2 . “Whenever I am in a group of people, I feel like everyone knows what to say except me. When I try to join in, I get anxious and have a struggle _______ words. This happens at parties or meetings and I feel _______ — as if I were being interviewed for a job. People think I am a loner. Maybe I am?”

Individuals experiencing this type of social _______ often avoid eye contact, because it makes them feel _______ and judged. The feelings of awkwardness and not fitting in with others are often frustrating. It prevents these individuals from defending and _______ for themselves in social environments, though they may be _______ at holding on to their opinions in environments that are focused on a task rather than _______.

Fitting into groups of people requires _______. You need to be interested in the topics that others in the group are interested in and talk about them the way they do. Becoming a part of these groups requires that you _______ some of your individuality in order to accept others’ __________ and values.

Some individuals are like chameleon (变色龙) in that they __________ pick up the patterns of different groups and __________ themselves accordingly. For them, this is automatic and they don’t even come to the __________ that they are changing themselves to fit into groups. If you are one of those people who feels __________ in most social group settings, it may be because you __________ changing the way you think in order to feel part of a group and this shouldn’t be a weakness or a failure.

4 . UPS deliveryman Ryan Arens was making his rounds near a pond, when he heard a strange sound. It was December, and about 15 feet from the frozen bank was the _________ of that sound — a brown-and-white wire-haired hound（猎犬）had fallen through the thin layer of ice. An elderly man was already on the _________, determined to save her. He was trying to _________ the pond and was striking the ice with a rock to create a(n) _________ to the dog, but seemed to be struggling.

Arens, 44, thought he _________ a better chance. “Animals are my weakness,” he said, explaining _________ he chose to take off his overcoat, even though the temperature was minus 15 and _________ the rescue task.

After breaking the ice using the man’s rock, Arens jumped into the icy water. He surfaced in time to see the dog going under. Arens swam about five feet toward the dog, grabbed hold of her collar, and _________ her out of the water and onto the ice. He then put the dog into the boat and slid it back to the bank, where _________ bystanders carried the dog to the home of the rowboat’s owner, a retired vet. __________ in the house himself, Arens jumped into a warm shower with the dog. A few more minutes in the pond, the vet told Arens, and the dog would have likely __________.

The next day, Arens was again making his __________ in the neighborhood when the dog’s owner came __________ to thank him for saving Sadie. “Would you like to meet her?” he asked. Then he opened the door of his pickup, and Sadie jumped out. She went __________ toward Arens, leaping around him and kissing him. Arens said that special delivery was the __________ of his UPS career.

5 . Have you seen people who take pictures of food for more than 10 minutes before eating? How about those who beautify their selfie (自拍照片) so much that they can’t be _______?There must be one or more who _______ in your social media. No matter what they choose to share, they share the best but the most unreal.

Take my friend Chen. Every time we went to a restaurant, she would not take a _______ until all the dishes we _______ were on the table. Then, she would spend five minutes in setting the dishes in a seemingly random but in fact _______ order. Then the most important part: taking pictures. After that, she would choose one of the _______ and click in the filter (滤镜) app. The food eventually looked 10 times more delicious than it really was, but we had no _______ to really enjoy it—it all went cold. Actually Chen’s real life is much less elegant. For example, she hates to wash the dishes, so she leaves them in the sink for _______.

Many people care too much about others’ opinions and try too hard to _______ others. They find it hard to be ________ and to accept themselves, and thus they are afraid to show their real life on social media. What they are trying to prove is ________ what they lack in reality. But this will not bring any change to reality, as they still ________ the same old pattern of life.

If they really want an elegant life, they should put more ________ into achieving it. Being more confident, ________ themselves and trying their best to be better is much more meaningful than ________ their life on social media.

6 . Society has the responsibility of improving the quality of life of disabled people. You can judge a society by the way it _________ and cares for its disabled population. Disabled people are not _________ of their families nor of the society they belong to. In fact, many of them are able to _________ their own careers and do very well in their own fields. How many great men of all ages who suffered some forms of disability but reached the top of their _________ and helped shape the lives of governments and peoples!

Since we have reached a certain standard of existence, it is the moral responsibility of the society to meet the special needs of these people. All of us will _________ this stage in our human existence-that is, being a disabled man. If now you are physically _________, with no physical impairment, time will come when you will grow old, and you’ll need that special attention. Because of discoveries of new medicines and better methods of health care, a great part of the population of the world can live longer. You may be a part of it in the near future. So, a great many will _________ difficulties if alleys and passages, buildings and structures and means of transportation are “not” suited to a disabled-friendly environment.

Society’s government must be able to _________ ramps(人造斜坡) in buildings or structures, or a barrier-free environment. The blind or the visually-impaired must also have _________ to computers with Braille(盲文)system. The deaf-mute need ____________, or if not, their co-employees must be able to do ____________ language and special children must be given ____________ care and education.

