2 . For weeks, I carried out a campaign for traveling alone to New York. My father was _______ and felt I would give up sooner or later. He was _______. I was seventeen, a college freshman. I felt quite old enough to make the _______. I'd take a plane to New York City and then get on a bus for the rest of the trip. People did it every day. It would be easy, but I did need his _______.

With my grandparents' _______, my father finally _______. My father wasn't happy and secretly hoped that I would _______ the plan.

The December evening finally came, and I was too _______ to sleep on board. When I landed, I got my heavy suitcase and _______ to pull it to the bus station which was crowded with all kinds of people. I was dragging my heavier - by - the - minute luggage when a tall, young man __________. I thought he was coming to help, but before I could __________, he grabbed (抓住) the handle and began to move __________ away from me.

“DROP IT!” came a __________ voice from behind me. The young man let my suitcase __________ as he began to run away. Then a gentleman came, lifting my suitcase and took me to get on the __________. I thanked the man but he only said to me, “Take care of yourself, Jeanie Girl.” As I sat down, I was __________ that he knew my name. I didn't __________ telling him. I looked around, but he was __________ to be seen.

Who was he? And how did he get my name? I have no way to __________, but I can tell how I felt about him - very __________, because the only other person to ever call me “Jeanie Girl” was my own sweet father.

4 . International Women's Day is March 8. The first celebration was held in 1911, and the event was recognized by the United Nations starting in 1975.

It's a great time to think about the origin of the word "woman". Some people think the word “woman" is a compound(混合)of the words“womb”and“man". Not so. Rather,it's a compound of "wife" and "man", a combination that can be traced back to Old English. You see, when Old English was first being spoken in the 5th century AD, there were two distinct words for men and women: "wer" meant "adult male",and "wif” meant “adult female". There was a third word,“man", which simply meant "person"or "human being”. These words could be combined:“wer" plus“man"(in the form of "waepman")meant "adult male person" and“wif” plus"man”("wilman") meant “adult female person”.

Those middle forms,“wimnan"and "wommon"with the two M's in the middle, remind me of Noah Webster's efforts to simplify English spelling by suggesting changing the spelling "woman” to“wimmen" to have the spelling better match the pronunciation. He put that in his 1806 Compendious Dictionary o f the English Language, but it didn't become popular.

And the Old English word for "adult male" evolved into a simplified form. The compound word "weapman" melted into the simple word we use today: "man".

Maybe the lesson to take from all this is that the role of women in society has always been complex. Whatever the case, the word "woman" today was originally a compound of the Old English words for"woman” and “human being”.

I’m not Chinese, but I love Chinese New Year. There are many fun New Year     1     (celebrate), but nothing quite matches the excitement of the lion dance which can wake up the spirit     2     (complete).

The sound of the drums,       3     you can feel throughout your entire body, is quite inspiring. The two performers are very flexible. But it is actually very difficult as the lion head is very heavy and being the     4     (low)part of the lion is tiring as he has to bend his back and also carry     5     person in front sometimes. The lion head is made with paper over a bamboo frame,       6     (cover)in gauze (纱布), and decorated with beautifully-colored materials.

The lion dance     7     (believe)to have first appeared in the Qianlong Emperor's dream during his Southern tour, and he ordered an animal     8     (make)in the likeness of his description and used in festivals from then on.

I love all about the lion dance. The other day, I saw a film about a left-behind teenager who insisted on pursuing his dreams despite difficulties and     9     (succeed)in lion dance. As Master Xu translates: “Heaven has made us talents; we’re not made     10     vain.”

6 . Skeleton is one of the three sliding sports at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, alongside the luge(单雪橇)and bobsleigh(大雪橇). With only six medals up for grabs, skeleton has the fewest events at the Winter Games—which means competition will be fierce.

The sport of skeleton has its roots in the most popular winter pastime: sleighing. In the mid-19^th century, British and American holidaymakers built the first toboggan(平底雪橇)run in Davos in 1882, and thus the sport of sleighing began.

