I’ll always remember the first time I tried ballet (芭蕾). My mother was a dancer and I wanted _________ more than to be like her, but after making mistakes during my first class, I felt like I wanted to give up right away. _________ it was only my first day, however, I told my mom I couldn’t wait to dance again.

Weeks passed and my dancing didn’t get any better. Then my dance teacher announced (宣布) that we were going to perform in a show. I was scared of falling on my _________ in front of hundreds of people and letting my mom down.

Even though I practiced hard for the show, I _________ quite learned to do it well. Finally, I went to mom to tell her how I felt. She simply laughed and told me she would teach me all she knew about ballet.

Mom quickly discovered how bad at ballet I was, but she still taught me with the greatest patience, love and _________. When I jumped and fell, she was there to catch me. When I lost my balance, she _________ me up. By the time the show arrived, I was as prepared as I could be.

The music began and my heart started to race. Breathing _________, I began moving to the music without missing a step. When the music stopped, I _________ the stage and laughed in excitement.

My mom found me and gave me a huge hug, telling me _________ proud she was. I looked my mom in the eye and told her that there was no way __________ could have happened without her. Through the experience, I realized one important fact: My mom will always be there to catch me if I fall.

Once there was a smart and rich man. He bought a big, beautiful house with a large garden full of fruit trees. But not everyone was happy for him. There was a jealous (善嫉的) man who lived in a small, old house next door. He always tried to make the rich man’s life hard. He threw rubbish in his garden and did many other bad things.

One sunny day, the rich man woke up in a good mood. When he went outside, he saw a lot of rubbish under the apple trees in his garden. Instead of getting angry, he decided to clean it up. He cleaned his garden and moved all the rubbish away. Then, he took a basket and went to knock on his neighbor’s door.

The jealous neighbor heard the knock and thought, “I finally got him!” He opened the door, ready to argue with his rich neighbor. But to his surprise, the rich man handed him a basket of fresh apples, saying, “The one who has something good should share it with others. These are for you, my dear neighbor.”

Seeing that, the jealous neighbor’s face turned red and he couldn’t say a word.

Ten years ago, I set out to study luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others always experience ill luck.

Many people volunteered for my research. Over the years I interviewed them, watched their lives and had them take part in my experiments (实验).

I carried out a simple experiment to discover why there were differences in their ability to spot (发现) opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photos were inside.

I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying, “Tell the researcher you have seen this and win $50.” This message took up half of the page and was more than two inches (英尺) high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but unlucky people tended to (倾向) miss it and lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are just more nervous than lucky people. They are busy looking only for what they need and this stops them from noticing the unexpected. As a result, they miss out on opportunities.

Lucky people tend to be more relaxed and open. They can see everything that is in front of them, rather than just what they are looking for.

My research shows that lucky people live by several principles (原则). Here are some of these principles: Listen to your gut instincts (直觉) —they are often right. Be open to new experiences and break your normal thought patterns. Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well. See yourself being lucky before an important meeting or phone call.

Memory is very important. It helps you remember who you are, where you live, what you have learned and what you plan to do in the future.     36    

It is important to exercise your brain.     37     If you walk a different way to school or take a different bus, you will keep your brain active. You can try to memorize something new.     38     You can also try to learn new skills or study a foreign language. Your brain gets lots of regular exercise if you do any of these things.

If you live a healthy life, your memory will work better. You must have a balanced diet.     39     Unless you get enough sleep every night, you will not remember things well.

If you want your brain to work well, you also need to relax. Get too worried, and your brain will slow down.     40    

All in all, to improve your memory, you should exercise your brain, live a healthy life and study relaxed.

When I was in school, I could always tell when my class     56     take a test. You could feel the anxiety (焦虑) in the air and everyone’s smile had     57    . Most of us wanted to start quickly so we could just get it over with.

Every once in a while,     58    , our teacher would give us a break and say that the test was going to be open book. Right away, you could see our smiles come back. A few students would laugh and you could even hear a     59     or two. The pressure went away. As we took out our books, all of us knew that the answers would be right in front of us.     60     we had to do was to find them.

Many people say that life is one long series (系列) of tests that we have to     61    . This is true. But what most people don’t understand is that     62     are all open book tests. The answers are always right there in front of you and they are often     63    . You just have to open the “book of you” to     64     page and you will see these words—“just love”. Just love yourself. Just love everyone as you love yourself. When you do this, you will pass every test that     65     gives you. When you do this, you will make the world a better and happier place.

Every Saturday, Wang Weifang puts on a play with his friends in a small town near Xi’an. The audience (观众) can hear them, but they cannot see them. That is because they are putting on a shadow puppet play (皮影戏).

Shadow puppets are made of hard leather (皮革). The leather is cut out in the shape of a person, an animal or an object. Each puppet is painted in bright colors and put on a stick. Some puppets have movable arms and legs.

During a shadow puppet play, Wang stands behind a white screen with lights behind it. The audience sit in front of the screen. Wang and his friends hold the puppets very close to the screen so the audience can see the puppets’ shadows clearly. Then they move the puppets around and do the voices of the different characters.

Shadow puppet plays are an ancient Chinese art. Now with TV and films, shadow puppet plays are not as popular as before. Wang and his friends often work very hard for little money, but they do not mind. They want to keep this traditional art form alive.

After the Christmas party ends, it’s time for the Christmas tree to take a break. People all over the world buy lots of real trees for Christmas. In 2022, even in the US alone, people bought about 25-30 million trees! But what happens to these trees after the holiday?

Some countries recycle Christmas trees. In Berlin, for example, people take off the lights and toys from the trees and leave them on the streets. The trees then go to power stations (发电 站). There they burn them to make electricity and heat (热), enough for 500 families for a whole year.

In New York, people send their trees to parks. There, they cut the trees into small pieces, and these wood pieces help keep plants warm and healthy.

Some trees even end up in zoos. Once a year in Australia, elephants enjoy eating Christmas trees because they taste sweet and are full of vitamins (维生素).

Today, many people choose to buy plastic Christmas trees. While they might be more expensive, they can last for many years and come in different shapes and colors. Fun fact: Did you know that most plastic trees in the world are made in China?

81. 假如你是英语校报Just Ask栏目的编辑王凯。近期收到学生李雷的来信，因为他的父母不同意他在业余时间里从事他的爱好，所以向你述说他的苦恼。请根据以下信息给他写一封回信，并告诉他如何与父母进行沟通。

I am glad to hear from you.

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Best wishes!

Wang Kai