When I was young, I went to a boarding（寄宿）school in Edinburgh. It was far from home because I1on an island in the north of Scotland.

    It was a music school, and I studied the violin. At the end of the term, we all packed our bags and our 2  to go home for the holidays. Most kids went by train or bus. Some were 3  by their parents. But I had to go home by ferry—14 hours overnight on the open sea.

    One summer, after packing my suitcase and violin, I said4to my friends. I took the train to the ferry terminal（渡船码头）and then got on the ferry. But when the ferry started moving, I realized a(n)5thing! I left my violin on the train!

    Oh no! What should I do? What would my dad say? He'd be really6! I got so scared（害怕）that I didn't sleep all night.

    The next morning, I7the ferry to meet my dad. After I told him everything, he laughed. I looked at him and couldn't believe it.8was he laughing?

    I always had a label（标签）in my violin case with my address and a telephone number. My dad told me, "A cleaner found your violin on the train and took it to the police. They  9 me and put it on a plane. It arrived an hour ago." 10, my violin was safe.  I was so happy!

    Two weeks before Christmas last year, I went to London with my1. I shall never forget the day. The streets were full of people. The shop windows were very bright. My mother held my hand and we both went into a 2shop. The shop was full of 3. There were nice toys4. Then I saw Father Christmas himself! I pulled(拉)my mother by 5. "Please6me to Father Christmas." I said. There were a lot of children near 7. They were all very happy. They 8in a line. Father Christmas9 to every one of them. At last it was my turn. "Hello, little Tom, "he said to me. As soon as(一……就)I10 his voice, I found out he was my uncle John Smith.

    It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. John's parents were not in. John decided to go to the Happy Theater to watch a talent show, so he 1 home. Only Barky, John's pet 2 stayed at home. Just after John left, a bad man 3 the window, and then he came into the house 4 it. He began looking for expensive things in the rooms. He found some 5 in the box. He took out the money, 6 as he was leaving, he heard a dog's barking(叫声). He looked around and found Barky looking at him angrily. He was very scared. Barky was going to bite him when John came home. John let Barky sit down and told the bad man 7," Come with me to the 8, or Barky will bite you!" So the bad man had to 9 John with Barky close behind. A policeman cuffed(铐) the bad man after John told him the thing. Barky had a 10 for watching the house. But the bad man didn't know.

Can a piece of paper be changed into a fine work of art？If you have the chance to enjoy Liang Chunlan's paper﹣cuts，you will be surprised at her skills.

Liang Chunlan，56，is a member of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association.She began learning how to make paper﹣cuts when she was a little girl."Influenced by both my mother and grandmother，"says Liang Chunlan.

Liang Chunlan has been making paper﹣cuts for more than 30 years.She has already won many prizes for her paper﹣cuts.By drawing ideas from life and Shanxi's traditional culture，she has created a special artistic style.

In recent years，she has put a lot of effort（hard work） into spreading this art.She likes teaching others to make paper﹣cuts.Sometimes，she folds napkins（餐巾） and cuts paper to show her friends how to make paper﹣cuts.

"What I did was not enough."said Liang Chunlan.To encourage young people to learn the craft﹣making skills，she has provided training courses for school students to teach them how to make paper﹣cuts.She has also spoken to university students in Australia and other countries to introduce this traditional art.

Liang has written several books to help Chinese understand the beauty of the paper﹣cuts.Some art schools have used her works as teaching materials.She will continue to try to do something meaningful to spread our country's traditional art.

Is a crow (乌鸦) smarter than a seven- year- old kid?

When we think of intelligent animals, we usually think of dogs, cats, and apes (猿) . But do you know that crows are among {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (smart) animals in the world? 

Crows have memories and they are able to imagine the future. This {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (help) them solve problems like an ape. They even use tools sometimes. A crow can hold a tiny bar (棒) in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (it) mouth and use it to get at tasty insects. 

It's normal {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (think) that a crow in a tree hardly pays any attention {#blank#}5{#/blank#} you. You might be wrong, though. Crows can remember human {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (face) . Some scientists believe that they can even tell other crows whether {#blank#}7{#/blank#} human is friendly or not. 

Since twenty years ago, some scientists {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (study) how intelligent crows are compared to humans. They found that crows were able to solve a difficult problem just as {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (good) as a 7- year- old human. In another test, a crow solved an eight- stage puzzle within three minutes. 

Therefore, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} anyone ever calls you a "bird brain", be sure to thank him or her for the praise. 

Are there any lakes in your hometown? What color are they? Around one-third of the world's lakes are blue, according to a study in September 2022. But global warming may lead them to turn green or even brown, and countries with most lakes may be affected the most. If the temperature continues to rise, one in every ten lakes might change color.

Xiao Yang from Southern Methodist University in the US and his team analyzed (分析) the color of over 85,000 lakes based on the satellite photos taken from 2013 to 2020. The study has found that lakes in places with cooler summer average air temperatures-below 19℃-were more likely to be blue than lakes in places with warmer summers.

According to the research, the color of a lake is partly decides by what's in the water. Water molecules absorb the long wavelengths of sunlight, such as red and yellow, leaving behind the shorter ones presenting green and blue. Simply put, the cleaner the water, the bluer it looks.

Lakes serve as an important part of our environment, with their color being one of the oldest ways to determine the health of an ecosystem. Humans get their drinking water from lakes, streams and ground water. As they become greener, people may lose lots of clean water. Because of this, dealing with the water of such lakes becomes more expensive.

At the same time, blue lakes are also  a source of a place to help people stay peaceful. Some countries according to Catherine O' Reilly, even considered blue lakes as a spiritual(精神的) place. As these lakes disappear, they may feel upset.