Another disappointing day was passing, and he was driving his beat-up old car home. He was out all day looking for a job. It was getting dark and light snow was coming down, so he almost didn’t see the old lady standing on the side of the road. It was clear that she needed help. He pulled up in front of her obviously brand new and expensive car and got out.

While nobody had stopped to help for the last hour and there was a smile on his face, she was worried when he approached her. He didn’t look safe. He looked poor and hungry.

He could see she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in your car to keep warm? My name is Bryan.”

A tire was flat. Bryan fetched tools from his own car to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening her car’s nuts, she rolled down the window, said thanks and asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that could have happened without his help.

Bryan never thought twice about the money. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed. He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home.

Soon the lady saw a small restaurant. She went in to grab a bite to eat and warm up before she made the last leg of her trip home. The waitress came over with a sweet smile and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant(怀孕的). Although the waitress looked tired and walked painfully due to the pregnancy, she still served the lady.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a one-hundred-dollar bill. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That night when the waitress got home from work, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written.

4 . Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies’ responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of hearing stimulation. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that a baby notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances(讲话，说话). By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling tones. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies’ emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is happy or angry, attempting to begin or end new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of clues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating(夸张) such clues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other researchers have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels(元音) longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make those precisely perceptual（知觉的，感性的） recognition that are necessary if they are to acquire listening language.

Babies obviously obtain pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to boring meaning that it often is for adults.

Recent months have seen a return of bikes across China. With an increasing number of people choosing cycling instead of     1    (drive) to schools, to workplaces or to do sightseeing, the introduction of bike­sharing programs has brought the trend to a new level.

The bikes     2    (equip) with GPS and can be left anywhere in public for the next user. They’re popular among many Chinese people as they provide     3    effective solution in places     4    it’s difficult to change from one kind of transport to another. Bike­sharing is a     5    (green) method of transportation and     6    (provide) a more friendly experience.

However, the programs have also led to problems such as     7    (legal) parking, deliberate (蓄意的) damage and theft. To deal with these problems, the company came up with the idea of encouraging people     8    (return) the bikes to stations     9    rewarding free time for their next rides. Now, Chinese service operators are also trying to address these problems, too. For example, Mobike sets a 100­point credit score for each user, with     10    (point) taken in the case of bad behavior. Once a score drops below 80, the bike rental is increased to 100 yuan per 30 minutes, up from 0.5­1 yuan.

6 . Following the crowd may not always be in a person’s best interest．But new research suggests that teens who go along with their friends may end up healthier as adults．

Scientists have known that close friendships help boost health．That’s true for both teens and adults．The finding inspired Joseph Allen，a psychologist at the University of Virginia，and his team to study whether experiences during teen years would influence adult health．

So they followed 171 teens，starting when the kids were just 13．They interviewed each one every year for five years，and also spoke to these teens’closest friends，who provided additional information about the quality of their friendships．The same 171 people were interviewed again at ages 25，26 and 27．This time，the questions surveyed each person’s overall health．When the researchers analyzed the data they found a strong connection between a teen’s behavior and adult health．Teens who had close friends grew up to be the healthier adults．Whether teens held back their feelings or expressed them to a close friends also influenced later health．Those who held back were more likely to be sick as adults．The connection held up even after the scientists accounted for other possible influences on health．Weight，family income and drug use were all examined．So were mental health issues，such as anxiety and depression．And in these people，such other factors did not explain adult health as well as teen friendships did．

Going along with the crowd may have benefits，says Allen，but there are also drawbacks．Teens who are more independent tend to do better at school and work．And peer pressure may lead some kids to engage in risky behavior，such as smoking，drinking or using drugs．Dealing with it is an ongoing challenge，Allen acknowledges．“Finding the right balance is the key．Teens shouldn’t lose heart for not finding this easy．”And，he adds，“Parents need to be understanding about the pressures teens face.”

7 . When 1 was a boy we used to live across the road from a big hill with huge oak trees growing out of it．When winter arrived，thick，heavy snow would fall，and my two brothers would grab their sleds heading over to the hill for a day of fun．I remember watching them with envy because 1 was still too small to go sledding．Finally，one winter 1 was considered big enough and joined my brothers as they carried their sleds up the long hill and prepared to ride down it．

The first few trips I rode with one of my brothers and had the time of my life．It was so exhilarating when the wind whipped across my face as I flew down the hillside on the wooden sled．Near the end of the day 1 was overjoyed too when my oldest brother decided to let me try riding the sled all by myself．I climbed on it full of excitement and lay on my stomach．Then with one big push my brother sent me down the snowy hillside．1 was doing pretty well too until I hit an old stump hidden by the snow and went off course，straight towards one of those big oak trees．My heart pounded in my chest and I could hear myself screaming．At the last possible second I rolled off and the sled crashed into the tree．I could hear my brothers running down the hill yelling，“You have to steer(操控)!You have to steer!”