I don’t like doing chores, but I have no choice ________ doing chores is a ________ in our family. Whenever I come back from ________, you always says, “Could you take out the rubbish?” or “Could you help me ________ the cooking?” I know you are just trying to make me ________ and teach me how to ________ myself. But ________ don’t you let me watch my favorite TV show first and then do the housework? It’s not ________ for me. I know I am the ________ and I should ________ the chores. My younger sisters are too young to do it.

Yesterday I did the chores again. You went to visit grandparents with my sisters in the morning. You left me ________ at home because I had to do my ________. After I finished my homework, I found it was really a ________ at home. So I cleaned the rooms, washed the dishes and watered the garden. I felt tired but ________.

I realize that you are very busy and exhausted, and it’s not easy for you to support a single family. I hope you can allow me to do the things I ________. It’s better for my development.

Yours,

John

Did you hear of “comfort zone” (舒适区)? It is like a place where you feel comfortable with yourself and do things without feeling _______.

For example, you feel very comfortable and relaxed to speak in front of ten people, however it _______ you feel uncomfortable and stressed when you have to give the speech to more than ten people. Then ten people would be the comfort zone for your public (公共的) speech.

When Lisa started in eighth grade with new classmates, she thought she was not going to have a wonderful school life. She only had three friends. And she was _______ afraid to speak in front of class. She had a lot of negative (消极的) ideas when she noticed people _______ her. She was thinking about if people liked her or if they thought she looked cool today.

This all changed when she went out of her comfort zone and started to _______ more with her classmates. _______ she found surprised herself. Her classmates actually liked her and enjoyed playing with her. Now she has become more outgoing and she is _______ than she ever was before. She says she wishes she has done it earlier.

Going out of the comfort zone and trying some new things could be difficult for some people at first, like Lisa. That’s because they are afraid to fail and dislike getting uncomfortable. If they always stay _______ their comfort zone, they will stop making progress (进步). So let’s be brave enough to take _______ in life and challenge ourselves. ________ we push ourselves to change, we can’t be who we want to be. Remember progress begins at the end of our comfort zone. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

4 . In a small Chinese town lived a poor young man named Liang.He loved _______. One night, an old man with a long beard _______ Liang in a dream.He gave Liang a paintbrush.

“Use this magic paintbrush to _______ the poor,” he said, “but don’t use it to help people who are _______ and greedy (贪婪的), or the skill will _______ your fingers and you will never paint again.”

When Liang woke up, he _______ the paintbrush on the table by his bed. He painted a butterfly and was _______ to see it fly off the page and out of the window.

Liang ran out of his little house and started painting things for people. He painted a buffalo (水牛) to help a farmer, food for _______ people and clothes for people who were cold.

A rich man, however, _______ about the paintbrush and asked Liang to paint some gold for him, ____________ Liang refused.

“If you don’t paint for me, I’ll cut your fingers off,” the rich man said.“Then you will ____________ paint again.” So Liang painted an island of gold in the middle of a blue ____________ .

“ ____________ will I get there?” asked the rich man.

Liang painted a ____________ for the rich man, who got in it and went on his way toward the island.

But when the rich man was halfway there, Liang painted a hole in the side of the boat.The boat sank(沉)into the water and ____________ ever saw him again.

6 . “Turn left! Turn right!” In the information technology class, Zhang Ruixuan was controlling a robot to move around. What a wonderful and ________ classroom!

“This is part of our artificial intelligence (AI) courses,” said the 10th grader ________ Beijing 101 Middle School. The school ________ Al classes to both junior and senior high school students. Students want to learn more, ________ there are also optional (选修的) courses, apart from compulsory (必修的) courses that teach basic knowledge. That means students have more ________.

“This term in our compulsory class, we have ________ learned to code (编程) using a programming language called Python,” said Zhang. Using Python to code is a ________ skill for training AI models. In recent years, Python has been ________ in high school graduation exams in places like Beijing, Jiangsu and Anhui.

