Aron Ralston, an American man who is interested in mountain climbing, is used to taking risks. However, on April 26, 2003, he found himself in a very dangerous situation when climbing in Utah. His arm was caught under such a heavy rock that he couldn't     16    his arm. He stayed there for 5 days to wait for help before his water ran out. Later, he decided to save his own life by    17    (cut) off half his right arm. In order not    18    (lose) too much blood, he even bandaged himself with his left arm.

After that experience, he wrote a book called Between a Rock and a Hard Place to tell of the    19    (important) of making good decisions, and being in control of one's life. His love for mountain climbing is so    20    that he kept on climbing mountains even after this experience.

In November 1979, pupils in England were able to watch a new TV program called Monkey. Most of them were hearing this story for the first time. However, this story is not   ______   to Chinese children. The Monkey King or Sun Wukong is the main character in the traditional Chinese book Journey to the West.

The Monkey King is not just any normal monkey. In fact, he sometimes does not even look like a monkey! This is because he can make 72________to his shape and size, turning himself into different animals and objects. But unless he can hide his tail, he cannot turn himself into a man. To fight bad people, the Monkey King uses a_______ stick. Sometimes he can make the stick so small that he can keep it in his ear. At other times, he is able to make it big and long.

The Monkey King has_______ the children of China for many years. And as soon as the TV program came out more than 30 years ago, western children became interested in reading this story because the clever Monkey King keeps fighting to help the weak and never gives up.

A Simple Act of Gratitude is about a story of changing the life. The book begins one December when the future looks_______for John Kralik. His small law business is struggling. He's in the process of divorcing(离婚)his second wife. He doesn't have much of a relationship with his two sons. He's living in a small, cheap flat, roasting in the summer and freezing in the winter. His ideal dreams for his law business and his_______to become a judge are out of reach.

On New Year's Day, John goes hiking in the mountains near his California home. He gets lost   and is stepping around in the wilderness when he hears a voice say, "_______you learn to be   thankful for the things you have, you will not receive the things you want." After thinking for a while, he_______an idea. He decides to find one person to thank each day and write them a thank - you note. By the end of the year, he will have written 365 notes. They would be the way out of his disappointment.

At first, John has trouble finding things to be thankful for. But day by day, he_______people to thank for large and small things. He writes thank-yous for gifts and kindnesses. He writes notes to his sons. Writing thank-yous makes him realize he needs to change the way he_______life and the people in it. He writes to college friends and doctors, Starbucks clerks, his daughter's teacher and his apartment manager. He writes to anyone who_______his life in even the smallest way. Almost immediately, surprising things begin to happen. He begins to have the benefit of a changed attitude. By the end of the book, his life isn't_______, and he still doesn't have everything he wants.

But he realizes that writing thank-you notes is a good thing to do and makes the world a better place.

Online classes

Taking online classes is becoming increasingly popular, but students have different opinions about it.

An elderly man once paid a visit to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a famous 19th century poet and artist. The old man had some sketches (素描) and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good.

Rossetti looked them over carefully. Soon, he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least sign of artistic talent. But Rossetti was kind, and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value.

The visitor was disappointed. He then said sorry for taking up Rossetti's time, but asked if he would just look at a few more drawings - these were drawn by a young art student. Rossetti looked over the second batch (一批) of sketches and immediately became interested in them. "These," he said, "Oh, these are good. This young student has great talent. He should be given praise and encouraged to continue in his career as an artist. He will have a great future if he works hard and keeps on trying."

Rossetti could see that the old fellow was deeply moved. "Who is this fine young artist?" Rossetti asked. "Your son?" "No," said the old man sadly. "It was me-40 years ago.

"Once upon a time, I was a boy who was so interested in drawing. I spent my free time going to the nature and drawing beautiful butterflies, mountains and forests and whatever I like. I got a feeling of satisfaction when sitting quietly near the river, watching and drawing. But people around me told me never to waste my time on drawing. They laughed at me for dreaming of being an artist as a son of a farmer. They kept advise me to work hard on the farm instead of day-dreaming and running away to avoid farming work."

"If only I had heard your praise then! For you see, I got discouraged and gave up too soon."

Recording Your Life Online via Vlog

Whether you're a vlogger, a vlog fan or a complete vlogging newcomer, there is no denying that this method of communication has taken the world by storm. But what exactly is a vlog? A vlog is when someone records their life and put it online. Vlogging can be just a hobby or a full-time job. So how do you make a vlog? Let's find out!

Vlog Process

Once you have a few video ideas, making a vlog can be as easy as taking out a camera and recording yourself. But if you want to have a realistic flow, a video concept and some good clips(片段)to use, there should probably be   some research and planning done first. Creating a checklist of things that need to be done can be helpful in the beginning. Next you can start thinking about talking points. You might write some key points or even a whole script. The third step is filming your vlog in clips, bit by bit. Vloggers hardly ever record a 20-minute video straight through without taking a break. After you have all the clips ready on your camera, it's time to upload them onto a laptop and start editing them.

