1 . For my daughter’s 19th birthday, we bought her tickets to go and see Linkin Park, as they were playing in our city. We didn’t really have the ___________ but we knew how much this band meant to her.

The night before she was like a ___________ at Christmas. Every so often she got up and came to sit with us, because she couldn’t speak. On the night of the concert it was good to see her so ___________ and excited, as she and her boyfriend set off.

Needless (不必要) to say when they ___________ after midnight, with T-shirts and lots of pictures of the band, caring for her telling about how fantastic they had been, we knew the money had been well ___________. This will be a memory she would never forget, and nor would we.

_________ full of excitement from the night before, the following day they continued to go shopping on the other side of the city. My husband and I laughed, loving the fact that she had not ___________ that quality as she grew up.

Later that day they returned, with faces full of happiness and warmth. They presented my husband and me with a ___________ each. On each present were the words “Because you are the ___________ mum/dad in the world.” When we expressed our thanks and told her she didn’t have to, we asked her why she had bought us gifts. Her answer was simply “Just because I love you.”

This wasn’t something ordinary from our daughter; she had always given us gifts when she wanted to express her ____________, and each gift was always a welcome surprise. It could have been anything, it wouldn’t have mattered, and it was the act itself and the feelings behind it.

4 . Keeping the spirits up

NASA has a new job listing, and it’s no joke. The US space agency (机构) is looking for a “joker” to join their planned mission (任务) to Mars.

A mission to Mars is no laughing matter. On average, the red planet is 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) away from Earth. A trip there would take around eight months in a small spacecraft. And Mars has a communications delay (延迟) of 20 minutes. This means that astronauts will have to wait 20 minutes for a reply, when an emergency happens.

“When you’re living with others in a confined space for a long period of time, such as on a mission to Mars, problems are likely to occur,” Jeffrey Johnson, a scientist at the University of Florida, told The Guardian.

This is probably why NASA wants an astronaut with a sense of humor. “These are people that have the ability to pull everyone together,” Johnson said.

In stressful situations, perhaps humor is a way to know we aren’t alone. By laughing together, we share our stress. Then we can focus on our jobs instead of just worrying.

There are other examples of team “clowns”. One example is the journey to the South Pole (南极) led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. It was a difficult journey, full of danger. Adolf Lindstrom, a cook at Amundsen’s team, was a “clown”. He made people laugh through the whole journey. Amundsen later wrote that Lindstrom was the most valuable member of the team.

But if you’re hoping that your favorite TV comedian (喜剧演员) will fly to Mars, that probably won’t happen.

“Being funny won’t be enough to land somebody the job,” Johnson said. “They also need to be an excellent scientist and engineer.” Besides, they must be in top physical condition.

5 . Do you have dreams, visions or plans about things you'd love to have or achieve? Of course you do! We all do. Unfortunately, dreaming is the easy part. Turning those dreams into a reality is a challenge. The good news is that there are proven techniques that can get you from where you are to where you want to be. Follow this process to bring your dreams to fruition (实现):

Turn your dream into a goal.

When you have a goal, you have a true target. For a greater chance of success, your plan should have a deadline and it must be measurable.     1     Give yourself the gift of setting a deadline and things will start to happen. Make your goal as desirable as possible without being unrealistic. If you feel that your goal is unreasonable, it's much more difficult to encourage yourself to actually pursue it.

Prioritize（优先化)your goal daily.

    2     You give instructions to your brain thousands of times a day. Let your mind know that your goal is something more important than “I feel like eating a ham sandwich” or “I need to stop at the grocery store on the way home”.

    3    

Difficult goals can rarely be achieved alone; you're likely to need some help and guidance. Look at the list you made and see what you already have in your life that could help you on your path.

Track your progress.

Measure your progress each day. Use old fashioned paper and pencil or take advantage of the latest smartphone app.     4     You can only adjust your approach if you know how you're doing. Consider making a chart if that's applicable to your goal.

6 . Researchers say that getting older shouldn’t necessarily mean becoming weaker or sicker. A commitment to a life of movement and exercise may help us live a longer and healthier life.

For their study, the researchers looked at two groups. The first group was made up of 125 non﹣professional cyclists between the ages of 55 and 79, including 84 healthy men and 41 healthy women. We will call this group the “cyclists ”. They also found 130 people to make up a second group. Within this group, 75 people were aged 57 to 80. The other 55 were between the ages of 20 and 36. The people in this group were also healthy, but they didn’t exercise regularly. We will call this group the “non﹣exercisers”. Smokers, heavy drinkers of alcohol and people with other health issues weren’t included in the study.

Then, the researchers gave them a series of tests and compared the results of the two groups. Results showed that the cyclists didn’t experience body changes usually equated (等同) with a normal aging process. For example, they didn’t lose muscle mass or strength. The researchers also found something they had not expected. The study showed that the immune systems of the cyclists didn’t seem to age, either. For this, they looked at an organ called the thymus (胸腺). The thymus makes immune cells called T-cells, which are made in our bone marrow (骨隨).

Starting at about the age of 20, the thymus of a person starts to get smaller. It also starts to make fewer T-cells. However, in this study, the T-cell production by the thymuses of the cyclists hadn’t slowed down with age. They were making as many T-cells as those of a young person. Therefore, if you want to add more exercise to your daily routine, you’d better start sooner rather than later.

9 . After Donald Trump became the 45th American president ,a new video of his granddaughter Arabella went popular once again on the Internet. In this video, the little girl wore a qipao, a kind of traditional Chinese dress. She stood in front of a table to recite ancient Chinese poems. These poems are familiar to most Chinese people and they are often recited by Chinese kids. Arabella made the video to remember Chinese Monkey Year, which ended on January 27th, 2017.

Arabella’s family are interested in Chinese culture. They can even make Chinese dumplings and sing Chinese songs. Arabella began to study Chinese when she was 18 months old. Now she can speak very good Chinese. Early in February, 2016, 4-year-old   Arabella, recited a Tang Dynasty poem in Chinese. Her mother sent her video online and won lots of “likes” from all over the world.

On Sonia Weibo, many users thought Arabella was a wonderful and surprising girl. “I’m glad to see the little angel   loves Chinese culture.” Wrote a user called “orange”.

“At least the video shows that Trump is serious about education and never closes the door to foreign culture,” said another user named “stAU79”.