1 . We place a great deal of importance on our history, but how important is it really?

A famous writer from the 20th and 21st centuries, Michael Crichton, once said, “if you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a _______ ” On the other hand, a philosopher from the 19th century, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, wasn’t so _______ . He said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn _______” Karl Marx, from the 19th century, said, “History repeats itself first as a _______ second as a farce (闹剧).” So, yeah, we do learn from history, but that doesn’t mean we don’t make the _______ again.

History tells us where we come from, what we did right, and what we _______ . It gives us _______ for the future and helps us move forward with _______. We might repeat mistakes, but at least we can move forward with our eyes open.

As we head into the future together, it’s crucial to know not only our own history but also the history of our _______ around the world. What better way to understand a country than through the eyes of its ________?

We have ________ perspectives on world history from people in different parts of the planet. We call on the people from different countries to ________ the best books about their nation’s history. We also explored our own country’s past, ________ our memories for stories that meant something to us growing up.

So, join us on a journey around the world and through time. Take a quick but condensed trip through the entire history of England, from its ________ people to the 21st century. Learn about the tumultuous history of the US and Canada. Then, fly across the ________ to South Africa, India, Australia, and the Philippines to hear stories told by the people who know them best.

2 . Apartment owners cash in on upcoming holiday trips

The National Day holiday is around the corner, and those making last-minute plans to travel at that time are busy booking _______ hotel rooms in popular tourist destinations.

In a bid to cash in on this rush for rooms, social media users are _______ platforms with offers of apartments for _______ just for the holiday week, at prices that are a part of what is being _______ by hotels, many of which are sold out.

Unlike hotels, those renting out their homes are not charging anything _______ for cleaning the apartment while it is _______, no contract or deal needs to be signed and the ID information of the renters is not _______ required.

Meanwhile, some netizens have expressed _______ over this trend of renting out personal apartments.

“It is so unsafe. What if the people install a camera in your home or make it a complete mess,” one asked while _______ on a post seeking tenants(房客). Another said, “Won’t you be afraid of people opening your computer and checking what’s inside?”

Experts said this novel way of sharing one’s home not only means extra earnings for the homeowners, but also improves the ________ of the cities. However, they also warned that there are risks involved.

Fu Jian, a lawyer at Henan Zejin Law Firm, said that as there is no written ________ being signed between homeowners and renters, and the ID information is not ________, it would be very difficult for the owner to safeguard his or her rights should an argument ________.

Moreover, if there is a theft or an accident involving the guests during their stay in the apartment, the owner will more or less be held ________, he said.

He advised owners to be aware of the rules and regulations before renting out their apartments, and added that renters should also choose ________ to avoid unnecessary risks.

5 . I’ve reached the turn-around point of the day’s kayaking (皮划艇) trip. Sweat runs down my cheek as I ______ my fingers through the cool water. I look around. It’s just me, a couple of seagulls, and shining freshwater to the horizon. This, I whisper to myself, is ______.

Solo outings had never ______ my mind before because I always had loyal friends willing to tag along. But three years ago, I moved to Cleveland. Meeting close friends in a new city is ______. And a world wide health crisis made ______ impossible.

In October 2022, I decided to ______ a whole day on a solo hiking trip. I went to Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) to ______ the autumn leaves. Five miles in, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so alive. I was more ______ of my surroundings than I’d ever been while hiking that day. I studied the markings of trees, focused my ears on each forest sound and did something I had almost never spared ______ for: I listened to my own thoughts. Every word in my mind pointed to a newfound ______—solo hiking is my happy place. From then on, I have adjusted myself to any solo activity.

Pride ______ through my body when I first launched my kayak. My chest, ______ tightened by nerves, was bursting with happiness as I finally reached the middle of the river that I’d long ______ standing on shore before.

Adventuring alone has become like medicine for me! It’s also pushed me to go ______ my comfort zone and to meet new people. Through meetups and social media, my adventure friend circle has ______. But at least once per month, I schedule time to hit nature with my favorite trail buddy: me.

6 . At the age of 12, I withdrew into my bedroom with my guitar. I had neither musical talent — many_______music lessons had proved that — nor musical training. My fingers ached as I tried to press down on the strings without making them buzz (发出嗡嗡声). _______, I worked my way through 2-, 3- and even 5-chord (和旋) songs and discovered the _______ thrills of these musical notes. No one _______ me to do this. I did this myself and of my own free will for a week, and the sense of happiness－ true happiness _______ in absorption in something － has _______ me. Fifty years later, that week’s self-directed practice became a model and _______ for almost every meaningful thing I have done since. It makes me understand the _______ between achievement and accomplishment.

