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For years, learning to speak Cantonese was not that hard in San Francisco. It is a place where Cantonese speakers from South China have moved for over 150 years. But now, there is fear that the Cantonese language and culture might not survive present social changes. Cantonese is spoken by some 85 million people worldwide. In comparison, there are around 1 billion Mandarin (or Putonghua) speakers.

In Britain, as in the U. S., most schools that offer Chinese usually teach Mandarin. As a result, many families are struggling to find ways to pass on their Cantonese language and culture. Ceci Pang runs classes for children at Rainbow Seeds Cantonese School in London. "Many parents want their kids to be able to communicate with their grandparents," she said. "It's just so hard here, there are so few learning resources and lots of parents get upset. That's usually the point the parents come to me."

In China, there are Cantonese television programs as well as Cantonese announcements on public transport. In Hong Kong, however, Cantonese remains the city's top language. It is used by 90 percent of the population according to an assistant professor at the Education University of Hong Kong.

It is a different story in the U. S. The teaching of Cantonese has decreased somewhat, including in San Francisco, a city that has drawn many Cantonese speakers over the years. The San Francisco school system has Cantonese and Mandarin programs for younger students. But in high school, Mandarin is the only Chinese language available. This spring, some independent Chinese schools are helping to teach the language as Cantonese-speaking communities grow. Aleyda Poe has been managing the Cantonese kindergarten at Merit Chinese School in Plano, Texas, for more than 10 years. Poe put her two sons in the school so that they could learn about Cantonese language and culture. Now, she is helping other families do the same.

Hotels around the U.S. are offering ways for travelers to stay healthy and active. Some even provide workout clothes and shoes just in case you leave your equipment at home. If you're looking for help to stay in shape while on the road, check out these hotels.

Hotel Monaco

Manager Ed Virtue, who loves riding, invites guests to ride with him on Wednesdays for one hour. He takes guests on a scenic tour of the city's famous monuments and historic sites(遗迹), as well as a ride near the Potomac River. The hotel even supplies some electric bikes to people who want a more intense ride throughout the city.

Schofield Hotel

It offers yoga(瑜伽) mats and yoga programs. If you go to Cleveland later this year, stay at this hotel to enjoy additional wellness offerings. The hotel provides maps of bike trails(小道) that only local people know.

Grand Hotel

It recently turned their 14th floor into "Stay Well" rooms that focus on health and wellness. The rooms, 171 in total, offer vitamin C-infused(注入维生素C) showers to promote healthy hair and skin and lighting to aid in improved sleep. And if you don't want to skip your meals, the mini-bars in these rooms have healthy foods.

Fairmont Park

If you love rock climbing, stay at the hotel. Guests here can enjoy these activities at a discounted rate. The hotel also offers daily fitness classes. The fitness center is open 24 hours in case a business meeting runs late.

There was a time when my favorite thing to do in the entire world was to play in the woods near our house. A river ran through them, so not only could I climb branches, but I could turn over rocks on the riverbank and find baby eels (鳗鱼).

My favorite book was called Guide to Reptiles (爬行动物). My father had given it to me for my birthday, and I read every page over and over, looking at the pictures of colorful animals. Some of the snakes were the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen, and some were described as poisonous, but still an important part of the ecosystem. 

Little did I know that my book would end up saving a life.

My family moved to Virginia, into a new house. The houses were so new that no one had lived in them before. In fact, woods had been there first, and almost all the trees had been cut down to make room for houses and driveways. Inside our new house, everything smelled like fresh paint. Outside, no lawns had been planted, but my father tossed out grass seed and baby seedlings grew. My brother Patrick and I could not walk on them. We had to play in the driveway.

All the same, I liked our new house. One of the best things about living near the woods were the animals that would come into our yard. Rabbits and turtles came over every night. It seemed as if they were only trying to go home, and instead, what they had found was a big new land where their old homes used to be.

Besides playing in the driveway, we spent time in a sandbox, which my father built right next to the driveway. One day before dinner, I ran to the sandbox to build a castle but found there in the sandbox was a snake.

It was lying very still, and it was beautiful. The snake had rings of color around it-red, then white, then yellow, then black. I had seen a picture just like it in my reptile book, and I remembered that it was one of the prettiest snakes in it. It said in the book that the poisonous snake looked very much like it. I was scared and ran inside.

Para 1: "Dad! Dad! There's a snake in the sandbox!" I yelled.

Para 2: Two hours after the call, the zoo expert arrived with a secure container.

注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Dear friends,

……

Thanks!

A leaf fell into the water and changed the taste of it. Therefore tea was born.

China is known  the home of tea. Since ancient times, tea  (enter) the Chinese culture, leaving this aroma (芳香) in poetry, etiquette (礼仪), and customs. Many tea lovers enjoy tea, not just a voice flavor, but also for the beauty of tea  (ceremony).

 (pick)tea leaves is an important spring activity in the Yangtze River basin in South China. The earliest batch of tea is often ready to be picked before Qingming, an important traditional festival, which  (observe) in early April when the temperature begins to rise and rainfall increases. This precious small output of tea  (wide) sought after with outstanding quality is called Mingqian tea.

