2 . A Narrow Escape

Shortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days’ holiday with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country, although he hardly spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture in it. Many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked (漏水), making the whole house wet.

On our first evening, we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories our uncle told of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed; but I could not bear to miss any of my uncle’s exciting stories. He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above, the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.

When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door, a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had fallen right on to the pillow of my bed.

5 . There was once a boy called Joseph Webb who always loved to show off how many friends he had at school. One day his ________ said to him, “Joseph, I bet (打赌) you a big bag of popcorn that you don’t have as many friends as you think. I’m sure many of them are nothing more than companions.”

Joseph ________ the bet at once. However, he wasn’t sure how to test whether his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandfather. The old man answered, “Wait a minute.” Then he left and ________ soon as if carrying something in his hands, but Joseph could see nothing there.

“Take it. It’s a very ________ chair because it’s invisible (看不见). It’s rather ________ to sit on, but if you take it to school and ________ to sit on it, you’ll activate (激活) its ________ and it’ll be able to tell who your real friends are.”

Joseph, brave and determined, set off for ________ with the strange and invisible chair.   At break time he asked everyone to form a ________, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. Having difficulty seeing it, Joseph tried to sit on it but he ________ the seat and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone around him had a pretty good laugh.

“Wait! Let me try again, ”Joseph said. But again, he missed the seat,________ more surprised looks and a few catcalls. Joseph didn’t ________ and kept trying to sit on the magic chair. But he kept falling to the ground...until, suddenly he tried again but didn’t ________. Looking around, Joseph saw three of his best friends holding him up.________, many others he had thought of as friends had done nothing but make fun of him. And there, the show came to an end. Joseph understood that true friends were those who care for him, and not just the ________ that happened to be passing by. And someone who took joy in his misfortunes was even less of a friend.

6 . My best friend traveled to stay with our family last weekend. When she arrived, she went straight to the kitchen and, without asking, ate a spoonful of raspberry jam and some dried fruit. She wasn’t being rude. I knew she would do this. We’ve known each other for almost 20 years. She can eat anything she wants from my kitchen. Indeed, I bought her favorite fruits and snacks at the shop that morning.

Our long weekend together was luxuriously simple. I was recovering from surgery and couldn’t go to shopping malls. We passed the time running errands (做杂事), going to the post office and collecting dry cleaning. We drank away too many cappuccinos. But we talked about every little detail of our lives.

There’s never been a quiet moment in our friendship. We’ve lived in different cities for almost a decade. Reunions demand constant conversation. Our personalities are matched, to be sure, and a shared history is indescribably valuable. We were competitors in high school before bonding over a bad experience. Then we discovered the many interests that we had in common. Our friendship strengthened itself quickly. We stayed companions through law school, through our first jobs and our first boyfriends. We supported each other through break-ups and breakthroughs. Ours is a friendship for ages.

There is something special about friends who know everyone and everything about you. They are rare. These are the people you’ve chosen to witness your life. They have seen the bright lights of achievement, the depths of despair and the boring routine of the in-between.

It’s special to unpack feelings and frustrations without wasting time filling in the blanks. As my long weekend shows, with such friends we don’t have to “do”, we simply have to “be”. We drop the act, the performance, the public version of ourselves.

The special friendships are those which never fail to delight, the continuation of which is worth the extra effort, despite distance and difference sneaking (溜进) into your separate lives. I had the very great joy of this reminder last weekend. I’m lucky to have found this friend, to see a future where her companionship remains. Being together is perfection.

8 . When my dad finally finished the triathlon (铁人三项)in Montauk, the crowd cheered. It showed me how his hard work paid off and it excited my_________ . I wondered whether a small boy of my size could _________ something like that. I found myself _________this out loud and my father overheard me. He _________me and said I could train with him.

Training with my clad turned out to be very_________. We would get up very early for a morning jog or go for a swim in the pool after school. After a few weeks of training, I _________ my first triathlon. Before the competition, I nervously waited for the_________.

When someone fired the gun. I was off,_________towards the distant buoy (浮标)that marked my turn. I finished the half-mile swim and ran towards my _________. I was dripping wet,trying to __________it. Once on the bike, I experienced an excitement specific to __________. I went through the transition zone and__________ my running shoes. At the start of the run part of the triathlon, my__________ already felt like they were made of cement (水泥).

For me, the real competition began during the run, because now I could see each competitor as a target. No matter my__________in the field, each racer was either following me__________ being followed. The run part of the race was in fact__________tolerance.

“Shut up, legs”, one of my favorite sayings, kept me from thinking about the__________feeling. Then I crossed the finish line. I took a breath and then began a(an)__________with the other finishers. The sense of__________was there for all of us.

Looking back, I remember the small boy on that day in Montauk who doubted whether he could__________it, like his dad. Now, that same boy is not only a huge fan, but also a training partner as well.

9 . A small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree and it has been there for ten years or so.

It all began because my husband Justin hated Christmas—oh, not the true meaning of Christmas. Overspending was one thing, but compared to the difficult experience of choosing gifts—running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and a pair of gloves for Grandma…, spending money is nothing.

I felt too tired to think of any special gifts. Knowing Justin felt the same way, I decided one year not to buy the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so on. I reached for something special just for Justin. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in such worn-out shoes that shoe strings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, while our boys were in their blue and gold uniforms and new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was shocked to see that the other team were wrestling without wearing helmets to protect their heads. Well, our boys ended up defeating them. We took every weight class.

Justin, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot potential, but losing like this could take the heart out of them." Justin loved kids—-all kids, and he knew them, having coached little league football and baseball. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought different kinds of wrestling helmets and shoes. I sent them to the inner-city church without leaving my name.

On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Justin what I had done and that was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and since then the envelope has become the highlight of our Christmas.

10 . At the age of 17 years 64 days, Mack Rutherford has become the youngest person to fly around the world alone! Mack’s journey around the world lasted five months and he flew across 52 countries in total. His record-breaking flight began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on 23 March, 2022. He was 16 years old when he took off and celebrated his 17th birthday by himself in his plane.

Mack faced many challenges during his adventure. Because of his small-sized aircraft, he had to land whenever the weather got too rough. However, at some points he literally couldn’t land, such as when flying non-stop for 10 hours over an ocean. At other points, he faced extremely hot weather, such as in Dubai. In Sudan, a country in Africa, Mack also faced sandstorms which made it hard for him to see where he was going. Mack battled strong winds and pouring rain during his flight, but he never stopped smiling, joking and updating his flowers on his social media account along the way, and managed to expertly pilot his plane to safety.

And if Mack’s surname “Rutherford” sounds familiar, it’s because his elder sister Zara also flew around the world earlier this year, and still holds the female version of the record! The Rutherford siblings (兄弟姐妹) were inspired by their parents to become pilots. “I have known for certain I wanted to fly since I was eleven,” Mack said, “My dad Sam is a professional ferry pilot, my mum Beatrice is a recreational (娱乐的) private pilot.”

Mack hopes to inspire young people to begin working towards their own goals, “No matter what background you have, I believe it is never too early to work towards your dreams and you shouldn’t limit yourself by others’ expectations.” With both feet firmly back on the ground now, it’s time for Mack to turn his attention towards catching up on his schoolwork!