Ellen is a 15-year-old middle school student. She used to think she wasn’t good enough. When she     1     in the mirror, her look influenced her feelings a lot. She often felt she was useless (差劲的), so she kept silent most of the time.

She worked hard but her     2     were just so-so. Sometimes, she     3     failed in exams. When she tried to help her classmates, she ended up causing more problems.

One day, Ellen had to give     4     speech in class. She tried her     5     to prepare for it. Finally, the time for the speech came. On that day, Ellen was very nervous.     6     her surprise, when she finished the speech, everyone cheered. The teacher said she did a good job.

Ellen didn’t     7    . Her speech wasn’t perfect, and she said she made a few mistakes. After hearing her words, her teacher pointed out everything great about her speech. And the teacher also took     8     in it a lot.

That surprised Ellen. It also made her see herself in a different way. That day, she realized some things. She thought her classmates didn’t like her,     9     they actually did. Ellen also learned it’s OK to make mistakes because     10     is perfect. She felt very confident (自信的) about herself after that.

When I was in the     1     grade, I joined a piano competition. I practiced for four hours every day and my piano teacher     2     three times a week to help me. Then the big day     3     arrived. I was so nervous when they called my     4    . I went up and started to play.     5     I was playing, everyone sat still and listened. I played the song     6     any mistakes. Then I waited for     7     to call out the winner. When I heard my name, my heart was beating so     8     that I thought I would stop breathing. I couldn’t believe it. I     9     ! It was the     10     day of my life!

How much pocket money do you get from your parents every month? 400 yuan? Some may need     1     to buy birthday presents, fast food, ice creams or cartoon books.

But for Zhou Li, 60 yuan a month is enough. The only     2     she buys is lunch—3 yuan each day. “My favorite food is fried potatoes and rice,” says Zhou, “meat is too expensive for me.”

Zhou, 14, is a Grade 7 student at Hongzhi Experimental School in Beijing.     3     parents are migrant workers (民工). They are from a village in Luohe of Henan and have been in Beijing     4     two years. Her father is a doorman of a factory and earns 1500 yuan every month. Her mother, who is blind and     5     a leg disease, stays in bed all year long.

Every day, Zhou gets up at 5:30 a.m. and rides 20 minutes to school. She studies hard, and reads books     6     during break time.

Unlike many     7     who have ready-made meals after school, Zhou has to take care of her mother and cook meals. “I have     8     able to cook since I was eight. I can cook many kinds of food now.” says Zhou.

Zhou says she wants to be a doctor     9     she grows up. “I hear that there are many people with Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (心脑血管疾病) in Henan. They     10     help.” says Zhou. “I will study hard to be an excellent student at present and a good doctor in the future,” says Zhou.

Knowledge has the power to change lives. That’s     1     there are so many sayings and idioms that encourage people to study hard. They include xuanliangcigu, zaobitouguang and wenjiqiwu.     2     these stories are old, they can still remind us of working hard.

In the past, people had a much harder time studying than we do. For poor families, paper, writing brushes and lamp oil were often too expensive. Students even had to travel far     3     a good teacher. But the     4     did not stop young minds from learning.

During the Jin Dynasty (265~420), there was a boy called Che Yin. He was smart and loved to read. He grew up in a poor family and couldn’t afford lamp oil to study at night. One night, he saw fireflies (萤火虫) outside his house and came up     5     an idea. He caught some fireflies in a bag and     6     the bag up as a lamp. It is said that he spent all of his summer nights reading like this.

Another child     7     Sun Kang also loved reading. One night during winter, Sun used up all of his lamp oil and couldn’t study at night. When he woke up at midnight, he saw the snow reflecting the moonlight outside his house. Then he took out his books     8     and began to read even though he was cold.

Both of the kids later became     9     government officials. People     10     by their hardworking spirit and turned their stories into the Chinese idiom nangyingyingxue (囊萤映雪）.