To my mother, the four basic food groups are meat, milk, grain and coleslaw (凉拌菜丝)—pieces of raw cabbage, carrot, onion, etc. mixed with sauce. And she always thinks highly of her handmade coleslaw. In our house, the coleslaw always goes on the table in a bowl.

I love Mom's coleslaw, but there was a time I distinctly remember when it caused absolute panic within me.

Early in the first grade, I raced home from school with a collection of papers handed to me by my class teacher Mary. As I rushed through the front door, I immediately ran to the kitchen where Mom was making chicken noodle soup. Holding the papers, I begged, “Read them to me, Mom, please!”

Slowly she started reading aloud. I smiled with delight as she read to me what seemed an almost endless list of exciting adventures waiting for me in the coming year. And then, it happened.

“It's a tradition for a mother to bring a homemade treat for the class to share on her child's birthday,” she read. “It needn't be anything fancy, just something you enjoy making.” The words floated through the air in painfully slow motion. The phrase “just something you enjoy making” kept appearing inside my head.

Until my birthday in April, I lived in fear that Mom would arrive at school with a cart full of her coleslaw for everyone to share. I imagined the classmates laughing at me, “Who would bring coleslaw on his birthday? Oh, stupid Tom!”

When I left for school on the morning of my birthday, Mom was making cakes. I had relief and was glad she would bring the cakes. But then, I found there were a great many raw vegetables in the fridge. “Will you also make coleslaw for me, Mom?” I asked, shocked.

1. 续写词数应为150左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Panic swept over me as I looked at Mom for an answer.

“Wow, how delicious!” Mary said, and then all the others expected the coleslaw.

2 . Double rainbows are one thing, but a double aurora (极光)? They can happen, though some kinds are rare. One particular red-and-green aurora is especially confusing. Now, images taken by amateur astronomers may help reveal its secrets.

Citizen scientists living in Canada and Finland used cameras to document an unusual combination of auroras in the night sky. Physicists have studied those images to learn what may have caused the unusual light show.

Alan Dyer was outside his home in Strathmore, Canada, when the dancing Northern Lights caught his attention. He grabbed his camera and started filming. "I knew I had something interesting," says Dyer. At first glance, the double aurora looks like a floating slice of watermelon. The green aurora is well-understood. The fruity looking red st rip is more mysterious. Scientists have known about these red auroras for decades. But there's no agreement on how they form. One idea is that Earth's magnetic field can heat up certain areas of the atmosphere. That heat could knock particles (粒子) around, like in proton (质子) rain.

Researchers had seen these two types of auroras occur together before. But it was always mysterious, says Toshi Nishimura, a space physicist at Boston University. After looking at satellite observations along with the images taken by Dyer and others, Nishimura and his team concluded how the two phenomena might be related. The key is the thin rays in the red aurora. They mark the paths of electrons falling through the Earth's magnetic field. That means electron rain appears to cause the red aurora, just as proton rain causes the green one. Both get powered by the solar wind. But the electrons carry less energy than the protons, so they make for a more reddish color.

Electron rain might not be the only way to produce the stable red auroras, though. The results show that what's going on is more complicated than researchers had thought. The auroras Dyer saw could be danger zones for radio communication and GPS systems, says Nishimura.

The citizen scientists who took the photos were a critical part of the new findings, Nishimura says.

3 . Financial trouble had distanced us from the life that was. We decided to _________ our home. But first, we’d have to deal with two hugely _________ hollies (冬青树) that have overtaken the front of the house.

We called landscapers (园艺师). The news wasn’t _________. 20-plus years of neglect left us with only two _________: Let them be or tear them out. The idea of cutting off all that life just for a better view _________ us. We have never owned any green thing that grew well, except for those crazy hollies. But we still scheduled the _________.

Over the two weeks before cutting, though, the trees _________ me. So I emailed one last landscaper. I pinned my hopes on that. Daria came to our front lawn and said, “These can’t be trimmed (修剪).” “The trunks are too _________,” she added. “I can cut them down to about 2 feet of trunk and see if they’ll grow.”

See if they’ll grow? Months? Years? I said nothing, but Daria could read our _________. “If nothing happens,” she said, “we’ll get you some new ones.” We gave her the green light.

But weeks later, I __________ the front bed. Three or four bunches of tiny leaves __________ from one trunk. It was the __________ of small, good things arriving.

Each day, they made us smile, __________ us to have patience and gave us hope that all of us have the __________ to heal. For that, we thank those quiet, strong hollies, now __________ to the spring, as we look forward to starting fresh.

4 . Orienteering (定向越野) involves running, jogging or walking, and using a map and compass to move between places. It’s a great way to have fun outdoors with friends and family. The aim is to move between points, called controls, in a certain order in the quickest time. Events are usually held in parks, fields or forests but they can also happen in towns and cities and even school playgrounds. People can take part either as individuals or as a team.

Beginners’ events will have easier controls to find and cover less distance — perhaps a mile or two. For experienced orienteers, the length of the course could be much longer and take in hills and rough ground.

Orienteers are given a “control description sheet” to help them find each point. This sheet has details of features to look for, like paths and rivers, and a code that must match the code at each control. You will either mark your sheet at each control or check in with an electronic card.

When you start orienteering, you will learn map-reading skills. A helpful tip is to keep your thumb on the spot that shows your location on the map. Keep it the right way round: the features in front of you on the ground should be in front of you on the map.

