1 . Alice, age 9:"Mom, do I have to brush my hair today?"

Me: Um, yes, it would be great if you could brush your hair every day!

In Alice's world, brushing her hair was an inconvenient nuisance(令人讨厌的事).I knew back then that this feeling would not last forever. One day I would pry (撬开) her hairbrush out of her hand and tear her away from the mirror. Five years later, my prediction has come true.

At age 14, there is no such thing for Alice as a spur-of-the-moment(一时兴起的) trip outside of the house. She is, indeed, obsessed with her physical appearance. Hair has to be brushed, makeup applied, and clothes changed many times before she can even think about leaving the house.

We have spoken at length about how looks don't matter and that being a good, kind and compassionate person in this world is way more important than any aesthetic(审美观).Each time we have this conversation, Alice reminds me that she knows technically looks aren't important. But when she looks good on the outside, she feels more confident on the inside. In turn, that makes her a kinder, more compassionate and more understanding person.

So while I will never be happy to see my daughter try on many shirts only to pick the first one she tried, or spend an hour getting ready for an event when the rest of the family were ready in 10 minutes, I know this is something she needs to do. Creating an identity for herself as an individual outside of her family unit is a natural and necessary part of the teenage process.

And just as she learned over the years that hair-brushing is probably a good idea, so will she hopefully learn that sometimes it's okay to go out in a less-than-perfect outfit or without makeup. Somewhere deep down,her freewheeling 9-year-old self still knows that.

5 . Martin Henfield talks about some of his experience as a twin: when we were small my mother dressed us _______ the same clothes. That was bad enough and we didn’t like it. But when we went on our first camping trip, it was even _______. We were only ten years old, and while _______ went into their sleeping bags for the _______, we were not happy to snuggle inside a double sleeping bag my mother made for us.

At school our classmates _______ us Henfield One and Henfield Two, so people _______ even see our difference according to our initials because _______ of us were M. O. It was only when I went to _______ and began to have my own friends that I started to feel my own freedom of identity (身份).

Before I went to college, during my secondary school _______, I ________ a job on a building site. My twin brother, Mike Henfield, didn’t work. One day I asked my boss, “Can I have a week ________?” “Certainly,” he said. “But you won’t have the job when you ________ back.” I didn’t want to ________ the job. So on Monday morning, Mike went there in my ________, jacket and hat and he worked for me for one week. ________ of them knew the difference.

6 . When Guo Xiaoyu was born just days ahead of the Opening Ceremony in August, his grandpa Tao Zhenguo was very busy with his volunteer work for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The grandpa was very happy to _________ his newcomer.

Fourteen years later, the 77-year-old Tao is even _________ because Guo has also become an Olympics volunteer. “He is _________ an Olympic boy now,” Tao says. Both grandfather and grandson are volunteering at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. They are helping with garbage _________, traffic guidance and information inquiries (查询).

Guo says he learned a lot from his _________. He listened to Tao’s volunteer _________ when he was a little child, and began doing community work. But Guo is not just _________. He’s now also teaching his grandpa English.

Tao doesn’t speak English, but he is _________ that “as an Olympics volunteer, I have to learn it to at least be able to communicate a bit with foreign guests”. “It’s never too late to learn,” Tao says. “I don’t _________ to become an English-language master, but I hope that I can at least say Welcome to Beijing when I ____________ foreign athletes and guests.”

9 . How to Bring Family Closer

Strong family bonds (纽带) can encourage better behaviors in children and teach them how to be a good friend.    1    

Set aside time for family.    2    By keeping this day on a regular schedule, everyone will know that they need to keep that day clear for family time. Then the entire family can get together for a fun activity.

Eat meals together. Choose a few nights during the week when you expect everyone to gather around the dinner table. Studies have shown that eating meals together has a positive effect on children’s physical and mental well-being.    3    Don’t allow phones. What’s the most important is that you come together and enjoy a meal free of distraction (分心).

    4    Make cleaning your home a responsibility for the whole family. Create a list of housework and have everyone sign up. Then set up a time during the week or on the weekend when everyone can do their housework together.

Encourage support. Feeling supported by your family is one of the most important things in building strong family bonds. Bonds like these will last your kids a lifetime. They will enjoy these strong bonds when they are your age and even after you are gone.    5    

10 . Sugar Goldtree was my Grandma. I loved her. Everyone called my grandma “Sugar”. Every time I heard it, I would smile a huge smile.Grandma Sugar had a small house with a large garden. She worked all year long preparing that garden. She would always tidy the garden carefully. She would till the soil until it was like fine sand.

Grandma Sugar would tell me that if we plant the corn in one place this year, then the next year we would need to plant it in another spot. She would always say,“Fill your garden with flowers, The bees will buzz (嗡嗡地飞) around your head when you are picking those nice little cucumbers (黄瓜). After all, they helped to make our plants so beautiful.”

“We are about ready to plant some sunflowers,” Grandma Sugar said, handing me a packet of seeds. I carefully placed the seeds in rows, and covered them with soil, stepping on top of the soil to pack it down. Grandma Sugar sat at the edge of the garden making signs to put at the end of each row, with a date on it. Each year we would keep those signs in a book with photos of me and Grandma Sugar in our garden.

Grandma Sugar had a whole basket of seeds to plant. One by one,we planted rows of corn, beans, cucumbers, onions, lettuce and tomatoes. In the middle of summer, I would run down to the garden with a basket. Grandma Sugar would yell (大赋),“Pick a salad from the bed, little sugar!”

Growing up in the garden was wonderful. I remember Grandma Sugar and her garden. I learned a lot of lessons in that garden.