Vlog Standards

It can be difficult to know how to make a vlog without knowing about the vlog requirements.   The three main areas that you want to make sure are working for your vlog are image clarity, audio and copyright, and length. Unsteady or shaky video with copy-righted(受版权保护的)music will definitely combine to create a terrible vlog. Keep a steady hand and use online resources to get some music to pop into your vlog and you're on to a winner. The duration of the vlog depends on how often you post and the amount of content you have. If you put your vlog on the daily, your videos can be a bit shorter. But if you only put it online once every few weeks, it might be a good idea for a longer video. Remember these vlogs are not professional movies, so if you sometimes have shakes of a camera or a bit of bad lighting, people won't mind. It might even be lovely! Humans are not perfect creatures, and neither are your vlogs. Be happy with your current performance and know that even the best vloggers still have room for improvement.

We touch our faces all the time, and it had never seemed to be a big problem–until COVID-19 arrived. Touching our faces–the "T-zone" of our eyes, nose and mouth in particular–can mean giving ourselves the deadly virus.

This is why organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have suggested that we avoid touching our faces. "Just stop this simple behavior," William Sawyer, founder of Henry the Hand, a nonprofit organization that promotes hand hygiene (卫生), told The Washington Post. "It's the one behavior that would be better than any vaccine ever created."

Yet, stopping this "simple" behavior might be harder than you think because it's already into our system.

Some face touching is an automatic reflex (反射) – like when there is an itch on your nose, you'll scratch (挠) it without thinking. According to CNBC, a 2014 study found that touching your face also helps to reduce stress and regulate emotions. For example, you're more likely to do it when you feel awkward or embarrassed. According to Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California Berkeley, US, this action may also come with a social function: When you are talking to someone and want to change the subject, for example, touching your face is like "the curtains on a stage, closing up one act of the social drama, leading to the next," Keltner told the BBC.

Moreover, face-touching in almost all of these is subconscious, which means it's very hard to change "because you don't even know you're doing it", said Sawyer. But you're not alone. In a 2015 study, where a group of medical students were filmed in class, it was found that they touched their faces an average of 23 times an hour–with 44 percent of the touches being in the"T-zones". That was particularly surprising since medical students were supposed to know better.

Since it's so hard to shake the habit, maybe the easiest way is to wash our hands more often. This way, we can be sure that our hands are free from the novel coronavirus.

Tips for keeping your hands away

Tie up your hair so your face won't be tickled (使发痒) by stray strands (松散的发缕).

Keep your hands occupied, eg. with a stress ball.

Ask a friend to keep an eye on your hands.

Hi, I am Tom. I have some experiences about the importance of first-aid training. One day, I was having lunch in the park with my grandparents, my sister and her one-year-old daughter. Rose was sitting on my sister's knees and eating. My sister was watching her carefully because her teeth just started to grow. Then my sister's phone started to ring. She left Rose with my grandparents so she could focus on the call. I did not think anything about this and started to play a game on my phone.

Suddenly I heard Rose coughing. I looked up and found that Rose was breathing difficultly. My grandparents were standing up and looking worried.

"We just gave her one nut," my grandfather said.

Immediately I ran to get my sister. She has had first-aid training and knew just what to do. She used the Heimlich Manoeuvre (海姆利克氏急救法), which pushed the nut out of Rose's throat so she could breathe again. Accidents happen quickly and can cost a loved one's life if you do not know how to respond (做出反应). After that scary day, I decided to take first-aid classes. My training has since helped me save a life too.

One morning, my father was up a ladder (梯子) painting our house. I heard a loud noise and rushed outside. He was lying on the ground. He must have hit his head because his eyes were closed. I was scared but knew what to do. I moved his body into the recovery position (复苏体位), put a blanket over him and called an ambulance. If you get knocked out, your brain cannot help you breathe or stay warm. The fall could have caused some bleeding (失血) so the recovery position helps the throat clear. The ambulance men said I had done the right thing.

I think everyone should have first-aid training.

57. 假如你是李华，你有一个留学生朋友Peter热心志愿服务，你们约好周末一起去儿童之家，为那里的孩子提供一些帮助。请写一封信告诉他你们汇合的时间和地点，你们可以做什么来帮助那些孩子，以及 Peter 需要做哪些准备。

How is everything going? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

See you then!

Yours,

Li Hua

58. 假如你是李华，你的朋友Peter来信说，他和妈妈因为做家务的事情吵架了，他觉得跟妈妈很难沟通，不知道该怎么办。请你写一封回信安慰Peter，表达你对于Peter面临问题的看法，并提出建议。

Thanks for your trusting me. From your letter, I know you got a fight with your mom because of chores and _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua