Before the disturbing College Entrance Examination,     1     (我是如此悲观和焦虑不安，以至于我经常感到头晕).     2     (既疲惫又沮丧，我不能全神贯注于学习). Nothing could refresh my spirits. Limitless pain and uneasiness dominated my life and my heart felt as if it had been stabbed by a needle. Sensing my terrible state, my teachers did whatever they could to     3     (竭尽全力激发我的学习热情，增强我的自信心). Finally, I     4     (获得了巨大的进步), and my eyes were filled with joy and appreciation.

Last weekend, I took part in a forest clean-up activity. It was organized by Green Hope, an organization devoted to protecting forests.起初，我不想参加，    1    but then I thought, “What if nobody goes?”

Our team leader, Joe, took us to a forest outside the city. I was sad to find rubbish everywhere.     2    There was a “No littering” sign at the entrance to the forest, but that didn’t stop people from throwing their rubbish on the ground. Joe divided us into two groups:    3     one group cleaned up the north side of the forest, and the other the south side. After several hours’ work,看到森林比以前看起来要干净些，我们很开心    4    It was absolutely worth our effort!

There will be another clean-up activity in the greenbelt next Saturday. You can call Joe and sign up    5     if you would like to help. Everyone who takes part in the activity will receive a medal. I’ll join you too if I have time.

We’re told that writing is dying. Typing on keyboards and screens curbs ________written communication today. Learning cursive (草书), joined-up handwriting was once obligatory ________in schools. But now, not so much. Countries such as Finland have dropped joined-up handwriting lessons in schools to stick up for ________ typing courses. And in the U.S., the requirement to learm cursive has been left out of core standards since 2013. A few U.S. states still place value on formative cursive education, such as Arizona, but they’re not the mayority.

Some experts point out that writing lessons can have indirect benefts. Anne Trubek, author of The History and   Uncertain Future of Handwriting, argues that such lessons can reinforce a skill   called   automaticity. Thats   when   you’ve   perfected     a   task, and     can   do   it     almost   without thinking, granting ________ you extra mental bandwidth to think about or do other things while you’re doing the task. In this sense, Trubek likens handwriting to driving. “Once you have driven for a while, you   don’t consciously ________think   ‘Step   on   gas now’ or ‘Turn the   steering wheel   a bit’,” she explains.

Learning has become my life habit. I think learning is a lifelong journey because every day brings something new.     1    I will leave the junior high school.我期待去我理想的高中。    2    So I must study harder.

By studying hard I can write thousands of English words. At first, I didn’t know many English words. Like most students, I thought it was hard and boring to remember them all.     3    But there was an English word competition at our school. I picked up a dictionary and prepared for it. I tried to understand the meaning of each word first. It helped me remember them quickly.

Thankfully, my father gave me a hand. If he found some useful words, he would tell me in a special way.     4    It made the whole thing more interesting.

In the competition, I won the first prize, which made me really happy. This experience taught me to remember more English words.

Of all the dictionaries, I like Oxford English Dictionary best.我家里有十多本《牛津英语字典》。     5    I want to recite the whole dictionary. I should never give up trying to achieve my dream. It is really difficult but I believe anything is possible if you study hard.