________, having AI education in schools has become a growing trend in many places, with Zhejiang Province being a typical example. In 2020, Zhejiang added AI ________ into textbooks from Grade 5 in primary school all the way to senior high. In the city of Wenzhou, the government is planning to ________ 1,000 AI experimental schools by 2025.

“With the development of ________, our textbooks have been changing all the time,” said ShangVin, an IT teacher from Beijing 101 Middle School. “From typing to using Word and Excel, and then today’s coding and AI, the courses are ________ the times and teaching students necessary skills.” In the future, there will be more jobs where AI knowledge is ________. Even in daily life, people may need to understand things like ChatGPT and things on the Internet. “AI education will become increasingly ________,” Shang added. People are looking forward to more information technology classes.

7 . It was time to have lunch. Juanita rushed out of the classroom and went to the ________. What had happened in class made her too embarrassed (尴尬的) to ________ everyone in a short time.

No one found she’d gone. Even the teacher hadn’t ________ she’d slipped (溜走) away. If she was ________ enough, she could slip past the eyes of Mrs. McGuire quietly, the librarian.

It didn’t take long for Juanita ________ her next problem. She waited for another student to have a talk ________ Mrs. McGuire. Then she walked past her and into the place she planned to ________ the next thirty minutes. However, when she reached the corner, she was ________ to see her classmates and English teacher. They must enter through the other door while Juanita was trying to pass the front desk ________. “I can explain,” Juanita’s voice sounded ________.

“You don’t need to,” her teacher said. “We are ________, Juanita. Sometimes we get embarrassed. Sometimes we even make ________. But, what we need to do is to be there for each other.” She ________ Juanita.

Juanita knew she would ________ forget today. And she would always remember ________ kind everyone had treated (对待) her. And she hoped she could pay the kindness forward.

Jane wants to go fishing on the sea. But Dad ________, “It’s dangerous.”

“But I’m good ________ swimming!” Jane says unhappily. “You often ask me to try something ________. And you also say that’s the ________ way (方式) for people to grow (成长).”

“________ sometimes a new thing can be dangerous,” Dad answers.

Jane still feels ________. “Benny goes fishing all the time. I can go with him!”

Dad says, “But you’re not strong (强壮的) like Benny.”

Jane says nothing, and she thinks a lot that night.

It takes Jane a long ________ to practice swimming. She wants to ________ Dad that she can also be strong.

One day, Jane asks Benny to have a ________ in the swimming pool. And she also asks her dad to come and ________.

Benny swims ________. But Jane tries her best, and then she catches up (赶上)! Surprisingly (令人吃惊地), Jane finishes the game ________.

After the race is over (结束), Dad says, “I was wrong, Jane! You can take care of (照顾) yourself—________ a boat, or other ________.”

Two days later, Jane’s ________ comes true—she is also on a boat heading out (出发) to the sea.

My uncle Meyer is not a famous person but has done a lot of great things in his life. He is a ______ who has been teaching languages and history at a college in the past 45 years. He has ______ some young people to love languages. He often ______ letters and e-mails from students who studied with him years ago. Many of them finished ______ and then had their own jobs and families. They tell him what they have learned from ______ and how much he has influenced them.

A second great thing about my uncle is that he is also a teacher ______ the classroom. When we were children, we used to follow him to the museums on weekends. He always ______ money to support the museums. Many times we wondered ______ he did that. He told us, “The real world is ______ than the classroom. Museums can ______ us with something we cannot learn in the classroom.”

A third great thing about Uncle Meyer is that he never stops ______. He’s 68 years old now, and he is taking Chinese lessons although he can already speak Russian and German pretty well.

Uncle Meyer finds it difficult to learn Chinese. ______, he never gives up. He thinks learning languages is fun ______ he has made great progress so far. He’s hoping to go to China and visit some famous cities next year with the ability to ______ some Chinese.

Some people think Uncle Meyer is old and that he should stop working, but he has never thought about that. He loves to teach and learn. He believes that it is ______ to learn and lead other people to learn. Uncle Meyer is always on the way.