Last Monday, a teacher named Celina cheerfully asked her students what their weekends were like. A boy said that he had spent a ______ weekend—he had his teeth ______ out and they still hurt. “Why do you always seem to be so happy?” he asked.

Hearing the ______, Celina answered with a smile, “Every morning, you have a choice about how you will treat your whole day. I ______ to be cheerful.”

“And today is my lucky day.” she added.

“______?” the whole class were curious (好奇的).

“This morning, I ______ a mobike and rode to school as usual. Suddenly, the mobike didn’t work, so I had to go another kilometer down the road.”

“The mobike is broken and it’s your lucky day?” The students were ______.

“What do you mean, Celina?” one girl asked.

“It broke down a quarter before class, so I left it at a proper place and ______ the road. You know, it’s spring now. The beautiful flowers, green trees and sweet bird songs were greeting me all the way. So I had the chance to enjoy them. It ______ me ten minutes to arrive and I was still able to teach my class on time.”

The students’ eyes opened wide, and then they smiled. Celina smiled back. Somehow, her story touched them. She was happy and satisfied that they had a perfect chance to consider ______ in a new way.

Nowadays, experts call on high school students to read as many literary classics (文学名著) as possible. What do you think of it?

Linda: We don’t have enough life experiences, so we may have difficulty understanding the deeper classics. But this shouldn’t be a reason to give up reading classics. As Francis Bacon said, “Reading makes a full man; conference (谈话) a ready man; and writing an exact man.”

Curry: Classics are the treasures our ancestors left us. We should read them and pass them down. As the old Chinese saying goes, “One who is filled with knowledge always behaves well.” Classics can open up our minds and develop our interest in culture.

Frank: Without background and life experiences, students can’t understand what writers want to express in their classics. While reading, some students mainly pay attention to words and expressions rather than the hidden ideas. For this reason, reading classics might be a waste of time.

Mary: On the one hand, not all classics are suitable (合适的) for all students, as there are many difficult expressions and deep ideas. On the other hand, the special writing styles make it difficult for students to understand. So they won’t probably choose them.

I am Garrison. I live on a small farm in Kenya. Since the age of nine, I have helped to look after my family’s cows. As a child, in my free time, I enjoyed trying new ideas. Sometimes I could make my own inventions, such as electronic toys from car parts and peach-picking sticks. I also made other useful daily things for my neighbors.

At the age of 13, I invented something that changed my life. One night, a lion came into my family’s farm and killed one of our cows. I was angry. However, catching the lion, I thought, was not a safe way to solve the problem. So I decided to “invent” a solution.

The first idea I got was to use fire, because I thought the lion was scared of fire. But I came to know that didn’t help, because it was even helping the lion to see through the cowshed (牛棚). However, I didn’t give up. I continued.

And a second idea I got was to use a scarecrow (稻草人). I was trying to trick the lion into thinking that I was standing near the cowshed. But the lion was very clever. It came the first day, saw the scarecrow, and went back. But the second day, it came and found that the scarecrow didn’t move. It was always there! So the lion jumped in and killed another cow.

However, one night, I was walking around the cowshed with a torch (手电筒). To my surprise, the lion didn’t show up. Then I realized that the lion was afraid of a moving light. So I had an idea …

In high schools, as subjects increase, maybe you can’t fully understand what you are learning.     31     This process is called self-reflection (反省).

Self-reflection begins with slowing down and calming yourself, including calming your mind. Then you can give your brain a chance to think about what it has already received. Some people prefer to do self-reflection only in their minds.     32     Either of the methods works. It depends on your own personal learning ability.

    33     You can take the following steps. First, choose a proper time to do it. Every night before going to bed, you can do self-reflection over what you have learned in the daytime. When you complete a unit of study, you can do self-reflection by drawing a mind map.     34     Write down some notes on the new things that you have just learned. And connect them with the previous (以前的) knowledge. As a result, you can understand them better. At last, think about the questions you are not sure of and write them down. This will help you remember to look for answers when you are working on the same topic (话题) next time.

Successful students always know self-reflection is important.     35    

Living in a community, people depend on each other and help each other. That is why a group of special people in the community are ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.

For example, what would we do without a community fire station? If a house catches fire, as the Millers’ house did last month, it might be burned down and people might get hurt… or worse. Luckily, the community firemen came to put out the fire and saved them.

Think about these years, who has helped us receive COVID-19 vaccinations (疫苗) in order. Who has worked around the clock helping to organize COVID-19 tests? It is the community doctors and nurses that make sure we have a healthy life.

And what about our local police? They protect our families and valuable things. Especially after a heavy rain, they always come to save the people.

Think about all the other service workers in our community. Cleaners collect waste and rubbish and keep our community sanitary. Road workers repair traffic signs and fix holes in the streets to protect not just us, but also our cars! And think about what would happen without teachers in our school.

Think again about what we eat, what we wear and what we use every day. We cannot produce them, but we use them all the time. The tireless workers keep our community running. We need them but in fact, we are one of them. So let’s support and help each other. Only when we pull together can we make our community a better place.