I used to have little passion (激情) in my life. But what happened the other day changed my mind. It was then that I learned how ______ it is to have a passion in life.   

That day I went home in Mom’s car. When Mom ______ at a red light, someone on the side of the road caught my eye. It was a man dressed ______ rags(破旧衣服). He was homeless. That didn’t interest me, because I had seen ______ like him before. Those people usually looked unhappy and hopeless.

But this man was ______ in some way. He was not sitting down with a ______ expression. Instead, he had a ______ in his hand and was dancing happily to the music. The radio seemed to be the most precious(珍贵的) thing he had. “Mom, why does that man have a radio ______ he’s homeless?” I asked.

“He ______ it,” she replied.

“But why doesn’t he use the money to buy food or clothes? He ______ something that he didn’t need.”

“Well, Sarah, sometimes food and clothes aren’t the most important.”

That man must care so much about ______ that he bought a radio instead of food or clothes. I soon realized that ______ is the key to life.

Since then I am always thinking of ______ is truly important in life. A home, a meal, clothes—these things are ______ part of the life. What we often forget is that we all need a joy, a light in a ______ day. We all need a passion which gives a person the happiness they need to keep going.

We all know there is a problem with plastic pollution. Five trillion (万亿) plastic bags are used every year. One million plastic drinking bottles are bought every minute.

In 2019, McCartney’s UK-based company, MacRebur, built the world’s first plastic road in Elgin town, Scotland. The plastic waste was made into grains (颗粒) and then mixed with biturnen (沥青). The road looks just like any other road. But it is more stretchy (有弹性的) thanks to the plastic.

“Our technology can help solve the problem of plastic waste. It can also produce roads that deal better with changes in the weather, reducing potholes (坑洼),” McCartney told the BBC.

McCartney’s idea came from a trip to India. “I saw people in India would put plastic waste into potholes and burn it. The plastic would melt down (熔化) in the hole,” said McCartney.

“I know there must be some similarities between the plastic and biturnen, which both come from oil. That’s how I started to think about mixing them,” he said.

After lots of testing, McCartney found the perfect idea. And now his company has built many plastic roads around the world, from Australia to Europe. A one-kilometer stretch of road uses about 684, 000 plastic bottles or 1.8 million plastic bags. The road itself can be recycled at the end of its lifespan (寿命). The materials can be reused to build new roads.

“We are just a small part of ending the plastic problems, but it is nice to be part of it,” McCartney said. “I just don’t want my daughters to live in a world where there are more plastics in our oceans than fish.”

Counting the hairs on your head would be very difficult. Many have tried, but most people give up after losing count or getting bored! However, scientists say people have more than 100, 000 hairs on their heads on average. Of course, this number is different from person to person. Some people have much more hair than others.

What causes hair loss? There are many reasons, such as stress, illness and styling. It also runs in families. Besides, many people simply lose hair as they grow older. To avoid losing hair, you should wash your hair correctly and condition (养护) your hair to help keep your hair healthy. It’s also important to be gentle when brushing or combing hair.

Hair loss is not the same as daily shedding (脱落). People lose an average of 50 to 100 hairs a day. It’s normal. If you are losing more hair than average, talk to the adults you trust. They can help you decide whether to ask a doctor for help.

Why do humans have hair on their heads? Most other mammals (哺乳动物) have thick fur covering their whole bodies. While humans grow small and fine hairs on much of their skin, it’s much thicker on the top of the head. Scientists say the answers come down to evolution. Humans probably evolved without fur because they have more sweat glands (汗腺) than other mammals. Humans walk upright on two legs. Therefore, the top of their heads needs protection from the sun. This is why people have more hair on their heads than on the rest of their bodies. The hair also helps keep heat in cold weather and keep a healthy body temperature.

How nice are you? Do you give money to homeless people? Do you offer your seat to someone in need on a bus?

Many people believe that confident people think more highly of themselves, while those who have low self-esteem（自尊）think less of their good qualities. However, a new study says it might not be true, reported The Guardian.

The study was done by Jonathan Freeman, a psychology professor from the University of London, UK. He found that 98 percent of British people consider themselves to be among the nicest 50 percent of the population. In the study, Freeman first asked some people to rate（评级）their own niceness. Then he got people to answer questions like “Do you give directions to strangers?” and “Have you ever donated blood?”. The results showed that people are not as nice as they think they are. Two thirds of them seldom helped others carry heavy shopping bags, and only a quarter of them donated blood.

In another study by psychologists from universities in Chicago and Virginia, US, some people were shown pictures of themselves. Some pictures had been more or less changed to make them appear more attractive. When asked to pick the unchanged pictures, people usually chose the more attractive ones.

So, why do we think we’re nicer than we actually are? There are many theories（理论）. A popular one says we cheat ourselves unknowingly, so that we can get confidence without lying to ourselves knowingly.

How can we solve it? Other studies show that there is a simple way: feedback（反馈）. Compare others’ opinion toward yourself with your own and you will see a clearer picture.

On November 29th, 2022, the Shenzhou-15 spaceship took three astronauts, Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, into space to carry out the Shenzhou-15 space mission. The three astronauts will stay in space for about six     61     (month).

Deng Qingming is the last one of the country’s     62     (one) group of 14 astronauts to go into space. He worked hard and never gave up his dream of going into space, and     63     (final), he made it, at the age of 56.

Deng was born in a farming family in Jiangxi. He has four     64     (young) brothers and sisters. As a hard-working student, he     65     (join) the PLA Air Force in June 1984 and started training     66     a pilot. In 1998, Deng became one of the 14 astronauts of our country.

In the following years, Deng spent almost all of his time     67     (train). He tried hard to take every chance to fly into space. He was a backup crew member for the Shenzhou Ⅸ, X and XI missions.

    68     the road to space flight was really difficult, Deng never thought of giving up. Now     69     (he) dream came true. However, he said, “The     70     (successful) of the mission is more important than my dream.”