【推荐1】“Growth requires discomfort．If you stick with what is ______，you’re _____ any hope of surprising yourself，of finding greatness，of having the best experiences human life has to _________ ．”

—Thomas Oppong．

Many people agree that the magic starts to ______ the instant we step outside of our comfort zones．The second you decide to go _____ what is safe，you will have planted a seed ______，if watered daily，will bloom into something that you would have ______ expected to come to fruition．

For me，one of the most important things we should always keep in mind is that，by no means，can ______ and comfort coexist．

Five years ago，I decided to move overseas and I haven’t lived in the United States since．All throughout high school，I wanted to live in a Latin American ______ and become fluent in Spanish through ______ cultural immersion(沉浸)．Obviously the chances of this happening while living in the US were ______．So，halfway through my undergraduate，I switched over to the online version of my degree and bought a one-way ______ to Argentina，______ I ______ the last two years of my degree before flying back home for graduation．

I currently still live here，and I can personally say that ______ what I wanted years ago and taking the necessary steps to make it a ______ was one of the most important things I could have done for myself．The ______ that came along with the initial culture shock，using my second language and learning to live life ______   from the way we do things in the US has ______ an extremely enriching (丰富的)______．

【推荐2】When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the leading role— a princess in the school play. For weeks my mother had helped me practice my_________. But once on stage, every word   _________from my head. Then my teacher told me she had written a_________part for the play, and asked me to_________roles. Though I didn’t tell my mother what had happened that day, she_________my unhappiness and asked if I wanted to take a_________in the yard.

It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions (蒲公英) through the grass in bunches. I watched my mother carelessly_________down by one of the bunches. “I think I am going to_________   all these weeds,” she said. “From now on, we’ll have_________roses in this garden.”

“But I like dandelions,” I protested. “All flowers are____________— even dandelions!”

My mother looked at me____________. “Yes, every flower gives____________in its own way, doesn’t it?” She asked thoughtfully. I nodded. “And that is true of____________, too,” she added.

When I realized that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the____________.

“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said,____________me of how much I loved to read stories____________to her.

Over the next few weeks, with her____________encouragement, I learned to take pride in the role. The big day finally came. A few minutes before the play, my teacher____________to me. “Your mother asked me to give this to you,” she said, handing me a____________. After the play, I took it home, ____________ to mom that I was perhaps the only person who would keep such a weed.

【推荐3】Failing Successfully

Two years ago I took part in a speech competition and delivered a memorized speech. It was a hard time for me when the judge ______ the winners. At last, the moment of truth came. I got the worst.

After not being placed in the competition, I really wanted to ______ again. I realized that finding the right topic was the most important part of the whole _____. It needs to be motivational and inspirational to the ______. So I reworked my speech for the following year, ______ a different topic and spending many hours before the computer and in libraries doing research. Then I worked _____ the speech, line by line, word by word, making it ______ better.

The next year I participated in the competition again. I gave my ______ in two parts, one was about my own experience and the other was about the feelings that people usually have when giving a speech—how ______ it is, standing on a stage all alone, with everyone sitting and watching them. My speech ______ down well and I was hoping to do that a little bit better. _____, my wish didn’t come true. The competition was so fierce and again I wasn’t _____.

I was deeply disappointed, since I couldn’t accept the fact that I had ______ twice in something that I had worked so hard on. However, I knew that losing is ______ and part of life. One of the judges said to me that my speech was quite good, ______ it needed to be better if I wanted to go any further. He advised me to struggle to ______ something like some of the empty gestures. He said that I would surely succeed someday.

While I didn’t earn ______ as a result of the competition, I did gain a new viewpoint. I discovered that I could fail successfully. I think I’ll ______ to work hard and enter the next competition. Now, whenever I’m faced with a defeat, I ______ myself of what a famous person said, “The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself that it’s a slip and not a ______.”

【推荐1】US scientists say they have bred a genetically modified (GM) mosquito that can resist malaria(疟疾) infection. If the lab technique ___in the field, it could offer a new way of stopping the biting insects from ___malaria to humans, they say. The scientists put a new "resistance" ___into the mosquito’s own DNA, using a gene editing method called Crispr.

