13．The Picture of Peace
　　When Mike was seven, he knew his dream was to be a photographer. He kept working on it for years. Recently, he was trying to take a picture of a sunset (日落) to enter the school (1)       competition.
　　"Mom, it has been cloudy these days. I don't think I can get this picture!" Mike complained.
　　"Why not use one of your photos on the computer?" suggested Mom.
　　"I can't — the rules say the photos have to be taken with a traditional camera. We hand in a roll of film, it gets developed (冲洗胶卷) , and we (2)       one photo for the competition."
　　"Why is a sunset so important?" Mom asked.
　　"The (3)       of the competition is peace," Mike explained, "and I feel most peaceful seeing a sunset."
　　Zach, his six-year-old brother came out of the bedroom. "Hey, you want to take a picture of me? Look!" He put both arms over his head.
　　"Not right now," said Mike, laughing.
　　That very afternoon, Mike felt excited when he saw clear skies. He carefully lined up his shot (镜头) and waited (4)       till the sun reached the ground.
　　"That's it! Perfect!" he shouted cheerfully.
　　The next morning, Mike noticed he could take one more picture to complete the roll of film, so he walked into Zach's room. Zach was (5)       quietly with a teddy bear under his arm. Mike didn't wake Zach up, and carefully took a picture of him.
　　A week later, Mike got the photos. The sunset picture was the one he was most (6)       to see. There it was! It was as nearly perfect as Mike had expected.
　　Then, he looked through the other photos. Suddenly, he stopped. His eyebrows (眉毛) rose as he (7)       the photo of Zach. He looked back at the photo of the sunset, which seemed less perfect now. He (8)       the two choices. Finally, he decided to hand in the photo of Zach for the competition.

14．Young Heroes for the Planet
　　Nowadays, people around the world are working to help our planet. Check out how the four young adults made a difference.

15．　　When I was in the eighth grade, my class was assigned (指派) to be friends with the second-grade kids. I got this little girl named Shelley. The first time I saw her, she was silent and cold. She was small for her age, and she didn't play with the other kids in her class.
　　I tried all kinds of things to get her to talk to me. I bought her toys, crayons and candies. But try as I might, nothing worked. One time, I gave her a coloring book and said, "Shelley, now you can color in it any time."
　　Shelley looked at the coloring book and then looked up at me, and finally looked away. By that time, I didn't know how I was going to get through to the little girl, but I knew I wouldn't give up on her.
　　One Friday. I decided to tell her a story about my childhood. I told her that l felt lonely when I was with my classmates, and how I thought only my teachers liked me. I also told her that every day was a battle (战役) for me and I fought back tears so people wouldn't know how much I was hurting.
　　She sat there just listening, trying to decide whether I was lying or not. Finally, when my story ended, there were tears in her eyes. And then she did the unthinkable. She said, "Thank you." From then on, Shelley was a different little girl. She started smiling and talking with other kids.
　　Looking back at this I'm in awe (惊叹), because all I did was to help her realize that she wasn't alone. I didn't ask her to tell her story, because her story is my story.

16．School Gardens Could Help Children Try More Vegetables
　　It's not always enjoyable for children to eat vegetables. But what if a garden is built in the school? New research suggests that a gardening program in schools can increase children's vegetable intake (摄入量) .
How the Study Was Carried Out
　　The study was carried out in eight schools. Each school was in the gardening program for one school year. Every child in grades 3 — 5 received a total of eighteen 60-minute lessons across the school year. In the program, each school built a garden, where children learned to grow their own fresh produce, like fruit and vegetables.
The Benefits Children Could Get
　　The study found that vegetable intake if the children who grew their own produce increased greatly across the year. Related studies show that increased vegetable intake can improve health and cut the risk of chronic diseases (慢性疾病). Not only are there benefits to health, increasing the variety of vegetables children are exposed (接触) to may also make mealtimes much easier. "Children who are often exposed to a variety of vegetables are more likely to try new foods," explains Dr. Kerry Jones. For children, growing their own food is a powerful tool to increase their intake of the food.
(2)
　　Any opportunity to expose children to more vegetables is meaningful. "If children are learning about vegetables at school, it's important to encourage this interest," says Jones. Parents can listen to their children about what they have learned and read the handouts they bring home from school. Parents and children can also read books together. Younger children can enjoy reading stories about vegetables with parents who offer useful message. Older children may enjoy searching through cookbooks with parents to find new dinner ideas to cook vegetables in a tasty way. Besides, a small planter box in a sunny part at home can encourage children to understand more about where their food comes from.
　　Teaching children to grow their own produce is a great way to increase their preference for the produce. If children are taught to enjoy vegetables early in life, they will probably continue eating vegetables in the long term.