Orienteering maps can have five or six colors. Black areas show human features, like buildings; brown shows the contour (轮廓) lines (height of the land); and blue shows water, such as lakes and rivers. White and green together show woodlands; yellow areas represent grass and open areas. On orienteering maps, a course consists of a triangle, circles, a double circle and sometimes connecting lines. The triangle is the start, the double circle is the finish, and all the circles in between are checkpoints.

As you run between points by what you hope is the quickest route, you can take in the scenery around you and have a great time choosing your path and trying to finish in a fast time.

5 . Matt counted his new year gifts one more time as he tucked a robot-shaped eraser into each envelope. He prepared gifts for everyone for the next day's party.

When Matt got to school the next day, he saw a new girl in his classroom. She stood near Ms. Robins and looked around shyly. "This is Dorothy," said Ms. Robins. "Will someone volunteer to show her around today?" Matt raised his hand. He liked helping new kids feel welcome. "Thanks, Matt," Ms. Robins said. "Now let's get busy with our work so we're done in time for the party." That's when Matt realized he didn't have a gift for Dorothy. No one else would have one either. He felt a sad lump in his stomach.

As he showed Dorothy around, he was careful not to mention the party. At lunchtime, he walked Dorothy to the lunchroom, still worried about what would happen at the party. Dorothy had brought a packed lunch, so Matt showed her where she should sit and went back to his usual seat. While eating, Matt suddenly remembered that kids often included candy hearts with the new year gifts they exchanged. An idea popped into his head. He whispered it to the kids around him. Soon everyone at the table was nodding and whispering.

When they were back in the classroom after lunch, Matt told Ms. Robins about their plan. Ms. Robins agreed with a nodding smile. It was math time, so Matt invited Dorothy to study with him. He made sure Dorothy sat with her back to the room so she wouldn't notice her new classmates passing around an exquisite paper bag Ms. Robins prepared to collect their candy hearts.

Before long, it was party time. They played games and then had cookies and juice. Finally, they passed out their gifts. The room buzzed with happy chatter. Matt saw the sad look on Dorothy's face as she glanced at other kids' desks overflowing with envelopes.

"Here's your gift, Dorothy," Matt said, placing the paper bag in front of her. "It's from everyone."

Dorothy stared at the beautiful bag full of "hearts".

"We wanted you to have a special New Year's Day too," said Matt.

"Thank you," Dorothy said, smiling at her new classmates. "It really is a special day!"

6 . If you’ve ever walked around the streets of a Chinese city and seen sticks of brightly colored fruit shining in the winter sun, chances are that you’ve been at a tanghulu stall.

    1    ? Also called bingtanghulu, it’s a traditional northern Chinese snack made of skewered (串起的) fresh fruit dipped into syrup that hardens quickly, creating a hard shell. Crunchy and sweet on the outside, soft and sour on the inside, this sugarcoated special ty of northern China is a winter favorite with young and old alike.

    2    , many creative traders — and tanghulu lovers at home — will also make it with any number of other diverse fruits like strawberries, grapes, mandarin oranges and pineapple segments (瓣；片).

Tanghulu dates back to the Song Dynasty when it was a favorite with the Chinese imperial family. Legend has it that when a princess in the court fell sick, a doctor suggested she eat hawthorn (山楂) fruit fried in brown sugar every day for two weeks. On her recovery, the doctor became famous.     3    .

Nowadays it’s perhaps the most popular street sweet in China.     4    . When the weather cools, the vendors (小贩) increase, and you can’t avoid seeing them.     5    .

With some free time during the holiday, I thought it was time to achieve one of my China     1     (dream): visiting Harbin!

That afternoon of     2     first day was time to see the fabled (传奇的) snow and ice world of Harbin. This frozen amusement park just blew me away. The giant ice statues, all illuminated (发光的)     3     the inside, were simply magical to explore; and various attractions and games, such as sledding, made the trip all the more worthwhile.

Although busy, the park was still definitely manageable, and     4     was nice to see so many families who must have traveled from far and wide all having fun. My only regret was wearing only two pairs of socks and not three, as     5     the sun went down the temperatures quickly dropped as well.

On my second day, my tour took us to the old city center. While     6     (walk) down the pedestrian (步行的) Central Street, I found architectural influences from both the present and the past     7     (be) on full display, showing an amazing mix of cultures. In some ways, it reminded me of walking down Nanjing Road in Shanghai — just a lot     8     (cold)! The freezing temperatures didn't stop visitors from enjoying the local ice cream, however.

The magic of this icy city     9     (stick) with me since and I can't wait until next winter     10     (visit) again.

10 . Need to dash to other campuses? College members can catch the free Imperial campus shuttle bus.

The College Shuttle Bus is available for staff and students, providing free transport between the South Kensington, White City and Hammersmith campuses on weekdays, in line with teaching, learning and research duties. Pre-booking is required; you should make your booking online no later than midnight prior to when you’re travelling.

Key information

●Travel timings are approximate: Although we do our best to adhere to the timetables, London traffic is frequently subject to delays.

●Want to track where your bus is: Download the Safezone app to get live GPS tracking.(tap the three horizontal lines in the top left and select “Buses”)

●Who can travel: Staff and students who need to travel between campuses. This is not a commuter service —if you live locally, you will need to use public transport to travel to campus.

●Booking my journey: Pre-booking your journey is essential.

Note: If opening the booking app in Safari, please turn off the Privacy setting “Prevent cross-site tracking”.

●What you’ll need: Along with confirmation of your reservation, you will need to show your College ID when boarding.