Sports are important in English life. The people of England are sports lovers. Some of the world's famous sports began here such as football and cricket(板球).

    Football is a fast game played in winter and early spring. Lots of people play football in parks or playgrounds just for fun. With hundreds of years' history, it's one of the most popular sports in England. The English love football very much and they turned most of their main players into famous persons. David Beckham and Bobby Charlton became heroes（英雄） for many children. The most interesting part of the English football year is the FA (Football Association) Cup Final each May.

    Cricket is a national sport in England. It is a very popular summer sport. It is a game played on grass(草地 )by two teams of eleven players. Players wear white clothes and score points（得分） by hitting（击打） the ball with a bat(棒子). People can sit around the green, enjoying the sun, having drinks and watching the team games.

    One morning it was shining brightly when I woke up. I looked at the alarm dock. It said 3:45! It had stopped! What time was it? I spent two minutes putting on my clothes and ran down to the kitchen. The kitchen clock Said 8: 30--I was late! My parents were away. The school bus went at 8:00. I had missed it, I rang my friend Tony on his mobile phone.

    "Tell the teacher I'll be in as soon as I can!" I said "Come on your rollerblades," Tony said. "It will be faster than the bus." I got an apple to eat on the way. That was my breakfast! Then I put on my rollerblades and set off for school. It took half an hour to get to the school. I took all the shortcuts I knew, I went across the park-even through some backyards! When I got to school. I was very hot and my legs ached. I had missed math, our first lesson of the morning. But I made it just in time for history, our second lesson. I was very happy because history is my favourite subject.

    Thanks to the hybrid rice that was discovered by Yuan Longping, the hunger problem of thousands of Chinese people was mostly fixed in the 1980s.

    On Sept 8^th, Yuan, together with two other scientists, won China's 2018 Future Science Prize, for his continuous research on rice. Even on his 88th birthday on Sept 7^th, he took part in the International Development Forum of Rice Production in Hunan province. Although he was recovering from an illness at the time, he was happy to talk to reporters about his latest work on seawater rice.

    Yuan has been researching on rice since he was at college. In 1964, he discovered a natural hybrid rice plant in Hainan. Since then, he has focused on developing high﹣yield, hybrid rice varieties(多样性). In 1973. he became the first to successfully cultivate(培育) a type of hybrid rice species in the world. With the hard work of Yuan's group for about ten years, the production of the rice was increased.(From 150 kg per mu (亩) to 500 kg per mu and more. )These varieties now take up about two thirds of China's rice crop, according to China News. So, it's no wonder that he's known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".

    And because of China's Belt and Road (一带一路)initiative. Yuan's hybrid rice is helping to solve food problems around the world. Indeed, according to Xinhua News Agency, hybrid rice plants in Kenya produce four to five times more rice than the country's usual nice plants.

    With a rising fame all over the world, Yuan gave a speech in English at the 9th Shandong High﹣Level Talents Forum in Qingdao last year. His speech made him an internet sensation. Beginning with" I speak broken English", his 20﹣minute speech turned out to be a huge success, with barely any pauses or mistakes. The humble Yuan was simply being modest during his speech. According to an article in 1999 by CNN, the scientist speaks both English and Russian fluently. "I never need an interpreter when I go overseas," he told the US news network.

    But in spite of his great knowledge, Yuan understands that even the wisest people should still be open to learn new things. "The farmers of our country possess rich experience in planting rice," he told Xinhua." We should learn from them."

    In ancient China, people's names had three parts: their family name, given name and courtesy name (字).

    Take Li Bai, a famous Tang Dynasty poet as an example. His family name was Li, his given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.

    People used their given name when they were among family members. But in social (社交的) life, they called each other by their courtesy names to show respect(尊重).

    Men would get their courtesy name when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成年). Women would get their courtesy name after getting married (结婚).

    One's courtesy name often had something to do with one's given name. For example, Mencius' name was Meng Ke (孟轲). His courtesy name was Ziyu (子舆). Both Ke and Ziyu mean "carriage (马车)". Zhuge Liang's given name was Liang (亮), which means "bright". His courtesy name was Kongming (孔明), and it means "very bright".

Once upon a time, there was a family with 8 children living in a village. Two of the children, both boys, loved painting very much, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the family was so poor that it was impossible to send both of them to study at art school.

After many discussions, the two boys finally came up with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} idea. They would toss (抛) a coin. The loser would go down into the mines (矿井) and support his brother with his pay. Then, when the brother who won the toss finished his studies, in four years, he would pay the school fee for the other brother {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (study) at the college.

One of the brothers, Albrecht Durer, won the toss and his brother Jack went down the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (danger) mines. Durer worked with all his heart and his paintings were much better than those of most of his {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (teacher). He made a lot of money for his paintings.

Durer {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (return). When he told Jack he could go to art college, Jack said {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (quiet), "The four years in the mines has done too much to my hands. It is too late. Now I can't even hold a glass."

To show his love to his brother, Durer drew his brother's hands {#blank#}8{#/blank#} palms (手掌) together and thin fingers towards the sky. He called his drawing simply Hands, but the whole world almost quickly opened their {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (heart) to the great work and renamed it The Praying Hands.

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (two) look. Let it be your reminder: No one can ever succeed alone!