1 . Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when they worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources (资源).

Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.

Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.

“What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who’d done our writing intervention (干预), all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don’t normally get nervous in these tests.”

But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.

Of all the t    1     festivals, the harvest festival can be found in almost every c    2    . This important agricultural festival t    3     place after all the crops have been gathered in. People celebrate to show that they are g    4     for the year’s s    5     of food. In ancient Egypt, the harvest festival was celebrated during the springtime- the Egyptian harvest s    6    . It featured a p    7     and a great feast with music, dancing, and s    8    . Today, in some European countries, people decorate churches and town halls with flowers and fruit, and get together to celebrate over a m    9    . During the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, f    10     gather to admire the shining moon and enjoy delicious mooncakes.

3 . When I was about twelve years old, my mother told us that we would not be _______ Christmas gifts for lack of money. I felt sad and thought, “What would I say when the other kids asked what I’d _______?” Then, three women _______ at our house with gifts for all of us. For me they bought a doll. I would no longer have to be _______ when I returned to school.

Years later, when I stood in the kitchen of my new house, thinking how I wanted to make my _______ Christmas special and memorable there, I_______ remembered the women’s visit. I decided that I wanted to create the same feeling of _______ for as many children as I could possibly _______.

So I _______ with a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help. We gathered about 125 orphans (孤儿) at the Christmas party. For every child, we wrapped colorful packages filled with toys, clothes, and school supplies, each with a child’s name. We wanted all of them to know they were ________. Before I called out their names and handed them their gifts, I ________ them that they couldn’t open their presents until every child had come forward. Finally the ________ they had been waiting for came as I called out, “One, two, three. Open your presents!” As the children opened their packages, their faces beamed and their bright smiles ________ up the room. The ________ in the room was obvious, and it wasn’t just about toys. It was a feeling — the feeling I knew from that Christmas so long ago when the women came to visit. I wasn’t forgotten. Somebody still remembered me. I know I ________.

6 . I was walking home from school one day and it happened to be a particularly cold and windy day. It was________ and I was crazy enough to forget my hat and scarf. You can imagine my cheeks were rosy red and my hands were as numb as they could be.

All of a sudden, an old lady ________ up beside me and asked if I would like a ride home. At first, I said it was OK and her ________ smile melted (融化) away the thought that I should never talk to strangers! We had an amazing chat and she was just ________ a good woman. She told me her address and she dropped me off.

I didn’t see her or talk to her for about a month and one night as I ________ her kind gesture, I decided to return the favor. So, I made a lot of ________ and walked down to her house with my friend. At first I was a bit ________ she wouldn’t remember me or think that I was a bad man who poisoned cookies but luckily, I was ________ wrong. She was so happy, and she hugged me and kissed me and seemed so ________ that someone would do something like that!

When I got home my mom told me that the old lady ________ and told my mom on the phone that she ________ because she was so touched. She said she would never ________ the kindness that was given to her! That filled me with such ________! There really is nothing else joyful like helping ________ and making someone’s day ________!

7 . People perform graceful moves, all while standing on a bamboo strip in the river. You may think it’s a scene from an art movie, but actually it is a form of intangible cultural heritage: bamboo drifting(独竹漂).

Bamboo drifting dated back to over 2,000 years ago in the Chishui River area of Guizhou. During the Qin Dynasty,the Bozhou district of Zunyi city was known for its high-quality nanmu. It was in great demand by the royal court more than 2,000 kilometers to the north. With no transportation along the Chishui River， people had to stand on one log(原木)to drift down the river. Later, local people began to compete along the way and the game of wood drifting was born. In the Qing Dynasty, wood drifting became bamboo drifting because of bamboo’s lower price.

Now, communities in Guizhou hold bamboo drifting competitions every year during Dragon Boat Festival. Due to the great strength and balance it takes for one to get the hang of this act, bamboo drifting was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list.

Yang Liu,24,is an inheritor(继承人) of bamboo drifting.Yang said the most challenging part of bamboo drifting was keeping one’s balance. “I fell in the water several times when I was practising,” she said.

But the love for the ancient skill keeps Yang going. In the past 17 years, she has drifted all year round, in winter cold and summer heat.

Yang also produces new ideas when spreading the culture of bamboo drifting. For example, she connects dance with bamboo drifting to make it more graceful and wears hanfu when performing, creating a beautiful feel. In 2020, Yang registered on social media platforms and posted her videos. “I want to spread it to other countries so that more people around the world will like Chinese culture,” she told China Daily.

The Internet has done much more for people than simply make l    1    more convenient.

People’s lives have been changed by online c    2     and social networks. Jan Tchamani, an English teacher, suddenly d    3     serious illness and had to quit her job. At age 50, she found herself out of work and stay at home with only her computer to keep her c    4    , After a while, she discovered that s    5     Internet could help her feel less lonely and bored. She was so inspired by the p    6     she met online that she decided to start an IT c    7    . Jan has started taking online c    8     to learn more about ho to use the Internet to make s    9     better. Her next goal is to start a charity w    10     to raise money for children in poor countries.

10 . Volunteering is a great way to help your community. It is something that people should be doing more often, because it is a great way to help out those less fortunate. Another reason that you should volunteer is that it has a lot of health benefits, which people don’t seem to really know about.     1    .

Reduce depression (抑郁)

Volunteering is a great way to decrease depression, especially if you are someone who doesn’t have a great support system at home.     2    . When you are volunteering, you are around other people often talking and laughing, which helps reduce depression.

    3    

A lot of volunteering involves packing boxes or moving things, and that is very good for your heart. You can actually walk the dogs and clean cages at a local animal shelter, which are all ways to stay active. If you are volunteering to do something you love, you may not even notice that it takes a great deal of physical energy, so it’s much better than just working out because you enjoy it.

Make you feel satisfied (满意的)

When you do voluntary work, you feel this satisfaction out of what you are doing, because you know you are helping other people. When you feel this satisfaction, your mental and physical health improves, and you just feel better overall (全面的).     4    . And this is something that volunteering provides.

Reduce anxiety

    5    . When you start volunteering, you find new ways to communicate with other people. It helps reduce your anxiety levels. It can help you find ways to interact with others and can help you build confidence around others.