Several weeks ago, I finally got a limited-edition (限量版) novel The old Man and the Sea. The book was ________ but my mother managed to buy it online. I ________ the book to my best friend, Maggie, on our way home. When she asked whether she could borrow it when I ________ reading, I lent it to her at once ________ I knew she also loved the novel.

However, something ________ happened. The next day she told me that the book was ________. She read it on the bus and must have dropped it as she was ________. I was so angry.

How could she be so ________! I expected the book for weeks. To make things ________, she couldn’t understand why I was angry, saying it didn’t ________ whether the book was missing or not.

I didn’t speak to her for the following two ________. However, she apologized (道歉) to me on the third afternoon. She said she was ________ for losing the book and understood how I felt. Seeing the tears in her eyes, I knew she felt regretful about ________ my feelings. After all, a friend was much more important than a book. Then I held her hands and told her to leave all her stress and ________ behind. Don’t hold on to the ________. Learn to forget and look forward!

With the days colder and colder, you might wish you could turn into a bear and spend the winter sleeping. Here are fun facts about hibernators (冬眠动物).

	A bat’s heartbeat drops to 25 per minute during hibernation —down from 400 when it’s awake. Its breathing slows so much that it might not take a breath for up to an hour!
	Black bears can go without eating, drinking or going to the bathroom for 100 days. During hibernation, their wounds heal(愈合) with almost no scars (伤疤)
	Wood frogs(树蛙) freeze like ice cubes for the winter, and jump back to life in spring. During hibernation, their bodies age slowly.
	During hibernation, lemurs(狐猴) remain still in a tree for about seven months and live off the fat in their tail, losing close to 40% of their body weight.

What is a teacher? Well, a teacher is someone who teaches. But I didn’t realize this idea was too shallow (肤浅的) until I met my music teacher.

When I first arrived at my music class at school, I had almost no knowledge of how to play the flute (长笛) . I failed to get the basic notes (音符) right. It seemed challenging for me to play a piece of music.

After class, my music teacher, Mr. Nevola, encouraged me to work harder on music. He spent a lot of time in finding the right flute book for me and spent more time teaching me to play again and again. When I was unable to remember the notes, he taught me the trick(诀窍): FACE. F means “fa”; A means “la”; C means “do”; E means “mi” . This way I can remember the notes.

He also tried to make music class full of fun. He invented many interesting games to help to develop our sense of rhythm (节奏感) . Sometimes when we were too tired, instead of forcing us to practice our instruments, Mr. Nevola would talk about relaxing things.

Thanks to Mr. Nevola, I truly fell in love with the flute. After six months, I was able to blow seven notes in one breath. While this might not seem like a huge achievement, I take pride in it and thank Mr. Nevola who helped me make it happen.

A recent study shows that doing voluntary work (志愿者工作) can help people to live longer. From 2018 to 2022, some researchers made a survey among more than 3, 000 people. They found that just 2.3 percent of the people who once worked as volunteers (志愿者) had died, compared with 4.3 percent of those who never worked as volunteers.

They also found that how often people did voluntary work was important as well. Among those who once worked as volunteers, only 1.8 percent of people usually doing voluntary work (more than 4 times a month) died, compared with 2.5 percent of people occasionally doing voluntary work(once a month).

A further study shows that the reason why people do voluntary work is also important.

That is to say, people’s purposes of doing voluntary work make a difference. The researchers pointed out that the more pity volunteers felt for the poor people, the more possibility they had of living longer. Those volunteers for personal benefits (利益) had nearly the same length of life as the people who didn’t do voluntary work at all.

It may be a bad idea to encourage people to do voluntary work for personal benefits.

Doing voluntary work is often encouraged in schools and organizations. Some say that it’s okay to look for benefits for yourself. Others say that you will receive the health benefits through voluntary work. But in fact, the health benefits of doing voluntary work must be reduced if looking for personal benefits becomes a main purpose.

Most people think they eat what they want. However, in general this is not really true. Our eyes and ears are filled with many advertisements for new food products. A research shows (A) ________ these advertisements can change our eating habits.

For example, 20 years ago in China, (B) ________ was usual for people to eat noodles or dumplings when they wanted fast food. Now, however, people lead busy lives, so fast food is often the easiest choice. The reason for the difference is advertising. Many people eat hamburgers or fried food. We(C) are supposed to be careful when choosing our food. Remember it is necessary to think before we eat. This can make fast food healthier. Here is some advice:

(D) 先看菜单. Many kinds of fast food are described as “deep-fried”. You should avoid these as they are high in calories and have (E) lots of fat.

Drink water instead of soft drinks. You can make water tastier by adding some sugar.

Another healthy choice is drinking tea.

Order a salad instead of chips. (F) Salads are healthier than chips.

If you follow the advice above, you can enjoy food that is not only fast but also healthier.

The UK has a history of caring for dogs

January is National Walk Your Dog Month in the West. People all like to begin the year (A) ________ a good and healthy way, and that idea is true of pets too! Just like us, they need to keep healthy by taking regular exercise and breathing fresh air.

In the UK, the first dog show took place in (B) ________ mid-19th century. In 1873, the Kennel Club(英国养犬协会) started to help with the improvement of dog breeds(品种). Just as the late Queen Elizabeth II loved her corgis(柯基), many people in the UK love to have a dog or several. My mom always had Chihuahuas (吉娃娃). ① We gave them silly names like Cherub and Daisy.

At one time we had six chihuahuas! We took them out for walks every day. But they were not very sociable (好社交的). If anyone came near, my six chihuahuas barked. (C)This was their way to guard against danger. Our dogs were a part of our family. My mom would prepare gifts on their birthdays. ②

(D) 养狗需要责任感. Dogs can be our friends. When my brother, sister and I all left home, the dogs were there to keep my mom company. ③ Just as she looked after them, they looked after her. A dog truly is man’s best friend.