The world favors achievement while _______ accomplishment. The former is the completion of the task imposed (强加) from the outside — the ________ being a path to the next task. The latter is the end point of an activity we have chosen, whose bonus is the sudden ________ of happiness.

The seeking of accomplishment always ________ people. I learned so long ago in that ________ week that simply lifting one finger from the guitar’s C chord, you should get the most moving ________ in tune. I didn’t know then it was a major 7th chord, a favorite of some masters’. I just ________ accomplishment. That’s real human “achievement”.

7 . Dorothy Casterline was an American researcher, writer and poet. It took decades for her contributions to deaf culture to be ______. In 1965, the deaf linguist worked with two others to ______ the first dictionary of American Sign Language. Their Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles ______ ASL as a distinct language with its own syntax (句法), and organized signs by hand movement rather than ______ order. The book was met with ______ among linguists, who saw ASL as ______ a gestural branch of English, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that Casterline was ______ with helping create deaf cultural identity. “We were ______ think of ASL as a picture language,” she said. ”Seeing these ________ symbols for the first time can be discouraging.“

Born in Honolulu to Japanese-American parents, Casterline lost her hearing in her teens ______ illness. She studied English at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf, and graduated with honors in 1958. She then joined the school’s English faculty the first person of color on ______ and became a researcher at the linguistics lab, transcribing thousands of hours of interviews to compile the ASL dictionary. The work became a ______, and she toiled “late into the night and on weekends, sometimes with her newborn son in one arm,” said The New York Times.

After the book was done, Casterline left academia to raise her children. Last year, Gallaudet awarded her an honorary doctorate in recognition of work that ______ “a renaissance in the history of the deaf community,” said Gallaudet.edu. She remained ______ of the book, saying she wrote it “to show that deaf people can be studied as linguistic and cultural communities, and not only as ______.”

8 . My son “graduated” from elementary school this week. I put the word in quotations(引语)because as a rising 6th grader, he wasn’t receiving a _______ —and because the school used a _______ term to describe the milestone. On reflection, the school’s term felt even more _______ than the traditional name of the _______ of one stage of a person’s education: they called it Moving On.

At the Moving On Ceremony, each member of the 5th grade class _______ one sentence of reflection on what they were thankful for or would _______ about their primary school years. One _______ words caught my attention — he said he was _______ for what he called “a step on the ladder”. I was really _______ by this 11-year-old’s ability to summarize the emotional heart of the “moving on” moment. That was totally beyond my imagination.

Growing up is the work of a ________ — a ladder that has no top. And the gift of a “moving on” moment is that we get to celebrate the firm foothold   (立足点)we’ve gained on our ________ step, even as we reach upward toward the next. We get to ________ —not beyond what we’ve learned and accomplished so far, ________ because we are able to build on today’s experiences to move ahead toward tomorrow.

We look forward to our son ________ more graduations in his lifetime. But perhaps more than that, we pray that he will have the ability to recognize many “moving on” moments to celebrate and enjoy with ________ .

9 . When she was a child, Yue-Sai Kan was told by her father that she should always aim to be the first to walk on the moon because no one remembers the second.

What her father said has been a _______ inspiration (鼓舞) over the years for her. Her new book Be a Pioneer was _______ after three years in the making. It was also inspired _______ by her father’s words.

“Actually many people have asked me to write a(n) _______ . I have been asked numerous times already _______ I always felt that it was not the right time for me to sit down and give thanks for my life. ” says Kan. However, her publisher thought _______ .

“All the things I have done can be a good _______ to young people, which is the main reason why I wrote the book,” says Kan, adding that the year 2022 gave her the unexpected _______ to do some thinking about her life.

When writing an autobiography, the biggest _______ are not only how to present one’s life, but also remembering it in the first place. To help with reconstructing her story, Kan asked her friends to write down their ________ of her from earlier times. So besides ________ Kan’s own words, the new book is also filled with those of her friends, which gave Kan new ________ into herself.

“My housekeeper ________ me that before the launch of one of my events, she found that I had fainted in the bathroom. I was so ________ that I was getting sick. They know more about me than myself,” Kan says. “I am by nature very ________ . I believe that what I do will benefit the world,” says Kan.

Throughout her life, Kan has never stopped doing what she loves.