1 . At the start of every vacation, many parents spend their time wondering: What will the children do? When I was a child in the 1950s, the answer was easy. The children would play. We played feely with other children, in our own chosen ways, away from adults. When we got bored, we found ways to overcome it. We took up _________, took risks, sometimes hurt ourselves, got into trouble, and _________ how to get out of it.

During such play, we acquired knowledge and skills that couldn’t be taught to us in school. We learned how to take _________, make our own decisions, solve our own problems, get along with peers as equals, experience fear and then find ways to manage it, experience anger and then find ways to overcome it. We also discovered our interests, _________ them, and became skilled at them—interests that for many of us later became _________.

Over the past 60 years, however, we’ve seen a huge _________ in children’s freedom and opportunity to play on their own. Over this same period, we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the rates of _________ and anxiety disorders among young people- five to eight times what they were in the 1950s.

Our children love to play in moderately _________ ways. Through such play, they acquire the physical, social and emotional capacities required for healthy development. They learn to get along with one another by playing socially, and they learn to deal with emergencies by playing in ways that involve risk.

Why is such play so _________? It can cause injury, so why hasn’t natural selection __________ the inner desire for it? We have some clues from laboratory experiments.

Researchers have found that when young rats or monkeys are deprived (剥夺) of play during critical periods in their development, the animals grow up as emotional cripples (跛者). They are __________ disabled when placed in new, slightly frightening environments to which normally raised animals would __________. They repeated between incapacitating fear and inappropriate aggression when placed with __________ peers. So it is no surprise to me that play-deprived human children grow up insufficient in the social and emotional skills required to deal well with life’s inevitable stressors (应激源). They may also grow up __________ the abilities to think creatively, take initiative, and assume responsibility.

We have deprived children of free, risky play, probably for their own good. In the process we have denied them the opportunity to learn how to be __________ by playing in risky ways.

Our children need more freedom, not more adult control.

2 . In today’s society, despite higher education becoming more accessible, admission to it is getting increasingly competitive. However, admission systems differ from country to country, _________ different types of competition.

_________, an average high school student in China is devoted to mastering everything that can _________ appear on the “holy (神圣的)” exam—the college entrance examination, known as the gaokao. As a good score on this exam almost _________ admission to a good colleges, it’s worth the 12 years of hard work.

In the United States, _________, education is different. To get into a good college, a regular U.S. student must keep a high and stable GPA (grade pint average), _________ extracurricular activities, and get high standardized test scores. Once a school recognizes a student’s academic performance and personal development, he or she will have a chance to be admitted.

In both countries, the _________ is getting more intense. High schools in China focus on preparing students for the gaokao. Even outside of school, many parents _________ tutoring sessions for their children. And in the U.S., _________ heavy workloads in school, students are often pushed to be involved in many activities including sports, arts and volunteering. Some students even run their own non-profits. With some colleges’ acceptance rates as low as 4.8 percent, students compete to build the most __________ resume.

__________many people criticize education in China, it’s __________ impossible to use a personalized admission system in the world’s most populated country. Just imagine how many admission officers a Chinese university would need to evaluate all of the application, not to mention the time it would take for them to make their decisions.

While the current system needs reform, the __________ of parents and students also needs to change. A score shouldn’t __________ a student’s future. Everyone is gifted in different areas and needs to take some time to discover what those areas are. If you’re not good at tests, maybe communicating with others comes to you easier.

Once you step outside this box, you’ll discover more about yourself. __________, exams are only the means, not the end.

4 . I decided at age 10 that I was going to be a teacher because I _________ superpowers. When I was in primary school, I could clearly see that some of my _________ had superpowers because I was always the quietly observant one, _________ things.

Our English teacher could magically _________ us to different worlds every day, simply by reading stories to us from books we would otherwise never _________ . This was our secret because fifth graders were considered too _________ to have stories read out to them. Then our headmaster, a teacher as well, _________ everything about every child. You couldn't _________ his laser-like (激光般的) eyes that could see right into you—through flesh, bones and all. And our geography teacher could _________ the invisible (隐形的) . I remained rather quiet and unnoticeable. ____________ , she would spot me. The unspoken ____________ in her superpowered eyes told me: “I see you, I know you, I understand you.”

As I learned from them, the ____________ of a primary school educator is to teach children, not subjects. What seems ____________ to me is that all those teachers calmly create ____________ in their ordinary classrooms. No one ever noticed that they were so creative in ____________ young human beings.

