Tene Konate takes pride in telling relatives about her job driving a 72-ton truck at the Hounde gold mine in western Burkina Faso. She is one of 111 women at the mine     1     (teach) for jobs like moving rocks, or     2     (drive) heavy vehicles which are more traditionally done by men in West Africa. They remain firmly in the minority, however, with women making up just 11 percent of     3     workforce at Hounde which is run by Canada's Endeavour Mining. Konate had struggled to provide for her two young daughters. This     4     (eventual) led her to the mining industry and she acknowledged the mine had changed everything in her life since she worked at Hounde. Konate now lives in a large house in Hounde and can pay for her daughters’ schooling. In the beginning, the mother     5     (train) on how to operate trucks     6     wheels are so large that drivers must climb a ladder (梯子) to get into the cabin. Konate said that the work was tiring     7     she liked it very much. She encourages those around her     8     (forget) gender (性别) and judge colleagues by the quality     9     their work. “As I always say to my     10     (operator), as soon as you cross that gate, we are no longer women. We have become men, because we do the same job.”

Last Monday, having gotten my promise of taking care of my mother, my father left for a business trip.     1     (see) him driving away, my mother and I waved our hands and said goodbye to him.

I thought everything would go well , as this was not the     2     (one) time that my father had been away for several days. Unfortunately, my mother     3     (catch) a cold the next morning. Looking at her pale face, l experienced high levels of anxiety.     4    , I told myself that I had     5     (calm) down and look after my mum, as I promised to my dad.     6    moment I got my mum to sleep, I put a cold towel on her forehead, found pills in the medicine box, and made some noodles for her.     7     (lucky), she woke up and felt     8     (good) after taking the medicine and the noodles.     9     her fever was gone relieved me a lot. In the next four days, I was taking her body temperature twice a day to make sure that she was completely well. To our happiness, my dad went back home on Saturday. On hearing what I     10     (do) to my mum, he gave me a big thumb. Hearing their praises and seeing bright smile on their faces, I really felt overjoyed.

Kids always have to sit in the back seat these days for security reasons.

This would have taken a lot of joy away from my childhood. How many     1     (time) did my brother and I fight over who got to sit in the front? I'm     2     (surprise) my mom never implemented (执行) a policy     3     (real). She kind of let it up to us. Once in a while, she would put her foot down and make us take turns. I recall that at times, the front seat would go to whoever     4     (yell) “I call the front!” first. But it had to be     5     we were outside of the store or the house. We couldn’t “call it” while we were still inside.

Sometimes we would determine who got to sit in the front by whoever touched the car first. I certainly lost because my brother was more athletic, and therefore     6     (quick). So, he would tag the car first.

And     7     other way we would decide who got the front was by     8     (argue) over whose turn it was. Of course, we always thought it was our own turn. So, we’d argue about it until one of us gave in, or my mum got frustrated enough     9     (make) one of us sit in the back.

For my brother and me, fighting over the front seat     10     (be) an important part of our sibling（兄弟）bonding.

Having lost my job, I was feeling a little blue. While walking on the street one day, I heard piano music and singing     1     ( rise) above the noise of the people. I walked up the street to find out     2     it was coming from. Then I saw a young lady sitting at a piano.

She was singing songs about love, having     3     (confident) and keeping on trying,    4     made me a little comfortable. I stood there     5     ( quiet), watching her playing at such a crowded square. I thought she must be brave enough     6     ( perform) before so many people. I walked over and told her how good her music sounded. “ I’ve gone through a hard time recently, but you’ve made me     7     ( hope) again. Thank you,” I said to her. She replied, “ I’m glad that I could help you. I’ve seen lots of unhappy people around and I wish to cheer     8     (they) up by playing music. You should smile more and lift your head up.” She added, “ Opportunity     9     (come) in different ways and if your head is down, you might not see it.”

I smiled at her, realizing that no difficulties could keep me     10     going on.

One Direction was one of the most popular bands, and it consisted    1    five artists. After years of breaking records, the band started to slow down. In early 2015, it     2    (announce) on Facebook that Zayn Malik, one of the members, would be leaving the band. In his first interview after leaving the band, Zayn Malik said that the reason why he left was     3    it didn't fit his style. And he said he “never     4    (true) spoke to Harry”, his former bandmate and that he had never been under the    5    (impress) they would keep in touch after Malik left the band. “Our relationships    6    (change) since we were in a band together, but I think that's just life,” said Malik. This came as     7    surprise to fans because in the Facebook post announcing his departure, Malik wrote that he had “four friends for life”. In contrast to the typical pop music, Malik shared an R&B album in 2016 and his    8    (late) album Nobody Is Listening, in 2021.

Speaking with Vogue UK, he referred    9    One Direction as a “machine”. He discussed the band's sudden rise to fame and busy touring     10    (schedule) by saying, “I wasn't really ever able to enjoy the experience. The machine had gone too fast.”