My name is Mike Fuksman, a 15-year-old American student. Whenever I speak fluent(流利的) Chinese, people around me always ask me why my Chinese is so good. Now I would like to     1     my story with you.

It was hard for me to learn Chinese at first. I’m     2     in Chinese characters(汉字), but remembering them was not easy for me. It has tones(音调) that English doesn’t have, so it upsets me a lot for     3     long time.

To make up for basic knowledge, I took Chinese     4     in a university. I memorized words carefully and practiced pronunciation hard.     5    , it worked little. Later, I was told that language is just a tool for communication and I should communicate more with Chinese people. Then I     6     Chinese friends and communicated with them in Chinese as often as possible. Surprisingly, learning Chinese became much     7     for me when chatting with others. And I know more about Chinese culture,     8    .

I realized it is important to connect language     9     local culture. After all, language is a mirror of the culture. So, if you are learning a foreign language now, don’t just learn     10     alone. Try to use it to communicate frequently(频繁地) and learn about its culture instead, and you will gain(收获) more than you expect!

4 . My father used to tell restaurants by their bread baskets. According to _____ “If you can’t get little things right, how can you do big things right?”

I feel that way about commas(逗号). Something can go wrong _____ a piece of writing when commas are used carelessly around the page. My writing students often put a comma wherever they feel one _____.

Then again, _____ kind of poor writings is quite opposite: no commas can be found anywhere. I always feel a bit disappointed, even _____, when I see the lovely comma abused (滥用) in these ways. Such abuses mean that my students don’t know how _____ this mark. But commas are important. They separate ideas. They show relationships. In talk, commas can mean life or death, “Kill ducks!” or “Kill, ducks!”

Then again, I also failed to learn the importance of the comma _____ I taught writing to first-year students. I remember the program head, _____ strict, white-haired woman, saying, “You have no idea where the commas go or why.” I felt terrible. How could I have misunderstood something so basic?

Well, the thing is, commas aren’t so basic, and learning to use them _____ years. Oscar Wilde once joked about ______ a hard day of writing was like: spending the morning taking out a comma, and in the afternoon, putting it back in. That sounds about right.