There were several kinds of greetings in ancient China. Among them, the fist-and-palm salute (拱手礼) was a quite common one, with a history of about 3, 000 years. It was first used  people in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In ancient times, if people met a stranger, their hands were always ready to hold something used for . Holding out both hands showed that people could feel relaxed. 

When people met, men usually used their left hand to hold the right one. It's believed that the left was the important side for men in Chinese history. While for women, the important side was the . So when they gave the fist-and-palm salute, they should put their right hand on the top. When someone presents the fist-and-palm salute to you, you are supposed to do it back as well.

In many wuxia or kung fu TV series and movies, people greet other with the hold-fist salute, or baoquan in Chinese. The gesture (手势) is that the right hand is made a fist, while the left hand covers the right fist. It's similar to the fist-and-palm salute, they are different. Baoquan is widely used among kung fu masters and students. Don't make a mistake.

Sam was worried. The following morning, he would have an art class. It was his favourite class, but there was a 1 . Sam saw the world differently from everybody else. When he drew, birds had different-sized wings, and buildings had strange shapes. Every time he painted a picture, his teachers and classmates would be 2 . 

It was time for the art class. Nervously, Sam looked at the white piece of paper in front of him. 

"Good morning, class, " said Mr White. "Today, we're going to paint. . . "

Sam 3 , wondering what the next word would be. Please, he thought, not houses, not buildings. . . 

"We're going to paint 4 , "said Mr White, with a smile.

"Yes! Great!" said Sam 5 . 

"We can't paint that!" shouted Mike from the other side of the classroom.

"Sure, you can, " replied Mr White patiently. "Think about it, Mike. What makes you 6 ?" "Umm. . . beaches, sunshine, and. . . ice-cream!" said Mike. 

"Well, there you go. That's how you paint it. Start working!" said Mr White.

Sam was already 7 . He splashed (泼洒) a lot of paints all over the 8 . It was really beautiful! There were shapes that we didn't have in the real world and the colours were so shining. The whole class 9 and Sam looked proud.

From that day on, Sam was never 10  about the art class. He knew that he could paint happiness, no matter what he painted. 

____ about Hamburgers

Although "hamburger" has a German name, it actually started in the U. S. and is now popular all over the world. The most basic hamburger is two buns with a piece of beef and some lettuce and sauce in the middle, but a hamburger can have many other ingredients as well. In Shanghai, you can eat all different kinds of burgers. In Las Vegas, you can even taste a burger with gold foil（金箔）！

Born in the 2000s, what do you think of your generation(一代人)? Young, creative, connected, global, smart, maybe good-looking? But what do other people think about your generation?

Some adults worry that you're more interested in the phone than the world around you. They see you as the "face-down generation" and wonder how you will deal with school, friends, and family. Are today's teenagers too busy texting and taking selfies(自拍) to become successful in real life — or "IRL", as you would say?

Other adults worry that today's youth are spoiled and don't want to face the challenges of adult life. Many children born in the 1990s and 2000s were raised by "helicopter parents" who were always there to do everything for them. So today's young people seem to prefer to live like teenagers even when they are in their 20s or 30s. 

Does the face-down generation need a heads-up? Well, probably not. The fact is that many of today's teenagers are better educated and more creative than past generations. They also seem to be willing to become leaders. More young people than ever volunteer to serve their communities. There are also brave young people who try their best to help others. 

So if you are one of them born in the 2000s, there's reason to be hopeful about the future. Things are looking up for the face-down generation. 

①Researchers have long tried to understand the advantages of watching birds. A study in Scientific Reports in October 2022 found that seeing or hearing these birds improved people's feelings of happiness for up to eight hours. And a study in 2020 showed human happiness even had something to do with the number of different bird kinds around people's homes and towns. Another research in 2017 supported the idea that birds were good for the human brain. All the researches above show that birdwatching is good for mental (心理的) health. 

②Why can birds make such a great difference? A very simple reason is the fact that birds can fly. And it is really fascinating. Another reason could be that spending time with flying birds in nature improves mental health, a mental health researcher at King's College London once said.

③It may surprise you that birdwatching can make people less stressed out. Sitting outside and listening to the birds, and getting to know their songs, can really keep you calm. Seeing birds flying can make you full of imagination. And it can let your worries fly away. 

