1 . When I was a teenager, I was invited to a formal dance party. I was _________, but also nervous about what to wear. Mom suggested I wear high heels (高跟鞋).

“Mom, I don’t know if I can wear these,” I said, feeling _________. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Just take small _________ and keep your weight centered,” she suggested.

As I arrived at the party, I tried to be _________ and act like everything was fine. But _________ struck when I stepped onto the dance floor. I _________ my own feet, falling to the ground in front of everyone.

I quickly got up and laughed it off, pretending like it was _________. But deep down, I felt like a tomato, wanting to _________.

My friend Lilly helped me _________ that incident and managed me another high heels as a support so that nobody would understand my hesitation. But a little bit __________ continued in my mind.

When I returned home, I told Mom I felt like a complete __________ at the party. “It’s okay. You tried something new, and it didn’t go as __________. But that’s how we learn and grow. Don’t be too __________ on yourself and wear what you feel __________ in,” Mom said, giving me a hug.

From that day forward, I stuck to flat shoes. I learned to __________ my true self and not worry about what others thought.

3 . The most unforgettable thing during my long summer holiday last year, of course was my trip ______ England. This was my first time to go abroad, so it really made me ______.

There were quite a lot of interesting places in England, ______ Oxford. When we walked around Oxford, we saw quite a lot of ancient buildings on ______ sides of the streets. One of the most famous tourist ______ in Oxford is Christ Church. It’s ______ one of the Oxford University’s 39 colleges. There is a huge hall in Christ Church, ______ was used as the dining hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter ______. I felt really excited when I heard this.

______ place that impressed me ______ during my trip was a place called Stratford upon Avon. It was a small town. Maybe you haven’t ______ it, but I’m sure you have heard about William Shakespeare(莎士比亚)—it’s the great man’s ______. In Stratford upon Avon, I could ______ Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Shakespeare Countryside Museum, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and a lot of places that are connected with ______.

I went to Shakespeare’s Birthplace. It was the house where Shakespeare was born and spent his early years. Its sitting room, hallway(走廊), bedrooms, and kitchen were furnished(布置) in 16th century style. I also went to see the Shakespeare Exhibition. It illustrated(以图解说明) Shakespeare’s life and career in both Stratford and London.

I really enjoyed this nice ______ to England, from which I learned a lot. I’m very happy that I could visit such an interesting country. I want to go there again in the future.

4 . To help you understand what 5G is, and what it means to you, we’ve put together a handy guide here.

What is 5G?

    1     At its most basic level, 5G will be used to make calls, send texts, and to simply get online. But it’s going to be significantly faster than previous generations, and could open the door up to a range of exciting new uses.

    2    

5G will use new higher radio frequencies to send out data, which are less cluttered (挤了) and carry information much faster. While these higher bands(频段)are faster, they don’t carry information as far. That’s to say, smaller multiple input and output antennas (天线)will be used—promoting both signals and capacity (容量). This means 5G will support up to 1,000 more devices per meter than 4G.

    3    

5G is expected to be faster than 4G, with some firms claiming it could be as much as 100 times quicker. The fastest 4G networks can deliver (传输) peak (峰值) download speeds of around 300 Mbit/s.     4     In real life, this could allow you to download a full HD film in less than 10 seconds!     5     It means there will be very little—if any—delay when you carry out tasks on a device (设备). While this will help improve things like gaming experiences, it could also pave (为…铺平道路) the way for safer self-driving cars—in which even a short delay could be life-saving.

Finally, 5G will have a larger capacity, meaning networks will be able to deal with several apps at once. Generally, this should mean that devices have a faster, more stable connection.

5 . While most lifestyle and fashion magazines are full of photos of slim (苗条的) male and female models that create an unrealistic image of the human body, a fresh Japanese men’s magazine called Mr. Babe is taking an unusual approach. It is targeted at chubby men, a body type that is rarely represented in the mainstream (主流) fashion industry.

Mr. Babe describes itself as Japan’s first fashion and lifestyle magazine of chubby men, by chubby men and for chubby men. Its major goal is to increase the confidence of its readers and convince them that they can lead a happy and successful life regardless of the few extra pounds. It offers fashion tips, health advice and articles on marriage. The chief editor said, “Mr. Babe is in no way persuading men to become fat. Our message is that chubby men can be attractive by making use of what they have now.”

