1 . Have you ever considered starting over? Ten years ago I did just that. I'd worked in advertising throughout my ______ life. But it wasn't until my newborn son became very ill that I had the courage to ______ my job and decided to pursue an ambition I'd always held since school: a career in medicine. I'm now a newly qualified doctor working in London.

Our son became ______ ill soon after birth. When he was ______ to St George's Hospital, it became ______ that he would face complex and lifelong challenges. The only constant (不变) was the ______ shown by the team of clinicians looking after our son. Interacting with those professionals refueled a passion in me that had long been ______ . I ______ to become a doctor, not only for my son, but also for myself. Just keep pushing and never have any ______ .

Was I ______ for life in the National Health Service(NHS)? Absolutely not. Never have I worked so hard for so little financial reward and with so little ______ . Like many first-year doctors, I ______ myself flying alone just weeks after graduation, working three weekends every month.

Working in the NHS over the past four years has not only made me ______ how complex delivering world-class care can be, but also given me ______ to make it better. In the advertising department we were constantly trying to ______ our customers' experience. Why shouldn't the same principle ______ the NHS? Alongside my clinical work, I've chosen to ______ how digital technologies can create a more patient-centred system, improving ______ to NHS services and streamlining (使……效率更高) the patient journey.

Now, I'm in my 40s. I couldn't be happier to finally call myself a doctor. ______ the long hours, lack of sleep and endless workload, I feel ______ to be able to help others. It's the best thing I've ever done.

3 . Growing up, I always heard people say work hard pays. I never really understood these words until I reached the age where my parents stopped giving me my monthly allowance and asked me to look for a job.

New Year is a season of good news for merrymakers and entrepreneurial (企业家的) characters. My childhood friend was one of the latter. Mike and I were two sides of the same coin. I was an introvert and a bookworm, while Mike was outgoing and a merrymaker. His added advantage over me was that he came from a family of entrepreneurs. Therefore, while I saw the festive season as another time to enjoy, he saw it as a perfect time to make money. Ironically, I needed this side of him, given my present predicament (困境).

Mike was not of the “work hard pays” school of thought but the “work smart” school. When I told him about my predicament, he saw a business partner. He confided ( 吐 露 ) in me about his business idea — making and selling festive decorations. Having noticed my disbelieving look, he told me he had researched and realized that only one shop sold festive decorations with exorbitant ( 过 高 的 ) price, which meant that there was room for competition. However, I reminded him starting a business, let alone competing with an established enterprise, required capital. He told me, “Not really. All we had to do was make some decorations ourselves.” Upon that, we made some special designs and hit the ground running.

News about our selling decorations spread like wildfire. Mike’s decision to publish brochures advertising our products was a genius marketing trick. Within three days, we had sold about 50 sets of decorations, and as they say, the rest is history.

My parents’ decision to stop my monthly allowance served to teach me the value of work. However, it was my entrepreneurial adventure with Mike that taught me that working smart is better than working hard.

4 . A song called Lonely Warrior (《孤勇者》) is always ringing in my ears. Six years ago, after hosting an annual ceremony for my school, I found that my left leg was a little swollen, and very soon I could barely walk. In fact, the swollen part became a fist-sized meatball that was so painful that I could barely sleep. Of course, I went to a local hospital, where I was given very bleak (不乐观的) news-osteosarcoma, which means bone cancer.

I underwent chemotherapy (化疗) for the next two years, and it was the worst time of my life. Physically, I felt that the side effects of chemotherapy were killing me. I lost all of the hair on my body and I became totally bald. I could barely eat anything, even if felt hungry. I no longer needed an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Instead, what woke me was my body telling me that I needed to vomit (呕吐).

I had no idea where all this treatment would leave me, and the dreams I had once nursed about the future were entirely wiped out. I wanted to feel the world and experience more, so I stuck to the course of treatment. As time went by, however, I became weaker and weaker. The side effects now were far worse than they had been earlier.

I eventually suggested that the leg be chopped off, and the doctor said that might be the best thing to do, as long as I could cope with the psychological and social pressures afterward. I made my decision very calmly, because I knew things could not be worse than they were at that moment, and I was determined that this was just one more battle I would win.

Now, six years later, I have weathered all these difficulties. I have been so lucky to be able to find the strength to deal with all of this, and what I have to tell anyone still struggling with difficulties is this: have faith in yourself, and do not let bad moments drag you down. Just hang on and you will come through.

6 . Professionals use the word “amateur” as a term of contempt (蔑视) for those who lack formal training and qualifications.    1    One day that amateur might just create a new industry.

Typical amateurs are free to invent as they please, try new ideas, fail, and get up and do it all again—but better. As Marshall McLuhan，the media theorist，said：“Amateurs can afford to lose.”    3    Amateurs can do it part-time,for charity or for fun. The old cartels are being bypassed thanks to technological advances and a more informal society. Now everyone can DIY and experiment—from blogging to film-making to online advice shops.

    4    The mysteries of the self-satisfied old crafts are revealed for all to see through the internet. The world is vastly more complex now,but that means even the most revered professional needs expert to help. The end of the age of compliance means we no longer hold elites such as judges and bankers in such awe. For centuries the club-like professional bodies have taken charge of the society,a form for the well-educated and connected.

    5    They represent the ultimate success. I don’t deny the importance of education,but I place greater emphasis on results and originality,as opposed to doctorates and memberships of professional bodies. They are all too often focused on defending privilege and status rather than the public good.

7 . A sweet,coming-of-age film has attracted numbers of audiences,including the judges at the Academy Awards. The movie CODA is shining a light,having won Best Picture of 2021. CODA means Children of Deaf Adults,and is about Ruby, a hearing teenage girl growing up with deaf parents and a deaf brother. As opposed to following her own dreams of becoming a singer,she finds herself mostly at home,being an interpreter for her family.

