Some people have a very poor sense of direction. Unluckily, I am one of them. I have visited a place many times but I may still get lost there the next time.

When I was a little girl, I never dared to ask strangers the way. And so I used to walk around in circles and hope that by chance I would get to the place I was going to.

Now, I am no longer too shy to ask people for directions, but I often receive helpless or even wrong information. So I try to avoid giving people wrong directions. If anyone ever asks me the way somewhere, I would say, “Sorry, I am a stranger here.”

Once on my way to work I was stopped by a man. He asked me if I could tell him the way to the Friendship Building. I gave him my usual reply. But just as I walked on only a few steps, I realized that he had asked the way to my office building. However, I had no time to turn back and look for him. I was rushing to meet with someone at my office and I didn’t want to keep him waiting.

When I just got to my office, the secretary (秘书) showed in the man who had asked me for directions. Imagine how embarrassed I was and how surprised he was when we saw each other at the first sight.

Do you know facing changing? The amazing skill in Sichuan Opera is used to express the changing feelings of characters.

There are over 300 kinds of local operas in China. Among them, Sichuan Opera is one of the oldest. As the most important and the most interesting opera form from Southwestern China, it is popular in Sichuan, Chongqing and some areas of Yunan and Guizhou provinces. A large number of Sichuan Opera performers are active throughout Sichuan Province, both in the countryside and in cities.

The opera has three special skills: changing faces, spitting(吐) fire, and rolling lights. Face changing, or “bianlian” in Chinese, is the most famous one. It is an important intangible heritage(非物质文化遗产). Only a few artists have picked up this skill. They know how to change Sichuan Opera masks magically. As they wave their arms and turn their heads, their painted masks change again and again.

Face changing got its start about 300 years ago. In the beginning, opera artists changed the color of their faces during performances by blowing into a bowel of red, black or gold powder(粉末). The powder would stick to their oiled skin quickly. In another way, actors would cover their faces with colored paste hidden in their hands. By the 1920’s, opera artists began using layers(层) of masks made of oiled paper. They could peel one after another in the blink of an eve. At present, the artists use full-face painted silk masks which can be worn in layers.

No one knows who invented the button（扣子）. It might have appeared as early as 2,000 BC. When it first started, it was just something beautiful sewn（缝上）onto your clothes. What is more important than the button is the buttonhole（扣眼）. About 3,000 years later, someone finally invented the buttonhole, and buttons were suddenly useful.

Before buttons, clothes were bigger—they had no fixed shapes. Because of the buttonhole, the fashion moved closer to the body when we discovered uses for the button. It was the very way to make clothes fit well for the body. People feel safer like it’s never going to open.

The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and they are close to each other, while coat buttons are larger and farther apart. For example, the standard buttons of men’s shirts are 10.16 mm and of suit jackets are 20.32 mm.

In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are mostly made of plastic but also may be made of metal or wood. Buttons can also be used on wallets and bags. They can be shown as examples of works of art.

A button can be used for a long time. It’s one of the most lasting designs in history, because it really works to make people feel safer. Zippers easily break and are hard to fix. However, if a button breaks, you just need to sew another on. And you can sew more buttons if needed.

The pattern of a button hasn’t changed much since the Middle Ages. It’s not only one of the most useful inventions, but it plays an important role in the development of clothes. Up to now, we can still see its influence on the clothes design. If you’re wearing the clothes with buttons, take a look at the position of buttons on it. If you’re a man, the buttons would likely be on the right side, but for a woman, the buttons are usually found on the left.

Zhang Guimei, the headteacher of Huaping High School for Girls has been given the title “Role Model of the Times”（时代楷模）for helping girls from poor     71    （family）.

The school was the     72    （one）high school in the country to provide free education for girls who would otherwise have been unable to continue their studies after     73    （complete）their nine years of education.

Zhang moved to Lijiang at the age of 17 to teach in the middle school in Huaping County. Once, she got     74    （bad）ill but had no money for the treatment（治疗）. With the help of the people there, she was able to get the necessary treatment. “From then on, I told     75    （I）that I must do something for those people who helped me,” Zhang said.

Slowly, a dream of setting up a free high school for girls in Huaping County     76    （appear）in Zhang’s heart. From the year of 2002, she began a six-year journey to look for funds（资金）. In 2008, Zhang     77    （final）set up Huaping High School for Girls at the foot of the Shizi Mountain in Huaping.

Thanks to her efforts, more than 1,800 girls from poor families     78    （enter）universities through her education until now.

Zhang has been helping to improve the area as a whole. Influenced by her, many of her students have chosen     79    （teach）in poor areas. Now, with Zhang having got the honorary title, education for girls from poor areas will receive more attention.

What she has done will     80    （remember）forever and encourage more to follow her example.

A young woman aged about 20 years old was sitting on the train, next to her mother. They both looked tired but excited. The young woman was looking out of the window. “Mom, look! The trees are behind us!” She suddenly shouted. Her voice was so loud that everyone on the train heard. Mom smiled.

But a young couple sitting nearby looked at the young woman’s childlike behavior with a pity. “Poor young woman! There must be something wrong with her mind,” they thought.

A while later, the young woman shouted again. “Mom, look! The clouds are running with us!” Mom smiled again. She seemed very happy with the young woman’s words.

Finally, the couple couldn’t help asking the old woman, “Excuse me, why don’t you take your daughter to a good doctor?”

The old woman smiled and said, “In fact we have just come from a hospital.” “Then, you should go to a better one, because it seems that your daughter’s situation hasn’t improved,” said one of them. They felt so bad for the old woman.

“No, I’m very pleased with the treatment,” said the mother. “My daughter was blind from birth. Today she is seeing the world for the first time.” Everyone has her or his own story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.