After Columbus discovered the New Continent(新大陆) and 1 back to his motherland, Spain, he was warmly 2. But not everyone felt  3 at Columbus' Success. Some people thought Columbus was only a 4 and what he had done could be done by any other seaman. One day, at a dinner, some self-important men did what they could to 5 Columbus unhappy, saying that he had only done the 6 thing in the world. Hearing this instead of jumping up angrily, Columbus took an 7 from a dish and asked,“Look, here, gentlemen, is there anyone here who can make this egg stand upright?” They tried one by one but none could. Then the egg 8  back to Columbus. He broke it a little, put the egg on the table and it stood upright. “What can be easier than this, gentlemen?” he said, “Now you will say it's so 9 that everybody can do it. Of course, because I have shown you now.” They looked at each other and talked 10.

    Today is the first day of the week. It is in the afternoon. Mr. Read is driving his car to his sister's school. Now he is very near the school. But he doesn't know the way to it. At this time, he sees a young woman. Mr. Read comes out of his car and goes to her. "Excuse me! Where's the school, please?" he asks. The young woman says, "It's very near here. I want to go with you."

    Now the young woman is sitting in the car. Soon they come to a small house and she says, "Stop, please!" Mr. Read stops the car and says, "But this is not a school." "No," says the young woman, "this is my house. I want to get home early before dinner time. Thanks for driving me home. The school is behind the factory. So go back to the factory and then turn right, you can find the school."

    Captain(船长) Nemo invited me and my friends to go hunting with him in the forests of Crespo Island. I asked him why he was so interested in Crespo Island, "I thought you preferred the sea to being on land."

    "I do," replied the captain. "But these forests are under the sea."

After going through a door, we were about ten metres under the water. The light from the sun reached us. Everything looked very colourful. We were going deeper and deeper. At 100 metres deep, we could see quite well, and Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to some dark shapes. This was the forest. The "trees" in the forest were giant seaweed(海草), and all their "branches" were vertical(垂直的).We could not stop looking at them. Fish swam around the branches like birds in a forest.

    Suddenly, I saw a large sea spider about a metre tall. It was going to attack me. Captain Nemo's man killed it with his gun, but it reminded me that the sea could be as dangerous as it was beautiful. When we reached 150 metres, it was dark. The sun's light could not reach this depth(深度). We turned on our lights. We could see about 20 metres around us. Finally, we found Crespo Island—where a steep rock wall rose in front of us.

    We could go no further, so we walked back towards the Nautilus. Suddenly, Captain Nemo stopped and shot an animal with his gun, it was a beautiful and rare sea otter(水獭). At last, we could see the Nautilus. Several large sharks swam over us. Luckily they didn't see us. We re-entered the Nautilus safely. I was tired but amazed by what I had seen.

    National medals(奖章) and honorary titles(荣誉称号) are usually awarded once every five years. As part of the celebration of the 70th anniversary(周年) of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), President Xi Jinping awarded forty-two people the Medal of the Republic, the Friendship Medal and national honorary titles. They come from different backgrounds, including scientists, lawmakers, educators, artists, model workers and six non-Chinese people. All have made big contributions(贡献) to the nation's construction and development. Here are some of the people we'll know.

    Chinese scientist Tu Youyou is one of the eight who were awarded the Medal of the Republic. Tu, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize for her discovery of the malaria drug artemisinin (抗疟药物青蒿素), is the first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She has saved millions of lives worldwide. She has also made important scientific innovations(创新) in traditional Chinese medicine.

    Tu is not the only one who has given her life to the country's development. Nan Rendong, before his death in 2017, led the research and development of China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST, 500米口径球面射电望远镜), the world's largest radio telescope. He worked on the project for more than 20 years. His contributions to Chinese astronomy (天文) earned him the title, "the people's scientist".

    Also receiving awards are six foreign friends who have lent their hands to assist with China. Former French Prime Minister(总理) Jean-Pierre Raffarin, one member of the Friendship Medal, is a supporter of the Belt and Road Initiative(一带一路倡议). Having worked to strengthen the friendship between French and Chinese people in the past few years, he is "sincerely pleased" with the honor. "To work for this friendship is to work for peace," Raffarin said.

    Thanks to the great efforts made by these great people, we can live in a peaceful country.