Flamings (火烈鸟) are one of the most beautiful birds in the world. At     1     (born), they are grey or white. And they     2     (slow) turn pink when they grow up. They can usually live 20 to 30 years, and some even live up to the age of 50. They are able to “run” on the water because of their special     3     (foot).

Dr Paul Rose and his team have done a study on flamingos. It shows the birds always live in large groups, but they spend most of the time with a small group of friends, just     4     people.

“It’s easy to find out whether flamingos are friends or not. Usually, each group of friends sit or stand     5     (little) than one ne ck length away from each other. So when other groups of flamingos come too near, they will extend (伸长) their long necks     6     (fight),” Dr Rose said.

Another interesting thing found by the team and it surprised them—Flamingos choose those with similar personalities and colours when making friends.

The findings of the study are important,     7     they can help zoos get to know how to keep flamingos happy and     8     (health). “Keepers should have as many birds as possible. If the group is big, the flamingos will be able to find their friends     9     (easy),” Dr Rose said. “And when moving     10     (they) from one zoo to another, keepers should be careful not to keep the birds away from their good friends.”

Does music have something to do with language? According     1     recent studies, the answer is yes: Music improves certain language skills. Here are two examples.

In a study, two groups of people listened to a person talking in a     2     (noise) room. The people in the first group were musicians. Those in the     3     (two) group had no musical training. The musicians could hear the talking person more clearly.

A leader of the study said, “Musicians     4     (learn) to focus on (集中注意力) certain sounds for years, so they can hear better.” When the violinists in an orchestra (管弦乐队) play with the group, they must listen     5     (careful) to their own playing. With this training, musicians are able     6    (pick) out certain sounds, even in a room with lots of noise.

Schlaug is     7     doctor at Harvard Medical School. He works with stroke patients (中风患者). Because of their illness, these people can’t say their names, addresses     8     other information normally (正常地). However, they can still sing. Dr. Schlaug found that his patients could finally speak by     9     (sing) words. Music seems to make different parts of the brain active, including the damaged (受损的) parts. This helps patients use those parts of the brain again.

Music is not only enjoyable, but also helps us in many other     10     (way). Music improves our hearing and speaking abilities. It can even help sick people get better!

Many successful people follow a similar routine (常规). This helps them make the best use of their days. This also helps sleep well at night. One of     1     (important) things successful people do is to get ready for the next day the night before. Let’s see     2     they do that.

Learn to relax

Successful people say it is important to relax. Some enjoy listening to music, while others like taking a bath before     3     (go) to bed. Studies show that a 15-minute bath an hour or two before bedtime helps them sleep better. Sleeping well tonight means     4     good day tomorrow.

Put the phone down

Studies show that the blue light from a phone     5     (be) bad for our sleep. Successful people control their phone use. They don’t sleep     6     their phones nearby. They put phones away an hour before bedtime and they use an alarm clock     7     (wake) up.

Think about today

Before sleep, it helps to think about the day. Many successful people think about the good things from the day. This helps them to learn and to change. It also helps     8     (they) to make a plan for a good (perhaps even better) day tomorrow.

Make a plan

Many successful people make plans for their     9     (activity) the next day. It helps them sleep well. This is important because sleeping     10     (bad) sometimes makes everything seem worse the next day. Making plans also helps them wake up relaxed, happy and ready for the new day.

Chinese people have been celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival and enjoying mooncakes for c    1    . Mooncakes are in the shape of a full moon on the Mid-Autumn night. They carry people’s wishes to the families they love and miss. There are many     2    （传统的）folk stories about this festival. However, most people think that the story of Chang’e is the most touching. Chang’e was Hou Yi’s beautiful wife. After Hou Yi shot down the nine suns, a goddess gave him magic medicine to thank him. W    3     took this could live forever, and Hou Yi     4    （打算）to take it with Chang’e. However, a bad man, Pang Meng, tried to steal the medicine when Hou Yi was not home. Chang’e refused to give it to him and took it all. She became very light and f    5     up to the moon.

Wu Ming is a young German. He is a big fan of Chinese culture. Now he     1     studying at Henan University of Chinese Medicine. Wu came to Henan Province in 2019. After one year of learning Chinese, he started to learn Chinese medicine because he hoped     2     understand Chinese culture. Wu always tasted some Chinese medicine by himself like Shen Nong. He also overcame (战胜) difficulty in the language by learning and practicing Chinese.

Studying TCM (中医) changed Wu’s mind and lifestyle. Wu uses     3     he has learned to help his family now. He provides his family members     4     health advice after he knew about the condition of their bodies. In Wu’s opinion, there’s no big difference between China and Western countries. “We are     5     same people. The so-called difference comes from not knowing each other”, said Wu.