One afternoon in August, five years after Mom passed away, I was unpacking my groceries(食品杂货) in my kitchen. When I lifted my left hand out of a grocery bag, I suddenly couldn’t breathe. Looking at the ring on my finger, I found the star sapphire (蓝宝石)was gone. Mom had given me the ring on my twenty-first birthday. I had worn it every day for twenty-nine years. It was a reminder of Mom and a symbol of our love.

“No! No! No!” I yelled, hurrying to check the bag and the floor, and then my car, but the star sapphire was nowhere to be found. Feeling helpless, I called my best friend, Marie. “The star sapphire in my ring fell out. I don’t know what to do,” I said, extremely worried.

Marie replied, “Please don’t be anxious. Try to stay calm and positive. You can go back to the places you just visited and take a look.” But how could I keep hope in seemingly impossible situations? Anyway, I started my car and drove to the grocery store again. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was little chance that I could find my stone.

Back at the grocery store, I pulled into the same parking spot and looked everywhere for my star sapphire. My hands and knees felt the hot ground as I searched crazily around and under my SUV car. Then I rushed inside the store, searching for a familiar face for more help. I spotted Amanda, a staff member whom I had met on previous shopping trips, and urgently tapped her on the shoulder. “I was just here twenty minutes ago and lost the stone of this ring. It’s very special to me. It’s from my late mom. Could you please help me look for it?” I cried, unaware that many other people around also heard my words.

Amanda’s eyes softened and she nodded understandingly. She immediately took a large mop(拖把) and started carefully sweeping it back and forth down the first aisle (过道) of the huge store.

In tears, I called after her, “It’s light blue and small.”

Suddenly, a customer near the counter excitedly called out loudly, “Oh, Madam, I’ve found it!”.

4 . An apology tells someone that we’re sorry for the hurt we caused — even if we didn’t do it on purpose. It’s a way of saying we’re aware of what we did and we’ll try to do better in future.

    1    . Sometimes we hurt people’s feelings without wanting to. Sometimes, we do it on purpose and feel bad later on. So we apologize.

Apologies are one of the tools that we use to get along better with other people. Saying that you’re sorry is more than just words.     2    . Apologizing shows you can understand the other person’s feelings as if they were your own. What’s more, after apologizing, you might feel a little better. The other person probably will, too.     3    , you can feel good because you are trying to make things right again.

Everyone needs to apologize when they do something wrong. For example, if someone is irritated because of something you did, you need to apologize. If you say something that hurts someone, even if you don’t mean it, then you should apologize.     4    .

When someone apologizes to you, you may welcome it and be ready to forgive.     5    . If a person keeps hurting you and apologizing without making an effort to change, you might not want to hang out with that person anymore. However, it’s always good to accept an apology.

Regular physical activity is one of the most     1     (importance) things you can do for your health. Everyone can experience some good     2     (point) of physical activity-age, ability, shape and size do not matter.

Being physically active can help manage weight. Both eating     3     physical habits play a key role     4     weight management. You gain weight when you consume (消耗) more calories through eating and drinking than the amount of calories you burn,     5     (include) those burned during physical activity.

    6     (keep) your weight, work your way up to 150 minutes a week of physical activities,     7     could contain (包含) dancing or yard work. You could achieve the goal of 150 minutes a week with 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

People differ     8     (great) in how much physical activity they need for weight management. You may need to be more active than others to reach or keep a healthy weight.

To lose weight and keep     9     off, you will need a high amount of physical activity unless you also change your eating patterns and reduce the amount of calories you’re eating and drinking. So getting to a healthy weight     10     (require) regular physical activity and healthy eating at the same time.

6 . When I was young, my mother was very much concerned for my happiness and was always there to support me. We had healthy boundaries (界限). When my own turn came for being a mother, I was determined to do so.

But as my daughter and I sat down to choose courses for the seventh grade, I felt the boundaries begin to fall. Students were allowed three electives (选修课) each term. Several of these were year-long courses—band, orchestra, yearbook and Spanish, and the rest were random (随机的) — technology education, drama, leadership and PE. I hated PE in my own school days.

We read the elective options carefully and sweet relief flooded through me. “You can sign up for band, yearbook and Spanish, and you won’t have to take PE ever,” I told her. I settled back into my chair, a weight taken off my chest. My daughter, however, frowned. “But I’m not sure I want to take Spanish. And I want to do the leadership class... and try drama!”

I broke in on her words with more practical wisdom. “You can’t pick the electives you want, though. They’re organized randomly. So you might get drama and leadership..., or you might get gym class or technology education. You might get the classes you want, and you might not. Is it worth risking having to take PE?” Finally, she chose to take the chance and signed up for band, yearbook and one period of the unknown elective. I reminded myself she was not me.

Watching your child walk into the trap of middle school is worse than experiencing it yourself. Motherhood, after all, is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. I am not going into the seventh grade again. It is my daughter’s turn. She is her own person, and while she is delicate and easily hurt, she is also stronger and more confident than I was.