This is an English language version of the 2014movie La Famille Belier,however,CODA takes this story to a new level. Unlike the French version, which used hearing actors, the writer and director Sian Heder insisted on using deaf actors, a first for Hollywood. The film reveals the hardships and challenges experienced by deaf people who are parenting and working in a hearing world. Using deaf actors who understand this reality and who sign fluently has been a game-changer.

“For too long, the industry has rewarded actors and directors who have exploited the trope(比喻)of faking sympathetic disabilities to win awards for themselves without bringing in deaf people or people with disabilities to ensure authenticity(真实性).”Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf said. Such authenticity has earned CODA many distinctions, including multiple awards at the 2021 Sun-dance Festival, as well as three Oscars.

Thanks to CODA, cinema lovers may now be able to better understand and respect a world that has been mostly silenced.“It’s a culture that has been ignored and blocked off from access. I hope that people are going to be exposed to deaf culture through this film,and exposed to American Sign Language who might never have seen a scene before where a deaf family is sitting around a dinner table.”Heder said.

This is a feel-good movie full of emotion,love, and the challenges of life. It has touched the hearts of people across the world,both hearing and deaf, and is uniting all.

8 . Occasionally, misfortune will happen in our life and no one can avoid it. If you choose only to complain and escape from the misfortune, it will constantly follow you no matter where you go.     1    

A girl, called Selina, lost her arms in a traffic accident that caused her father’s death — who was the main source of support for the whole family.     2     For the sake of caring for her, her elder brother became her shadow , never leaving her alone for years. Except for writing with her toes, she was totally unable to do anything in her life. Then one day, her elder brother wanted to live his own normal life, and they had no choice but to separate. So she was almost desperate and didn’t know what to do next.

    3     When he tried to prepare dinner for his parents, he overturned the kerosene light on the stove, resulting in a fire that took his hands away. Though his younger brother that was studying in another city, showed his willingness to take care of him, he was determined to be totally independent. At school, he always studied hard. Most of what he learned was to be independent. Once he wrote the following in his composition: “I am lucky. Though I lost my arms, I still have legs; I am lucky. Though my wings are broken, my heart can still fly. ”

One day, the girl and the boy were both interviewed on a television program. The girl complained to the TV host about her uncertain future at being left on her own, but the boy was full of enthusiasm for his life.     4     The girl wrote: My elder brother’s arms are my arms. However, the boy wrote: Broken wings, flying heart.

    5     It is true that life is unpredictable. Disasters can strike at any time. How you deal with misfortune when faced with it is the true test of your character. If you choose only to complain and escape from the ordeal, it will always follow you wherever you go. But if you decide to face it bravely, the hardship will turn out to be a fortune on which new hopes will arise.

9 . Life is full of struggles. Sometimes, we simply want to shy away from them. But even when our minds are constantly telling us that we should call it a day, we can still keep on going. The solution is the Cookie Jar.

The Cookie Jar method was created by one of the toughest men alive, David Goggins. Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL, who has competed in more than sixty ultra-marathons triathlon.

To raise money for a non-profit organization for orphans, Goggins vowed to run Badwater 135. Badwater is the world’s hardest foot race. To qualify for Badwater, one has to run 100 miles in 3 days, that is, 4 marathons in one go. With zero preparation and training, Goggins decided to have a try.

For the first few miles of the race, he felt fine and had no trouble running. But at mile 50, his legs felt like they were loaded with lead. Stil he ran. Then at mile 70, he couldn’t take another step forward. Exhausted and feeling beaten down, he sat down to rest. He kept on asking himself, “Why? Why are you still doing this to yourself?” He then remembered this wasn’t the first time he’d taken on an impossible task. And he suddenly felt some energy build up. He started walking slowly, step by step. He kept on digging in his past while remembering all his previous victories, making him get the energy he needed to keep on going. His feet were still a bloody mess, full of blisters. But it gave him just enough drive to sustain him, until the 100-mile mark. And that’s what the Cookie Jar is.

We all have a cookie jar inside us. Whenever you face a challenge, whenever you want to give up, you open the cookie jar and pick a cookie. The cookie reminds you of something you’ve overcome and how far you’ve come. Eventually, you’ll slowly build up your mind to be more mentally tough. Impossible, will turn into, I can do this.

10 . Months before her wedding, Kjersten Gruys was becoming increasingly anxious about her body image after shopping for wedding dresses. She felt that the mirrors surrounding her, were contributing to the_________. Gruys_________to take a whole year off from looking in and engaging with mirrors.

It wasn’t_________. “I wasn’t just avoiding mirrors, but all_________surfaces, from the glass windows of stores to freshly washed cars. I ended up_________up the mirrors in my home and workplace. I_________myself to avoid seeing reflections when I was walking outside,” says Gruys.

But, she said, the_________were worth it. She spent less time thinking and worrying about her_________, and had to simplify her makeup to_________her no—mirrors lifestyle, both of which__________time and money. She realized that some things had no impact on the way others__________her. For example, she had thought that eyeliner made her eyes stand out and that people “__________her better” for that, but she__________that she was treated just the same without it.

She also learned to__________her friends and family more, when she checked in with them to find out whether she had food on her__________.

__________spending some “mirror time” before her wedding ceremony, Gruys took some time to journal. She says that she’s__________to have it to cherish.

Would she__________the experiment to others? “If someone is interested in examining the role of vanity (虚荣) in their lives, I think this is a__________thing to do.” says Gruys. “Yet, even if you do this for a day or two, you may realize it’s really a__________.”