What would people like to eat on their birthday? The answer would be d    1     in different countries.

In m    2     countries, people have birthday cakes with candles. The number of candles is the person’s a    3    . The birthday person (人) must make a wish (许愿) and blow out (吹灭) the candles. If he or she blows out all the candles in one go (一口气), the wish will c    4     true. In the UK, people s    5     put a candy in a birthday cake. The child with the candy is lucky.

In China, it is getting popular to have cake on your birthday. But many people still e    6     very long noodles f    7     their birthday.

They never cut up the noodles b    8     the long noodles are a symbol (象征) of long life. In some places Chinese people also eat eggs on their birthday. They are a symbol of life and good l    9    .

All of these birthday foods may be different, but the ideas are the s    10    . They bring good luck to the birthday person.

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.”

I’m a teacher in AMB School. Now I’m telling you something about our exchange students’ trip to Madrid last month.

The host families (寄宿家庭) were very f    1    . They made our students feel warm in their h    2    . But some host families were far away from the school, and our students had to l    3     very early in the morning to get to school on time.

The Spanish (西班牙的) school teachers h    4     our students learn a lot from the visit. They asked the tour guides (导游) to speak Spanish s    5     for our students. They showed our students a    6     the city and some places of interest. But the local students in Spain had to stay at school during these activities. So our exchange students didn’t have much t    7     with them.

Most of our students had lots of chances to speak Spanish with their host families and local students. B    8     some local students didn’t want to speak Spanish with our exchange students, because sometimes our students couldn’t understand them, and they had to t    9     with them in English.

All in all, b    10     the local students in Spain and our British students found the trip a great one.

What would people like to eat on their birthday? The answer would be different in different countries.

In many countries, people have birthday cakes w    1     candles (蜡烛). The number of candles is the person’s a    2    . The birthday person must make a wish and blow out the candles. If he or she blows out all the candles in one go, the wish will c    3     true. In the UK, people sometimes p    4     a candy in a birthday cake. The child with the candy is l    5    .

In China, it is getting popular to have cake on birthday. But many people still eat very long n    6     for their birthday. They never cut up the noodles b    7     the long noodles area symbol (象征) of long life. In some places, Chinese people also e    8     eggs on their birthday. They are a symbol of life and good luck.

All of these birthday foods may be different, but the i    9     are the same. They b    10     good luck to the birthday person.

Two years ago, I had a trip to Guangzhou w    1     my wife, my son and my little daughter. It was around 2 a.m when we a    2     at our hotel. My little daughter looked out at the lights of Canton Tower and said she wanted to go outside. I told her it was too l    3     to go out, but she kept looking out of the window and said, “Just for two minutes”.

My wife and I just looked at each other, smiled and said, “Two minutes!” We put on coats a    4     walked to Canton Tower. When we got there, my daughter pointed at the lights and shouted h    5    , “Dad, look!” And then she fell asleep. So we had to go back to the h    6    .

It took us half an hour to get ready for the 20 seconds (秒) we spent near the tower, but it made our daughter happy and that m    7     a lot to us. That night I learned a lesson about happiness. We sometimes have chances to s    8     happy moments with our family or friends in our lives, but we often find an excuse (借口) to do s    9     else.

Happiness is a d    10     that is always open, and we are the ones who have to decide if we are going to walk through the door.

When someone shouts at you or says something bad to you, how will you feel and what will you do? Last week, I learned an important l    1     from a taxi driver.

Last Friday, I called a taxi to the airport, on the way there, a black car suddenly jumped out right in front of us. My driver quickly s    2     his car, so the black car didn’t hit (撞到) us. But the driver of the black car turned his head around and kept (一直) shouting at us t    3     he drove far away. My driver just smiled and waved at him in a really f    4     way. So I asked, “W    5     did you just do that? He a    6     hit your car and sent us to the hospital!”

“In our life, many people are like garbage trucks (垃圾车). They run around with garbage—all kinds of bad feelings. Sometimes, they n    7     a place to dump (倾倒) it and maybe they’ll dump it o    8     you. Don’t be angry. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread (传播) it to o    9     people.” He told me.

I l    10     a lot from the driver. Now, when I meet someone like a garbage truck, I just smile and move on.

A king was old and he knew it was time to choose a new king. He said to all the young people in his country, “I will give each of you a seed (种子). Plant it and b    1     it back here one year later. Show me the plants you bring, and I’ll c    2     a new king from you.”

A boy n    3     Peter got a seed, too. He looked after it carefully. But the seed didn’t grow at all. A year later, Peter had to take his empty (空的) box to the p    4    . Others all took beautiful plants there and Peter f    5     sad.

The king got to the palace and looked a    6    . When he found there was nothing in Peter’s box, the king smiled and said to them, “One year a    7    , I gave everyone a seed. In fact, all the seeds c    8     grow. But all of you, except Peter, brought me beautiful plants. Peter is the only one with the honesty (诚实) to bring me s    9     a box. So he will be the new k    10    .”

Friends are important in our life, because no one w    1     to be lonely. However, some people have difficulty in m    2     friends and they often feel lonely. What’s the reason (原因) behind that? Some scientists from Chicago University say, the reason is that this kind of people have brains (脑) d    3     from common people. And they often feel unsafe w    4     they meet strangers.

Does that mean they have no way to become h    5     again? No, don’t worry.

Scientists of this study have thought up ways to h    6     these people solve this problem. They provided four steps (步骤) for getting out of loneliness.

The first step is to accept social invitations although you don’t want to go. “It’s not enough for people just to stay in touch with others online. That’s because most people don’t s    7     their true selves there,” said Dr. Cacioppo, one of this study’s scientists. Another step is to get an action plan. As “Actions speak louder than w    8    ” , people need to be active to communicate with others. They also need to meet people with the same i    9    . Also, they should try to expect the best from each activity. Anyway, “Tomorrow is a    10     day”. Who knows what good things are waiting for us?

10 . Last summer my family went camping b    1     a lake in the countryside. There we put up our tent and made a fire to keep us w    2     and cook food. On the f    3     night, we sat under the moon and t    4     each other stories.

The next morning, my sister and I heard a n    5     . When we looked out of our tent, we saw a big s    6     sleeping near the fire. I was so scared that I couldn’t m    7     . We shouted to our parents to let them know the danger. My dad started to jump up and down in their tent. This w    8     the snake up and it moved into the forest near the lake. My dad told me later that snakes don’t have ears but can f    9     things moving. He also told me it was i    10     not to go near a snake. This was a very useful lesson for me.