Each of us makes mistakes from time to time. In fact, we can get a lot from our mistakes.

Donnie was a ________ student and never answered questions in class. He was afraid to make mistakes. He never finished his homework ________ he didn’t want to make any mistakes. Nothing changed until Mary Anne, a teacher, came to our class. One morning, Mary Anne asked Donnie to answer some questions. After a while Donnie was in tears(眼泪) because he made a mistake. ________ Mary Anne picked up a box full of erasers from the desk.

“Look, Donnie,” she said standing beside ________. “I’ve got something to show you.” She ________ the erasers, one at a time, and put them on the desk. “See these erasers, Donnie?” she continued. “Do you know ________ the erasers become smaller and smaller? That’s because we make mistakes. But we erase the ________ and try again. That’s what you must learn.”

“Here,” she said, “I’ll ________ one eraser on your desk, so you will remember that everyone may make mistakes.” Donnie looked at Mary Anne and ________.

Donnie ________ a lot from then on. He knew that everyone had the permission(允许) to make mistakes as long as he learned them and tried again.

Three Things to Do Before You Are 18

Are you bored with your daily life? Here are some things you should try before you are 18, because after that it’s too late.

Learn to swim Seriously, this is so important that it can save your life. If you can’t swim well, you won’t be able to do water sports like water skiing, surfing and diving. Even taking a boat trip will be dangerous for you. Make sure you do it.

Try at least one kind of team sports Being a good team player is an important skill in life. You can’t just think of yourself, but have to work well with other people. Other advantages of team sports like basketball, football and baseball are that they keep you fit and healthy, and they are also great fun. Teams usually have a good social life too-you’ll go to lots of parties and make many friends.

Collect something One of the best hobbies for under-18s is collecting things. You could collect kinds of stamps, or you could collect things that make you remember what you have done, like cinema tickets for films you have seen or emails from friends. The best way to collect is to have a special album to put your collection in and to write what each thing means to you. That way you won’t forget.

On April 16th, 2022, Shenzhou-13 and its crew returned to Earth successfully.

As you may expect, life in space is much different from life on earth. So of course people need some time to get used to it. How do they live, work and play up there?

Space food keeps getting more like the food we eat at home on the earth. In the past, astronauts could eat only freeze-dried food. But now the space station has water, microwave(微波炉) ovens and fridges. So astronauts can eat more usual kinds of food, like fruit, vegetables and ice cream!

All people in the ISS(国际空间站) have their own rooms. There’s no gravity(重力), so they have to attach(依附于) themselves to their beds, or they’ll float(漂浮) away! That may seem like a hard way to sleep, but astronauts say that sleeping in space is actually not too bad.

This is more important in space than on Earth. There’s not much gravity in space. Astronauts don’t stand up, sit down or walk in space, so their muscles don’t have to work much. They exercise on bikes and other machines for about two hours every day while they’re in space. In this way, they can still keep strong and healthy when they get back home.

Easy things like brushing your teeth can be hard in space with low gravity. Water doesn’t flow out of a tap. It floats in a bubble(水泡)! Astronauts use a special hose(软管) to take showers. And when they’ve finished, they use a vacuum(真空的) hose to suck the dirty water off of their bodies. How do you go to the toilet in space? They use a special “air toilet”. It uses air, not water, to take everything away.

What do astronauts do when they aren’t working? They read books, play cards, listen to music or send e-mail to their friends and family. Sometimes they just sit and look out of the window. Doesn’t it sound like much fun? But what if you could see planet Earth out of your window, with a sunset or sunrise every 45 minutes?

I was 15 months old, a happy carefree kid, until the day I fell. It was a bad fall. I landed on a piece of glass that cut my eye badly. My mom found a doctor who knew that if the eye was removed, my face would look ugly. From then on, my injured, sightless, cloudy gray eye lived on with me.

Sometimes people asked me embarrassing(使人难堪的) questions. When kids played games, I was always the “monster”. I grew up imagining that everyone looked down on(瞧不起) me.