④When people search for a safe and free outdoor activity to relax, birdwatching is a good choice. A great thing about birdwatching is that anyone can do it. Here is how to start. 

⑤One of the simplest ways to start is by feeding the birds. If you don't know the names of the birds you see, you can use an app called Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab to get to know them by the sounds they make. 

⑥For another, if your family has a backyard, do what you can to make it a nice place for birds. One way is by choosing proper plants that attract (吸引) and protect them. The National Audubon Society can help you to know the proper plants. The last simple thing you should know about birds is that "All birds get thirsty". 

Imagine that you're taking an exam. You find it difficult to answer those questions, and time is running out. Would you choose to cheat? 

Certainly, it's not correct. It's important to follow the rules because the world will be in a mess without rules. For example, if we all do what we want to do on the road, accidents will happen everywhere.  We'll be less creative if we're too well-behaved（行为端正的） in the world full of rules. We have to think outside the box.  But you need to learn how to do it. 

·Learn the rules first

Qi Baishi was a talented Chinese artist. He found his own style after spending much time learning traditional drawing and painting skills. Break it after you master（掌握） it — that's what you can learn from great minds. 

 ·Evaluate(评估) if the result is worth（值得） it

 Before breaking the rules, think over whether it will go against your values. Try to make a wise decision and you must be prepared for the bad results. 

 So we have reason to believe that we can try to break the rules when they stop us from becoming better. Of course, we can break the rules sometimes, but we can't break the law. 

In a school, you may hear a student saying in Chinese, "I'm quite interested in Chinese. " but you're not in China. You are in a foreign country. Like the student, many foreigners are learning Chinese. But it's not easy. The Chinese use a different character(字) for each word. People have to memorize about 600 characters before they can do even basic reading and writing. For foreigners, it's hard to memorize them. And the following chart shows the top 3 difficulties for foreigners while learning Chinese.

However, Chinese is more popular around the world today. The long history and colorful culture of China attract many foreigners to learn Chinese. With the rapid development, China is staying ahead in many fields and is playing its role in the world. Chinese is becoming a global (全球的) language and its popularity has risen around the world. Many countries set up Chinese courses in their schools. 

For example, in the UK, students used to choose between Spanish, Latin, French and other foreign languages. But now schools encourage their students to study Chinese. The increase in popularity of Chinese has been surprising. 1, 031 people took Chinese language exams in 2001, and the number was 2, 062 last year, while 2, 561 people chose Spanish. It's predicted that studying Chinese in the UK could overtake (超过) Spanish in less than five years.

Just like the foreigners do, we also learn foreign languages. Different languages carry different cultures. So exchanges are necessary. By learning a foreign language, we not only have a useful tool of communicating, but experience a new culture. What's more important, learning a foreign language well will help us tell our own stories to the world.
 

Everyone is   the ability to learn. 

We should learn English well   we can tell Chinese stories to the world. 

Air pollution   be a very serious environmental problem, but now it has been improved. 

  nice city Guiyang is! We can see trees and breathe fresh air everywhere. 

We are   take up a hobby instead of spending much time on smartphones. 

When a film or a TV show is finished shooting, we call it "sha qing(杀青)" in Chinese. But do you know where this term (come) from?

The term "sha qing" was (one) used during the Pre-Qin Period(先秦时代). At that time, people did not invent paper. They mainly used bamboo slips(竹简) and (knife) to write. But there was one problem with bamboo — (it) skin was too smooth to write on. Then some people found a solution. They dried the green bamboo slips over fire. It not only made them (easy) to write on, but also protected them from insects. The drying process was called "sha qing". 

Later during the Qin Dynasty, writing brushes (invent). People started to write on the smooth skin  the bamboo for the first time. When they were sure to write their articles, they would peel off the green skin and write on the white part of the bamboo. This process was also called "sha qing". After this process was completed, the writing could not be changed. (gradual), people used "sha qing" to mean that books or articles were sure to come out. 

Nowadays, we no longer use bamboo to write articles. Instead, we write on paper or type on computers. As result, the meaning of "sha qing" has changed. These days "sha qing" is used a movie shooting is finished. With the coming of the digital age, the film-makers nw use digital cameras to produce movies. We are saying goodbye to the "film" age. 

要求：1. 语句通顺，意思连贯，内容充实，语法正确，书写规范；
2. 文中不得出现真实姓名、校名等信息；
3. 词数不少于80。

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