1 . Ru Ling loves spending time in skywells. To her, these courtyards of old houses are the perfect place to be in on a hot and humid day. From 2014 to 2021, Ru lived in a century-old wood-framed home in the village of eastern China’s Anhui province. She moved there for a change of life after living and working in air-conditioned buildings for many years.

A skywell, or “tian jing”, is a typical feature of a traditional home in southern and eastern China. They are relatively common in historic residences in Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. In today’s rapidly urbanizing (城市化) China, fewer and fewer people live in skywell dwellings—air-conditioned flats in multi-storeyed buildings and tower blocks are the main forms of homes.

But a revival (复苏) of interest in traditional Chinese architecture is leading some of historic buildings with skywells to be restored for modern times. Meanwhile, as a government push has made low-carbon innovations in the building sector a trend, some architects are drawing inspiration from skywells and other traditional Chinese architectural features to help keep new buildings cooler.

Ancient “green wisdom” such as skywells continues to inspire today’s climate adaptive design and innovations in passive cooling, according to Wang Zhengfeng, a researcher at the Institute for Area Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Passive cooling is a method that incorporates design and technology to cool a building without the use of power.

However, Wang points out some challenges for bringing skywells into modern designs. The mechanisms of courtyards facilitating natural lighting, ventilation and rain collection are well known, but applying these principles needs to be site-specific. Because traditional skywells had different shapes, sizes and features, adding skywells into modern buildings requires designers to be sensitive to their project’s context (环境) and situation, she explains. When asked about why skywells have appealed to modern Chinese people, Wang says that the courtyard is also designed to serve as a gathering space for families or communities. “Perhaps changes in the lifestyle could also lead to nostalgia among people living in concrete and glass forests.”

2 . 假设你是李华，春节(the Spring Festival)即将来临，你的澳大利亚笔友Peter写信给你询问有关春节的相关信息。请你写一封回信给他，回信要点：

1. 春节时间(农历lunar calendar 正月初一，通常在1月底至二月20日左右)

2. 春节期间主要活动 (如家人团聚family reunion、送祝福send greetings、走亲访友visit relatives and friends)

3. 春节的意义：象征反思(reflection)、更新(renewal)和复兴(rejuvenation)的时刻，强调(emphasize)家庭、团结(unity)和对繁荣(prosperous)的新的一年的希望。

注意：1. 词数80词左右; 2.可适当增加细节，使行文连贯

Dear Peter,

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Yours

Li Hua

6 . Recently, I was walking with some parents when we came across a five-pound note lying on the ground. We stood around it for a moment, a bit awkwardly, until someone suggested putting it on a nearby bench. Then one of the parents remarked that we’d probably have behaved differently — that is, we would have just taken the money — had we been alone.

This relates to a classic question in studies of human generosity: do we behave more selfishly when we aren’t being observed? The debate goes on across the psychological and biological sciences, as well as in popular culture, about whether kindness can exist in a competitive world.

Yom Kippur is a Jewish (犹太人的) religious holiday when Jewish people fast and ask for forgiveness for the wrongs they’ve committed. One of the points of Yom Kippur is to behave better regardless of who is watching. There’s an evolutionary beauty to the teachings of Yom Kippur, which are the products of thousands of years of cultural changes and evolution.

The Maasai people of Kenya practice osotua: relationships between people that operate based on need. When someone forms an osotua relationship with another, they enter into an unwritten contract to help their partner in times of need. And hunter-gatherer groups, which can represent the circumstances our species evolved in, have many similar examples.

Cultural evolution helps to explain the existence and complexity of these systems. Cultural changes are far faster than biological evolution, allowing intelligent species like humans to develop behavioral adaptations for managing complex social environments. Osotua, or any other practice that helps to maintain good treatment of others in society, is the result of tens of thousands of years of cultural trial and error. The customs passed down over time are those that help us to develop as cultural groups.

The study of those changes has helped us to understand how we successfully spread around the world as cooperative groups. Biological evolution has helped humans be more cooperative, but cultural changes have accelerated this process.

Cultural evolution helps us to overcome our selfish natures. Try to understand rules before you ignore them — and next time you find a fiver on the ground, you might think about the awkward situation your discovery represents.

Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty was a man who had with great ambition. When he was young, he had a good friend     1     (name) Liu Kun. They had such a deep friendship     2     they stayed together every day and got up at the same time every morning.

One day, when they were sleeping. Zu Ti heard the rooster crowing (鸡鸣) . He woke up Liu Kun and said, “How about     3     (get) up to play swords (剑) as soon as we heard the rooster crowing from now on?” Liu Kun was still     4     (sleep) . But he agreed with him     5     (joyful) . From then on, they got up and played swords once the rooster began crowing. They kept their word and never gave up no matter     6     cold in winter or hot in summer. Hard work     7     (pay) off. After a long period of hard study and training, they finally became the all-rounder. And they both did excellent jobs to their country.

The idiom “to rise with the rooster” teaches us that with ambition and hard work,     8     (succeed) is possible. When we can discover our shortcomings     9     time, it is not too late to try. But if you are not willing     10     (work) hard, you will not be able to achieve a career after all.

10 . For students or teachers who are planning an educational trip to China, or parents who want to arrange educational and meaningful things to do in China for children, here we offer travel tips on what to do and learn for educational tour in China.

▶How to make dumplings. Dumpling is the most common food in China, and it has so many fans in the world for its deliciousness, and has become a must-order food in a Chinese restaurant for foreigners. Dumpling in China is easily home-made food, and most families would make it by themselves. While having an educational trip to China, you could learn how to make dumplings.

▶How to make Chinese traditional handicrafts (手工艺品), like Chinese knots (结), and paper-cutting. Small fine Chinese traditional handicrafts are very beautiful and have blessings (祝福) for life, thus people would like to make them and put them in houses. Chinese knot is made by strings through special weaving, and it has blessings of safety, health and happiness, and you could hang it in houses or cars. Chinese paper-cutting is pasted on window glass, and used to decorate houses in Spring Festival, and it could be designed into different shapes, such as animals, flowers, and letters. You could totally get this two skills, and make Chinese knot and paper cutting to decorate houses.

▶How to make terracotta warriors (兵马俑), china, and pottery. When visiting Terracotta Warriors, you would admire its greatness and excellent skills. But please remember, you could make your own terracotta warriors and bring them home. Outside the Terracotta, there are stores for you to experience how to make terracotta warriors. Besides terracotta warriors, you could also go to experiential stores to learn how to make china and pottery.