Yet Mom would say to me, “Hold your head up high and face the world.” I began to depend on that saying.

As a child, I thought mom meant, “Be careful or you will fall down or bump into something because you are not looking.” As a teenager, I usually looked down to hide my shame. But I found that when I held my head up high, people liked me.

In high school I even became the class president, but on the inside I still felt like a monster. All I really wanted was to look like everyone else. When things got really bad, I would cry to my mom and she would look at me with loving eyes and say, “Hold your head up high and face the world. Let them see the beauty that is inside.”

When I met the man who became my husband, we looked each other straight in the eye, and he told me I was beautiful inside and out.

My mom’s love was the sunshine that made me bright that gave me confidence. I had faced hardships, and learned not only to appreciate myself but to have deep compassion(怜悯) for others.

“Hold your head up high” has been heard many times in my home. Each of my children has felt its invitation. I say it to my children. The gift my mom gave me will live on.

The summer holiday is coming, which can be a relaxing time for sleeping, eating good meals and seeing old friends.     37     Here are some ideas for planning your summer holiday.

First of all, joining a club is a good choice! You can join a music club, a sports club or an art club.     38    

    39     There are many volunteer programmes for you to choose from, such as looking after the old or the young, cleaning the streets, planting trees or keeping the traffic in order. You know that teens can also make the world better.

Have you ever lived with another family? You can join in a programme called “Meeting a New Family”. Two families exchange their children for sometime so that they can learn how to get on well with others.

    40     An English summer camp may be a good choice. You can not only make friends but also practise your English.

Everyone has a hobby. So does Lyu Zeyi. However, his     54     is different. He likes taking photos of insects(昆虫). And his hobby has brought him a lot.

When he was three years old, he began to be     55     in insects in his grandmother’s backyard. If the boy saw an insect he hadn’t seen before, he would do some research about it online. As he grew up, his interest     56     insects continued to grow as well.

Until now this 16-year-old boy     57     hundreds of photos of all kinds of insects, from mantises( 螳 螂 ) to butterflies. He posts his photos online. Lyu started taking pictures of insects when he was in sixth grade. He learned about a photographer who was good at insect photography(摄影). “I was amazed by his beautiful photos,” Lyu said. After that, Lyu     58     to take his own photos.

He goes outdoors to take   photos. But he also     59     some insects in his room. Over the years, he has collected 800 insects. “I see and record their     60     with my camera. It’s very interesting,” Lyu said.

Lyu tries hard     61     his photos fun and impressive. He talks to professional photographers and reads books to learn more about photography. He also     62     backgrounds that match the insects he takes pictures of. Lyu dreams of     63     a professional photographer in the future. He hopes to take more pictures of rare(稀少的) insects.

Many students have to take online classes at home because of COVID-19. ________ Some students give their own opinions.

To Zhao Yuchen, a 13-year-old girl from Beijing, the biggest headache about studying online is the poor quality(质量) of her Internet connection. During one of her online classes, she couldn’t hear her English teacher’s voice and she had to reconnect. It wasted lots of time. Since then, she has checked her network before class every day and asked other family members not to use the Internet while she was having a class.

Lin Xiyu is 14 years old. She is from Shanghai. Studying at home has made it hard for her to plan her time. She had a hard time planning her course timetable at first. Later, she knows that planning ahead and creating a study calendar(日程表) are very important. She says students need to estimate(估计) how much time each task will take, review the class content, ask questions and take notes, and make a to-do list for their homework. These are all good ways to help students learn better online.

Zhang Penghui, a 15-year-old boy from Heilongjiang believes online learning takes strong self-discipline(自律) and willpower, because there are lots of distractions(使人分心的事) while studying at home. His family like to offer him snacks and drinks, which sometimes distracts him from listening during his classes. He has asked them to stop interrupting( 打 扰 ) him while he was studying. He says a quiet room and a clean desk can help students concentrate(集中注意力).