Readers will discover explorers, landmarks and more in the following maps and travel books.

Maps Special Edition, ₤ 25

This book was already popular in our children's area and has been made even better with this special edition. The collection of 68 maps takes you through 58 countries and six continents. It is packed with illustrated information, including famous historical figures, local dishes, some festivals, landmarks, etc.

Maps of the United Kingdom, ₤17.99

Technically aimed at children, it contains lots of information and facts. It's very well put together, especially when it comes to choosing the seven famous people with a connection to their special place. Philip Pullman, for example, is associated with Norfolk.

Harry Potter's London, ₤3.99

Harry Potter's London is a map that covers information on three walks taken in the best of the central London locations in the hugely popular films. The walks cover Picadilly Circus, Westminster Bridge via Trafailg, and King's Cross with its famous Platform 9 ¾.

Ushorne First Sticker Book Flags, ₤5.99

Learn the flag of every country in the world by placing the flag sticker on the correct countries on the maps. This contains interesting facts about countries and flags. There are fun questions throughout, including, "Some African flags have a diagonal strip (对角条纹). How many can you find?"

Proudly reading my words, I looked around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes and Miss Lancelot stone-faced. I slowly raised the report, hoping to hide myself and burning to find out "What could be causing everyone to act this way?"

Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice: flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.

When another classmate began his report, it all became clear, "My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution." How could I know that she meant that George Washington?

Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: no re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster's office with my grandfather and the headmaster informed me of his approval that I could skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!

Imagine that the genome (基因组) is a book. The book consists of 23 chapters, with thousands of stories made up of paragraphs, words and letters on different levels. There are one billion words in the book, which makes it longer than 500 dictionaries. If I read the genome out to you at the rate of one word per second for eight hours a day, it would take me a century. If I wrote out the human genome, one letter per millimeter, my text would be as long as the River Danube. This enormous document, however, all fits inside the extremely small nucleus (核) of a tiny cell that fits easily upon the head of a pin (针尖).

The idea of the genome as a book is not, strictly speaking, even a metaphor (比喻). It is true to a great extent. A book is a piece of digital information, written in one-directional form and controlled by a system that translates a small alphabet (字母表) of letters into a large dictionary of meanings through the order of their groupings. So is a genome. The only difference is that all English books read from left to right, while some parts of the genome read from left to right, and some from right to left, though never both at the same time.

While English books are written in words of different lengths using twenty-six letters, genomes are written entirely in three-letter words, using only four letters. And instead of being written on flat pages, they are written on long chains of DNA molecules (分子). The genome is a very clever book, because in the right conditions it can both photocopy itself and read itself.

We're loving the sea to death. We swim into it, live near it, build beside it, and even imagine about living under the sea. For much of our history, we have turned to "hard engineering" to control the marine environment and manage its influence on us. We build dams, sea walls and channels. But all these efforts seem to fail, because we've not been thinking about design of structures with respect to ecology. Some coastal structures create shade, which reduces the growth of seaweed. Bright lights at night contuse species such as turtles. That's why blue engineering comes in.

Johnson, a marine ecologist, is advocating for "blue engineering" — the marine version of the "green engineering" movement on land that has seen nations like Singapore building the walls and roofs of the concrete jungle with plant life.

Researchers with the World Harbour Project are creating tiles similar to the natural structures found on rocky shores with 3D printing technology. These make more attractive homes for marine creatures. Researchers are also actively seeding these tiles with local seaweeds and creatures such as the Sydney rock oyster, which is particularly good at improving water quality. Twelve harbors around the world are taking part in this marine tile experiment, each working with their own unique marine life.

It's a far cry from the days when huge numbers of old tyres were thrown into the sea to build "artificial reefs". Those early attempts are now costing millions to remove, showing just how far we have yet to go in understanding how best to co-habit with the underwater world.

Human beings learn technology from nature. They tend to imitate it.  It did take us a while to learn, though. However, not until the mid-twentieth century was the word "biomimicry (仿生学)" first introduced.

One of the first examples would be the invention of Velcro (魔术贴), a material that was born after a walk in the countryside by an engineer and his dog. On returning home, he found his socks were filled with little burrs (刺果).  They were covered by many tiny hooks (勾). He used those qualities for some kind of fabric. And then Velcro was born.

 A high-speed train used to create great noise while exiting a tunnel because of the air pressure. Eiji Nakatsu, an engineer and bird-lover, was inspired by the kingfisher's beak (鸟嘴), able to dive into the water at great speed with almost no friction, to create a new design. That's how the modern bullet train, much more efficient and quieter, was born.

