1 . When middle-aged Alex _________his job and made up his mind to become a freelance writer, no one could tell for sure whether he would succeed or not. He found a cold storage room in a building, set up a used typewriter and settled down to work

After a year or so, however, Alex began to _________ himself. He found it was difficult to earn his living by _________ what he wrote. But Alex determined to put his dream to the test even if it meant living with uncertainty and fear of _________

One day Alex got a(n) _________ "We need an assistant, and we’re paying $6, 000 a year." $6,000 was _________money in 1960. It would enable Alex to get a nice apartment, a used car and more. As the dollars were dancing in Alex’s head, something _________his senses. He had dreamed of being a full-time _________"Thanks but no," Alex said _________, “I'm going to stick it out and write.”

After Alex hung up the phone, he __________ everything he had: two cans of vegetables and 18 cents. Alex put the cans and cents into a paper bag, saying to himself, "There’s __________you’ve made of yourself so far.”

Finally his work was __________in 1970. Instantly he had the kind of fame and success that few writers __________ experience.

Then one day, Alex found the paper bag. Suddenly he __________himself working in that cold storage room. It reminds Alex, and anyone with a dream, of the __________ and perseverance it takes to stay the course in the shadowland.

3 . A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and hit a softball. I didn't do either well. He later informed me that I was "not athletic".

The idea that I was "not athletic" stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.

Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

At mile 3, I passed a sign: "GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!"

By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt severely. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

By mile 21, I was starving!

As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.

I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. Actually, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.

Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a "marathon winner".

Learn Chinese swordsmanship and practice Chinese sword play under the instruction of a professional in Ditan Park every Sunday afternoon.

Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)

Time/Date: 2 pm — 3:30 pm, October 10.

Place: Meet at the south gate of Ditan Park, across the overpass north of the Lama Temple, Chaoyang District.

Tel: 8457-2772

Visit the museum and former residence of Lu Xun, the father of Chinese modern literature, and learn about this period of Chinese history, from 1910 to the late 1930’s.

Fee: 50 yuan(US$ 6)

Time/Date: 2:30 pm — 4:30 pm, October 16

Place: Meet in front of Lu Xun’s Museum, Fuchengmennei Dajie, Xicheng District

Tel: 6432-9341

Heifengkou Great Wall is about one and a half hours’ drive north of Beijing. The hike starts from the village at the foot of the mountain where the Great Wall meanders to the top.

Fee: 150 yuan(US$ 18) for adults, 100 yuan(US$ 12) for kids under 12.

Time/Date: 8:30 am — 5:30 pm, October 16

Pick-up: Meet at 8:30 am in front of the Big Easy, at the South Gate of Chaoyang Park, returning by 5:30 pm.

Contact Lucy at lucy @ highclub. cn, or 6553-3920 for signing up.

This is a beginner’s level of Chen-style Tai Chi class, instructed by Paul Wang, who speaks excellent English and has a lot of experience teaching Westerners. He is the 12th generation master of Chen-Style Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword, and Shaolin Temple longquan.

Time/Date: 10 am — 11:30 am, October 12, 19

Fee: 60 yuan(US$ 7.2)

Place: In front of Jintai Gallery, inside the West Gate of Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District

Tel: 6432-9341

Contact Gina at linshujuan@chinadaily. com. cn.

6 . Being able to find high quality health care at an affordable price is a problem to be solved in many countries. In the United States, Walmart, a large chain store, is trying to help. It is offering something new to its employees: cutting the cost of a doctor’s appointment to only $4 instead of the usual $40 for the same service.

The catch is that the patient and doctor must meet over the internet. This online service is called “telemedicine.”

Walmart is the latest major business in the United States to push its workers toward a high-tech way to be examined and treated by doctors. Thanks to telemedicine, people can talk with medical experts from the privacy of their own homes, often using a secure video connection.

Supporters say online visits make it easier for patients to see an expert or quickly find help for problems considered non-emergencies.

Some healthcare needs are well-suited for telemedicine. It can help people seeking treatment for insect bites or skin conditions. Patients who have had medical treatments and cannot move around easily can use telemedicine for their follow-up visits. Also, people seeking help for mental health issues can benefit from the privacy that telemedicine gives.

But still, many people do not use telemedicine, they continue to go to the doctor’s office when they are sick. 80 percent of middle-size and large U.S. companies offered telemedicine services to their workers in 2018. However, only 8 percent of its employees used telemedicine at least once in 2017.

Compared with seeing a real doctor in person, some people may think the quality of telemedicine is not as good. Parents, for example, may feel they are not giving their child the best care if they use a virtual doctor appointment. Older adults may look forward to their in-person doctor appointments. For them, going to the doctor’s office is a big event, something they look forward to.

Another reason some adults may not use telemedicine services is trust. Tom Hill, aged 66, says he has no plans to ever use telemedicine. He does not buy anything online, let alone do something as personal as seeing a doctor. He says, for him, it is important to look his doctor in the eye and shake hands.

However, for some people, especially young people and busy students, telemedicine might be a good choice. It can cut down on the time away from work. It can also cut down on the cost of doctor visits.

8 . When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn’t very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn’t catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, “Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish”, I remember being even more upset then because, “I’m not a fish!” I didn’t know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?

As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water because the former is warmer.

Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don’t have any eyelids and the sun huts their eyes… The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.

When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, “We all need to think like sales people.” But it didn’t completely make sense. My dad never once said, “If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman.” What he said was, “You need to think like a fish.” Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.

10 . From a very early age, some children exhibit better self-control than others. Now, a new study that began with about 1,000 children in New Zealand has tracked how a child's low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in their adult years.

Researchers have been studying this group of children for many years now. They observed the level of self-control the youngsters displayed. Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like “acting before thinking” and “Persistence in reaching goals.”

The study led by Moffitt of Duke University and colleagues followed 1, 000 children from birth to age 32 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

“The children who had the lowest self-control when they were age three to ten, later on had the most health problems in their 30s,” Moffitt said, “and they had the worst financial situation. They were more likely to have a criminal record and to be raising a child as a single parent on a very low income.” Moffitt explained that self-control problems were widely observed, and weren’t just a feature of a small group of misbehaving kids.

Moffitt said it's still unclear why some children have better self-control than others, though she said other researchers have found that it's mostly a learned-behavior, with relatively little genetic influence. But good self-control can be set to run in families because children with good self-control are more likely to grow up to be healthy and successful parents. But the good news, Moffitt said, is that self-control can be taught by parents, and through school education.