Triiiiiingggggggggggg, the bell rang. Suddenly my heart was raising and fear rose within me. I was nervous as I started to feel sick, really sick. I ran to the bathroom and washed my face with water. I felt my heart pound against my chest, hard and loud as I looked into the mirror and whispered “Come on, you can do this.”

Some were looking forward to this moment for ages; but not me. I felt frightened every time I imagine how uncomfortable it would be on a stage, and being the center of attention. If it was a speech, I could manage, but repeating a scene from a movie that has already been done by professional actors is simply hard because we get compared to them. But there was no choice.

As I made it to the assembly hall, I went over the script in my head. Suddenly I tensed as I couldn’t remember all the lines. Once I was there in the assembly hall, my brain literally stopped working because of all the noise and the tension in the air.

As soon as the teachers who were supposed to judge our performance entered, the crowd quieted down and the performances began. I was really nervous until the first performer was called, because I was really tired of being the first in everything as my name is the first in the register. But the more I waited, the more tired I got of waiting. There came a point where I, who once was feeling sick and scared of performing, wanted to go on stage and get my performance done. That’s when I found out that I was arranged to perform the next day. I was quite happy because maybe that would give me some more time to practice and improve the weaknesses that I saw in others.

The bubble burst when the teacher asked us to perform that day. My heart beat raced and as I walked on to the stage, I was shaking. When I got up along with my friend, I had a good look around. There were 50-60 people, which weren’t much. Then I felt really stupid for being scared of having an audience.

I introduced myself and stared to perform what I had been dying for long before.

After I was done, I looked at the audience, thinking how much I loved doing this.

On Nov. 3, 2022, the Mengtian lab module of China’s Tiangong space station carried out a crucial transpositioning operation,     1     (mark) the completion of the Chinese station’s in-orbit assembly.

The lab module is about 17.9 meters long and     2     (weigh) more than 23 metric tons. It has 32 cubic meters of inner space, which can     3     (use) by astronauts. The spacecraft consists     4     four sections-a crew working compartment, a payload section, an airlock cabin and a service module.

Liu Guoning, deputy chief designer of the scientific cabinet system, said the scientific experiments     5     will be carried out inside the Mengtian are expected to enable scientists to conduct cutting-edge studies     6     get world-class findings.

In 2022, China launched two new crewed spaceships-Shenzhou XIV and Shenzhou XV respectively on June 5 and Nov. 29. On Nov. 30, the six Chinese astronauts from the two missions marked a     7     (history) moment as they met inside the Tiangong space station. It was the first time that six Chinese were in a space station at the same time and the first in-orbit gathering of two Chinese     8     (crew).

After accomplishing many “firsts” during their six-month space station mission, three Chinese astronauts on board the Shenzhou XIV manned spaceship returned to Earth     9     (safe) on Dec.4. The Shenzhou XV astronauts are scheduled     10     (stay) in orbit for six months to carry out a number of assignments.

6 . Mexico is a very colorful country, which is located in the south of North America. It combines a relaxing beach holiday, unusual mysterious excursions and an energetic nightlife. If you happen to visit Mexico, be sure to visit at least some of its attractions.

CHICHEN-ITZA

This is a sacred village located on the Yucatan Peninsula, in which the ancient Mayan people lived. The combination of Mayan construction techniques with new elements from central Mexico make Chichen-Itza one of the most important examples of the Mayan civilization in Yucatán. Chichen Itza is considered the best preserved Mayan city, so it is highly popular. The most famous structure of the city is the temple of the god Kukulkan, a 30-meter-high pyramid.

PALACE OF FINE ARTS

The Palace of Fine Arts, which is considered a symbol of Mexico city, is one of the most spectacular buildings in the heart of the city. Situated at one end of the Alameda garden, it offers visitors endless architectural, artistic and historical facts, inside and out. On the top floor, you’ll find the National Museum of Architecture, which showcases the work and lives of famous Mexican architects, and multiple art museums and galleries.

