9．　　Scientists say there are now (1)      (few) than 2,000 pandas living in the forests. Another 300 or so live in 200s or research centers in China and other (2)       (country). Pandas don't have many babies and the babies often die from illnesses. Adult pandas spend over 12 hours a day (3)       (eat) about 10 kilos of bamboo. However, the bamboo forests are getting smaller because of human activities. Luckily, Chinese people are trying their best (4)       (save) pandas. Let's just hope things will get better soon.

10．　　When I was ten, the best part of the summer was the swimming pool. My friends and I were only interested in which one of us could hold breath underwater the longest. I never thought about how I (1)       in a swimsuit.
　　Then one day, when I was swimming over to the ladder to make my way out of the pool, I saw a cute, thin girl standing at the top of the ladder. So I swam (2)      , waiting patiently (耐心地) for her to move. Instead of moving, she stared (注视) at me for a while and said, "They don't allow beached whales in this pool. "Then she laughed and walked away. Beached whales?It took me a minute and then it (3)      me 一 I looked like those huge animals. From then on, I began to care about my(4)       and many times I cried over clothes that didn't fit me.
　　Things didn't change much even after I had my baby girl Lucy. To keep her from being laughed at, I dressed her in beautiful things. But she wanted pants and T-shirts. She liked to be (5)       . However, society wasn't interested in comfort.
　　When Lucy was about ten, I showed her an old (6)      . "That's me!" she shouted. "No, it isn't you. It's me," I told her. We could have been twins. Lucy looked just like me, and I thought she was beautiful. That little girl in the picture seemed to remind me that I was a beautiful little girl with hopes and gifts. I often repeated the story of the little girl at the pool to my daughter, telling her that we should never let others' words (7)       our own life.
　　My daughter is now a teenager with healthy confidence. What society says is not (8)      . She cares more about what brings her joy. She has taught me that life isn't measured (衡量) by the size of my clothes, but by who I am.

11．Interested in volunteering jobs?Come and have a look at these activities that may fit you!

12．A House of Memories
　　It was a fine afternoon. Eddie was putting his toys into boxes. His family were about to move to a new house, and they needed their home cleaned for the next family. Eddie looked around his big and empty house, feeling a little sad. He liked this house and his friends 一 he did not really want to move.
　　Eddie followed his mother to the attic (阁楼). Eddie's father was already up there, looking through boxes of old photos. He handed Eddie one. It did not have much color left, but showed a young boy playing baseball in his backyard.
　　"Who is that?" Eddie asked.
　　"That is me, Eddie, when I was your age," his father replied.
　　"Look!Here's one of me," Eddie's mother said, handing Eddie another photo. In it, a young girl was playing hopscotch (跳房子).
　　"You guys were kids?" Eddie asked.
　　"We weren't born this old," Eddie's mother said, laughing.
　　Eddie looked at the photos some more. He had never seen his dad or mom playing baseball or hopscotch or other games. They were always working, cooking, cleaning, and driving. It was hard to imagine them as kids playing in their backyards.
　　Looking out, Eddie could see his backyard. He did have a lot of fun there, but he was not a little kid anymore. At the new house, he would go to a new school. He wanted to try out for the school soccer team and join the drama club. Maybe it was a good time to move after all.
　　As the family went down from the attic, Eddie picked up their camera, took it to his parents and said, "Mom, Dad, please take a photo of me playing in our backyard!"

13．　　Education doesn't only take place in the classroom — it can happen anywhere. Museums are one of the places students visit for good reason. With their real artifacts (工艺品) and exhibitions (展览), museums provide a nice environment to enrich students' learning in different kinds of fields.
　　According to the International Council of Museums, there were about 55, 000 museums worldwide in 2017. Many of them are free, so schools needn't worry about the costs.
　　An important role of museums in education is the experience they provide. According to ArtNews. com in 2015, there were three most-visited exhibitions in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. —"Treasures of Tutankhamen", "Mona Lisa"and"The Vatican Collections". What all these exhibitions have in common is their historical importance and the one-of-a -kind experience that the visitors have. To read or hear about the artifacts is not the same as seeing them in person, which can be a life﹣changing experience. "Mona Lisa" is the work of art with great value. Standing face-to-face with such a famous work with one's own eyes can bring students a new understanding of the work, an experience that they can't get anywhere else.
　　In the classroom, educators can teach students through talks, videos, or readings. Museum trips can not only excite students, but also serve as a supplement (补充) for things discussed in class. In museums, students can connect what they see with their class experiences. Therefore, students can have a complete understanding of the thing more easily.
　　As museums have much to do with history or artifacts of the past, it has been a difficult task for them to keep up with the technologies of today. The competitor of a museum is short videos or computer games, instead of other museums. Museums have chosen to bring technologies into exhibitions. For example, Wi-Fi allows the guests to get the museum app, which serves to better the exhibits. Although technology is getting a stronger hold on the world, there is still the want for a real museum experience in education, especially with our students.

