1 . As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. To start with, we need to dispel (消除) four common misconceptions about language learning.

You have to have a gift for learning languages.

No, you don’t.     1     In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude (天赋) that determines success.

    2    

Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than broken English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer.     3    

To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction.

Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language.     4     A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.

I would love to learn but I don't have the time.

How about the time you spend waiting in line or going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPad? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour.     5     As I do, you will find the time.

2 . I didn’t expect parenting a teenager to be this hard. Lately, my son and I disagree at every corner. About schoolwork. His attitude. Screen time. On and on. _________ I say is met with an eye roll. My fuse (导火线) is admittedly shorter than normal right now, due to some unrelated _________ and illness.

On a recent _________ home, after picking up. my teen from school, we made a quick detour (绕行) for a grocery _________. As soon as the food was _________, my child snatched from the trunk a box of individually wrapped and processed snack cakes I’d unwillingly allowed.

As he oohed and aahed through mouthfuls of yellow cake and frosted coating, I silently questioned my decision to _________ him to do so.

But before we’d even _________ the parking lot (停车场), he asked me to _________. I just wanted this errand (差事) to be done. But then my son _________ me: He asked if he could share a few of his treasured treats with a homeless man, who stood coatless outside the store.

Of course, I stopped the car.

Actually, I hadn’t even considered the homeless in my rush to get home, __________ my car was packed with food. Without hesitation, my teenage son __________ the stranger a few little cakes. The man __________ us, and we continued on our way. Actually, my kid seemed __________: “What if he doesn’t like them?” he said. And a few seconds later, my son __________, “Mom! He’s already eating one!”

Throughout our journey home, we frankly discussed how difficult it must be for people experiencing __________. It was a __________ conversation with no quarrel or negotiations. __________ a time to reflect and count how much we have to be thankful for.

When we eventually turned into our garage, that same teenager expressing __________ for my recent illness—announced “You’re not unloading any of these bags. I got this, Mom.”

Yes, parenting a teen is harder than I __________. But it’s also __________: And, in that moment, you realize you’ve actually raised a pretty awesome human being.

Recently, Chinese people from all walks of life    1    (discover)their daily lives are filled with an academic term; involution(内卷). In agricultural economics, involution originally means that    2    (add) work is put into agricultural production for higher output,    3    yet doesn’t increase proportionally(成比例地).

Our society is becoming increasingly competitive when population outgrows resources. Accordingly,    4    we used to achieve easily requires more efforts now. The level of competition we have in our society is often compared to millions of troops    5    (cross) a single wooden bridge. The    6    (major) of us are trying hard to get ahead of the troops.

Netizens now use involution to describe their current conditions, especially in the study of children. Parents feel stressed    7    (provide) their children with the best, and children must keep    8    in the race. Though great efforts have been made, they find it much    9    (hard) to go to the schools that they have been looking forward to.

Too much pressure is bound to do harm to children physically and mentally. Parents should cool down firstly and relieve their own anxiety, taking    10    (measure) to rid their children of heavy burden from involution.

6 . You may know the song Happy Birthday very well. But do you know about its writer? It was written by an American girl. And she became very rich after that.

When she was a child, she was poor. Once, she was invited to her friend's birthday party. She was pleased but sad because she didn't have enough money to buy a gift for her.

"The party is coming soon, but now I have little money." Tears ran down her face.

Later that night she was in bed, thinking about the gift when the door opened and her grandma came in.

"What happened?" her grandma asked. Hearing the girl's story, she said, "Don't worry. I think I can help you. How about singing a song!" They sang and sang. Suddenly she woke up. It was a dream! She decided to write it down at once and sing it to her friends at the party.

When she sang the song at the party the next day, her friends were very happy. "How wonderfully you sing! We haven't heard such a beautiful song before. Thank you for giving me the special gift." said her friend. And they learnt to sing it together. Later, the girl became well-known in America.