And when the GM mosquitoes mated — their later generation inherited the ___resistance, PNAS journal reports. In ___, if these mosquitoes bite people, they should not be able to ___on the parasite(寄生虫) that causes malaria.

About 3.2bn people — almost half of the world’s population — are at ___of malaria. Bed nets can help ___the insects biting and drugs can be given to anyone who ___the infection, but the disease ____kills around 580 000 people a year.

Scientists have been searching for new ways to ____malaria. The University of California team believe their GM mosquitoes could play a key role — ____resistant offspring to replace malaria-carrying mosquitoes. They took a type of mosquito found in India on which to ____.

Dr. Anthony James and his team showed that they could give the ____new DNA code to make it a ____host for the malaria parasite. The DNA was inherited by almost 100% of the mosquito offspring and across three ____.

Mosquito larvae(幼虫) can be genetically modified to carry ____new genes, such as resistance to the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria. The researchers say the findings offer ____that the same method could also work in other mosquito ____.

___it would not be a sole solution to the malaria problem, it would be a useful additional weapon, they say.

【推荐2】Have you ever wondered what you would tell yourself if you had the chance to go back to the past? We all have those life lessons that could have ______ significantly to our personal growth if only we had known them _____.

When I was 8 years old I was told I had leukemia (白血病). Although it is ____ for a child to have cancer, I was somewhat lucky ______ I was unaware of the overall ______   of it. Sure, I was sick, but _______.

Two years later I had a relapse (旧病复发), and it was much harder to _______ it the second time. After receiving all kinds of treatments and a series of operations, I _______ recovered. And I’m here 13 years later to tell my story.

Because of _______ the above things at a young age, I’ve learned things no other child gets the opportunity to. If I could go back and give my 8­year­old self _______, I'd say, “Bryce, what you are about to experience is going to be one of the ______ things anyone could face. You’re going to have days when your body is so weak that others will have to ______ you so that you can eat, drink, or sit up. You’ll be so ______ that for a year you won’t be able to go ______ unless you wear a mask.”

“That sounds bad, but it doesn’t ______ what you’ll learn because of it. You’ll learn that no matter what bad things ______ to you, you should make a good life out of what is left. You’ll learn that you can never judge a person because you just don't know what   _________, illnesses, or trials they’ve been through.”

To this day, my cancer experience works _______ a reminder that difficulties are not all bad, and I hope to live up to the ________ I have of my personal growth. How about you? I hope the life lessons I’ve ________ can help you reflect on your own.

【推荐3】There are many things parents can do to help children with autism (自闭症) overcome their challenges. Learning all you can about autism and getting _________ in treatment will go a long way toward helping your child.

Stay consistent (一致的). Children with autism have a hard time _________ what they have learned if there is a change of setting. For example, your child may use sign language at school to communicate, but never think to do so at home. Creating _________ in your child’s enviropment is the best way to promote learning. Find out what your child’s therapists are doing and continue their techniques at home. Explore the _________ of having treatment take place in more than one place in order to encourage your child to _________ what he or she has learned from one environment to another. It’s also important to be consistent in the way you _________ with your child and deal with challenging behaviors.

_________ a schedule. Children with autism tend to do best when they have a highly-organized schedule. Again, this goes back to the consistency they both need and desire. Set up a schedule for your child, with _________ times for meals, therapy, school and bedtime. Try to keep interruption to this routine to a(n) _________. If there is an unavoidable schedule change, prepare your child for it __________.

__________ good behavior. Positive encouragement can go a long way, so make an effort to “catch them doing something good.” Praise them when they act sensibly or learn a new skill, being very __________ about what behavior they are being praised for.

Pay attention to your child’s sensitivities. Many children with autism are “hypersensitive” to light, sound, touch and smell. Other children with autism are “under-sensitive” to sensory stimuli. __________ what sights, sounds, smell and movements cause your kid’s troublesome behavior and what brings about a(n) __________ response. If you understand what affects your child, you’ll be better at solving problems, preventing situations that cause difficulties, and creating __________ experiences.

【推荐1】Sometimes, it is really difficult for a teacher during his first week writing classes. I’m unfamiliar _________ the students, most of whom trying to adapt to their new environment and _________ on their study. When Serlina _________ me with a question on the second day, I was _________ for the opportunity to connect at least one name with a face.

