1 . In 1975, a San Diego homemaker named Marjorie Rice came across a column in Scientific American about tiling (瓷砖). There is a problem which has interested mathematicians since ancient Greek times. After Rice’s chance encounter with tiling, family members often saw her in the kitchen constantly drawing shapes. “I thought she was just drawing casually (随意),” her daughter Kathy said. But Rice who took only one year of math in high school, was actually discovering never-before-seen patterns.

Born in Florida, she loved learning and particularly her brief exposure to math, but tight budget and social culture prevented her family from even considering that she might attend college. “For Rice, math was a pleasure,” her son David once said.

Rice gave one of her sons a subscription to Scientific American partly because she could read it carefully while the children were at school. When she read Gardner’s column about tiling as she later recalled in an interview: “I thought it must be wonderful that someone could discover these beautiful patterns which no one had seen before.” She also wrote in an essay, “My interest was engaged by the subject and I wanted to understand every detail of it. Lacking a mathematical background, I developed my own symbol system and in a few months discovered a new type.”

Astonished and delighted, she sent her work to Gardner, who sent it to Doris, a tiling expert at Moravian College. Doris confirmed that Rice’s finding was correct.

Later, Rice declined to lecture on her discoveries, citing shyness, but at Doris’s invitation, she attended a university mathematics meeting, where she was introduced to the audience. Rice still said nothing of her achievements to her children, but they eventually found out as the awards mounted.

5 . Devon Gallagher, a college graduate from Philadelphia, wants the world to know exactly where she’s been during her worldwide vacation in a special way.

The traveler, who was born with a congenital bone disease (先天性骨病), had her right leg amputated (截肢) at the age of four. Although the amputation caused misfortune for Gallagher early on, she now sees it as an inspiration for living her best life.

To spread that message, Gallagher has taken to social media, where she shares photos of her travels around the world. Besides, she writes her location across her artificial leg (假肢) before taking a picture.

Now she has been taking pictures across Europe, which show her cycling over the canals in Amsterdam, relaxing on a wall overlooking the city of Barcelona, posing with a waffle (华夫饼) in Brussels, taking breath-taking pictures in Athens and enjoying a river cruise (巡航) in Budapest, with all the well-known locations written on her artificial leg.

“I get a new leg every two years and I can choose the design on it. One day I had a sudden idea to get a chalkboard (黑板),” Gallagher said. “My mum and grandmother didn't like the idea, but my friends thought it was great and told me to go for it, so I did.”

Gallagher said people often stare when she’s writing on her leg, but once she shared the photos, she received only positive comment. “My leg hasn't stopped me doing anything I’ve wanted to do, I know it’s my determination to prove to myself that I can do it. Therefore, I’ve been able to keep up with my peers (同龄人) and lead a pretty great life.”

Gallagher shows us that you should never let anything stand in the way of your dreams. If life gives you an artificial leg, make art.

6 . It was Christmas Day. For Antony, this was another day spent in a white-walled _______. His wife and son were enjoying the festival feast at home. But for Antony, he couldn’t enjoy the Christmas _______ with them. Instead, he was surrounded by flashes of red from roaring ambulances. He was saving lives.

About fifty years ago, Antony was born in a little village in Northern Greece, where traditions ran deep and religious festivities were _______ with the highest honor. However, he was a boy who _________ Santa. When asked the reason, he laughed out and said, “He was always there, but he never brought me Christmas presents.” He laughed even louder, trying to _______ his sorrowful feelings as he described how all the other children in the village received gifts except for him.

Antony further revealed that his parents’ inability to afford gifts unintentionally _______ his belief that Santa was an _______ magical man who deliberately overlooked him. While his peers enjoyed new toys, Antony felt the pain of exclusion. Yet, with time and maturity, his hatred towards Santa _______.