Secondly, there would be the imitation of Nature's strategies and mechanisms. For instance, dolphins have mastered the art of sending out ultrasound (超声波) without disturbing each other. A team of researchers have analyzed the way dolphins adjust these frequencies.

Finally, there's the imitation of the efficiency within an ecosystem.  For example, the street is full of tiny holes to empty water in flooding seasons and the foundations of buildings grasp the hillsides like the roots of trees.

A. One is the imitation of shapes.

B. People imitate forests to build cities.

C. For instance, birds taught people to fly.

D. He decided to get rid of these little burrs.

E. Then he bent down to inspect them closely.

F. Urban areas consume more energy than rural areas.

G. Based on the analysis, they designed a tsunami alarm system.

I was 17 years old. Along with a dozen other boys I had made a long trip to Iowa in order to see a college that I was thinking of 1. While the trip had been 2 for the most part, I was feeling depressed, alone, and isolated. I was 3 the Appalachian mountains and the forests of my home. I loved 4 the leaves turned a thousand 5 of green in the Spring and then became a 6 of red, gold and orange in the Fall.

Here in Iowa everything was 7. The grass looked burnt and brown. All that I could8was a mixture of corn, mud and pigs. I walked outside the dormitory of the college and sat on a big rock. I closed my eyes and 9 being back home again. When I finally opened them, however, I saw something that touched my 10. It was a Prairie (大草原) Sunset. It seemed to 11 the sky from horizon to horizon. Gold, red, purple and pink clouds all 12 together in a picture painted by Heaven's own hand. It was so huge that it took my 13 away. It made our mountain sunsets seem 14 by comparison. I realized that this place too had its own special beauty. This place too was a part of nature's15.

Thanks to Chinese streaming media platform iQiyi, Hikaru No Go, a (domestic) produced 36-episode series based on the classic 1990s Japanese comic of the same name was finally broadcast on TV. Despite the  (popular) and mass appeal of the original comic, until now, no live-action adaptation of Hikaru No Go  (realize).

In the story, a Chinese boy named Guang discovers a Go (围棋) board in which the spirit of an ancient master player is imprisoned (监禁). The boy is encouraged and taught by the ancient spirit, gradually  (become) a master player himself.

The story is like fantasy,  has a typically realistic background, which may easily arouse strong emotion among the Chinese audience. For example, the beginning of the tale is set in the late 1990s,  South Korea dominated the international Go world and China fell behind.

According to the producer, the series  (be) not just for Go fans, but for everyone. "In the story, the players grow through  (win) and losing, and their emotions can be felt by the audience, who also face challenges and try to seek achievement in own lives," he says.

Now its ranking of 8.4 from a total of 10 points on Douban proves that it is domestic hit. Meanwhile, on social media in Japan, it has been greeted with huge support and praise.

注意：

1）写作词数应为80左右；

2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

"Late again, Mavis! How many times have I told you to come back in time to help me cook dinner?" asked Mrs. Muntari.

"But, mummy, I can't just walk out in the middle of a game!" said Mavis, who was nearly breathless after running all the way home.

"You shouldn't be playing the game in the first place." Mrs. Muntari said as she stopped cooking and looked at Mavis.

"But, mum, Why can't I? You never tell Adibe or Senzo not to play football. I had to leave the game at half time and rush back so you wouldn't get cross with me," said Mavis.

"You're a girl! It is as simple as that. Boys and girls have different roles to play. I have 11 hungry mouths to feed and I need your help!" Mrs. Muntari tasted the soup. "You're the oldest girl, so it is your job to help me. Now go and fry some more chicken. Kulu had to help me since you were not here. She burnt her finger and is still crying.

At the dinner table, Adibe and Senzo were excitedly talking about today's game. They talked about how Mavis scored in the first half with a power shot from the halfway line. It was a great goal as their team was losing 1-0 at that time.

Dad came home then and brought the boys a local newspaper, in which there was news about football scouts (球探) from England. These scouts were allowed to visit various schools to look for players of the future. Adibe and Senzo looked at each other, cheered and even started arguing which one would make it as a superstar.

Mavis knew that her parents would never allow her to play football. But she decided to secretly take this chance. She began to think about what she could do.

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。

Soon it came to the day when the scouts visited Mavis's school.

……

When Mavis arrived at the playground, it was at half time.