2 . In the corner of my desk is a note, slowly yellowing from time. It is a card from my mother, containing only four sentences, but with enough impact to _________ my life forever.

In the card, she praises my abilities as a writer. The word “but” never appears; _________, the word “and” is there almost a half dozen times.

Every time I read it, I am _________ to ask myself how many times I’ve “but-ted” my own daughters. Although our eldest daughter usually got all A’s on her report card, teachers would always suggest that she talked too much in class. I would come home and _________ her with, “Congratulations! Your Dad and I are very _________ of your accomplishment, but could you try to _________ in class?”

The same was _________ of our younger daughter. She treats the floor of her room as a closet, which has often caused me to say, “Yes, that project is great, but _________ your room!”

I’ve noticed that other _________ do the same thing. “Our whole family was together for Christmas, but Kyle skipped out early to play his new computer game.” “The hockey team won, but Mike should have made that last __________.”

But, but, but.

Instead, what I have learned from my mother is to start thinking “and, and, and”. __________, “The hockey team won, and Mike did his best the whole game.”

Now, I am firmly __________ that “but” feels bad, “and” feels good. This is not to say that children don’t need or won’t respond to their parents’ __________. They do and they will. When those expectations are consistently __________, amazing things happen.

“No more buts!” is a call for __________. And if I ever forget, I have my mother’s note to remind me.

3 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

4 . It was 1:20 a. m. I had just gone to bed, a bit _________ after celebrating my 31st birthday. Before dinner, I’d placed _________ outside my garden door and prepared the cell phone just _________. After all, it had been _________ that week, resulting in flood warnings.

I was awakened by the _________ of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was shocked to feel cold water already up to my knees and _________ fast.

Shaking in darkness, I _________ my phone and turned on its flashlight. Then by the light I could _________ water was from the garden door. It must have breached (在……上) the sandbags. The river, usually such a quiet, slow moving river in my region, had _________ burst its banks. And now I had to __________!

I took __________ action. Any effects of the alcohol before sleep were gone;__________ sobers (使清醒) one up. After I went outside, I learned the river had flooded the neighbourhood. Therefore, if I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned.

In the end, I think the experience made me __________ and determined to live each day to its fullest. I came very close to drowning that day. But rather than dwell on (沉湎于)what happened, I prefer to __________ what my mother told me afterwards, “Don’t remember the day when you lost everything. Remember the day you __________. That day marked the beginning of a new chapter in your life.”

Qiyuan Garden is a classical type private garden     1    (locate)in Wuyuan Township of Haiyan County in Zhejiang Province. It is one of the top ten gardens in China. The old name of it is Feng’s Garden. During the Qing Dynasty,     2     owner of the Garden, Feng Zuanzhai, settled here.

The layout of the whole garden expresses the     3    (harmony)manner between water and mountains. The garden has a large area of water     4     it is dotted with a few constructions. The entrance of the garden is on the west side. In the middle of the garden is the flower hall with bridges in front. The     5    (flow)water goes around the hall to the north, and by the other side of the pool in front of the hall     6    (be)artificial hills. The layout of the garden is similar     7     the structure of the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou. The garden has various     8    (attract)with fancy names such as Butterfly Drops into Greens and the Setting Sun on the Lotus Pool. Pathways here consist of waterways, mountain holes, underground tunnels and fly-over beams(飞梁),    9     will bring you to a dreamland. Beautiful gloriettes(亭子)    10    (distribute)evenly in the garden to provide a place for relaxation.

6 . From the concert halls of Europe to the tech industries of the United States, C. J. Santos has created a story across the globe.

Born in Brazil, Santos moved to Switzerland at the age of 18, and earned degrees in both music and business there. During his next 10 years of “challenging” career as a professional musician, he spent most of his time on the road. “I had the honor to perform in the top concert halls in Europe,” Santos said. “It really wore me out to be constantly traveling and performing, but it allowed me to see the world and understand it in its full diversity. This was a unique experience, and I carry its benefits with me to this day.”

Through these experiences, Santos was able to become fluent in six languages. With these skills under his belt, Santos worked with his wife, who is also fluent in four languages, to develop a small translation business.

“Running it with no previous business experience was a challenging but exciting learning-by-doing experience,” Santos said. “In addition, the translation industry experienced a massive digital transformation (变化) in the last ten years.”

This brought Santos to an MBA/M.S. program in business analysis (分析) and information management, where he got rich experience, knowledge and unique understandings in different industries. The program provided him with something he clearly enjoys in life: variety. “It helped me take the most advantage of the translation industry’s digital transformation. What I gained from the program is more than what I managed in the 15 years in Europe,” he added.

As Santos continues to grow his business, he’s also working as an advisor. “The world’s digital transformation has advanced at a high speed,” he said. “To me, it’s very exciting to be a valuable resource to those who need help to jump into the digital journey.”

I’m Lihua from Xinhua Senior High School, ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours Sincerely

Li Hua

9 . Every day people joined archaeologists and artists in finding some of the year’s most dramatic discoveries. Below are some examples of 2023.

“Naughty pupils” — ancient punishment method resurfaces

Archaeologists discovered 18,000 ink-carved pieces of pottery — known as “ostraca” — at the site of Athribis early this year, and among them were hundreds of fragments (碎片) with a single symbol repeated front and back.

Those scribbles (潦草的文字) are evidence of “naughty pupils” being made to write lines, according to researchers at Germany’s University of Tuebingen. The fragments also included receipts, school texts, trade information and lists of names.

Van Gogh peers out in hidden portraits

There is one more known Van Gogh’s self-portrait in the world, and it was hidden behind a painting of a peasant woman. People made the discovery when they took an X-ray of one of his portraits from 1885 and discovered-the artist’s own image behind layers of cardboard and glue. While X-rays often reveal how artists changed their compositions, the full self-portrait of Van Gogh came as a huge surprise, who was known to reuse canvases (画布) to save money.

Another treasure collection from Sanxingdui

The Sanxingdui archaeological site has produced thousands of relics. The latest discovery, reported by Chinese state media in June includes 3,155 objects, a turtle shell-shaped box and a sacrificial altar among them. A team has been digging six places of the site, turning up more than 13,000 objects so far. Last year, the relics they uncovered included a golden mask, ivory artifacts (手工艺品) and a jade knife. The Sanxingdui culture still remains mysterious, as it left behind no written records or human remains, though many believe it to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, which ruled along the upper stream of the Yangtze River until it was conquered in 316 BC.

10 . In many ways, life has become far more comfortable and convenient in the past few decades.     1     Here, we look at three of the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing.

Air Pollution

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles and power plants. Other human activities, such as construction and the burning of waste, also contribute to air pollution. The effects on our health can be very serious.

You can easily contribute to reducing air pollution by only using a car to make journeys when it’s absolutely necessary.     2    

Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in the temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans. It’s caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere. These trap the Sun’s heat and warm up the planet.

Global warming has already caused a wide range of problems.     3     Countries around the world have faced extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods and heat waves.

Overflowing Landfills

Landfills are used for waste disposal (处理) in many countries around the world. However, these landfills are now nearing their limit. When this happens, the chances of dangerous chemicals in the waste entering our water supply increase.

The amount of waste in landfills in China has risen sharply over the last ten years.     4     Some cities, such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, among others, are leading the way and have promised to send “zero waste to landfill!”.

    5     They believe that, although recycling waste is effective, the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills is to encourage people to take responsibility for reducing the waste they produce themselves.