____________, only those advanced countries can provide these ____________, and those disabled people who are living in poor countries have to stay at home, and have to bear with many barriers, living in a(n)____________ environment.

8 . Over the years, digital communication has brought about more changes than the printing press did. And the standout early adopters are teenagers, whose brains appear to have an extraordinary ________ to adapt to the world.

As a species, our brains are still flexible and ________ during adolescence, which means some ________ of it, such as impulse control and the ability to make long-term decisions, haven’t developed yet, and this may also explain why we spend a(n) ________ period living under the protection of our parents rather than leaving home at 12 or 13. This also means the adolescent brain can adapt to new technology, allowing teenagers to ________ the accelerating pace of digital technology and manage different tasks at the same time. In the US, teenagers are spending 8. 5 hours using computers, mobiles and other devices to learn, interact and play. This jumps to 11.5 if you take into account all of the ________, such as talking on the phone while watching TV.

There are ________ as to how social media is affecting the way the brain learns to ________ since one of the most important skills that we learn as children is how to make friends and interact with people. These interactions are now being ________ by technology — you could have hundreds of friends, all of whom are real people that you interact with-and scientists aren’t sure whether we’ll be able to develop the same ________ using social media.

There is a possible ________ of the digital trend: it is indicated that teenagers all over the world are watching the same clips and laughing at the same jokes, meaning they are more ________ than their predecessors (前辈). They may be ________ to texting their friends and posting updates on social media, but teenagers today are probably going to have access to technology and ________ social and educational opportunities that anyone with a less flexible brain might have trouble imagining. ________, there is a cut-off and by the age of 30, our brains become more set in their ways, making it harder for us to adapt and cope with new technologies.

9 . Could buying paintings make you rich?

Is investing in paintings a good way to get rich fast? And how should you invest in art?

“With extreme________” is the advice of a well-known financial adviser. “We don’t recommend our customers to invest in art because the disadvantages are greater than the advantages. It doesn’t produce income or________. What you get back is entirely based on supply and________, and there are big movements upwards or downwards if there are changes in the economic environment, ” he said.

To invest in art as a true investment, you need a starting________. But it’s not just about having enough money to buy the painting in the first place. Expensive works of art are often stored in protective boxes complete with________ to monitor humidity and temperature levels, and to protect them from sun damage or other________ such as a spilled cup of coffee. And if you do put it on your wall, then your insurance costs are likely to be high. If word gets out that you have expensive art hanging on your wall, then you’re likely to be a________ for thieves.

Art is also not a regulated investment so when things go wrong-for example, an artwork________ to be a fraud(赝品)-then investors cannot count on regulation for any compensation.

Of course given the current environment of low interest rates, investing in art may still give you a(n)________ return than many savings accounts will. As art has no association with the stock market, it means paintings can________ in value even when the market crashes, making it a good investment________. It is reported that despite a decrease in the global art market throughout 2016, auction(拍卖)sales________ in the first six months of 2017.

Yet you don’t necessarily have to be super-wealthy to invest in art. There are a growing number of art fairs and online marketplaces aimed at buyers with a more________ budget. Most art industry experts suggest that you buy a piece of art because you like it, not because you want to get rich. The most________ approach is probably to buy something you like and can________, and be prepared to keep it just for your own pleasure. If it goes up in value that should be just an added benefit.

10 . The loss of a job can have a very serious impact on the individual. The ________ effect, of course, is a sharp drop in income. Unemployment benefits (救济金) ________ offer less than half the individual’s previous earnings (收入), and many people are not even entitled to these benefits-for example, the self-employed, recent ________ who have not held a steady job in the previous year, and people who have been unemployed for a long period. The economic pressure on the jobless is very severe, particularly for those who have young children or ________ expenses for houses and education.

________, the effects of unemployment are not merely financial (经济的); they are also social and ________. As one out-of-work teacher puts it, “It’s difficult when you are robbed of all the things that supposedly ________ you together in terms of an identity — your work, your money, whatever is power to you, whatever is responsibility, whatever ________ freedom and choice. I had to ask myself, ‘Who am I now? What will I do now?’” All too ________, long-term unemployment may thrust the individual into boredom, despair, ill-temper, and perhaps, conflict with other family members. Even those who keep their jobs are affected by ________ of unemployment, for they begin to fear for their own future. ________ the confidence that workers have in times of full employment, ________ negotiate less aggressively for improvements in pay or working ________, for they and the employers know that if they do not like the job as it is, others will gladly take it. Unemployment is always accompanied, ________, by underemployment — the situation in which people are working either for extremely low wages or at jobs ________ their level of skill.