Xiao Ming lives in Nanchong. Now he     1     (take) Tom to visit his hometown. Tom thinks it is one of the most attractive     2     (place) he has been to. The city is lively and its people are so     3    (friend). Xiao Ming says that he feels fortunate living here. The climate in Nanchong is pretty hot and wet in summer,     4     it can be quite cold in winter. Nanchong is a famous tour city and     5     are hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. Many modern buildings     6     (put) up in the recent years, and there are some great shopping malls in the business district. With them     7     (approach) the sports park across the West River, they can see the West Hill,     8     is gorgeous with some       9     (real) interesting architecture and local specialty restaurants at its foot. And now Tom is starving, so they decide     10     (park) their car to have lunch in a nice little fish restaurant.

2 . In south Africa’s Limpopo province, a baobab tree (猴面包树) once grew so large and stood so strong that its human neighbors decided to build a pub inside the living tree’s thousand-year-old hollow trunk(树干). For 20 years, “The Big Baobab Pub” attracted tourists all over the world. But in August 2016, one of “the walls” broke. Eight months later, another huge piece broke, too. Now, five of the giant stems have collapsed and died, leaving only half of the tree standing.

Though it could sound like a result of human visitation, it's part of an alarming trend: many of the oldest, largest baobab trees in Africa have died within the last 12 years.

Stephan Woodbourne, an African scientist, said: “Of the oldest trees that we’ve looked at in Southern Africa, the three trees that are older than 2,000 years have all died in the past 10 years. Of the 11 trees that are 1,000 to 2,000 years old, six of them have died.”

A report published in the journal Nature Plants claims scores of the ancient baobab trees, some of which are up to 3,000 years old, are now dying because of rising global temperatures.

Researchers believe it is impossible that such a high number of old baobab trees die in such a short time due to natural causes. They think it may be associated with huge change of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular.

3 . Dragon Boat Festival abroad

The Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu, is marked on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Similar festivals abroad include Tango no Sekku in Japan and the Gangneung Danoje Festival in South Korea.

Originally, the Duanwu Festival was called Tango no Sekku in Japan and celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar. However, the festival became a Children's Day, which was designated as a national holiday by the Japanese government in 1948. It is celebrated for children’s personalities and their happiness.

Falling on the May 5 in the Chinese lunar calendar—the day of China's Dragon Boat Festival, South Korea's Gangneung Danoje has the longest history among Korean local festivals and its main purpose is to honour the guardian spirit of a mountain that protects the town, pray for peace among the town and its families as well as farming prosperity.

Festival celebrations consist of shamanistic rituals, folk dances and songs, oral narrative poetry and various popular pastimes. The Nanjang market is another festival element, where local products and handicrafts are sold and contests, games and circus performances take place.

Nowadays, the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in some Western countries with activities such as dragon boat racing and eating zongzi.

Participants compete on the water during the fourth Steveston Dragon Boat Festival held at Richmond, Canada, Aug 24, 2013.

4 . A male tiger was rescued in Mishan city, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, on Friday. A tiger was recently seen on the Siner Russian border （边界），but there is no evidence to suggest this is the same tiger or that it had lost its way from Russia.

Wherever it may have come from, cross-border protection of endangered species is a problem. According to Ma Jianzhang, a senior wild animal researcher in China, tigers know no borders, which have been built to stop humans from illegally crossing over. However, these borders also stop the free movement of tigers, thus preventing their breeding （繁殖） and exchange of genes.

The Sino-Russian border also comes in the way of protecting tigers in the region. Data show about 500 to 550 Siberian tigers, or over 90 percent of the species, live in the wild in Russia; 27 live in the wild in China, and 50 in the border region. Sometimes tigers lose their way across the border and that is hindering （妨碍）efforts to stop illegal hunting and protecting them.

Fortunately, both China and Russia have realized this problem and are working toward solving it. As early as 2010, the two countries established a cross-border protection network aimed at strengthening communication on protecting tigers in the northeast. The countries have also held anti-poaching （反偷猎）activities together. In 2019, two national parks from the two countries signed a three-year deal to share research data on tigers, greatly improving the living conditions of Siberian tigers in the wild.

However, much more needs to be done to protect the species. It is necessary to combine the tiger protection areas in the two countries. That will require greater efforts from both sides and some difficulties might remain even then. Fortunately, both countries have been taking effective measures to provide the endangered species a better home.

6 . As an English learner, we sometimes get questions like this: “How can I speak English with more confidence?" That is a great question.     1     Today, we have several pieces of advice to help you.

Every day, the most important person you talk to is yourself. That's to say, your own thoughts matter. If you lack confidence as an English speaker, you may say things like, "English is too hard" "I'm so sorry for my English." What's worse, you are sure to start believing them.     2    

To sound more confident, speak loudly and slowly enough so that people can easily hear you. Many English learners worry that speaking too slow will make them sound inexperienced.     3     So avoid worrying that you are speaking too slow for the people around you.

    4     If you are not confident, you may try to say as little as possible. For example, if asked what people's favorite color is, an English learner may give a short, direct response like, "blue", while a native English speaker is likely to say, “Well, to be quite honest, I don't really have an actual color, but I guess I may go for something like blue or grey.”

Reading out loud can help build confidence in how your English sounds. List words you have trouble saying and later check their pronunciation.     5     So avoid checking word meanings in a dictionary while reading.

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