Two years later, in 1884, the famed Cresta Run—a natural ice skeleton racing toboggan track—was built in St. Moritz, Switzerland(the course has hosted the annual Grand National championships since 1885).

In 1892, a new sledge made entirely of steel was introduced, and some claim that its bony appearance gave the sledge and the sport the name ‘skeleton’.

Men’s skeleton was first introduced on the Olympic program in the 1928 Games in St. Moritz. But due to the sport only being available at the Cresta Run at the time, it fell into obscurity(默默无闻)while the luge and bobsleigh grew in popularity. However, in 2002, the skeleton was reintroduced as a men’s and women’s event at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and has remained a part of the Olympic program ever since.

While Great Britain has the most medals(nine)in skeleton competition at the Olympics, the top spot belongs to the United States(eight medals)by virtue of having four silvers to Great Britain’s one(both nations have three golds, while Britain has five bronze medals, and the United States one).

Great Britain is the only nation to have won a medal every time skeleton has featured at the Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal in each of the five contests of women’s skeleton since its introduction.

7 . Arden University

Arden University has physical study centres in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Berlin, Germany, and also offers high quality online bachelor and master degree programmes to British and international students all over the world. They have supported over 50,000 students while remaining true to their core values, ensuring higher education is available for all. Covering a range of professional subjects in 12 academic fields, Arden University makes UK education accessible and affordable through their creative study platform. Click here to view this school.

University of London International Programmes

We have over 60,000 students in every corner of the globe studying on more than 100 different programmes. Our global footprint and flexible study method has enabled students to study wherever they live. As a family of 19 world-class colleges and admired institutes, the University of London has an international reputation for academic distinction in teaching and research. Our students achieve exactly the same standard of internationally recognized qualification as those who attend the University itself. Click here to view this school.

University of York

The University of York is one of the top ten universities in the UK for teaching and research, and is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. This well-established university consists of over 30 academic departments and research centres and a student body of 13,000, and was named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2010. Most of the distance learning courses are designed to meet professional development needs, and reflect the benefits of online learning in this context. Click here to view this school.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy

Course options include popular and well-established diplomas in Marine (海洋) Surveying, Ship Management, and Maritime Law. Various accreditation levels are available from short, online based certificate courses to fully-accredited diploma and postgraduate diploma study options. We also offer our best course — the MBA in Shipping&. Logistics. The continued strength of these distance learning programmes have over 6,000 students enrolled on our courses. Click here to view this school.

8 . People kept coming into St. Stephen’s asking for help with car repairs. Oh, this is obviously an urgent _________. What if I opened a non-profit auto garage that offered _________repairs?

So I _________ myself at Dunwoody College of Technology in the spring of 2008. I knew I had to try to make my idea a _________. However, I was a middle-aged woman and knew _________ about mechanics. _________, none of the guys rushed to be my lab partner. The only thing I could do was watch my classmates and _________ what they did.

One day we were _________ to flare (扩口) brake lines. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do it. “Hey, what’s taking so long?” Mr. Du Vai _________ from across the room. My hands were __________ so badly that I couldn’t hold the tube __________. And tears streamed down my cheeks. At the end of the __________, the other students trooped out. I went to Mr. Du Vai.

“My __________ doesn’t work this way,” I said. “I’m giving up.”

He glared at me. “I’m not going to let you __________!” he said, his voice rising. “I believe in you. You can do this. I’m going to watch you walk across that stage as a __________ in two years. Now get over there and flare those brake lines.”

Tried again. And again. On the fourth try, I __________.

Today I __________ a non-profit called The Lift Garage. Our __________ are about 75 percent less than what a for-profit shop would charge. We’ve __________ low-income families more than two million dollars in car repairs.

Some people want to follow in our __________. I could never have pictured any of this happening. Good thing has a much better imagination!