1 . Most artists have to wait decades for their talents to be recognized. Some, like Dutch painter Van Gogh, only achieve _______ after they die. But this is not the _______ for Andres Valencia. The 11-year-old boy has already _______ millions selling his contemporary paintings to art collectors.

Andres’ parents are art lovers and collectors. They began _______ Andres to modern paintings when he was just a kid. The young boy soon began _______ famous artworks with great accuracy. His father, Lupe, says, “When he was 4 or 5, my wife and I would _______ him paint and do sketches(素描), and we were really surprised at what he would do.”

By age six, the _______ artist was selling his watercolor paintings to family and friends for $20 a piece. Over time. Andres began creating large-scale paintings with a _______ of oil stick and oil and acrylic paints. His masterpieces were all _______ contemporary artists like Picasso.

Bernie Chase, a family friend and owner of an art gallery, recognized Andres’ __________ from the start. He bought the young boy’s artwork every time he __________ and even paid $5,000 for one. In 2022, the young boy held his first __________ at Chase’s gallery. The 35 paintings __________ were sold for between $50,000 and $125,000 each.

When not painting, Andres is a __________ fifth-grader with math homework. “My son is an artist, but he is a __________ first.” His mother said. “He is a child, not a celebrity.”

4 . I had been saying goodbye to my mom for ten years. That was how ______ she had breast cancer. At first, there was the fear that she would die. But as she ______ series of treatments, life took ______ a new normal. But cancer is an unrelenting (冷酷无情的) foe. It was a journey from ______ to hope again and again, and only painkillers could keep her ______ . At 66, my mom was dying, but we could do nothing. I ______ praying for God to heal her but rather to take her. I learned that dying is the ______ healing. How brokenhearted when a patient or family is ______ a death.

My mother showed me how to fight her foe with knowledge, humor and ______ . And when the time came, she showed me how to die with grace, dignity, humor and wisdom. ______ , while it is hard to escape from the ______ , I want to anticipate the joy of the day when all the pain and hurt of this world will be over. One day, I will die and ______ those I love. One day, those I love will die as well. I don’t want it to envelop me to the point where I cannot enjoy life and make ______ that will last not only in this life, but hopefully into the next.

In those ten years watching my mother die, I learned that we cannot ______ avoid grief in this life. But we can seek out and remind ourselves to anticipate the joy, no matter how ______ things are.

We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

5 . We asked Professor John Williams, a futurologist, for his expert predictions on life in the next few decades.

“Unfortunately, it looks quite likely that the climate may ________significantly (显著地), with hotter summers, colder winters and more flooding. At the same time, fuel for heating or air conditioning will probably become much more expensive. For these reasons, our houses will certainly have to become much better ________. People are already building so-called ‘passive houses’, which have little or no central heating at all, ________ the body heat of the people who live there.

“Homes probably won’t be as big, and so we will need more adaptable (可改变的) furniture, such as sofa beds, and when we are not ________ our furniture we will be able to fold it away into wall cabinets (壁橱). Houses could have moveable walls so that the same space can be ________ in different ways.”

“New technology will make us more self-sufficient (自给自足的). Kitchens may have fish tanks which, as well as providing fish to eat, also ________ fresh vegetables. The plants will ________ oxygen for the fish. These tanks will be powered by household waste and create ________, which can then be used to run the family car—________ we might not all have cars!”

“Water will be more expensive and the home of the future will probably be designed to use much ________ water. Washing machines and dishwashers might use sound waves to shake ________ off. We may even take showers using sound waves. What water we do use will be recycled and used again round the house and private swimming pools will become a thing of the ________.”

“We will also ______ ) have more robots in our houses, though they won’t look like the ones in films. There will probably be small robots ________ to clean the fridge or open the curtains. ________ fridges will tell us when food is about to go out of date and even suggest recipes, and we will be able to communicate with our homes by mobile phone wherever we are.”

6 . Confucius would be happy if he lived in the modern world. He would see his works and philosophies(哲学) still _______________ among teenagers even though they live in an_______________ of information.