14．　　We all have trouble, and often make mistakes. However, many of us find it hard to admit (承认) them to others. So most of us would keep the problems to ourselves. We believe that our trouble and mistakes show our weakness, and we are afraid to let others see us as not good enough.
　　The good news is that our worries about the negative evaluations (负面评价) from others may not seem as serious as we imagine. A research suggested that we saw our act of showing weakness more negatively than others did, and researchers called this the"beautiful mess effect (效应)". In other words, we may not be such a mess as we think.
　　This effect can stop us from sharing our true feelings and needs, which can actually have many advantages. For example, studies show that sharing personal information about oneself may help build closeness and trust, while saying sorry sincerely could repair a fractured relationship.
　　Therefore, researchers wanted to know how we could get over the "beautiful mess effect". Their new experiments suggest that being self-compassionate (自我同情) can be very helpful when we want to find beauty in the mess of our own weakness.
　　In the study, researchers invited 340 university students to take part in four experiments. In one of them, students were asked to imagine themselves or another person admitting to their boss that they'd made a huge mistake on a project. Then, students needed to evaluate this act:Did they see it as an act of showing one' s courage or weakness?Finally, researchers evaluated how self-compassionate the students were.
　　The study showed that students with low self-compassion evaluated their own act more negatively than when they imagined others admitting the same mistake. Highly self-compassionate students, on the other hand, were not much influenced by the"beautiful mess effect". In other words, self-compassion helps us evaluate our act of showing weakness more fairly, stopping us from being too hard on ourselves.
　　Luckily, our level of self-compassion is not fixed and can be raised if we want to. With a kind and caring attitude towards ourselves, we can become more comfortable with showing our weakness. This practice, in turn, can improve our relationships.

15．　　Have you ever seen a koala somewhere? Koalas, which are often called koala "bears", are tree-climbing animals and are seen as national symbols of Australia. However, recently the Australian government has announced (宣布) that koalas are endangered animals across much of the country.
　　As a matter of fact, the country lost 30% of its koala population between 2018 and 2021, especially in New South Wales, according to a report from the Australian Koala Foundation. If nothing was done, New South Wales' koalas would die out by 2050, a research in June 2020 said. "This must be a wake-up call to Australia and the government to move much faster to protect the cute animals," Josey Sharrad, a manager with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said seriously.
　　Koalas are dying out all over the country because of the climate (气候) change and the fast development of cities. People have seen some places that look like the moon — with dead and dying trees everywhere.
　　After WWF-Australia and the International Fund for Animal Welfare called on the government to announce koalas as endangered in April, the government promised they would get more public support and protect koalas' home — they live in the forests and woodlands.
　　The Australian government is now doing its best to collect money to protect koalas. On the one hand, it has spent ＄13 million in helping improve their living places. On the other hand, the government plans to spend another＄36 million doing better health research and medical support to further help koala programs over the next four years.
　　"We should never have allowed things to get to the point where we are at risk of losing a national symbol," Environment Minister Susan Ley said.

16．假如你是李华, 你的美国笔友Peter 偶然看到美猴王这个人物, 他对此很感兴趣, 通过邮件向你询问．请你给他回复邮件, 向他介绍美猴王, 并分享你对该人物的看法．
提示词语:character, change, spirit, brave, learn from
提示问题:
●Who is the Monkey King?
●What can he do?
●What do you think of him?
Dear Peter,
　　How is it going? I'm glad to know that you 're interested in the Monkey King. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
　　Let me know if you have any other question about him.
Yours,
Li Hua

17．长城、故宫、鸟巢等是北京的城市名片．
某英文网站正在开展以"我心中的北京名片"为题的征文活动．假如你是李华, 请你选取北京某一地点, 用英文对其进行简要介绍, 并说明你选取该地点的理由．
提示词语:symbol, culture, show, popular, fall in love
提示问题:
●Which place would you like to choose?
●What do you know about it?
●Why do you choose it?
　　There are many special places in Beijing. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________