Taking a Chance

When Emily handed Ms. Miller her homework, she couldn’t imagine how writing a short story would lead to more than a grade.

Emily, who was shy, had few close friends. In her art class, when other students discussed painting skills, she usually kept quiet. No one     1     Sofia seemed to notice her at all.

Emily wanted to invite Sofia to see the art show at the local museum. Every time she had an opportunity to bring it up, she     2     (start) by talking about her own painting. She wasn’t sure where else to begin and she never got to the invitation before the bell     3     (ring).

When Emily received an A⁺ on her story, she was excited. She knew that writing was fun and came     4     (easy) to her, but she didn’t realize she was good at it. Ms. Miller’s opinion about her story made her     5     (think) she had a special talent, kind of like Sofia’s for painting. Ms. Miller encouraged her to enter an upcoming national writing competition.

At the     6     (begin), Emily didn’t want to enter the competition. She was worried about losing her new pride in herself     7     she didn’t win. But Ms. Miller insisted that taking risks was part of knowing who you were and what you could do.

Emily finally agreed     8     (enter) the competition. When she won     9     (two) place, she was still proud     10     herself to be brave enough to enter the competition. She felt so good when she took the risk of asking Sofia to the art show, and Sofia said yes.

Chen Xingrong, 16, whose favorite activity is jumping onto the swing (秋千) in the living room. The swing was s    1     up by his father to help him learn how to swim without water.

He was diagnosed (诊断) with autism (自闭症) when he was a baby. “We did not understand why such a thing would happen to us,” Chen Xunhu says, adding that he began travelling to big c    2     such as Beijing and Guangzhou to learn more about autism. He even quit (停止) his job and paid his full a    3     to the disease.

In 2012, the father learned that swimming could help people with autism, so he spent months learning how to swim by watching videos and reading books. At first the training to his son didn’t w    4    . To his surprise, after three months, he discovered that his son had developed the ability to control his b    5     under water. It improved his confidence, and swimming soon became a keen (热衷的) activity of the family.

Thanks to the strict training and the love and support of his family and community members, Chen Xingrong m    6     become an outstanding swimmer. Last year, he won five m    7    , including a gold, a    8     the eighth National Special Olympic Games.

As well as swimming, learning b    9     life skills is also an important part of life for a teenager with autism. With his father’s efforts, Chen has learned to buy food in the market. He also works as a v    10     at a restaurant and likes to take care of patients in a clinic (诊所) by covering the patients with quilts (被子).

“I hope he will live a wonderful life in the future.”

Over the past three years, Kang Jian has created more than 400 dough sculptures (面塑) and become a city-inheritor (继承人) of the dough sculpture in Mohe, Heilongjiang province.

Kang has shown an interest in art,     1     (especial) dough sculpture since he was a child. Every time his parents made dumplings, he would ask for a small piece of dough to make animals. Those small dough animals brought him lots of good childhood     2     (memory). However, Kang didn’t learn art in college. His family was poor and his parents     3     (be) not able to afford his art education. He spent his spare time after school studying drawing by     4     (he). Kang left college in 2016     5     worked in the Mohe Forestry Bureau (林业局).

Then in 2018, during a visit     6     a museum in Beijing, Kang learned something about dough sculpting, which greatly attracted him. Then he had the idea of     7     (take) up his childhood interest. He visited some famous artists and learned to make dough sculptures from them. His skills were improved a lot. As     8     fan of Chinese literature. Kang would like to make dough sculptures of Chinese heroes, such as Sun Wukong and Guan Yu.

When Kang is free, he is     9     (invite) to give classes at schools to teach students to make dough sculptures. He expects more young people to take up this     10     (tradition) art form. He believes it will be known by more and more people at home and abroad.

Learning is a lifelong journey. We all want to know how to learn much     1     (well). I hope my advice can help you a little.

First, have some learning plans before exams. This could be from one month to six     2     (month). It depends on the     3     (important) of the exam. If you are learning     4     the final exam, you should make a one-month plan.

Second, think about     5     (you) environment. Make sure the place where you are going to learn is comfortable with enough light. However, if you are the kind of person that likes listening to music while learning, you have to find out what kind of music     6     (work) best for you.     7     (general) speaking, you can also choose     8     (classic) music instead of pop or rock music.

Third, have enough rest. Your mind will work less effectively     9     you learn for too long. Many people suggested learning     10     hour with a ten-minute break.

Building a country is never easy. It     1     (take) hard work from generation to generation. But, how about destroying it? A new report from The Guardian said long time of climate change can do that.

The report said Tuvalu will be the     2     (one) country to be completely lost due to climate change.

Tuvalu is     3     Pacific island nation with nine islands and 12, 000 people. It has long been at risk from higher sea levels. Now 40 percent of the area in its capital is underwater at high tide (高潮). By the end of the century, it     4     (believe) that all the islands will be underwater.     5     many people in Tuvalu have often moved around the country and even to other countries.

To help with the problem, the country plans     6     (build) its country in the metaverse (元宇宙). The digital country will recreate the same landscape (景观) and keep its     7     (history) records. No matter where they live in the real world, the people in this country will have     8     (they) identity (身份) and “live” in its online communities. The government hopes to manage and serve them in cyberspace (网络空间).

This news     9     (make) many people in Tuvalu excited. But Li Zuxi, director of the metaverse lab of Qingbo Intelligent Technology, said it may not be the best solution.

“Though the digital nation belongs to Tuvalu, it’s still built on a metaverse platform,” said Li. “Now the metaverse is not mature, which may bring some problems.” He gave us an example. If people from other countries enter the space of the digital country but just show their names, how do people know if they do or do not truly belong to that country?

Li added that instead of trying our best to build digital     10     (nation), it’s better to pay attention to saving the real world now.