Norihito Kurashina was in charge of Men’s Knuckle for over 10 years before shifting completely and launching Mr. Babe. Up to now, Men’s Knuckle is still a famous magazine for young Japanese. 52-year-old Kurashina describes himself as a chubby man for 25 years.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey, the percentage of overweight men in Japan has been increasing gradually over the last decade, while the number of overweight women has decreased. Kurashina says the growing number of chubby men is largely due to the long working hours. In addition, they go drinking after work to relax. Naturally, they have no time, energy or money to go to the gym and keep in shape.

The chubby men in Mr. Babe magazine are not much more different than the handsome and sexy men that show up in most mainstream magazines. They are charming and well-dressed. 50, 000 copies have been printed of the first issue (发行), which has film star Jack Black on the cover. Norihito Kurashina says he is already feeling a good response from the audience and is confident of the magazine’s success.

6 . Nowadays, because of the popularity of modern traffic and modern communication technology, our world is becoming much smaller. Thus our life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but meanwhile it has brought new problems, the biggest one of which is pollution. For a long time ever since, man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution.

To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO₂ is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time.

7 . Sometimes parents wonder if they should really give their children chores (家务活). After all, isn’t it the parents’ responsibility to manage the household? And don’t children need an opportunity to “just be children” for now because they have the rest of their lives to worry about chores?

Most children have really busy schedules. They rush around from one activity to another with little time to clean the house. Despite those concerns, however, giving your children chores may be one of the most important things you’ll ever do.

While giving your children chores can certainly take some of the stress off you, that’s not the only reason you should expect your children to do the chores. Studies show chores are good for children. Research from a well-known 75-year Harvard study shows that chores can shape children to be more likely to become happy, healthy and independent adults.

Why are chores like sweeping the floor and clearing the table so important to children’s happiness in life? One reason is that children feel a sense of achievement when they do their chores. No matter whether they’re making their beds or they’re sweeping the floor, helping out around the house makes children feel capable. Doing chores also helps children feel like they’re part of the team and learn responsibility. Helping family members is good for them and it encourages them to be good adults.

Children who do chores gain important life skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. Life skills such as meal preparation, mowing the lawn, or doing the laundry will be important after high school, which helps your children live independently.

8 . The following are newly released devices all designed to help make your life more convenient, beautiful and vivid.

Tonal

$2,995 AT TONAL.COM

Tonal makes lifting and resistance training truly easy and accessible from your own home. It is great because I hate any sort of public weight training. Tonal has a remarkably easy user interface and gives data and feedback in a helpful manner. It also makes you feel great by keeping track of clear improvements.

Hisense 75” U800GR 8K ULED Roku TV

$1,800 AT BEST BUY

8k sounded like a luxury, but now that brands like Hisense, which focus on a more affordable end of the spectrum, have gotten some time with the tech, you can finally bring the deep color output and stunning detail into your living room. Calling it “affordable” may be a stretch, but compared to most 8k TV’s which all run over $5,000, it’s the most cost-efficient version of the tech we’ve got. It gets your money worth best.

VIVE Goggle

$499 AT VIVE.COM

Vive goggles will bring an extremely accessible and refreshing approach to the VR world. They are a pair of goggles not unlike something you’d wear to snowboard. They’re extremely lightweight with a lightning fast set — that’s connected with things like watching Netflix. It’s the calmest headset I’ve ever worn and uses cameras to let you control everything with just your hands. This one’s for the not-gamers.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde

$920 AT WALMART

For people who easily sneeze because of dog hair or something like that outside, Dyson has created a machine that saves them for time at home. This new purifier doubles as a humidifier, plus it has a cooling function, making it the end all be all for stuffy, hot, dry apartments.

10 . Fun Ways to Learn English Faster

Read, read, read.

One of the easiest things you can do to learn English faster is to read as much as you can.     1     This will make your vocabulary better and it will also help you learn grammar and slang (俚语).

Watch movies.

Watching movies will also help you improve your English, by helping you to hear what it sounds like and also helping you to learn new words.     2     Once you have a basic vocabulary, try to keep the subtitles (字幕) off and focus on listening for the words you do know and guessing the words you don’t know from what is happening on the screen.

Sing songs.

Learning and singing songs is another good way to make your English better.     3     It will also help increase your vocabulary. Find a song you like, learn it, and learn what the lyrics (歌词) mean.

    4    

You can also just make friends with English language speakers online and chat, email, and Skype together in order to practise your English. You can talk about whatever you want!     5