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    Do you like traditional Chinese paper-cutting? Ding Xiang, a student at Nongsishi Middle School in Xinjiang, is really good at it. At the eighth National Excellent Talents Competition last month in Beijing, the 15-year-old girl got the gold award（金奖） for her paper-cutting skills.

    At the competition, Ding cut a piece: Millennium Dream（千年梦想）. The piece has two papers. One shows an ancient cave painting(壁画) and the other a Chinese-made spaceship. The two papers form a sharp contrast（对比）. Ding said she wanted to show three things with the piece: China's long history, China's rapid development, and her hope for the future of paper-cutting. This piece helped Ding walk away with the gold award.

    "I was very surprised to get the award." Ding said in an interview with Yili Daily, a Xingjiang newspaper. "I should thank paper-cutting for bringing me the award."

    All the hard work has paid off. In two years, Ding's skills have improved a lot, and she has the gold award to prove(证明) it.

    Ding said she has learned a lot from paper-cutting. "I have learned to observe things carefully," Ding told Yili Daily. "I have become more confident, too. It is a great help in my studies. Also, I have learned a lot of history from the art."

    Earlier this year, China achieved a new milestone in space exploration. On Jan 3, Chang'e 4 became the first space probe in history to successfully land on the far side of the moon, People's Daily reported.
    From Earth, we can only see one side of the moon. The other side has been a mystery. Scientists have long wondered what lies on this side of the moon.

    Chang'e 4 has sent back photos of the far side of the moon. It is also being used to carry out experiments, such as growing seeds in a low-gravity environment. The data collected from these experiments could be used to help us build a base on the moon in the future.
    The success of the Chang'e 4 mission is a major achievement for China's space program. It marks a new stage in China's deep space exploration, said Wu Yanhua, deputy head of China National Space Administration.
    China launched its lunar exploration program in 2004, naming it Chang'e. Chinese scientists set three goals—"orbiting, landing and sample returning" – referring to launching probes that could circle around the moon, touch down on its surface and bring lunar materials back to Earth.
    Chang'e 4 has realized the second goal. The third will be achieved during the Chang'e 5 mission , which is set to take place before the end of this year, China Daily reported.
    Following the success of the Chang'e missions, Chinese scientists are looking even farther into our solar system. China's first Mars mission is expected to be carried out by 2020, Wu said.
    In addition to the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the Chang'e 4 mission has achieved many other firsts. One of them is international cooperation and joint exploration. The experiments will provide valuable data for the scientists.

There are 520 boys and 500 girls in our school. The school made a survey（调查）about our favorite sports. Here are the results.

After seeing the results, the P. E. teacher advises us to join different sports clubs. He also encourages（鼓励）us to try some new sports. It may bring us some surprises.

When the teacher asks a question in class, Wang Xiaobin never raises his hand and this situation is very common at middle schools. This 15-year-old boy always waits for other classmates or the teacher to give the answer. "What if my answer is wrong?" Wang asks.

Wang said only six or seven students in his class raise their hands when a question is asked. "I think it is a problem that may affect（影响） our studies, but I am afraid of making mistake s in front of my classmates," he said.

When we asked the teacher, Hu Wei, why the students didn't raise their hands, he said, "They lack（缺乏） of confidence（自信）. They are afraid of showing off, or they're afraid of losing face by giving wrong answers."

To encourage students to raise their hands in class, Hu suggests that teachers should repeat the question, then try to guide and encourage students to offer their answers. Hu also advises students not to be shy, but brave enough to try.

Sun Pin, 16 of Fujian, always raises her hand as soon as she comes up with the answer, even if she isn't sure she has got it right. Sun can't understand why some of her classmates keep silent in class. She enjoys raising her hand a lot. "It keeps me active and confident to express my idea," Sun said, "Raising my hand has really made me excellent."