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THIS summer, many Beijing middle school students had a different kind of vacation. Instead of hanging out with friends or traveling, they were training hard for the National Day celebration.
To mark the special anniversary (周年纪念)of China this year, the students performed a group dance in a big parade(游行)on Tian’anmen Square on October 1.
Students were training from 7:30am to around 10:00am or from 4 pm to 6:30pm. It was to avoid the summer heat.
They wore white hats, T-shirts and dark-blue trousers. The hats and T-shirts were printed with a red logo, the number ‘60”.
The first week of training was PE. Students practiced standing and squatting（蹲)。 Then they moved on to practice the group display. The use colored sheets in the shape of flowers as a prop(道具). When we watch the parade on TV we will see them making colorful patterns(图案)with them.
What do the students think of their unusual summer?
“Sometimes we find it a bit tiring.” says Lu Wenqi,13.”But most of us think it’s a great honor to take part in such an important celebration.”
Li Hui, 15, thinks the same as Lu. She says her classmates are seldom late for training.
“It’s a wonderful chance for us,’ says Li. “When my parents were in college, they also took part in a national day celebration. Now it’s my turn!”
By Wang Min
21st Century Teens staff
【小题1】How long were the students training every day?

Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class: he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings. Listen to him, and you will notice the loudness, the quality and the musical note of his voice always change according to what he is talking about.
The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts(天赋) of a good actor doesn’t mean that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important differences between the teacher’s work and the actor’s. The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand(预先). What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage.
A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience take an active part in his play: they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don’t understand something, they say so. The teacher therefore has to meet the needs of his audience, which is in his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along.
I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but were unable to take part in a stage-play because they could not keep strictly to what another had written. 
【小题1】The word “audience” in the third paragraph means ________.

Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class: he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings. Listen to him, and you will notice the loudness, the quality and the musical note of his voice always change according to what he is talking about.
The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts(天赋) of a good actor doesn’t mean that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important differences between the teacher’s work and the actor’s. The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand(预先). What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage.
A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience take an active part in his play: they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don’t understand something, they say so. The teacher therefore has to meet the needs of his audience, which is in his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along.
I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but were unable to take part in a stage-play because they could not keep strictly to what another had written. 
【小题1】The word “audience” in the third paragraph means ________.