Barbara Kingsolver is a(n)     1     (杰出的) American novelist, essayist and poet. During an interview, she talked about her daily routine as a writer and a mother.

“I tend to wake up very early. Too early. Four o’clock is standard ... I always wake with sentences pouring into my head. So getting to my desk every day feels like an emergency. It’s a funny thing: people often ask why I’m so     2     (discipline) about writing. I can’t understand the question. For me, discipline is turning off the computer and leaving my desk to do something else.

For the whole of my c    3     as a novelist, I have also been a mother. I was offered my first book contract, for The Bean Trees, the day I came home from the hospital with my first child. So I became a novelist and mother on the same day. Those two important lives have always been one for me. I’ve always had to do both at the same time. So my writing hours have always been       4     (limit) ... For me, writing time has always been precious, and something I wait for and am eager to make the best use of.

I’m extremely       5     (感激的) of my family’s support and contribution and the people who connect me to the wider world and the future. My children have taught me everything about life and about the kind of person I want to be in the world. Being a mother has made me a better writer. It’s also true to say that being a writer has also made me a better mother. ”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she’s often affectionately called, passed away at the age of 87. Her passing was a great loss to the world because, in her lifetime, Ruth was arguably the single most effective advocate for gender equality the world has ever seen.

Ruth was extremely     1    (坚定的) to prove that the differing treatment of persons, on the basis of sex, had no place in the United States.     2    (除……之外) being personally responsible for overturning many laws that discriminated (歧视) against women, first as an ACLU lawyer and later as a Supreme Court Justice, Ruth had long inspired us with her bravery and strength in the face of extreme personal discrimination and hardship. As a(n)     3    (influence) figure, she was well known for the battles in which she pushed forward gender equality. Besides those battles, she fought for the good of all and here are two personal things you may not know about her:

•She used     4    (时尚) to make a statement by wearing a special collar (领子) with her justice robes (袍服) each time she disagreed with an opinion that the majority of the court had agreed upon.

•She only ever slept 5 — 6 hours per night, preferring to spend the majority of her time studying and researching.

We often overlook the     5    (巨大的) struggles people have gone through once they’ve achieved great things. To try and understand the full picture of everything Ruth accomplished, we have to know what she had experienced:

•When she graduated at the top of her class from law school, she received no job offers from New York law firms.

•She was the first woman to receive tenure (终身职位) as a(n)     6    (教授) at Columbia University — but when she got her offer, she was told she would not receive as much pay as a man because her husband was the “primary breadwinner”. She then sued Columbia University and won.

Many parents have probably felt at one time or another that one of their child’s teachers is a “miracle worker”, a teacher who somehow gets results where other teachers have failed. Although the idea of a miracle worker has entered common parlance (用语), the expression     1     (was invented, had invented) by Mark Twain to describe one person in particular. That person was Anne Sullivan, the teacher of Helen Keller.

Anne Sullivan, who     2     (has been, had been) blind for much of the first part of her life, was first employed to teach blind and deaf Helen in 1887, at the age of 20. Educated at Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Sullivan     3     (has recovered, had recovered) part of her eyesight by the time she traveled to Alabama to begin her job as Helen Keller’s governess.

Undoubtedly, Sullivan’s own partial blindness     4     (gave, has given) her an understanding of the little girl’s closed-off world. As the 1957 play The Miracle Worker so effectively described it, Sullivan’s breakthrough with Keller came soon after she    5     (spelled, has spelled) words out on Helen’s open palm to make her understand that things had words attached to them. Sullivan     6    (placed, has placed) one of Keller’s hands under running water and on the other, she spelled “w-a-t-e-r.” Soon, Keller could express herself far beyond the series of simple signs that    7     (have been, had been) her only means of communication before.

Sullivan suggested Keller’s family send her to Perkins School for the Blind, and from that point on, she had been Keller’s companion until her death in 1936. Helen Keller lived a long life as a successful and inspiring writer, lecturer, and activist. None of this would have been possible if Keller     8     (did not meet, had not met) Anne Sullivan, the woman we remember as the “miracle worker”.

There are some teachers we never forget. They may teach us in our favourite subject or help us gain a    1     to university. For many of us, good relationships with our teachers are why we want to get into teaching in the first place.

Research tells us that when students are in an environment where they feel supported and    2     (持续不断地) cared for, they are more likely to succeed. In fact, according to a study by Marzano Research Laboratory, good relationships between teachers and students are among the most commonly mentioned reasons related to     3     (effect) instruction.

If we are teachers one day, we should build an environment of mutual (相互的) respect and set the whole classroom up for success. Treat students the way we want to be treated, never    4     (主宰) the relationship. All relationships are built on mutual respect for one another and this same     5     (原则) applies in the classroom. Of course, as teachers, our patience will be tested    6     (偶尔) but take a second to breathe. Our students will understand us as we can now understand our teachers.

Most people know Emily Blunt as a well-known film and stage actress. However, between the ages of 7 and 14 she developed a crippling stutter (严重的口吃) that had her struggling to even hold a simple conversation. “I     1     (曾经是) a smart kid and had a lot to say, but later I just couldn’t say it,” she said in an interview. “I could     2     (几乎不) think I’d be able to sit and talk to someone like I’m talking to you right now.”

