1 . One day, a girl came upon a cocoon, and she could tell that a butterfly was trying to ______. She waited and watched the butterfly struggle for hours to ______ itself from the tiny hole. ______, the butterfly stopped moving, it seemed to be ______. The girl then decided to help get the butterfly out and with a pair of scissors cut open the cocoon. The butterfly was then ______ able to escape. However, its body was swollen and its wings were ______.

The girl still thought she had done the butterfly a ______ as she sat there waiting for its wings to grow in order to protect its body. That wasn’t happening. The butterfly was unable to fly, and for the rest of its life, it could only move by crawling around with little wings and a ______ body. Despite the girl’s good intentions, she didn’t understand that the ______ of the butterfly’s cocoon and the struggle the butterfly had to ______ in order to escape served an important purpose. As butterflies ______ from tight cocoons and stretch wings out, it forces liquid from their body into their wings to prepare them to be able to fly.

The ______ that we face in life help us grow and get stronger. There is often a reason behind the requirement of being ______ and persistent. When bearing difficult times, we will develop the necessary ______ that we’ll need in the future. Without having any struggles, we won’t grow, which means it’s very important to ______ personal challenges ourselves rather than relying on other people to always help us.

DUJIANGYAN

Originally     1     (construct) around 256 BCE by the State of Qin as an irrigation and flood control system, Dujiangyan is a remarkable example of ancient engineering skill and is still     2     use today. During the Warring States period, people who lived along the     3     (bank) of the Min River were troubled by annual flooding. Qin governor and irrigation engineer Li Bing investigated the problem thoroughly. He led a team to construct alevee (堤坝) to redirect a portion of the river’s flow. Then they cut a channel through Mount Yulei to discharge the excess water.     4     the system was finished, no more floods occurred. What’s more,     5     made Sichuan one of the most productive agricultural regions in China because the redirected water from the Min River could be used for irrigation. If you visit Dujiangyan, you will see an     6     (usual) construction that resembles a fish’s mouth. This famous attraction, Yuzui, together with two other important parts,     7     (name), Feishayan and Baopingkou,     8     (design) to control the water flow throughout the year. Recognised as     9     UNESCO heritage site, Dujiangyan has irrigated farms while     10     (prevent) floods for over 2,000 years.

Sincerely,

Li Hua

5 . One of our biggest fears nowadays is that our kids might someday get lost in a “sea of technology” rather than experiencing the natural world. TV and computer games are leading to a serious disconnect between kids and the great outdoors.

Each of us has a place in nature where we go sometimes, even if it is torn down. We cannot be the last generation to have that place. At this rate, kids who miss the sense of wonder outdoors will not grow up to be protectors of natural landscapes. “If the decrease in parks use continues across North America, who will defend parks against encroachment (蚕食)?” asks Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods.

Without having a nature experience, kids can turn out just fine, but they are missing out a huge enrichment of their lives. That applies to everything from their physical health and mental health, to stress levels, creativity and cognitive (认知的) skills. Experts predict modern kids will have poorer health than their parents — and a lack of outside play is surely part of it; research suggests that kids do better academically in schools with a nature exposure. Even a small outdoor experience can create wonder in a child. The three-year-old turning over his first rock realizes he is not alone in the world.   

Kids are not responsible. They are just over-protected and frightened. It is dangerous outdoors from time to time, but when repetitive stress from computers is replacing breaking an arm as a childhood rite (仪式) during the children’s growth, it can be more dangerous.

We should help regain for our kids some of the freedom and joy of exploring nature and taking friendship in fields and woods that cement love, respect and need for landscape. As parents, we should devote some of our energies to taking our kids into nature. This could yet be our greatest cause.

9 . Bookstores are amazing places. But when your community is too small to house a real bookstore, sometimes you have to be creative. A mobile bookstore that brings books around the country was the result.

That is the case for Rita Collins, 70, who dreamed of opening a used bookstore after she retired from teaching. However, Eureka, Montana, located just seven miles from the Canadian border, only has a population of 1,517. Given this, she had to give it up. Later, while attending a business class from the American Booksellers Association, Collins asked her instructors about a traveling bookstore on wheels but they were doubtful. This time she didn’t give up.

Collins was inspired by Dylans Mobile Bookstore, a traveling bookstore in Wales run by Jeff Towns. She contacted Jeff for advice but she was largely on her own when it came to setting up her bookstore. First, she had to find a vehicle which is large enough to stand in and mechanically (机械地) sound as well as easy to drive and park. A local mechanic helped her find exactly what she needed. Then she had to have it refitted with shelves that would hold the books at a 15-degree angle so that they would stay in place while in transport.

Collins named her bookstore St Rita’s Traveling Bookstore. It has been on the road since 2015. For the first two years, St Rita’s was only a summer project. At first, she drove through Montana and then she made her first cross country trip across the US in 2016. After she retired in 2017, it became a full-time project from spring to fall. Till now, Collins and her 600-volume traveling bookstore have visited 30 states, benefiting countless people along the way.

While Collins loves what she does, she doesn’t think she can always keep doing it. In a couple of years, she hopes to pass her traveling bookstore onto another booklover who will keep it on the road.