Something caught my eyes when I was walking down the street. Two silver coins were shining in a melting (融化) snow bank, so I dug through the snow looking for more. Of course, I just ended up with really cold hands. I slipped the two coins into my pocket and went home, colder but richer. I began to think about how to spend the money …

Two days later, Mary and her little sister Susy were searching the snow banks. “Finders are keepers” was my first thought. I didn’t want to hand them out even though Susy was already crying. “I dropped them right here,” she said between tears. Her hands were cold and red for digging (挖) in the snow. “Maybe they slid down the street with the melting snow. Let’s dig over here,” Mary’s voice sounded confident.

“They’ll never know” was my second thought, and I walked past them. “Phil, have you seen two silver coins?” asked Mary. Susy looked up from digging. Her eyes were hopeful.

“Tell a lie” was my third thought. “As a matter of fact,” I hesitated (犹豫), “I dug two coins out of that snow bank just a few days ago. I wondered who might have lost them.” Susy hugged me with a big smile, “Oh, thank you, thank you.”

Li Ziqi, a Chinese internet star famous for sharing traditional skills, made her irst appearance at the 2025 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Her performance became one of the most exciting moments of the show.

The gala started with Li Ziqi standing on the stage. When the camera focused on her, large butterfly wings made with Weifang kite and gold-weaving skills opened behind her. Robotic butterflies flew around her, creating a beautiful scene. This mix of modern technology and traditional art surprised the audience.

Li’s dress showed many traditional crafts. It used plant dyeing (coloring cloth with leaves), bamboo weaving (竹编), and Qiang embroidery (羌绣). The butterfly designs on her dress included Chengdu lacquer art and Yingshan silk flowers. In total, 13 different intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) (ICH) skills were used. “Every part of this dress tells a story from the past,” Li said.

As a “Sichuan ICH Ambassador,” Li’s performance taught young people about traditional arts. After the show, many viewers searched online to learn about these skills.“I never knew bamboo weaving could be so interesting!” wrote a teenage fan on social media.

Li Ziqi proved that old traditions can live in modern times. Her performance reminded everyone: cultural heritage is not just history—it is a treasure for the future.

Daniel Grapain from Mexico has recently made a very special robot by using recycled materials.

After learning that his school was planning to hold an activity, the 15-year-old boy wasted no time getting ready for it. He recycled materials and used them to make a robot named Larry. In no time, he made the chest (胸部) of the robot by using a plastic jug and the head out of a mayonnaise container (蛋黄酱容器).

Fed with-confidence, the student successfully built Larry by putting together different circuits (线路). A cable (电缆) joined the different body parts together, including a small platform that allowed Larry to move a Grapain didn’t buy anything new to build Larry, not even the power source (电源) that brought the robot to life. “Everything is recycled, even the cap he wears,” the student shared during an interview with Maestro Marciano, a teacher in Oaxaca, Mexico, who shared Grapain’s experiences on social media.

In a video, Grapain used a remote control to make Larry move its arms and head. “Hello, I’m Larry,” the robot said, introducing itself. It went on to explain that Grapain was the one who made him.

After Larry’s amazing presentation, Grapain got congratulations for being creative. And he got an electronics kit (一套电子工具 ) as a prize. “________” Grapain said.

How do you usually decide where to go on vacation? Will you decide where to travel because of the local landmarks (地标)? 【小题1】 Recently, a new way of travelling—“food tourism” has become popular.

“Food tourism” means that people travel to new places to try the local food. 【小题2】 For example, you can try street food, visit food markets, or eat at local restaurants. And a 2023 survey from Hello Fresh found that 74% of Americans who have travelled in the last five years went for the food. The top four countries that Americans said they want to visit for their food are Italy, France, Spain and Japan.

【小题3】 A 2022 survey by Eurostar asked 2,000 people in Britain what their main reason was for choosing where to go on vacation. 61% of people said “the food” and 41% of people said they would travel hundreds of kilometers to find the perfect meal. Some people even like to take part in the cooking themselves. 46% of people said they have taken part in cooking lessons when travelling.

The survey also found that British people like to try new and different foods when they are travelling. Nearly half of people believe that they are more adventurous (大胆的) with what they eat when they are away from home. 【小题4】 Another survey from 2023 said that Italy, Spain and France are the top three European countries that they’d like to choose.

A friend invited us to help serve dinner at Tent City. A number of tents were ________ for the homeless in the area.

I took my two boys with me. They were 9 and 5 at the time. They had a lot of questions because this whole thing challenged their ________ ideas about how people lived in the world. They used to think everyone could have a good place to live and ________ food to eat.

“Why don’t they have homes?”

“Why don’t they get food the way we do?”

We talked about the ________ why people ended up in this kind of situation. Many people we served were the ________. Some of them had lost their teeth. To my surprise, they were quite ________ for seeing the boys. My boys brought smile back to their faces. Many said how fun it was to have cute and ________ children around.

After dinner, I saw my 9-year-old son sitting together with several old people and talking about ________ happily. They shared their favorite football teams in this year’s World Cup. I heard them say, “Thanks so much for coming to have dinner with us.” I could see that my son’s simple words ________ them greatly. I hugged him as we left to go home because I was touched deeply too.

We should ________ people with respect, no matter who they are. I think my boys have learned this.