In the 7th grade, I was known as the smart girl—the girl who always got the highest grades. No one really _________ me to be good at sports. I didn’t, either.

In P.E. class, we played volleyball, and I played worst _________ my team.

“Kelly, you should just keep getting high grades,” one of my classmates said. “Not all people are born to _________. And that includes (包括) you.” I was sorry to hear that, but I didn’t say anything.

One day during break, I saw a few girls playing soccer happily. I decided to give it a _________ and asked a girl if I could play.

“You want to play soccer?!” she laughed. “OK. But you have to join the other team. I don’t want my team to _________.”

Luckily, the other team accepted me and they gave me some _________ before the game started. However, nothing worked. You can imagine (想象) how clumsy (笨拙的) I was on the field.

But I heard a voice in my head, “You shouldn’t _________. What you need is just to keep trying.” I played hard and gradually (逐渐地) I could move more _________ and easily. I started scoring a point for my team. My team members couldn’t believe I made great progress (进步) in such a short _________.

That spring, I __________ that a smart girl could also be good at a sport. And I’m sure that you can, too, better than before!

One afternoon, a new boy came into my classroom. He was short and thin. He walked up to the teacher and told her seriously that he was new. His name was Christian. During that year, I didn’t talk to him much, but he smiled at me when our eyes met, always shyly. He never ate lunch with anybody, and he never talked to anybody but me.

One day, I joined some unkind kids who were making fun of (嘲笑) him.

“Don’t you have any friends?” a kid asked Christian.

“No, he doesn’t have any friends. He is too stupid (愚蠢) to have friends,” I said.

Then Christian looked at me very sadly. Suddenly, I felt very sorry at that moment.

On that night, I couldn’t sleep well because I couldn’t get Christian’s face out of my mind. It was really hard for me to decide to write him a note asking him to forgive (原谅) me. But I thought I should. So I wrote him a note to tell him how sorry I felt.

About five minutes later, I saw tears (眼泪) in his eyes. “You will never know what your apology (道歉) means to me, Jimmy,” he said to me. “I hope we can become friends.” We had lunch together on that day and talked a lot. We are close friends now.

Apologies are really necessary, so tell somebody, especially your friend, you are sorry.

The company Open AI introduced ChatGPT to the world. It is the latest kind of AI chatbots. Anyone can use ChatGPT for free now so that the company can collect (收集) people’s ideas on how to improve it.

ChatGPT is able to write articles for newspapers. And when teachers ask it to write answers to exam questions, ChatGPT can almost get full marks. In our everyday life, it can help a father come up with ideas of a birthday party for his son. It is also able to solve difficult coding (编程) challenges (挑战) and answer very quickly.

What’s more, when people ask ChatGPT questions, it can find mistakes. If somebody asks what happened when Columbus arrived in America in 2023, ChatGPT can point out that Columbus reached America in the 1400s, not in 2023. It can also refuse to answer some questions. For example, if you ask it for advice on stealing a car, it will say that stealing a car can have bad results. Instead, it gives advice such as “taking the bus”.

ChatGPT might help people solve problems, but AI must use texts (文档) from the Internet. Often, the texts are used without being allowed (允许) by the writers of those texts, and sometimes the writers wouldn’t like to share their texts with others at all. So some people think that AI is bad for the human.

However, like it or not, AI is here. Maybe working on it well is the best way out.

I enjoy cooking very much. It doesn’t just mean a skill (技能) for me. I often watch     46     of cooking food on the Internet. Last Saturday, after I watched a video of Keller cooking a steak (牛排), an idea came into my mind—why not cook     47     by myself? Then I     48     for my cooking. I bought what I needed. I followed Keller’s video step by step. I defrosted (解冻) the steak at first, and then I started to fry (煎) the steak and eggs.     49    , I fried the lettuce and put everything together. Finally, I finished cooking it. It was     50    ! I couldn’t wait to ask my parents to have a taste. I could tell from my     51     eyes that they enjoyed the dish very much. I don’t know whether (是否) the successful meal was just a beginner’s surprise or a real sign (标志) of my     52     for cooking, but it     53     made me interested in cooking. I planned to try     54     dishes.

Cooking is a never-ending journey for me, with every new dish I cook, I find myself becoming more and more interested in cooking. I’m looking forward to     55     where it will take me.

Donald Duck is one of the most popular Disney heroes (主人公). He is a white duck with yellow-orange legs and feet. Donald Duck has a warm heart, but sometimes he gets angry easily. He often talks about little things in life. And just because of these, his life is always full of bad luck. However, he keeps fighting against life. He and Mickey Mouse are good friends. His girl friend is Daisy Duck. He also has three small nephews (侄子), Huey Duck, Dewey Duck and Louie Duck. And his car number is 313. He often drives his car to travel around with Daisy Duck.

Donald Duck first appeared in The Wise Little Hen in 1934. So his birthday is usually thought to be on June 9, 1934. Donald Duck was included (被包括) in TV Guide’s list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002. So far Donald Duck has appeared in more films than any other Disney character.

It is healthy to live around trees. Trees work as doctors and they help us keep healthy.

Many scientists are studying how trees clean the air. For people in large cities, trees can be very important for their health. These days, cities are planting trees not just in parks. They are also planting trees along streets in order to help clean the air.

Some scientists also believe that trees help more than just the air. Trees keep our bodies healthy. People in hospitals do better when they can see trees from their rooms. People with trees near their homes usually take more exercise.

Scientists have also found out the healthy effects (效果) of trees on our minds. Scientists did some research (调查) on city people in an area (地区) with few trees. After trees were planted on the street, people walked slower when going home. They said trees made them feel relaxed.

Of course, another good effect is that doctor trees work for free!

76. 假如你是李欣，同学们在今天的班会上讨论了“我最喜爱的业余活动 (free-time activities)”。你的笔友Mike对班会的内容很感兴趣，请你根据以下内容，给他写一封电子邮件。

写作要点：

1. 你们班全体同学参加了今天的班会。

2. 班会的相关信息：

(1) 主题：我最喜爱的业余活动；

(2) 25％的同学喜欢读书；

50％的同学喜欢运动；

包括你在内的10％的同学喜欢看英文电影。(including：包括)

3. 告诉Mike你喜欢看英文电影的原因。

写作要求：

1. 不得使用真实的姓名和学校名。

2. 可适当加入细节，使内容充实，行文连贯。

3. 字迹工整、语言精练、表达准确、条理清晰。

4. 至少80词。

How is everything going?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Xin