17．　　Nature and culture are often seen as opposite ideas. What belongs to nature cannot be the result of human activities and, on the other hand, cultural development is achieved against nature. However, this is not the only opinion on the relationship between nature and culture. Studies in the development of humans suggest that culture, whether taken as an effort against nature or a natural effort, is part of the development of the human species (物种).
　　Several modern writers saw the process of education as a struggle (斗争) against human nature. We are born with wild natures, such as eating and behaving in a disorganized way or acting selfishly. Education uses culture as a way to get us out of our wildest natures; it is thanks to culture that the human species could learn to adapt (适应), progress and raise itself above and beyond other species.
　　Over the past century and a half, however, studies in the history of human development have shown that the formation of culture is part of the biological adaptation. Consider, for example, hunting (打猎). It seems to be an adaptation, which allowed humans to move into new and different areas, opening up the opportunity to change living habits. At the same time, the development of weapons (武器) is related to that adaptation— from rocks and stones to a set of hunting tools, and from hunting tools to rules relating to the proper use of weapons. Hunting also seems to be responsible for a whole set of bodily abilities, such as balancing on one foot. Just think of how this very simple thing is closely related to dance, a key expression of human culture. It is then clear that biological development and cultural development are closely tied.
　　The transmission of culture seems to be directly related to what's in our blood. Just as snails carry their shell, so do we bring along our culture. However, culture is also passed on among people of the same times or among people belonging to different populations. We can learn how to make jiaozi even if we were born from Russian parents in Paris just as we can learn how to speak English even if none of our family or friends speaks that language.

18．Screen-Free Days
　　I remember the first time I suggested screen-free days in our school to some of our student leaders. Jokingly, I said to the group, "What do you think if we go a week without using our laptops or smartphones?"
　　They laughed, and one of them said, "No way, Mr. White. They would be too much." I could feel their worry, and told them that I was only considering single screen-free days. Even that idea left them feeling upset.
　　According to a survey we did, most students in our school spend about six hours a day on screens. Many of my students start their day by checking their smartphones. I often see them looking at their phones when getting off the bus or at parents drop-off — they can't use their own "screens" at school. They usually work on computers at school for at least two hours during the day.
　　It's clear that our students spend a lot of time on screens, We do see the benefits of technology. However, we teachers also want to make sure that students have balanced learning and social experiences away from their screens. That's why we have come up with the idea of screen-free days.
　　During the course of the year, we have built in several screen-free days that require us to make different plans for our students about how they will communicate with one another and the world around them without "screens". For some teachers, this means bringing back a valuable lesson plan that has been put off for some time because it is "out of date". Others have designed something completely new.
　　Fun activities, for example, card games and room escape (密室逃脱) games, are organized at school. In these activities, students socialize without smartphones and have face-to-face communication without checking on "likes" they've got online. These fun activities also make it possible for the whole grade to enjoy the company of their friends with no smartphones.
　　After our first screen-free day, students mentioned that they were surprised they enjoyed it. Finding ways to help our students connect with one another is important. While technology is already part of our world, it shouldn't play such an important role in a learner's life.

19．题目①
　　北京是一座蕴含着丰富文化的城市，这里的建筑、戏曲、美食、服饰、手工艺品等，都有文化的印记。
　　假如你是李华，你校英语社团正在开展线上国际交流活动，其公众号计划做关于北京文化的系列推送，现就 "Cultural Symbols of Beijing (北京文化标志)" 这一话题在校内收集素材。请你用英语给公众号留言，推荐一个你眼中的北京文化标志，对其作简要介绍，并说明推荐理由。
　　提示词语：show, traditional, love, treasure, important
　　提示问题：•In your opinion, what's the cultural symbol of Beijing?
Please describe it.
•Why do you think it can be a symbol?
　　I'm Li Hua, from Class 1, Grade 9. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
　　I hope my idea can be taken. Thanks!

20．题目②
　　现实中，大到自然环境和社会环境，小到个人生活和学习，变化无处不在，面对变化，唯有积极适应，才能有所进步和收获。
　　某英文网站正在开展以“适应变化”为主题的征文活动，假如你是李华，请用英语写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你生活中的一个变化，你是如何应对这个变化的，以及有什么收获。
　　提示词语：help, enjoy, new, challenge, take action
　　提示问题：•What is the change that happened in your life?
•How did you deal with it?
•What have you learned from the experience?
　　There are many changes in a person's life. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________