2 . There is a myth (神话) in today’s society that human beings are weak and that the only way to be happy and successful in life is to protect oneself by avoiding difficulties. Not only is the myth false, but the actions we take believing them to be “protective” also usually limit happiness and even hamper (阻碍) personal and professional growth. Rather than fear and try to avoid all difficulties, perhaps we should accept the unavoidability of difficulties in life and prepare for, if not welcome, them. As a muscle grows stronger with stress, so can people, teams, organizations, even communities.

Sports psychologists Fletcher and Sarkar have studied Olympic gold medal winners. They conclude, “Indeed, most of the participants argued that if they had not experienced certain types of stressors at specific times... they would not have won their gold medals.”

Psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun even created the term “posttraumatic growth”. They describe it as the experience of positive change that occurs as a result of highly challenging life crises (危机). It is shown in a variety of ways, including an increased appreciation for life in general, more meaningful interpersonal relationships, an increased sense of personal strength, and a richer spiritual life.

The remarkable success stories that arise after moments of great challenge and failure are countless. Abraham Lincoln faced long-term depression, political failure, and the loss of a son but arose from failure and tragedy to become the greatest of American presidents. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times trying to create the world’s first practical light bulb. Harland Sanders developed Kentucky Fried Chicken in his 60s while recovering from a failed career as a lawyer.

An English philosopher once wrote the result of sheltering people from their mistakes is to fill the world with fools. Let us not make that mistake. Rather, let us understand that growth arises from challenge and even failure. The myth of overprotection keeps us all from realizing our full potential.

6 . Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy (星系).The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

The announcement was made in Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo. Details have been published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Prof Heino Falcke, of Radboud University in the Netherlands, who suggested the experiment, told BBC News that the black hole was found in a galaxy called M87. “What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System,” he said. “It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe.”

The image shows an intensely bright “ring of fire”, as Prof Falcke describes it, surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole. The bright halo is caused by very heated gas falling into the hole. The light is brighter than all the billions of other stars in the galaxy combined - which is why it can be seen at such distance from Earth. The edge of the dark circle at the center is the point at which the gas enters the black hole, which is an object that has such a large gravitational pull (万有引力) , not even light can escape.

“It is remarkable that the image we observe is so similar to that which we get from our theoretical calculations. So far, it looks like Einstein is correct once again.” said Dr Ziri Younsi, of University College London -who is part of the EHT cooperation.

Chinese scientists were involved in the observation through a telescope in Hawaii. They were also highly involved in follow-up data processing and theoretical analysis, said Shen Zhiqiang, head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanhai Astronomical Observatory and a member of the EHT international team.

Shanghai and Taipei were selected as two of the cities to hold news conferences, together with Washington, Brussels, Santiago and Tokyo, a recognition of China’s contribution.

“In the fields of astronomy, radio astronomy, and space astrophysics, China has made a significant contribution to this global project,” Falcke said.

7 . That year I was eleven and in sixth grade. In Wethersfield, all sixth graders are _________ to take part in the R.O.P.E. Program. Its main _________ is to believe your peers (同龄人), work together, and _________ new adventures. These programs including falling backward and _________ peers to catch you, working together to fit into a small circle and something of that kind.

I was ready to participate in these _________. Falling backward and fitting into a small circle were nothing to me. Crossing over a stream with nothing holding me up but a rope was daring, but I could _________ it. Finally the day came when my sixth grade class would travel to climb and rappel (绕绳下滑) a mountain in Southington. Those people who were too _________ were allowed to practice climbing and rappelling a smaller area of rocks, but that wasn’t for me. I could climb the big mountain.

Twenty minutes later, my _________ arrived. As I was well _________, I set off at once. I got a quarter of the way up but couldn’t seem to get any ________. I tried and tried. I began to put myself down and cry. There was nothing more __________ than my classmates were looking at me. All I kept __________ was “Lisa, you can do it, try to fit your foot in there. __________, Lisa. You’re almost there.”

It was then that I thought to myself, “Why am I crying? I can do this.” Almost __________ I went on going up the mountain. Within five minutes I successfully __________ to the top.

Best wishes!

Yours,

Lihua

10 . About a decade ago, my seven-­year­-old daughter was in our car on her way to school. This particular day we drove _______ many homeless people who were asking for help. She asked why the same people were asking for help every day and why no one was _______.

I really did not have an _______ answer to this question. So I decided to ask her how she thought she could help.

This beautiful little girl had so many ideas _______ of her that I couldn’t keep up. There were a few good ideas flying past me just as the time did that morning. The next day on the morning trip to school my daughter asked me to stop at each corner where a homeless person stood. I asked why but was _______ informed to wait and see.

I _______ my window and asked the gentleman to come over. My daughter _______ him 50 cents and told him she would see him every morning. This _______ for 3 blocks. I asked her where all of the money came from and she quickly _______ me that her classmates took up a collection of ________ and coins for her to pass on to the “people on the corner”．

Every school day for 2 more wonderful years we stopped and offered ________ or a good morning wish to the “people on the ________”.   She could always get everyone to ________even if just for a quick second.

Times have changed, and many frown upon (不赞成)giving ________ to homeless people on the corner but everyone ________ to be acknowledged, so my “people on the corner” can get a “good morning” and a smile every day. I get the same in return every day.