Every October, my neighbor Ollie and I would enter the Halloween costume contest (服装比赛) in our neighborhood park．And each year the theme was different, such as “Superheroes” or “Far m Animals”．But this year’s theme was not so specific．It was just “Be Creative”．

Walking home along the road lined with tall trees, the two of us had a heated discussion about what “Be Creative” meant．We looked back on the themes we had really enjoyed．For “Superheroes”, we made costumes of Super-Force Flying Eagle．And for “Farm Animals”, we were dressed as a cow and a horse．Ollie even put a pair of wings for the horse, saying that he’d love to see a “flying horse” eating grass with a cow on the farm．

“Now that’s the creative spirit we need for this challenge!” I said．“Maybe, since we don’t know exactly what we want to be yet, we should start by choosing some cool costume-making materials.”

Just at that moment, a falling golden leaf happened to have landed on Ollie’s shoulder．“I’ve got it!” Ollie said joyfully, picking up some fallen leaves from the ground．“We can make costumes out of leaves and pretend to be trees．I can ensure, no one will be a tree as great as me.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” I said．“I like your creative idea and I have just got a perfect way to be another tree.”

We filled up two bags with different kinds of leaves: Ollie’s grandma, Abuela, an experienced tailor (裁缝), helped us with tons of excellent costume-making supplies and we started to work．When we were done, we each tried on the self-designed costumes and they were really wonderful．On the morning of the contest, we got up early and spent hours making preparations．We arrived at the park early and waited for our turn nervously and eagerly．

The big time came for us to go onto the stage．

2 . As we all know, swimming is great fun. But it often comes with _________. Drowning (溺水)is a real possibility even for the most _________ swimmers. However, this dangerous situation can be changed with watchful eyes. This summer in Florida, two young men helped to _________ one drowning death.

Griffin Emerson, a 6-year-old child, swam in an apartment block’s pool. He enjoyed the pool’s _________ area. But he began to _________ toward the deeper part slowly, struggling to keep his head above water.

All that came about as no one else, including his mother, seemed to _________ him. Griffin’s frightening _________ in the water happened over the course of a full minute, ending up with the child going down to the _________ of the pool.

However, one young man, Noah, did find Griffin in the pool. He told his friend Weston to call 911 at once. And Noah _________ to jump into the pool to ____________ the 6-year-old.

Noah made it to Griffin, caught him and ____________ him to the surface and then to the side of the pool. Before the emergency services’ arrival, Noah and Weston tried their best to ____________ life-saving steps. ____________, a few minutes later, Griffin recovered his breath.

Griffin’s mother was ____________ to Noah and Weston for their heroic actions. But the two young men thought it was no big deal and hoped that this act of kindness would be ____________.

3 . A new study, led by Dr. Rebecca Stone, has shown that children as young as four years old eat 79% more calories when they are bored, compared to when they are in a normal mood (情绪) .

The researchers have explored the behaviors that make children more likely to eat when they experience negative emotions. Often when children experience bad emotions such as boredom or sadness, caring adults will use food to soothe them. However, this behavior, known as emotional feeding, appears to increase the possibility of children eating more when they are in low spirits. As time passes, too many calories intake will have a significant effect on children’s health both mentally and physically.

Dr. Stone stresses that the experience of boredom is important in the development of children’s sense of self and creativity, so she does not recommend that children should avoid being bored. Instead, she suggests children learn to experience boredom without turning to food. She also suggests that parents turn their children’s attention away from food when they feel bored, or restructure the home food environment to make it less likely that children turn to food in response to being bored.

While there do appear to be individual differences between children in terms of their eating when bored, it is helpful to know that the feeding practices that adults use around food might shape the likelihood of this happening. Although it is attractive to use food as a tool to help children, emotional feeding might lead to greater emotional eating in the future. It is important for parents and caregivers to be aware that this short-term fix could create future problems.

It is hoped that, on the original basis of the study, the team will deeply explore other negative mood states in children and offer advice and support for families to find more effective ways to manage challenges around children eating behavior.

5 . Books are the most valuable cultural heritage. However, there are many ancient Chinese classics suffering from different degrees of damage due to various reasons.     1    

Bai Yuzhi,a post-90s restorer (修复师) at the Wuhan Library,graduated from Wuhan University in 2016 with a major in restoring ancient books. She is now the fourth generation of restorers at the Wuhan Library, Bai started practicing this technique during her after-class activities at college in 2014.     2     “I’m shy and not good at socializing, so this job suits me very well,” she said

    3     The restoration steps cannot be rushed. When restorers receive an ancient book, their first task is not to directly restore it but to observe it and record the book’s important details. After that, the restorers will open the book,remove every page, and repair it on the back side.     4     It may take one or two days to restore a single page. So it could take at least a month to complete the restoration of a whole book.