Although her writing wasn’t perfect, she still tried her best. She worked hard and pushed herself to achieve. She was excited to learn, _________ made me enjoy teaching her. I didn’t realize then how much she would also teach me at that time.

Serlina stopped by after class, one Thursday afternoon. She wasn’t asking a question about a paper I’d returned. _________, she said quietly: “I didn’t attend classes yesterday. I was at the health center the whole day.” I gave her a sideways look, _________. “It was just a virus. I’m fine now.” she _________ me. Then she was away.

However, three nights later, her father called to tell me that Serlina would be missing a few classes. She had been in hospital with meningitis (脑膜炎). I heard from him again a few days later, and again after that. Her condition grew _________. We made trips to the hospital room. I was __________ frightened when I saw the pale, thin and weak girl who, only ten days earlier, had showed life and warmth in my classroom.

A week later, Serlina herself called me to tell me she was on the road to __________. “I’ll be back to school one day,” she said. “You must have a/an __________ to be with us,” I told her, __________ tears. I remembered what her father had said in his first phone call: “school __________ everything to Serlina.”

Then four weeks later, I walked into my classroom to find Serlina in her seat, smiling. She __________ all of her missed homework, completed with thought and excellence. The strength of her will to overcome shone out of her pale, weak, eighteen-year-old face.

【推荐2】Some people got off the bus. New faces stepped on.

I was sitting there looking at the driver with respect. A thought __ that I should tell him how much I __ seeing his kindness, especially to the blind woman.

“No, that's kind of random,” a voice inside my head told me, as my ___thought came up with all sorts of excuses. “You’re supposed to go out of the back door anyway, so you won’t have a __ to go up and say anything to the bus driver.”

I thought about it again and then I thought about all the small and __ moments of kindness I have met in this community. There was no turning back. As the bus____ my stop, I walked to the ____ of the bus. “Thank you so much for your kindness to that __ woman. It was really nice to see.” I offered. “Well, that's really nice to hear. Thank you so much! It's nice to know that someone __. My brother is deaf. So I have a special soft spot for people with __.” he explained.

“Well, I really appreciated seeing it. It was___ and made my day.” I told him, smiling brightly. “Thank you. That really makes my day.” he replied, with a ___smile.

We talked a little more, and any wave of doubt completely___. I stepped off the bus a little later in relief. And it __ me of a line I once came across: Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

Gratitude to have met such memorable stories of everyday __, and to be in contact with beautiful souls encourages me to speak out my inner voice in times of beauty.

【推荐3】Sitting back in my seat, I can’t quite believe that I’m about to travel along the railway that many foreign experts thought was “impossible”. All this time, the song “Sky Railway” has been ___________ inside my head. The words “railways like massive dragons are winding among the mountains” seem particularly _________ as I travel across the “roof of the world”.

I was one of the people who came from all parts of China to work on this railway._______   years to finish, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a record of all of our efforts to _______ the most difficult engineering challenges. How to _______ the delicate ecosystem (脆弱的生态) was the most important.

The first landmark to catch my eye is the splendid Qingshuihe Bridge, the world’s longest bridge built over permafrost. Look! A group of Tibetan antelopes is moving _______ the bridge, with some stopping to eat grass at their _________. Thirty-three passages(通道) have been built under the railway to allow the animals to move safely and freely in their natural _______. Wild animals such as these Tibetan antelopes have now been using these _______ for years. They seem totally __________ that we are speeding past at over 100 kilometers an hour.

To prevent ________ to wetlands and grasslands, 675 bridges with ________ about 160 kilometer were built between Golmud and-Lhasa.

The journey has been flying by, and before I know it, we have reached Tanggula Station.________at over 5,000 metres above sea level, this is the ________ railway station in the world. In locations such as this, the thin air,________weather and high levels of UV radiation presented perhaps the greatest ________ for railway workers. To make sure we stayed ________, several oxygen-making stations were built. We were also able to enjoy ________ breaks in lower areas.

As we pass Cuona Lake, I feel a sense of pride and achievement. It is so close to the railway that I want to ________ and touch its pale blue mirror-like surface. I am proud that we built our “impossible” railway, and did so with the ________ that the environment deserves. It truly is an extraordinary “Sky Railway”.