Mulan Ci is a famous Chinese ancient poem. It tells a story of a girl named Hua Mulan in Northern Wei Dynasty （王朝）.

Mulan’s country wasn’t so _______ that it was destroyed （摧毁） by the enemies （敌人）at times. To protect the country, the emperor required one man from each family to   _______ the army. The only man in her family, her 60-year-old father had to join. Mulan decided to take the place of him. At that time, women were not _______ to enlist （入伍） . In order not to be seen through, she dressed herself up _______ a man.

In the army, Mulan acted just like a man. She spoke in a man’s _______ and walked with big steps. During the battles（战斗）, she was as _______ as a man. Also, she was very smart. She always had good _______ that helped beat their enemies. At last, Hua Mulan’s army won the _______ victory（胜利）. The emperor offered Mulan a high official position to _______ , her courage and achievement, but she refused. When she changed back to her women’s clothes, all her comrades（战友） ________ . Mulan’s story might be a legend（传说）. But her achievement is well worth learning.

Albert Einstein and Wolfgang Mozart are possibly the two most famous examples of people who are geniuses（天才）. But unlike Mozart, Einstein wasn’t very talented as a kid. Born in Germany in 1879, he was slow to learn to speak, and he was a normal student at school. He was interested in math and science, but he liked to study at home better. Later he studied to be a teacher, but he didn’t find a job in a school and for some years he was an office worker. A lot of Einstein’s most famous ideas were the result of study in his free time, when he also played the violin to relax.

From 1908, he was a university teacher for many years, first in Europe and then in the US. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. He was famous for the theory of relativity（相对论）, but only several scientists could understand it. His biggest dream was to find one explanation for the basic（基础的） ideas in physics but he died before this was possible.

As a famous scientist, Einstein got letters from people around the world. Some of the letters were from children and he always answered them. One letter was from a girl with math problems at school. “Do not worry about your difficulties in math”was his answer. “I can tell you that mine are still greater.”

Einstein died in a hospital in 1955. He was named “Person of the Century” in 1999 by Time Magazine.

Before you make friends, you have to decide who you want to be your friends. Most people like to have friends who like to do the same kinds of things they do. That doesn’t mean you have to be exactly like each other, just that you enjoy some of the same things. If you’re really into sports（同样地）, if you love to read books, you will probably enjoy the company of readers.

The quickest way to make a friend is to smile. When you smile, people think you are friendly and easy to talk to. It may not be easy at first to smile, but remember most people will stay away from a scared（害怕的）。

One easy way to start a conversation with someone is to say something nice about them. Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you. Doesn’t it make you want to keep talking to that person?

Ask your new friends questions about themselves. Who’s their favorite singer, where do they live, what do they do after school are all good questions to start a conversation. Make sure you have something to add to the conversation, do have an answer for them. There’s nothing that will stop a conversation quicker than a shrug（耸肩） for an answer.

Kids who show an interest in other kids and who are kind and friendly make good friends. Remember, everyone wants to be around people who like to do similar things and people who are nice to them.

Why are your study habits different from those of your friends? Why do you seem to learn faster in some classes while more slowly in others? One reason you may not know is that people have different learning types. Scientists say there are three different learning types: visual（视觉型）, auditory（听觉型）, and kinesthetic（动觉型）.

Visual learners learn best by seeing. If you seem to easily remember information from pictures, graphs（图表）, and videos, if you find that works better for you.

Auditory learners learn best by hearing. If you seem to easily remember things by hearing them, then you are probably an auditory learner. You must listen carefully while the teacher is speaking because it’s the easiest way for you to learn. Sometimes you may find that taking notes stops you from listening carefully. After class, you can write down what you remember or borrow your friend’s notes to copy.

Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing. If you seem to learn best by working with your hands, you are probably a kinesthetic learner. Taking notes by writing can make you pay close attention to information as you receive it. Of course, you can learn best by making full use of labs or other class activities.

Hope you learn better by knowing what your personal learning type is.

Do you know the two lovely mascots（吉祥物）?     26     Now, let’s see who they are.

Look at the panda! It looks like an astronaut（宇航员）. It wears an ice shell（冰壳）and looks fat.     27     “Bing Dwen Dwen” likes ice sports very much and is good at them.     28    

Do you think the red mascot looks like a lantern（灯笼）?     29     When the Chinese New Year comes, people always make or buy red lanterns.     30     “Shuey Rhon Rhon” can give players hope and help them do well in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games（残奥会）.

Many people in different countries like the two mascots very much, and they show their love for them on the Internet.

In the past, my old grandmother didn’t enjoy talking on the phone. Actually, she hated it so she always refused（拒绝）     36     it. She told us that she preferred speaking to people in person. It always     37     her sad that she couldn’t see the person she was talking to. The other day, we chatted with my grandmother,     38     mentioned video calling over the Internet. It was     39     for people to see each other while talking online. Then we     40     up with an idea. We bought her a laptop（笔记本电脑）. One of my cousins went over to her house and taught her     41     to use it.     42    , she was a quick learner.

Now she enjoys     43     when talking with us every day. She is happy and you can tell from the expression on her face. She says it’s also very     44    . She can put it anywhere in the house because it is small and doesn’t take     45     much room. Sometimes she even talks to us while she’s in the kitchen cooking!

“It is never too late and you are never too old to start something new!” says English town student Ellen Rema. Ellen began to learn English at the age of fifty, and in just a few years, she has made great progress!

Ellen chose to study on English town because no evening classes were offered in the German countryside where she lives. At English town, she has conversation classes online and speaks with native（本地的）English-speaking teachers.

“English town is a wonderful place for study,” she says. Ellen began with the first level of English town and quickly progressed. “I ①________ hours and hours studying,” she says. “Maybe I wanted too much in a short time. I finished all my courses after two years.”

Instead of ②________ up, she chose to continue. After another two years on English town, she’s still studying in the online classroom. “Studying online is never boring, but you need practice, practice!”

Ellen says studying English isn’t all about hard work. It should also be fun. “I really like the online conversation classrooms,” she says. “I have learned so much ③________ other cultures and traditions.”

Ellen has been able to put her English to use by visiting England five times! “I’m very thankful to English town because my life has improved because of it,” Ellen says.