In spring, local hillsides are filled with tea workers,  are sowing seeds on their land. In the peak seasons, many tourists will visit tea gardens  (witness) the beautiful scenery of tea farms while enjoying  (they) with a freshly brewed (冲泡，沏) cup of tea.

Thousands of years ago, by the hands of the Chinese people, a leaf was brewed into  delicious drink. It has traveled a long way and continues to bloom even today.

Every Friday morning, I bake a loaf of challah, a kind of sweet, twisted egg bread. This 1  started when my grandmother gave me her recipe. At first, I made it only when I could 2  the time because it seemed to be very time-consuming.

3 , after some time, I realized that making it when I had the time was fine, but making it when my work deadlines were 4  meant even more.

You can't hurry bread. You can, of course, use quick-rise yeast (酵母), but I don't. I take time to 5 for the dough (生面团) to rise by itself. This is my weekly reminder to slow down, to stop and 6 the roses.

Baking challah does require great 7 . Beneath my palms, the dough is slowly 8 . I can feel the change. This 9  connects me to something original, something that has not yet been 10  by modernity.

Baking challah is a push against our culture of 11 . It certainly takes more time than grabbing a packaged loaf off the 12 shelf. But I now enjoy it. I've improved my grandmother's 13 by adding a little more sugar and vanilla for a 14 taste. Knowing the same ingredients passed through her hands connects me to her in a deep and silent way. My making challah has also helped my kids to 15 their pace and recognize the power in doing things the slow way — by hand.

Talking to solve friendship problems

Sometimes our friends' behaviour can offend us; sometimes we can see changes they need to make — but how do we tell them?

It's important to have solid evidence that there is indeed a problem. Evidence that can be agreed upon makes it easier for other people to recognise issues. Psychologist Andrea Bonior suggests framing problems with "I". Saying "I feel hurt that you spend less time with me" is less accusatory (责难的) than "You never spend time with me!" and is focused more clearly on the impact.

Staying calm is vital. Bonior recommends that you should acknowledge the conversation could make you anxious. If you think about this yourself, it can help you focus on positive results. If you admit your anxiety to your friend, you will show a more human side. Another psychologist, Laura Brennan, points out how it's important that we let go of our ego and don't focus on the need to be proved right. This can help reduce tension.

We can lower the potential for conflict by listening to the other person and asking questions. Many experts recommend planning your words before having a conversation, so that you can say things in a way that avoids conflict. However, Bonior cautions against overplanning as this can stop you being flexible enough to genuinely follow and participate in the discussion.

Be realistic. Complicated problems are unlikely to be solved with one conversation. Consider what is possible in one discussion, and that it may be harder than you initially thought.

A. Plan ahead properly to make a better conversation.

B. Are there any ways to make difficult conversations easier?

C. Learn to listen to carefully instead of merely blaming others.

D. This will help you to set realistic goals for what you can achieve.

E. Becoming tense might lead you to react badly and cause an argument.

F. Once you have proof, it's important to highlight how it impacts us and others.

G. Talking about the problems realistically is the best approach to resolving the conflict.

Migratory (迁徙的) birds flying to China's largest freshwater lake for winter are likely to face a tougher environment than before. Little rainfall, a record drought, and the earliest dry season in the Poyang Lake area — all exacerbated by climate change — have threatened the food supply and habitat of wintering birds, domestic media reported Monday.

Known as a "migratory bird haven," Poyang Lake and its surrounding wetlands and ponds serve as one of the most important wintering stopovers for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds, including Siberian cranes and oriental white storks. The lake's seasonal shrinkage provides abundant food to the waterbirds and helps maintain their habitat.

Duan Qingxian, director of the nonprofit Poyang Lake Wildlife Rescue Association, said on Tuesday that migratory birds inhabiting the lake area, as monitored by his team, had declined by at least 50% compared with the same period over the past years. "There is less food such as grassroots, snails, and shells for waterfowl (水禽) due to the drought," said Duan, who has lived in Duchang on the north side of the lake for over 40 years. "While patrolling the lakeside this year, I saw several dozen geese at a time flying from north to south, instead of hundreds previously."

In September, local authorities started drawing water from Poyang Lake's main channel to replenish nearby sub-lakes. They also cut grasses that were too old and hard for the birds to eat to make the grass sprout (抽芽). Duan said that human efforts to minimize the effects of changing weather patterns were just "a drop in the bucket" for a massive lake like Poyang. "We just do what we can do to reduce the impact of the drought on migratory birds as much as possible," Duan said. "As long as the weather cools, and it rains, the tender grass will grow, and more birds will come."

In summer the air in Seville is sweet with the scent of oranges. They look pretty on the trees but once they fall, the streets become sticky with juice and black with flies. The 5,700 tonnes of bitter fruit the city's 48,000 trees deposit on the streets are a hazard for pedestrians (行人) and a headache for the city's cleaning department.

Now a project has been launched to produce an entirely different kind of juice from the unwanted oranges: electricity. Seville is running a pilot project to use the methane (甲烷) produced as the fruit ferments (发酵) to generate clean electricity.