PARK SHKARET

This is a natural amusement park with a zoo and a botanical garden, waterfalls and underground rivers, caves, bright evening shows (for example, dance and horse shows, and other performances). The territory of the unique park is huge, so it is unreal to bypass it in one day. Here you can also visit the buffet restaurant, which is included in the ticket price.

HIERVE EL AGUA

Hierve el Agua is an unforgettable destination in the mountains of Oaxaca. It is a set of stunning travertine rock formations that appear like a frozen waterfall from a distance. The hot springs on the top, as with many other mineral-rich springs around the world, have a reputation for supposed healing qualities. Swimming here, at the same time enjoying the mountain scenery around, is an absolute pleasure and, besides, the recovery of the body.

South Koreans have enjoyed their first close-up look of new baby giant pandas at a name-revealing ceremony that is also     1     early celebration of the 100 days since the twins’ birth.

What to name the twin sisters was widely discussed among netizens after they were born on July 7 in theme park Everland. The names were     2     (ultimate) decided on through two public voting     3     (procedure). One is named Rui Bao, which means wise treasure, and the other is Hui Bao or shining treasure. Half a million panda lovers helped choose their names with a handful of lucky fans     4     (invite) to the ceremony. “They are even     5     (cute) in real life than they appear on screen,” said a college student in attendance.

The baby pandas,     6     have just begun teething and crawling, are very healthy. Everland has shared videos documenting the pandas’ growth online. The twins’ birth has gained 640,000 views since it     7     (upload). “This feels like a great opportunity to call for better     8     (preserve) of pandas,” said Donghee Chung, head of the park’s zoo. Chung noted that between 40% and 50% of panda births result     9     twins.

Everland said it would monitor the twins’ health     10     (determine) when the twins are ready to be open to the public.

8 . Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, claimed that an Asian shrub known as the telegraph plant grew substantially larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist music — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music or silence. Another, published last year, found that marigolds and sage plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered growth difficulty.

Plants have been evolving (进化) alongside the insects that eat them for hundreds of millions of years. With that in mind, Heidi Appel, a botanist now at the University of Houston, and Reginald Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri, wondered if plants might be sensitive to the sounds made by the animals with which they most often interact. They recorded the vibrations made by certain species of caterpillars (毛毛虫) as they chewed on leaves. These vibrations are not powerful enough to produce sound waves in the air. But they are able to travel across leaves and branches, and even to neighbouring plants if their leaves touch.

They then exposed tobacco plant — the plant biologist’s version of the laboratory mouse — to the recorded vibrations while no caterpillars were actually present. Later, they put real caterpillars on the plants to see if exposure had led them to prepare for an insect attack. The results were striking. Leaves that had been exposed had significantly higher levels of defensive chemicals, making them much harder for the caterpillars to eat. Leaves that had not been exposed to vibrations showed no such response. Other sorts of vibration — caused by the wind, for instance, or other insects that do not eat leaves — had no effect.

“Now speakers with the right audio files are more often being used to warn crops to act when insects are detected but not yet widespread,” says Dr. Cocroft. “Unlike chemical pesticides, sound waves leave no dangerous chemicals.”

Life Skills Show

10 . When we are married and have promised to live together, we may not even think about what that might mean in the future. We start a ________ new part of a journey, enjoying the good times and ________ each other through the bad times.

Sometimes life ________ us a curve ball. For example, one of the partners is ________ with a life changing illness. This changes a relationship in ways we cannot know until we ________ it. Each partner adapts to the situation and faces the new ________ together.

It is not always easy. There will be days when they ________ each other the most. They walk together as well as walk their own path. They have ________ in that the other is there to support.

When my husband was first diagnosed with MS (a serious disease of the nervous system),we had no idea how it would all ________. Over twenty years later we are still meeting each day, knowing we have each other’s ________. Indeed, life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best. Sometimes we do have ________, and we even have arguments for a very long time, because we’re humans and we would never be ________. After my husband’s diagnosis, someone asked me if I was going to ________ and 1 answered “Yes. I would never abandon him”.

Life is ________, but together we meet its challenges to the best of our ability, some days being better than others. The true ________ of any relationship is being able to survive hard times.