We think that life in Chinese high school is an adventure in which we have to survive mountains of homework and exams. Yet would you be     1    (surprise)if I tell you that high school life in the US is almost     2     stressful as it is in China?

In US high school, everything     3    (record)and graded, including your grades on quizzes, tests and final examinations. Failing     4    (turn)in your homework on time will     5    (direct)affect your grade for a certain course. Perhaps different from what we used to think of the US high school     6    (student), they pay great attention to getting high scores to try to get into a key university. Otherwise, they’ll be disappointed after     7    (graduate)from high school.

Like university students, the US high school students have the freedom to choose the courses     8     most interest them. Even     9     9^th grader can sit in the same classroom as 12^th graders. But this also means he or she has to work very hard, because the teacher will not treat him or her differently just because he or she is a few years     10    (young)than others.

【推荐2】When I was in high school our physics teacher gave us a challenge     1     involved making a paper airplane of any shape. The only objective was to get it to fly as far as possible.     2     (stand) at the starting line, one of my classmates took a piece of flat paper, crumpled (把……捏成一团) it up, and     3     (throw) it down the way. He beat the class with ease. Some of the students got mad and said that he cheated, but the physics teacher     4     (clear) explained it could be any shape and that a paper ball was indeed a shape.

In my primary school, I felt stupid because I was behind the others.     1    , my life is a lot easier at high school because my fellow students have accepted me. The few     2     cannot see the real person inside my body do not make me     3    (annoy), and I just ignore them. All in all I have a good life. I am happy to have found many things I can do,     4     writing and computer programming. My ambition is     5     (work) for a firm that develops computer software when I grow up. Last year I     6     (invent) a computer football game and a big company has decided to buy     7     from me. I have a very busy life with no time to sit around     8     (feel) sorry for myself. As well as going to the movies and football     9     (match) with my friends, I spend a lot of time with my pets. I have two rabbits, a parrot, a tank full of fish and a tortoise. To look after my pets     10     (proper) takes a lot of time but I find it worthwhile. I also have to do a lot of work, especially if I have been away for a while.

If you have learnt some maths at school, you can quite     1    (quick) work out that one eleventh is about 9 percent. But did you know that 9 percent is also the number of children     2     are not at school? That’s right - one in 11 children is not     3    (study) and probably even cannot do the simple maths you just did so very easily. They drop out of school     4     their families are too poor and they have to work like adults. In 2013, millions of children and     5    (teenager) were out of school. Most live in poor countries, but there     6    (be) also some boys and girls who cannot go to school in rich countries. If you are one of the lucky ones who can go to     7     senior high school, you should be grateful for the opportunity. So the next time you feel like you do not want     8    (do) boring, difficult homework or go to class, think about the children who don’t have the chance to get a good     9    (educate). Make the most of your education and make the world a     10    (good) place.

I know that I wasn’t a     1    (will) student, but I wasn’t slow     2    (learn) new things. It was Mr Jenkins made me feel that I had my own strengths. I used to be asked to give a presentation and explain science to an audience and now it’s my job. Often, when I’m preparing a programme, I think about     3     Mr Jenkins would have done it.