Last Friday, our school held a fire drill. Listened to the teacher attentively in the math class, all of a suddenly, we heard a fire alarm from the loudspeaker. The teacher stopped teaching immediately and instructing us to exit the classroom in order. When we got out, heavy smoke had filled with the hallway. We bent down, covered our mouths with wet towels and ran downstairs along the wall into the open airs, just as we had taught before. What moved us were that our monitor made sure everyone was safe after he left the building. Five minutes late, we gathered on the playground. We got to know more about how to protect us properly in case of emergency.

I’m written to express my thanks to you for inviting me to sing a Chinese song at Chinese Music Festival sponsor by your school. As for my singing perform, I have some ideas.

There are a number Chinese songs people from different countries love. The song named Mom in the Candlelight is my favorite. I like it because of its wonderfully theme and its accompaniment of erhu, which are one of the famous Chinese instruments. I’d like to accompany myself on erhu in person, because I hope you can prepare the one for me.

I hope to meet you as sooner as possible. And I’m sure we will have funs during the festival.

Yours sincerely.

Li Hua

6 . On the morning of my Ph. D. qualifying exam. I rolled out of bed. showered, and next came the makeup. I brushed on a layer of foundation and drew thick black lines around my eyes — a _________ that signified (表达) the courage I wanted to show during my presentation. Then I looked in the mirror. I felt confident — _________ to answer questions that would be thrown at me. It's a way I found thanks to an unlikely _________: a famous singer.

I've always _________ with being confident. As an undergraduate, I felt extremely _________ whenever I tried to answer questions from professors. Later, in graduate school, I especially _________ giving presentations about my research. _________, I could find a solution that could build my confidence.

The _________ came during the month before my qualifying exam when I appreciated the singer's new song. As a fan, I noticed it sounded completely _________. She had switched from her usual dance-pop to soft rock and country. I was ____________ — why was she doing so? She was taking a huge professional ____________, but she was ____________in her music and herself.

Her confidence got me thinking: Could I do something similar before I stepped on stage? I ____________ the image I wanted my professional self to possess. I ____________ myself wearing professional clothing and appropriate makeup. To me, makeup wasn't a mask. It ____________ courage and confidence.

I first experimented with the____________during a practice presentation at home. It was a great ____________ . So I decided to give my new self a(n) ____________ at my qualifying exam. When I walked into the exam room, I was happy to ____________ I had newfound confidence. Sure, I was still nervous but 1 was able to answer questions without ____________.

7 . Most of us have something about us that we’re not 100% in love with, such as an impulsive streak or a short temper. What if those personality traits (个性特征) could be improved with daily use of a smartphone app? That was the focus of a new study from an international research team led by the University of Zurich.

“Personality traits predict several important aspects of life such as success at work, health and even a long.” says first author Mirjam Stieger. PhD. of Brandeis University in Waltham. Massachusetts. “So we wanted to test whether people can actively shape their personality traits with the help of a digital intervention (干预) within a relatively short period of time.”

Around 1.500 participants were provided with a specially developed smartphone app called PEACH for three months. On the app, a virtual companion communicated with the participants daily and provided support to help them make the changes they desired. And participants were divided into two groups — an intervention group and a waitlist control group. Participants in the waitlist control group selected and indicated their change goals before a one-month waiting period, and then they received the same three-month intervention as the intervention group.

The researchers found that participants in the waitlist control group didn't change their personality traits during the one-month waiting period. but participants who received the intervention reported changes in the desired direction. “We also found that friends and family members were able to detect personality changes,” Stieger says. “Another surprising finding was that most participants were able to maintain (维持) their personality trait changes until three months after the end of the intervention.”

While apps could be used to promote personality change, mental health expert Karen Peters warns, it's important to remember they are there for support and not as a substitute for an individual's change. “The use of an app itself isn't going to influence change — change is influenced by internal motivation.” she says. “The new study demonstrates this point by determining that change outcomes were in agreement with the individual's desire to change.”

8 . Challenges are regular visitors in our life, and nobody is immune (不受影响) to them.     1     However, we can use these challenges to make positive changes in our life. For instance:

Develop your passion.     2     When you are setting your goals, you always want to be passionate about those goals, because if you love what you do, you will be driven by the desire to achieve success.

    3     When you have doubts about yourself, you are doing damage to your progress. Therefore, you are supposed to see yourself as a winner, and trust yourself. Feeding your mind with positives will reinforce your beliefs and sweep any doubts out of your system.

Track your progress. It is important that you take note of every improvement you make.     4     Every step forward will give you a boost, and accelerate your efforts to the achievement of your ultimate goal.

Learn how to control your emotions. It is important that you use your emotional intelligence when you encounter problems in your life. You are a product of your thoughts and feelings. Any negative emotions that show up can negate (否定) the positive forward movement you enjoyed earlier. So approach any challenge with a positive attitude.     5     Instead, strongly believe that you have all the tools you need in order to make positive changes in your life. It is in your hands to make the changes necessary and to take your life to new heights.

9 . Edinburgh is the world's festival city. There are 12 festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the mouths of July and August.

Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer. Here are some of the events they can enjoy:

The Edinburgh International Festival

This is the original Edinburgh festival, which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audience. You need tickets for most events which take place in theatres around the city.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (艺穗节)

This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows taking place across the city, More than 20,000 artists participate in it. as the festival is open to anyone. Visitors can choose from a huge variety of acts. Join thousands of visitors and locals at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's min street, 10 watch all kinds of performers and shows.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and tokes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the centre of Edinburgh. There are more than 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators (插画家) draw pictures.

The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights of this musical event in the street carnival (嘉年华), which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus shows in amazing costumes, and everyone can join in the dancing.

10 . Growing up in an Italian-American household was, for me, pretty special. My mother, Gina, an immigrant from Italy, held on to so many of her family's traditions that at times, regardless of the fact that I was living in American, our home felt like in Italy.

To this day, my mother only speaks to me in Italian. She may speak in some English terms and expressions from time to time, but our conversations are, for the most part, in her mother tongue. And most of those conversations are about food. For us, food —Italian food is an important part of our lives. The food my mother prepared for me and my sister as children is the same food my grandmother created in her small farm kitchen high up in the mountains.

One of my family's dishes of heritage I made sure to learn and perfect is my mother's arancini di riso (Italian rice balls). Arancini, in Italian, means little oranges. After you roll some leftover rice into a small ball, place a piece of mozzarella   (马苏里拉奶酪 )   in the center, then bread that and fry it, the golden outside resembles one of our favorite fruits. For my family, it also showcased my mother' s ability to always find a delicious way to never let anything go to waste: Last night's good rice was repurposed into this perfect mid-day snack or dinner appetizer.

So, when I take a perfect little arancini out of the hot oil and crack it open, I am immediately transported back to my childhood: I am a little girl getting off the bus and running through the back door to the smell of last night's rice transformed into sticky, delicate goodness. This small snack symbolizes so many important elements in my life: my mother' s waste-not philosophy, her ability to take a few simple ingredients and transform them, and finally, the way she carried her mother' s recipes to the U. S. in her mind and heart so she could, years later, teach me about my heritage through food.

Eating arancini, and all the other recipes my mother continued to make here in the U. S. after leaving Italy, allowed her to teach me who I am, where I come from, and why I should be proud of it all.