5 . Are you thinking about traveling alone? You must have a million questions: Where should you go? Will there be someone to talk to?     1     And is it all right to travel alone?

In fact, traveling alone is not as scary (吓人的) as it seems. Here are some good tips.

Choose a place where you feel comfortable and safe

Truth be told, traveling alone for the first time is more about the experience than the destination.     2     It could be somewhere close to home or somewhere you’ve already been with friends.

Make a plan

Always make a plan. That way you’ll avoid worrying too much over where you’re staying, what to see and how you’re getting from A to B.

Book hotels ahead of time

    3     Besides, when you book your hotel, ask if they will send a driver to pick you up.

Talk to people

If you’re going to a touristy place like Thailand, there are lots of other people who are traveling alone.     4     They might also ask you to join them for dinner or a beer. That happens a lot.

Let someone know where you are

Your family and friends love you and probably worry about you every day, so text them and let them know what you are up to throughout your trip.     5     And in case something does happen, they’ll know where you are.

6 . Life is filled with regrets. Anyone around you will have no difficulty in telling his regrets. As we get older, we look back and wish that we have made better choices.     1    

Make better plans.

If you start to do something, you need to make a plan before doing it. The earlier, the better.

You will know what comes first and what comes last.     2     If changes happen, you can have more time to deal with them.

Live a more active life.

You can go around more often. More outdoor activities can keep you relaxed and active.     3     “Thank you” can bring a smile to someone’s face. Learn to say “sorry” and don’t be angry with others.

    4    

A friend may make your life and he or she can break your life as well. So you have to think twice when you choose a friend. Good friends will always give you better ideas. When you get into trouble, ask others for help. That little help may get you good results.

Never fear failure.

Everybody fails. Even the greatest person fails before he or she achieves success. We should not fear failure, because failure is not the end of the road.     5    

Life is good. We don’t have to live in our past, but we do hope that we can plan better, live better and work better when we have the chance to do so.

7 . Everyone should go to his or her 50th high school reunion. There was a time I thought I’d never go even if the opportunity _______. But now I feel _______for people who don’t go.

I went to the _______of my high school on a Saturday evening, and I am glad I did. It was a   gift to recognize some _______classmates right away — and to be recognized. _______, we had name tags and our _______photos on our clothing to help identify us. I recognized one woman immediately!

The most memorable and moving experience of the night was _______by a schoolmate and neighbor to whom I was once close. Unfortunately, we had a falling out in the high school. I never saw her after _______, but this time, I saw her name on a place setting. At first, I feared that I would _______her. But my better self won over, and I __________ her out. I kept looking until I got a(n) __________on my shoulder. There she was __________. We hugged as if nothing had ever __________and exchanged affectionate words. When the party __________, my old-new friend walked towards me, __________me again and wished me well. I returned her good wishes. All the bad __________melted into thin air.

I am grateful I had this __________to reunite with old classmates. After all, we are almost __________the final lap of our lifelong journeys. Some classmates had already left this __________, and their names were deleted from the list. Sometimes we have to walk back into the past because time does heal old wounds. We’re not the __________people. We are better people.

8 . I moved to Arizona about two weeks before the start of my junior year of high school. Not only was this a new school for me but also a new state, ______ I did not know anyone.

During lunch on the first day of school, I sat down at a(n) ______ table in the canteen. As I began to eat, I looked around and saw a girl who was also sitting alone. I decided to ______ with her, thinking there was no reason for me to have a whole table to myself, and maybe I could ______ a friend. I walked to her and said, “Excuse me, do you ______ if I sit with you?” She was ______ at first, but then smiled and said, “Sure!”

After that, we became close friends throughout the next two ______. In our senior year, she told me that she'd been ______ by a college and would be moving away after graduation. I was sad, and I knew I would ______ her. But at the same time, I was really ______ for her.

She then shared a(n) ______ with me. “Do you remember the first day of school when you ______ and sat down with me during lunch?” she asked.

“I want you to know how special you are and how much of a ______ you made.”

“I was very ______ that day and even made detailed plans on how I was going to ______ myself I was bullied(欺凌) for the whole first half of the day, and it had just ______ me down. But when you reached out, it     ____ me. If you hadn't done that, I would have probably killed myself when I got home. I might be hard to     ____, but you saved my life, and all it took was being a friend,”

It has been almost 15 years since this incident. Isil chat with her occasionally on Facebook. I can't help but ______ every time. It showed me that a simple kind act has the incredible ______ to change lives.

When you hear the word “panda", you probably imagine big, black and white bears that feed on bamboo. But there is a much     1     (small) one, called red panda. To picture what a red panda looks like, imagine a panda mixed with a raccoon(浣熊). It's about the size of a house cat and has     2     long, bushy(浓密的) tail,     3     (live) in rainy and high-altitude forests.

Red pandas are common to the mountains of Nepal, Myanmar, and China. At Present you can also visit     4     (they) in zoos around the world. Apart from bamboo,     5     is the favorite food of their larger relatives, red pandas also eat other foods, like fruit, roots, and eggs.

Red pandas are normally silent. If you walk past a red panda in the wild, you may not notice it. If you're ever hiking through the mountains, you may also meet a red panda face to face, but you should keep your     6     (distant). They may look cute and     7     (love), but don't forget they’re wild animals as well.

Like many other forest animals, red pandas are     8     danger of dying out. So far, the number of red pandas     9     (fall) sharply. There may be as few as 2 ,500 red pandas     10     (leave) in the wild.

10 . In this modern age, most of us have forgotten to be patient and get angry very quickly over minor things like a traffic jam, a baby crying and such things. It often seems so easy to get what we want right away that when we have to wait even a little while, it seems like we are waiting for ages. We used to be happy to wait 10 - 15 minutes it took to reheat food in the oven(烤箱)，but now we’re impatient when waiting two minutes it takes in the microwave.

With the convenience provided by modern society, is patience still a virtue(美德) in the fast-paced world? To begin with, I'd like to share the meaning of the word “patience”. Generally it means being able to tolerate delay without getting impatient. However, it isn't necessarily a passive activity. It takes an active behavior, knowing when to take action and when not to.

So I would argue that patience is still -and always- a virtue. Sure, I used to be one of those who often stared at the microwave for the full two minutes it took to heat my food. And in the end， the food tasted bad. If I had had the patience to heat the food properly in the oven, I would have enjoyed a delicious meal.

Actually the benefits of patience go beyond just heating up our food. Patience is an exercise in self-control which shows that we can exercise good judgment. Lack of patience can cause us to make wrong decisions that negatively affect our health and happiness, waste our time, put us under a lot of stress and affect our relationships in a very negative way.

Everything in life happens for a reason. Sometimes we face an obstacle(障碍) because we need to grow in ways we didn't realize. It's not always obvious when that was happening, but with patience we will soon see clearly why it occurred and what we were meant to learn from it.

Taking time to think about our actions and being patient are a small price to pay when we determine the best possible solution to any problems.