Instead of toys, Antony found _______ in exploring his older brother’s medical textbooks. His appetite for reading and the example his older brother set ________ him to study hard and eventually he became a respected cardiologist in the hospital close to his village, where doctors were especially needed. He worked ________ at the hospital, like Santa, faithfully ________ the greatest gift of all.

Antony’s story serves as a ________ that one’s upbringing does not ________ their future, but determination and diligence can pave the way for remarkable achievements. We can rise from ________ beginnings but we should never give up striving for excellence.

Chinese comedienne and actress Jia Ling recently revealed that she was losing weight for     1     upcoming role during her gap time.

Jia Ling has lost 50 kilograms for her new movie YOLO. From the exposed photos, Jia Ling looks like a     2     (whole) different person. In the early teasers for YOLO, audience caught glimpses of Jia Ling’s dedication     3     her role as a boxer. However, it wasn’t until the movie’s release     4     viewers truly got to witness the extent of her transformation. Her     5     (define) abdominal (腹部的) muscles are clear and beautiful, making it hard to imagine that this is the same Jia Ling we once     6     (know).

    7     (slim) down from 100 kg to 50 kg can’t be achieved overnight. She thought if you can’t bear the pain of discipline, you will have to accept the mediocrity (平庸) of yourself. She is unwilling to settle for mediocrity and has chosen to challenge herself, determined     8     (exchange) sweat and effort for her glamorous transformation today. Her path to success has been filled with hardships and challenges,     9     she has never given up on her     10    (pursue)and dream for herself.

She shows us through her actions that regardless of the circumstances, as long as you have determination and perseverance, you can definitely achieve success. She not only brings us laughter and touches our hearts but also conveys a positive and uplifting energy.

9 . The girl Guo Yujie got a _______ gift on Saturday—a gold medal of Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. The teenager, who turned 18 on March 16, sped to the finish _______ in the women’s sprint standing event to _______ the first-ever Winter Paralympic gold medal for a Chinese woman on snow. She hoped to tell the young people with disabilities that they should keep _______.

Guo was born in Shangyi county, Zhangjiakou, with disabilities on her left hand. She first tried _______ when she was 11. “I was happy when I was skiing,” Guo said. She then _______ to become a cross-country skier and biathlete. Her decision was also _______ by her family.

In biathlon (冬季两项), Guo _______ her lack of stamina (耐力) in skiing with accuracy and speed in the shooting part. “I just _______ the quick change between high-speed racing and controlling my breathing for ________. I hope more young people with disability can find their ________ in snow sports. Actually, disabled people are not ________ at anything. We can take part in the Winter Paralympics and become ________. People shouldn’t look down on themselves just because of their disabilities,” Guo said.

Guo’s ________ is the result of five years of hard training. She said that her parents, relatives, and friends watched her compete live on TV. “They are all very proud of me. ________, I have lived up to their expectations.”

10 . Paen Long has had a dream ever since he saw a plane for the first time at the age of six. His dream was to _________ a plane. Last year, the 30-year-old man started building his plane _________. “I was afraid that people would _________ me, so sometimes I worked at night,” he said. It was a long time _________ he put his dream into practice. Paen Long tried to build his own plane, using the money he had _________ from running his own garage. He has spent three years watching YouTube videos in order to _________ how to make a plane.

It took him a year to build his plane, using mostly recycled materials.The plane’s first _________ came at 3 pm on 8th, March. Local villagers gathered excitedly to watch the plane fly. _________, the plane only got 50m in the air before crashing (撞击) to the ground. “When all people were looking at me, I felt very _________,” he said.

Although the first try __________, Paen Long remains __________. His next project is to build a seaplane. Paen Long thinks the plane will cost over $10,000. “I never feel __________ for spending all my money building a plane,” he said.

His wife, Hing Muoyheng, worries about her husband, especially as they have two young sons. However, she has no __________. “I don’t know how planes work and he doesn’t have any __________ to help him. He can only search for information himself,” she said. “I tried to ask him to stop a few times because I was afraid, but he said he wouldn’t __________, so I have to support his dream.”