Teaching is not just a job—it is a science and an art, and it ____________ emotional labour and input. When I ____________ after teaching for three decades, what gives me ____________ is remembering the children who felt happier in school because I was their teacher. When I meet others who ____________ to gain superpowers, like the brand-new teacher struggling to perfect her skills, or the one in a rural school traveling seventy kilometers each way just for the pupils, I feel ____________ to belong to the same group.

5 . Mr. Thompson was my biology teacher in Grade 5. On the first day of school, he introduced us to an animal called the Rabbitervore, which _______ during the Ice Age. While he described it, he _______ around a set of skeleton(骨架). We listened carefully, took notes and later had a _______.

When I had my paper back, I was greatly _______. None of my answers was right! There must have been some _______. I did nothing wrong! I wrote down _______what Mr. Thompson said. Then I realized that _______ in my class failed the test. What happened? The answer was simple. Mr. Thompson said he_______ the whole story about the Rabbitervore. There had never been such an animal! So, our notes were tally _______. How could we expect grades for wrong answers? We were very ________. What kind of test was it? And what kind of teacher was he?

Later, Mr. Thompson said we had tons of chances to find out the truth: the skeleton was,________, a rabbit’s. But he was passing it around, he kept telling us that all this kind of animals died in the Ice Age, nothing of which________.But he told us about its amazing speed, its soft fur and other________which were impossible to know. He even gave us a(n) ________ of the animal beginning with “Rabbit”, but we still didn't question. The ________we got would be recorded in the grade book, he said. And they were.

Mr. Thompson said he hoped this experience could teach us an unforgettable lesson-teachers are not ________right. Actually, no one is. He warned us not to let our ________ fall asleep and encouraged us to speak up bravely ________ we thought he was wrong.

Although I haven’t ________ any great scientific achievements, I find something so important through Mr. Thompson’s class: the courage to look people directly ________ the eye and point out their wrongs. He also showed us that it is fun to do so.

6 . I was in the ninth grade, when I began to suffer from depression. I didn’t have many friends. I could never _________ my problems. Soon I _________ to attend classes for days. I became _________ and angry. I would even _________ myself in my room for hours. The exams were approaching, but I simply didn’t care. My parents and teachers were astonished at my bad _________. Constant quarrels made life at home a living hell—all because of me.

One morning, after a hard _________ from Dad, I stood blankly at the school gate. As the other students _________ to their classrooms, our English teacher found me. _________ what I’d done, she led me to her office.

The next 45 minutes was the most _________ moment of my life. She said she had noticed a big __________ in me. She wanted to know why I was so often absent and unhappy. She took my hand in hers and listened __________ as I spilled out my worries. She then __________ me as I sobbed my closed emotions out. I could feel my months of frustration and __________ melting away.

No one had tried to understand what the real problem was, but my teacher had done it with her simple act of just listening to me with such __________ and caring.

She __________ to be my best friend. From then on, I often went to her office and we discussed my problems, hobbies and __________ on my mind. I __________ school every day. 

As the exams __________ again, I studied hard. When the __________ were declared, everybody was pleased. But the happiest of all was my English teacher. With tears of __________, she presented me with a pen. Today I have become a happy writer, thanks to her.

7 . Teens around the world use social media a lot. But is this a good thing? While you can say nice and _______ things on the Internet, you could also say mean and hurtful things too. When someone says something mean or hurtful _______, it's called cyberbullying (网络欺凌) .

When people say mean things to us, we feel _______, depressed and powerless. These are just some of the possible _______ effects that could affect teens who are cyberbullied. When people are often sad or depressed, they could begin to _______ suicide (自杀) . They think that their lives aren't worth anything or that their lives are too _______ to handle. It's difficult to believe that one person saying mean or cruel things to another person could make him think about _______ himself, but it's true and it does happen. Now, you could _______ everything that was said. You could say that teens can just turn off their computers or their phones. They can just block (屏蔽) the person who _______ them or just simply ignore him. __________ people, especially teens, love going on the Internet and talking to people. It's part of their daily lives. It's __________ to tell teens to turn them all off. In addition, __________ they block someone, the person can just __________ coming back on a different account or as someone else. Also if it's a publicly posted video, picture or message, everyone can see it and __________ report or share it. It's impossible to block everyone.

And finally no one can just __________ so many mean words that are being said to them.

Overall, cyberbullying is a terrible thing that people do. There should be laws to protect people from cyberbullying.