It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up and walking the route(路线)through thick evergreen forest.

I looked around and finally spotted David, who was standing by himself off to the side by a fence. He was small for ten years old. His usual big toothy smile was absent today. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other children. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to run.

What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event!

I quickly searched the crowd for the school’s coach and asked him what had happened. “I was afraid that kids from other schools would laugh at him,” he explained uncomfortably. “I gave him the choice to run or not, and let him decide.”

I bit back my frustration(懊恼). I knew the coach meant well—he thought he was doing the right thing. After making sure that David could run if he wanted, I turned to find him coming towards me, his small body rocking from side to side as he swung his feet forward.

David had a brain disease which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but at school his classmates thought of him as a regular kid. He always participated to the best of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it unusual that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him longer—that’s all. David had not missed a single practice, and although he always finished his run long after the other children, he did always finish. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the challenges David faced and was proud of his strong determination.

May 21st this year marks the first International Tea Day, which was named officially     1     the United Nations on November 27th, 2019. To celebrate     2     festival, a number of events took place at the Chinese Businessman Museum in Beijing on Thursday.

The chairman of the China Culture Promotion Society     3     (address) the opening ceremony. “As a main promoter of the International Tea Day, the birthplace of tea and the     4     (large) tea-producing country, China has a     5     (responsible)to work with other countries to promote the healthy development of the tea industry. It can help to build a community with a     6     (share) future for mankind,” he said.

The “First International Tea Day Tea Road Cooperative Initiative” issued (发布) at the ceremony calls for people working in the tea industry to come together to promote international cooperation     7     cultural exchanges. A four-year tea promotion —Tea Road Cooperative Plan — was also issued in accordance with the initiative.

    8     (strengthen)the connection with young people, the event included a number of public promotional activities on social media,     9     (invite) twenty-nine tea professionals from around the world to have thirty-six hours of uninterrupted live broadcasts.

The Chinese Ancient Tea Museum was officially unveiled (揭幕) at the ceremony, opening     10     (it)first exhibition: The Avenue of Truth — A Special Exhibition of Pu’er Tea.

5 . Sometime in the early 1960s, a significant thing happened in Sydney, Australia. The city discovered its harbor. Then, one after another, Sydney discovered lots of things that were just sort of there — broad parks, superb beaches, and a culturally diverse population. But it is the harbor that makes the city.

Andrew Reynolds, a cheerful fellow in his early 30s, pilots Sydney ferryboats for a living. I spent the whole morning shuttling back and forth across the harbor. After our third run Andrew shut down the engine, and we went our separate ways — he for a lunch break, I to explore the city.

“I’ll miss these old boats,” he said as we parted.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re replacing them with catamarans. Catamarans are faster, but they’re not so elegant, and they’re not fun to pilot. But that’s progress, I guess.”

Everywhere in Sydney these days, change and progress are the watchwords (口号), and traditions are increasingly rare. Shirley Fitzgerald, the city’s official historian, told me that in its rush to modernity in the 1970s, Sydney swept aside much of its past, including many of its finest buildings. “Sydney is confused about itself,” she said. “We can’t seem to make up our minds whether we want a modern city or a traditional one. It’s a conflict that we aren’t getting any better at resolving (解决).”

On the other hand, being young and old at the same time has its attractions. I considered this when I met a thoughtful young businessman named Anthony. “Many people say that we lack culture in this country,” he told me. “What people forget is that the Italians, when they came to Australia, brought 2000 years of their culture, the Greeks some 3000 years, and the Chinese more still. We’ve got a foundation built on ancient cultures but with a drive and dynamism of a young country. It’s a pretty hard combination to beat.”

He is right, but I can’t help wishing they would keep those old ferries.

8 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.

The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. ＂We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,＂explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.

One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow(发光)in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light，about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.

In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off＂switch＂where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.

Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source(电源)-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission(传输).Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.

9 . Train Information

All customers travelling on TransLink services must be in possession of a valid ticket before boarding. For ticket information，please ask at your local station or call 13 12 30.

While Queensland Rail makes every effort to ensure trains run as scheduled，there can be no guarantee of connections between trains or between train services and bus services.

Lost property(失物招领)

Call Lost Property on 13 16 17 during business hours for items lost on Queensland Rail services.

The lost property office is open Monday to Friday 7:30am to 5:00pm and is located(位于)at Roma Street station.

Public holidays

On public holidays, generally a Sunday timetable operates. On certain major event days，i.e.

Australia Day, Anzac Day, sporting and cultural days, special additional services may operate.

Christmas Day services operate to a Christmas Day timetable，Before travel please visit translink. com. au or call TransLink on 13 12 30 anytime.

Customers using mobility devices

Many stations have wheelchair access from the car park or entrance to the station platforms.

For assistance, please Queensland Rail on 13 16 17.

Guardian trains (outbound)