1 . Golden Generation

A national team, mostly consisting of teenagers, pushed China to its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, a series of breakthroughs at the Games _________ the country’s emergence as a much more well-rounded force on the ice and snow.

_________ the heroics of teenage sensation Gu Ailing and seasoned aerials(空中技巧滑雪)masters Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu, China _________ four gold to top the freestyle skiing medal standings for the first time after its Winter Olympic debut in 1980.

Gu Ailing also became the first athlete _________, and the youngest _________, to win three medals(golds in Big Air, halfpipe and silver in slopestyle)in three different freeski _________ at the Olympics, throwing her to international super-star reputation as the _________ of Beijing 2022.

Needless to say, another teenager star, Su Yiming, also became a _________   name by winning China’s first snowboarding gold medal in Big Air after claiming a silver in slopestyle. Su’s _________ helped the host finish a highest-ever third on the Games’ overall medal standings, ____________ nine gold, four silver and two bronze-its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Games. China’s ____________ best was a tally of 11, including five gold, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“The ____________ of the new generation on the Olympic stage, even seeing the emergence of teenagers, ____________ a great future for winter sports in our country,” said Li Yang, manager of China’s Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe national programs.

“With winter sports becoming popular in our country amid the fast social and ____________ development, I believe more and more young people will ____________ skis and snowboards to enjoy the sport, just as young as Su and Gu did when they were little, which will ____________ expand the talent pool for our future national programs,”Li said.

The Beijing Winter Games also ____________ the first time that China’s snow sports teams outperformed the country’s traditionally strong ice sports squads in the medal numbers, securing investment in high-performance training programs and ____________ the foundation for even better results at the next Winter Games in Italy.

“____________ we keep the tendency going, I believe we will ____________ a stronger performance in four years' time at the next Olympics in 2026,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, in women’s short-track speed skating at the 2002 Games.

2 . At the end of a long week, Mike and I were going to invite friends for dinner. Just before I got home, Mike said he had to stay late at work. _________, I was on my own to get everything ready.

Already running late myself, I started feeling _________ as I drove to pick up Haydn and Michael. I rushed them into the car and informed them we were making a few _________ before heading home and that they needed to help me _________ the house. Both of them started _________immediately. I turned and gave them a(n) _________ with my eyes that I was not in the mood to listen. They crossed their arms, looking _________. For the next hour I _________ the boys from one place to the next. The more I needed them to _________, the more distracted (分心的) they became. My __________ was wearing thin.

Just as we finished our last errand (差事), the boys reminded me to stop at the __________store to buy crickets (蟋蟀). Yes, I had promised them. Fifteen minutes later, we were back in the car with some new __________: one hundred live crickets in a clear bag.

I pulled into the driveway with only 45 minutes left before my guests arrived. I started barking orders at the boys, but all they __________ was placing the crickets into their little cage. __________, the next time I looked up, the crickets were jumping all over my kitchen. I screamed and climbed onto a chair to __________ them.

As I watched the boys running after the crickets with laughter, I realized I had only two__________. I could continue feeling angry, or just let it go and __________ the funny moment. I chose joy. I jumped off the chair and __________ them. It took us fifteen minutes to catch all the little guys. Then they __________ helped me prepare the dinner. We were happy and had a great dinner party.

Things go wrong from time to time. We can't stop that, but we can decide how we're going to __________ things. Try to think of something that makes you happy. You'll find something if you try.

4 . Sitting here, I go through my mum's old journals, reading them very differently from the first time I found them.

It was a number of years ago, when I was twelve, I found ______ just lying around her ______ room. That day I read each line with growing ______ and horror. I couldn't believe that woman who fed me as a baby and read me fairy tales had written this. I will never forget the first line I read: “They all want to take me away and _______me！”

______ I thought of the other day, when she was ______ around the house. I was sitting at the dining room table with my grandmother, working on a five­thousand­piece puzzle   (拼图) that takes a ______ to solve. Suddenly, the front door was violently thrown open. My mother ran in screaming at the top of her lungs.

