A few weeks ago, my eldest son, who is in his first year teaching fourth grade in a public elementary school,     1     (decide) to put a suggestion box in his classroom, though he wasn’t quite sure     2     the box would yield. The result was not so much suggestions as appeals     3     kindness. From “Lots of people don’t mind their own business” to “I am stressed out because everybody keeps arguing about little things,” there was a class­wide desire for compassion, even if there is no clear sense of how to get it.

As a new teacher, my son is routinely surprised by things his 9­year­old students do, but more than anything he is surprised by how badly they treat one another. The children want to be on the receiving end of kindness     4     have trouble handing it out. On a daily basis, they     5     (trip) up by three obstacles: lack of impulse control, thoughtlessness, and difficulty with forgiveness, or letting things go.

The episode reminds me of the well­known Henry James quote: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kin D. The second is to be kin D. And the third is to be kind.” I think of these words when I’m with my kids, or just being a human in our world, struggling to understand     6     kindness is learned or innate (与生俱来的), or a little bit of both. Shortly after last year’s election, I bought a book called On Kindness. The authors also present a tour of kindness through the ages, from the Stoics through today,     7     yields one surprising truth: kindness, which seems immutable (永恒不变的) a part of the human experience as love or hate, joy or sorrow, is subject to cultural shifts,     8     (govern) by the thinking and mood of the age.

Published back in 2009, On Kindness ends on something of a down note when it gets to our modern times. In our striving     9     success, we have become so individualistic, too selfish, loath to admit that we are dependent on anyone, which brings me back to my eldest son. Twenty­two years old, he is all too aware of what gets lost in growing up, and so he wrestles daily with how to promote and sustain a feeling of kindness in his classroom, for these children who are our future. His students are extremely sympathetic when one of     10     peers is upset. “They are very good at comforting each other,” my son recently told me. “But it’s like they have to destroy each other first.”

As the saying goes, “Confidence in     1     (you) is the first step on the road     2     success.” Confidence plays an important role in our study. With confidence, we can plan our own study. With confidence, we can ask     3     we don’t know without feeling     4    (embarrass). With confidence, we can be open-minded all the time.

We may gain self-confidence in many ways. Making friends or     5    (exchange) ideas with classmates may be of help. Besides, taking     6     active part in all kinds of activities and     7     (compete) requires not only great courage and skill but also self-confidence. We need to have confidence.

    8     , “confidence is a plant of slow growth”. For me, I prefer to offer help to others. This is a chance     9    (understand) others as well as to test what I suppose I know. In our study, we must learn to share, which in turn helps us learn to learn, and     10    (hope), self-confidence is the key!

Hiking tours are a kind of adventure tourism. Generally speaking, these vacations focus almost entirely     1     hiking from one place to another. Hiking tours can be done as a group activity or alone.

There are many different ways of organizing hiking tours. Some people like to go out into the areas where there are very few people and travel over a long     2     (distant )from one place to another. They usually stay in hotels overnight before     3     (travel) to the next place on the following day.

Guides can make hiking trips safer and more focused. Some hikers prefer to take hiking tours without guides because of costs or because they want to challenge     4     (they). However, employing a reliable guide during a hiking tour     5     (consider) as a better choice for less experienced hikers.

The activity can be very tiring, and those     6     are new to hiking may worry that they aren’t     7     (physical) able to finish the tours. Sometimes it can be helpful for people     8     (go) to the doctor and make sure it is safe for them to choose     9     difficult hike. Sometimes, a     10     (challenge) hike can be deadly for someone having heart disease.