Emasesa, the city water company, will use 35 tonnes of fruit to generate clean energy to run a water purification plant. The oranges will go to a facility that generates electricity from organic matter. As they ferment, the methane captured will be used to drive the generator.

"The juice is made up of very short carbon chains and the energetic performance of these carbon chains during the fermentation process is very high," said Benigno López, the head of Emasesa's environmental department.

While the aim for now is to use the energy to run the water purification plants, the ultimate goal is to feed extra electricity back into the grid (电网). The team behind the project says the potential is huge. Trials have shown that a tonne of oranges will produce 50kWh, enough to power five homes for a day, and they calculate that if all the city's oranges were recycled and the energy put back into the grid, 73,000 homes could be powered.

"Emasesa is now a role model in Spain for sustainability and the fight against climate change," said Juan Espadas Cejas, the mayor of Seville. "The water purification plants consume almost 40% of the energy to provide the city with drinking water. This project will help us to reach our targets for reducing emissions, energy self sufficiency and the circular economy."

When I was younger, I thought that boys and grown men shouldn't cry, much less show that they can be reduced to tears. The tears were signs of being weak, which a man isn't supposed to be, supposedly. This was even strengthened in my young mind by a song, Boys Don't Cry, in the early 1980s.

But just this last June I discovered that courage isn't all about trying to keep all the pain inside in check. Courage isn't all about trying to hide the tears. It's the opposite — the tears strengthen the heart's courage. And I saw this in my father.

Our beloved grandfather passed away suddenly and with it, I saw how vulnerable my father's heart was. My siblings and I were used to seeing him as an imposing figure and an iron-willed, authoritarian father. For three days after my grandfather's death, he wouldn't talk. He would just sit quietly outside our house in the dark. On the fourth night, I sat beside him and asked him to tell me what he feels about everything.

It has been years since I have laid my hand on my father's shoulder as we have drifted farther and farther apart while I was growing up. That night though, I sensed my father trying to control his pain and I wanted him to be able to let it out. We have all cried over what happened except him. All of us except him. The simple touch and my words, "Dad, it's not your fault" broke my father's dam. In the darkness, he began to cry.

I understood then why he preferred to be in the dark. By being there, he hoped to spare his family of a father's pain. His tears, though we didn't see them before that night, were there all the same. I saw his courage, that night when my father cried with my hand on his shoulder, and understood his pain.

Disney movies are the bread and butter of many people's childhoods. We've put together a list of the most unforgettable Disney movies to watch with the kids… or alone.

Rodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella

This movie was groundbreaking when it was first released in 1997, and not just for casting musical icon Whitney Houston in the role of the fairy godmother. Singer Brandy was the first Black actress to ever play the role of Cinderella on-screen, paving the way for more diversity in Hollywood productions of classic fairytale stories.

Treasure Planet

Released in 2002, this movie remains one of Disney's hidden gems to this day. A family-friendly sci-fi take on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson book, Treasure Island, this film is full of heart and humour. It is definitely worth a watch and will be just as popular with little girls as it is with little boys, and there are a few hidden jokes just for the grown-ups.

The Fox and The Hound

This animated classic still brings tears to the eyes of some grown adults. The 1981 Disney movie is a surprisingly moving coming of age story that really cuts to the core of what it feels like to grow up and grow apart. Kids will adore the cute animation style, sweet friendship moments and beautiful score. As for the adults, you may want to keep the tissues handy for the final act.

Brother Bear

The last entry on our list comes from 2003 and was one of the last 2D animated films Disney ever released. The kids will love the comedic moments and don't worry, there are plenty of jokes that will have parents chuckling too. Make sure to keep some tissues nearby though, as there are several moments that will definitely leave you teary.

It was a dark night in Texas when Luke Armstrong drove into town. He had a lot of things on his mind and he was driving slowly, thinking of solutions to his problems. He had a sick daughter named Anne, and he was worried she would give in to her illness before he could gather enough money to pay for the surgery (外科手术).

Suddenly, he noticed a flashy sports car parked by the side of the road. It looked like it had a broken tire, but Luke couldn't be too sure. He passed it without giving it a second thought and continued down the road.

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the prone (俯卧的) figure of a human lying just by the side of the road. "What is it?" he said to himself and his truck stopped beside the figure.

It was a woman, and she was weak. Luke immediately knew he had to help her as soon as possible. He noticed her expensive outfit as he lifted her. "Perhaps she owns the fancy car I saw a few minutes ago," Luke said to himself as he moved her to his truck and turned on the heater.

He noticed that she seemed to be having trouble breathing, so he called 911 and reported his exact location as well as the predicament (困境) he found the woman in.

Soon the ambulance came, and the woman was carried away.

After checking on his daughter the next day, Luke decided to see how the woman he rescued was feeling. He had been told she was getting treated in the same hospital. It turned out that she was no longer in danger. She was very grateful for his kindness. After learning about his daughter, she expressed great sympathy (同情).

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右。2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

A week passed with Luke trying his best to work something out for his child.

……

Who might be kind enough to pay for the surgery? 

注意：1. 词数80左右；2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Tom,

……

Your,

Li Hua