Traditional Chinese opera is finding new life in a different art form. More than100 primary school teachers came to a training course to pass on the art to schoolchildren. After learning Chinese opera-themed (戏剧题材的) cartoons, they are now confident that they can spark (激发) children's interest.

    These school teachers proved to be quick learners in Chinese opera. They are practising a classic piece of Yueju Opera, a major branch of the Chinese opera family.

    Fang Tingting, the performer of Shanghai Yueju Opera Troupe, said, "I was actually nervous about teaching them, because I thought they may not be interested. But their passion (热情) swept away my worries. I think they will do well in helping Chinese opera."

Cartoons naturally attract the attention of children. Introducing Chinese opera to them in this way proved to be great.

    Liu Hui,a school teacher, said, "The children are really interested in the cartoons. As teachers, we give them some directions and they start to copy something from the opera."

    The teachers also believed this digital method really builds a bridge between the children and this traditional art form. And it really helps them learn the rich culture of China. They are glad to be trained here to take on this task.

    A kind of little cars may some day take the place of today's cars. If everyone drives such cars in the future, there will be less pollution. There will also be more space for parking cars in cities, and the streets will be less crowded. Three such cars can fit in the space now needed for one car of the usual size.

    The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive. Driving will be safer too, as these little cars can go only 65 kilometres an hour. The cars of the future will be fine for getting around a city, but they will not be useful for long trips. Little cars will go 450 kilometres before needing to stop for more gas (汽油).

    If big cars are still used along with the small ones, two sets of roads will be needed in the future. Some roads will be used for the big, fast cars and other roads will be needed for the slower, small ones.

    Have you ever {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hear) of the Stonehenge? Every year it {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (receive) more than 750, 000 visitors. People like to go to this place especially {#blank#}3{#/blank#}June as they want to see the sun {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (rise) on the longest day of the year.

    For many years, historians believed Stonehenge was a temple where ancient leaders {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (try) to communicate with the gods.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, historian Paul Stoker thinks this can't {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (be) true because Stonehenge was built so {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (much) centuries ago. Other people believe the stones have a medical purpose. They think the stones can prevent illness and keep people {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (health).

    No one is sure what Stonehenge was used for. Some think it might be a burial place or a place to honour ancestors. Others think {#blank#}10{#/blank#}was built to celebrate a victory over an enemy.

    Welcome to the Painting Competition for Woodlands Students

The International Anti-Drug(禁毒) Day this year is coming soon. In order to raise teenagers' awareness(意识) to fight against drug taking, the City Art Council is going to hold a painting competition for the students in our city.

    Students who want to take part in the competition can hand in their own 2D paintings in either of the following two ways:

★Each school will be provided with a box for students to put in their paintings. Boxes will be picked up by the City Art Council on Thursday, June 23rd, 2016, before the end of the school day.

    ★Paintings can be also handed in on Friday, June 24th, from 8：00 am to 10：00 am at the Woodlands Art Hall (175 Riverside Street)．

    All paintings are required to be 60cm wide by 80cm long or smaller. Larger sizes will not be accepted. Each student can only hand in one painting.

The final decision on the competition results will be made on June 26th, the AntiDrug Day. The name list of the winners will be made known on the website of the City Art Council on the same day. All winning paintings will be shown to the public at the City Youth Park from June 27th till the end of July.

    Prizes: 1st Prize(10 students)＝$300 Gift Card each

    2nd Prize(20 students)＝$200 Gift Card each

    3rd Prize(30 students)＝$100 Gift Card each

For further information：Visit http: // www. Woodlands Art Council.org or call 25698632.

    Emily and Alex were happy when their family moved to a house with a very big garden. They could climb up trees, grow flowers and even play badminton. They liked to watch the birds flying among the trees in the garden. They even started to put food out to attract（吸引） more birds.

    Everything was fine for a few days until one afternoon there was a strange bumping noise on a window. Emily went outside and found a small bird dead on the grass. Its neck seemed to be broken.

    "It must have flown into the window," Alex said when his sister Emily called him to have a look. "Ah, yes, look here. You can see the mark where it hit the window. There are a couple of tiny feathers stuck(粘贴) on the window."

    "Poor thing!" Emily said.

    During the next month, another five birds died in the same way. "Why would they fly to the windows?" they wondered. Finally they found out the truth. When the birds were flying, they couldn't see into the rooms. All they saw was the reflection(反射) of the garden. They thought that they were flying into trees because they saw trees reflected by the window.

    "Something has to be done to save the birds." the parents decided.

    At first, he family tried keeping curtains（窗帘）across the windows, but this made the room dark. Then they bought some strong black paper and cut out the shape of a hawk. They made six hawks—one for each window. They stuck the hawks to the windows. They looked pretty and did not keep out much light. When the birds saw the hawks, they would fly away.

    After that, there were no more dead birds. The family were much happier.

Over the past 6 years, Zhang Chaofan has given away 1.35 million yuan and raised 5.2 million yuan from the public to help more than 400 people with health problems—including teachers with cancer (癌症) and disabled children in poor families—learn traditional Chinese culture.

Zhang, 29, was born without a left arm in Changchun, Jilin, but her hard work to become stronger has encouraged many people. She was chosen along with 67 other honorees (领奖人) to receive the Eighth National Ethical Role Model award (第八届全国道德模范提名奖) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 5th, 2021.

In 2015, Zhang set up a handwriting and painting school in Changchun. When she found that some parents were unable to pay for their children's education, she made the lessons free and began providing 300, 000yuan every year to help them.

In early 2020, her school was made to suspend all courses because of COVID-19 (新冠肺炎) but it didn't stop her from helping the poor families. She raised more than 8.9 millionyuan and gave them away to Hubei hospitals.

"Women in the new times should have the courage to create value and also have a sense of social duty," she said. "It is my great honor to be chosen as a model. This will become a driving force for me to move ahead and keep helping the poor and the disabled."