like a friend who understood me in ways I didn't yet understand myself.

I've written eight children's books and have always kept Beverly's sense of wonder in mind. I don't remember at exactly what age I decided I wanted to write books, but I know that in the second or third grade, my teacher assigned a project that allowed us to focus on whatever we wanted. My best friend picked dolphins while I chose children's authors. I told that story recently to a school group. One of the students said, "That's amazing! You did your project on children's authors and then you became one!" "Yes," I said.

And that perfectly sums up why I love writing for children: the lack of cynicism（愤世嫉俗）, the belief that fantastic, magical things can happen. Best friends can become dolphins. Mice can ride toy motorcycles and become our friends.

That's what Beverly Cleary taught me. In the hands of a gifted storyteller, anything is possible…and very funny.

9 . Perhaps you have heard a lot about the Internet, but what is it, do you know? The Internet is a network. It uses the telephone to join millions of computers together around the world.

Maybe that doesn’t sound very interesting. But when you’ve joined to the Internet, there are lots and lots of things you can do. You can send e­mails to your friends at no cost, and they can get them in a few seconds. You can also do with all kinds of information on the World Wide Web (WWW).

There are many different kinds of computers now. They all can be joined to the Internet. Most of them are small machines sitting on people’s desks at home. But there are still many others in schools, offices or large companies. These computers are owned by people and companies, but no one really owns the Internet itself.

There are lots of places for you to go into the Internet. For example, your school may have the Internet. You can use it during lessons or free time. Libraries often have computers joined to the Internet. You are welcome to use it at any time.

Thanks to the Internet, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is possible for you to work at home with a computer in front, getting and sending the information you need. You can buy or sell whatever you want by the Internet. But do you know 98% of the information on the Internet is in English? So what will English be like tomorrow?

10 . If Mars were the popular kid in school, Venus (金星) would be the unwelcome one sitting in the corner, largely ignored. Venus has nearly the same mass and size as Earth, but being closer to the sun, it gets nearly twice as much heat from the sun.

However, instead of having a climate that is just a warmer version of Earth’s, Venus’s surface and atmosphere are unbearable: clouds of sulphuric acid (硫酸) blanket the planet, while at ground level, it is hot enough to melt lead. Despite this, there is now a sign that Venus may harbour life. Jane Greaves at Cardiff University, UK, and her colleagues recently detected (发现) phosphine (磷化氢) in Venus’s atmosphere, with one potential explanation that it is the by-product of biology. That is because the only way this gas is made on Earth is in laboratories or by microbes (微生物). Though this doesn’t mean it was produced by life on Venus, attempts to find non-biological explanations for its presence have so far failed. Our best way of confirming or rejecting the possibility of life on Venus is to go and have a proper look. While Mars has been the focus of interplanetary (行星间的) exploration efforts lately, the phosphine discovery lets people look at Venus in a new light. As NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”

In the months and years to come, computer simulations(模拟) will be used to further study the possible chemistries of the atmosphere on Venus. More laboratory experiments will be conducted to try to identify other ways the phosphine there could be produced. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will reveal the true nature of this substance on Venus. A newly-proposed strategy is to directly sample the atmosphere and surface of Venus. By doing so, we would be able to take direct measurements of phosphine.

The discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere is a great accomplishment. The scientific efforts may be just what we need to finally refocus on this neglected world. Possibly, the quiet kid in the corner may get the last laugh