Then she ran into the room and shoved (推) our puzzle off the table, smashing it into the five thousand pieces we had ______. It scared me. ______, something was ______ my mother.

My ______ ended then, when the doctor told me she had hallucinations (幻想症).   I started to understand that her illness wasn't something I could ______. That was when I realized that other kids always ______ she was different when they came over to play.

I always wondered ______ I could do but there is no solution. But dealing with my mother has given me a different outlook on life. I try not to ______ my problems. If my mum starts making strange remarks, I leave the room and call someone. Just ______ is one of the best relax ways in the world. If there's no one to talk to, I ______ the violin or some other hobbies to forget about things for a time.

As I think about the past, I see that mum was ______ an entire life. Thankfully, I haven't been. To me, each day is just one piece of the ______, one piece among the thousands we spend our lives putting together, hoping it won't ______.

5 . Humour is an important part of life in Britain. British people can laugh and make _______ in almost any everyday situation. A lot of people _______ that a good sense of humour is more       ___ in a partner than good looks or money.

Britain’s comedy industry is _______, with a large number of TV comedy programmes and comedy festivals. The nation’s top comedians are superstars who_______ live shows all over the country in front of thousands of fans. So why are humour and comedy particularly important in Britain? It’s well known that laughter is _______for you. When you laugh, your body       _______ hormones(荷尔蒙) make you feel happier and healthier. Sunshine has a _______ effect, so maybe the British _______laughter because the weather is so bad.

________ film actors and musicians, Britain’s comedians and TV comedy shows generally aren’t very popular in other countries. Of course, every ________ has its own sense of humour, but the British sense of humour seems to be particularly difficult to ________ if you aren’ t British. The British often use sarcasm(讽刺), for example, they might say “Well done!” when someone makes a ________. British comedy characters are often very unkind and rude to each other and British people ________ to make fun of themselves, too. For people from other          _______________ , this can all seem embarrassing or impolite. ________, not all British humour is impossible to understand for people outside the UK. The Mr Bean TV shows and films, for example, have been ________ in over 200 countries. Mr Bean is ________ because he does simple, everyday things in an extremely absurd (荒谬的) way. People ________ Mr Bean, but they also appreciate his eccentric(古怪的) behaviour. Loving eccentricity is another important side to the British sense of ________ and maybe one that they share with people around the world.

On a sunny day, a yellow school bus heads to Elver Park in Madison, Wisc. The seventh graders inside are excited to_________ the rockets they've built in class.

At the park, the students find their assigned flag posts, armed with their rocket, notebook, pencil and angle finder（量角器）. Two at a time, they march to the platform and_________their rocket for take-off. They wait for their teacher's_________to start the countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Go!

With the angle finder and a little math, they estimate each rocket's maximum_________. They calculate how their rocket_________against 90 others made by their classmates and teacher.

"With the rocket unit, I teach the_________principles of physics and motion（移动）," explains David Ropa. He teaches science at Spring Harbor Middle School and advocates learning by_________. That includes taking math and science into the park.

"Kids, like all humans, are doing science all the time," says Ropa. "They_________the world through play," he_________, "whether it's stacking toys or building bike ramps." They have a hypothesis（假说）. They set up a test. They____________the results. Then they adjust their____________.

"The____________his students use at school," says Ropa, "are similar to those that many adults use at work." Some of these adults____________a white lab coat and carry a business card with the word scientist". Most don't.

In Madison' s Elver Park, the students make their____________fly as high as they can. That teaches them the physics of____________. "It also develops a sense of creating____________and hopefulness," says Ropa.

Some kids will never____________that rocket launch. For others, the "calculation" may hook them on____________.

"Kids are____________," says Ropa. "Just watch them when the sea____________a dead fish. That's what scientists really are-very curious people who keep that curiosity going in their jobs."