For Blunt, it was one junior high teacher in particular that helped her     3     (处理) the problem of speaking by encouraging her to try out for the school play. At first, Blunt did not like the idea, but the teacher wouldn’t give up on her and     4     (真诚地) encouraged her to take acting lessons and experiment with different accents and character voices to help express herself. In the end, those efforts paid off for her. In addition to her    5     (难以置信的) career as an actress, she also became a member of the board of directors for the American Institute for Stuttering.

Cristiano Ronaldo grew up in a household that     1     (几乎不) made ends meet. As a child, he had to share a room with three of his siblings (兄弟姐妹) due to their poor family’s financial situation. There were even times when they didn’t have enough money to buy a soccer ball to play in the streets. But Ronaldo did not     2     (责怪) his environment. Instead, he tried to find ways to play the sport he loved even without a ball. He used bottles or pretty much anything he could find to make a makeshift ball. Eventually, he got so good at soccer that he was ready to make the     3     (最终的) sacrifice at the age of 11 of moving over 500 miles away from his family to train with a(n)     4     (杰出的) soccer academy. By doing so, he put himself on track to eventually become one of the best players in history.

Now Cristiano Ronaldo is known as the greatest Portuguese (葡萄牙的) player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation. A    5     f    6     this, he is the first soccer player ever to earn over one       7     (十亿) dollars.

Skilled learners never stop learning because they have found ways to       1     (有效地) bring it into their everyday life. With a positive mindset and very special approaches to learning, they take control of their learning and push through difficulties     2    . (不管怎样)

★ A skilled learner employs personal learning       3    . (策略)

Everyone learns differently, and oftentimes, the ways we were taught to learn in school are not the most helpful means of   a    4     new knowledge. Skilled learners have a better understanding of his / her learning style and take the time to check the ways they learn best, knowing that this will save them time and effort in the future.

★ A skilled learner asks questions.

Skilled learners question what they learn, how they learn it and why. They know where they are as a learner and what they are     5     (尝试) achieve. They ask important questions such as, “How can I use what I have     6     (掌握)?” or “Why is this important?” These questions help them to dig deeper into a topic and decide how this information can be used.     7     ( 此 外 ), questioning learning methods can help them to find out whether they are doing all they can to learn the information and whether their approaches are suitable or not.

★ Skilled learners     8     (思考) their successes and failures.

In order to improve in any area, you have to     9     (弄懂) what is and isn’t working for you. Only then can you assess (评估) your learning process and move forward. Failing to analyse your successes and failures will leave you stagnant (停滞不前). You must build upon your success and look for your     10     (解决办法) after failure.

Skilled learners don’t consider themselves special for having succeeded, and they surely don’t think of themselves as failures when they reach difficulties. All of these results are moments for     11     (沉思) and improvement and they will find time to     12     (感激) the achievements they’ve made so far.

Fishing is one of the most     1     (strike) drivers of declines (降低) in ocean wildlife populations. Catching fish is not naturally bad for the ocean and without doubt     2     (accept), except when boats catch fish faster than stocks (储备) can catch up, something called overfishing.

The damage done by overfishing goes     3     (超出……范围) the needless loss of billions of fish. The number of overfished stocks     4     (global) has increased a lot in half a century and today one-third of the world’s fisheries are being pushed over their biological limits, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It is shown by a new study that more than one-third of all sharks and rays are now at risk of     5     (extinct) because of overfishing.

Overfishing is closely tied to bycatch — the catch of unwanted sea life while fishing for a specific species. This, too, is a serious marine (海洋的) threat that     6     (导致) the needless loss of billions of fish.

Billions of people rely on fish for protein, and fishing is the main livelihood for millions of people     7     (全世界).     8     (因此), governments and regional fisheries bodies must     9     (采取行动) now to stop overfishing and prevent a global crisis. To our relief, many people who make a living by catching and selling fish are working to promote how the world manages and protects ocean resources. WWF works with a lot of organisations to reform fishery management     10     (在全世界), focusing on sustainable (可持续的) practices that not only protect ecosystems, but also sustain livelihoods and ensure food security.

Chinese paintings feature some of the world’s longest-held     1     (art) traditions. These paintings with a range of special oriental (东方的) styles record China’s long history and     2     (反映) its beautiful landscapes. The following are two of China’s most famous paintings.

One Hundred Horses was drawn by Lang Shining, a     3     (talent) painter of the Qing Dynasty. Lang was from Italy with a birth name of Giuseppe Castiglione. Working as a court painter in China for over 50 years, he was regarded highly by Chinese emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.

Lang was skilled at painting horses, and One Hundred Horses is one of his representative     4     (杰作). This paper painting shows 100 horses in various postures. (姿态)

Spring Morning in the Han Palace was drawn by Qiu Ying, who specialised in the gongbi brush     5     (技巧). Qiu’s use of the brush was extremely skilful, and his drawings of landscapes and     6     (人像) were vivid and well-organised. He was regarded as one of the four great     7     (大师) of the Ming Dynasty. His paintings are not only beautiful and refined, they are also quite decorative.

Hearing that your local gallery is looking for volunteers for the coming Chinese painting     1    , I am more than delighted     2     to be a volunteer as a Chinese studying in London.

Not only do I have a passion for Chinese arts, but also I have     3     good command of spoken English, so that I can convey the spirits of arts perfectly to the visitors. What’s more, I have participated in many similar activities,     4     equips me with relevant experiences. If     5    , I firmly believe that I will be your perfect choice     6     my devotion.

I’d appreciate     7     if you could take my application into account. Looking forward to your early reply.

Yours,

Li Hua