In Changzhou No.2 Middle School, Jiangsu, all senior 3 students now_______________ a course in Lun Yu once a week. The school aims to improve students’ appreciation of the Confucian heritage(遗产)as well as_______________   Chinese civilization.

“Students’ attendance in this course will _______________   30 percent of their Chinese score on the final exam.This reward_______________ their interest in the course, which is _______________ but full of wisdom,” said Cao Yongzhong, a Chinese _______________ at the school.

_______________won’t be easy for students to enjoy The Analects(文选) of Confucius ________________ ancient Chinese as they________________   so many other subjects to learn and exams to ________________.

Cheng Yun,18, didn’t like the”additional burden”________________, but now it turns to be a course ________________ she looks forward to.

“I thought it would ________________ my time for homework, but it doesn’t.________________ sentences are short and concise(精练). I even use some of his wise   sayings in my compositions, ________________   makes my writing more attractive,” Cheng said. ________________ the fact that all students are required to learn some chapters of the book when in junior school, they may be ________________ young to understand the truths revealed(揭示)by Confucius.” Although I ________________ the language we use nowadays to Confucius, what the master said in the book does help me shape my personality.”said Zhang Junzhuo,18.

7 . A curious and eager 6-year-old boy went on a journey that took him to a place filled with wonder and heroism: a fire station. But this young explorer was _______ , so this wasn’t just any adventure. His _______ was to “see” what a fireman looked like.

The little boy’s wish was realized by a _______ fireman, who made sure the boy could “see” his uniform in a magical way. Together, they began an extraordinary _______ that challenged traditional sight.

Then, the child _______ his walking stick, touching and discovering the firefighter’s uniform with both hands. This kind firefighter explained everything _______ as the boy’s hands moved with wonder. His _______ painted a picture that his eyes couldn’t see.

And just when you thought this touching _______ couldn’t get any more magical, the little boy_______ for a hug, though he met the fireman for the first time. It’s a ________ that spoke volumes about the impact of this brief, yet unforgettable ________.

This small act of kindness has ________ an internet hit and got a lot of likes. In fact, it ________ us all that empathy (同理心) and understanding can create ________ far deeper than what meets the eye.

So, share this article to ________ the warmth of this beautiful interaction and help others “see”   the world in a more loving, empathetic light.

9 . Being a social butterfly just might change your brain: In people with a large network of friends and excellent social skills, certain brain regions are bigger and _______ connected than in people with fewer friends, a new study finds.

The research suggests a _______ between social interactions and brain structure. “We’re interested in how your brain is able to allow you to _______ the right way in complex social environments,” Mary Ann Noonan said, a neuroscientist (神经学家) at Oxford University. Studies in monkeys have shown that brain areas involved in face processing and in predicting the _______ of others are larger in animals living in large social groups than in ones living in smaller groups.

To investigate these brain _______ in humans, Noonan and her colleagues found 18 participants for a structural brain-imaging study. They asked people how many _______ they had experienced in the past month, in order to determine the size of their social networks. As was the case in monkeys, some brain areas were _______ and better connected in people with larger social networks. “These different brain regions are all singing _______ songs,” Noonan said. “ _______ areas are all singing the same song, and when they’re connected better, they’re singing more harmoniously with each other.”

The researchers also tested whether the size of a person’s social network was connected with ________ in white-matter pathways, the nerve fibers (纤维) that connect different brain regions. ________ , they found that white-matter pathways were better connected in people with bigger social networks. “The nerves were more like a Los Angeles freeway than a ________ road,” Noonan said.

The researchers couldn’t say whether social interaction ________ these changes in brain structure and connectivity, or whether the brain determined how social someone was. In the case of the monkeys, the researchers asked and wrote down the size of the animals’ social network, so they ________ that social-group size was causing the brain differences. It can be inferred that a similar process takes place in human brains, but to prove the ________ , long-term studies are needed, Noonan told Live Science.