Bai has restored about 10,000 pages of ancient books in her over 10 years of work. The most difficult part of the restoration, according to her, is keeping everything under exact control over every stage.     5     If the paste (面糊) is too thin, the repaired pages may easily come off and become broken, which could affect the quality of the restoration. However, if the paste is too thick, the fixed pages will be tough, challenging to open.

With the advancement of science and digital technology, the methods for protecting ancient books have become more various.

6 . Mental health is a critical aspect of overall well-being, yet it is often ignored in our fast- paced society.     1     A well-cared and healthy mind leads to improved emotions, better relationships, and a more positive outlook on life.

    2     When we are stressed or upset, it is our mind’s way of reacting to negative stimuli(刺激). Good mental health allows us to cope with these emotions in a positive manner. In addition, when our minds are not clouded by negative thoughts or emotions it is easier to think clearly.     3    

Studies have shown that a person with good mental health lives longer and has a higher quality of life. The effects of positive mental health on the body are plenty, including reducing the risk of diseases and improving overall physical well-being.

Our mental state has a significant impact on relationships. People with good mental health are more likely to be kind and understanding.     4     This may further guarantee them with a stable emotional condition.

Mental health is as essential as physical health in maintaining a fulfilling life. If we run into trouble, don’t keep it to yourself.     5     With the right support, we can all enjoy the benefits of a healthy mind.

When my mom announced that my dad had fixed the old car in his garage, I felt excited—I had wheels! I called my friend Steph and made plans to have dinner at her house the next day.

The following morning, I woke up early and put on a black skirt and jacket. “Aren’t you dressed too lightly?” Mom asked. “There’s a snowstorm coming.” “I’ll be inside,” I replied as I headed out.

As I began the forty-minute drive, I was in high spirits. However, halfway there it started to snow like mad. Cars slowed. The sound of a siren announced the approach of an ambulance and I pulled aside to let it pass. As I inched back into my lane, the traffic light ahead turned red. I stopped.

When the light turned green, I pressed on the gas, but the old car died. I tried to start it. One click, then nothing. Before I could do anything else, two young men raced over from the nearby sidewalk. I rolled down my window a little.

“Give us a second,” one of them said, “We’ll help you out of here.” Soon, they began pushing the car. With their guidance, I steered into a parking spot in front of a grocery store. “You’ll be fine now,” they said, and before I could even thank them, they walked into the grocery store.

The snow was falling faster now. I called Steph on my cellphone to cancel our plan. Next, I called my parents to come and get me. Now all I had to do was wait, but I was very hungry and cold. I sighed, regretting not taking my mom’s advice.

Just as I sat waiting in the car, I noticed a man walking towards me. It was one of the men who had just helped me. I rolled down the window at once.

9 . While screen time is known to affect sleep, new research suggests that interactive (互动的) activities, such as texting friends or playing video games, put off and reduce the time spent asleep to a greater degree than passive (被动的) screen time like watching television, especially for teens.

The team studied the daytime screen-based activities of 475 teenagers using daily surveys. They asked the teens how many hours they had spent that day communicating with friends through social media and how many hours they spent playing video games, surfing the internet and watching television or videos. Finally, the researchers asked if they had joined in any of these activities in the hour before bed.

Next, the team measured their sleep time for one week. The researchers found that the teens spent an average of two hours per day communicating with friends via social media, about 1.3 hours playing video games, less than an hour surfing the internet and about 1.7 hours watching television or videos. For every hour throughout the day that they used screens to communicate with friends, they fell asleep about 11 minutes later averagely. For every hour to play video games, they fell asleep about 9 minutes later. Those who talked, texted or played games in the hour before bed lost the most sleep: about 30 minutes later.

Interestingly, David, lead author of the study, said the team found no obvious relations between passive screen-based activities and sleep. “It could be that passive activities are less mentally exciting than interactive activities,” said Anne, co-author of the study. “It’s a tricky situation,” she said. “These screen tools are really important to everyone nowadays, so it’s hard to put a limit on them, but if you’re really looking out for a teenager’s health and well-being, you might consider limiting the more interactive activities, especially in the hour before bed.”