Not every successful man was born with a sense of success. All his teachers agreed that Jack was so clever that he was sure to     1     in life, but he showed no interest in study. Unlike his classmates, Jack     2     the endless homework and exams. It was after Jack encountered (邂逅) a famous musician that he began to     3     pop music. Soon Jack     4     an idea to     5     school to become a composer.

Joe is a “digital native” who has been using the computer since he was    1    child.     2    (surf) the Internet is definitely a big part of his life. He thinks online shopping is       3     convenient that he can save much time and money in daily life. But his parents hold different ideas.     4     the contrary, Li Ying is a go-getter, who likes setting    5     (goal) for herself. She always says, “When I set out to do something, I do my best     6    (achieve) it.” Biology is her favourite subject, and       7     (she) target is to prepare herself for her degree in biology at university. She is always    8    (attention) in classes and thinks actively. In her spare time, she always    9    (revise) the things she has learnt during the day.     10    the popular saying goes, “Every minute counts!”

Six months ago Xie Lei said goodbye to her family and friends in China and     1    (board) a plane for London. She is studying in a university in England on an exchange programme. But     2    (study) here is quite different from studying in China. “You have to get     3    (use) to a whole new way of life. When I got lost and had to ask a passer-by for directions, I didn’t always understand. They     4    (usual) speak too fast. ”Xie Lei said.

Xie Lei lives with a host family who give her lots of good advice. Living with a host family gives her the chance     5    (learn) more about the new culture.

The academic     6    (requirement) of a western university are different. The tutor wanted to know     7     she thought, not others’ ideas. He advised that she should read lots of different texts that contain different opinions     8     analyze what she read.

She feels much more     9     home in England now, and what seemed very strange before now     10    (appear) quite normal. She also spends much time for social activities and joins a few clubs. She is fitting very well in England.

Les Brown is one of the world’s foremost motivational speakers and thought leaders on self-improvement and goal-setting. However, it wasn’t always that way for him. Born in Liberty City, Miami on the floor of an abandoned building, he struggled     1     during his early life.

Les was a struggling student from the beginning. The story goes that during his school days he was     2     “educable mentally handicapped (智力残障的)” by the     3     world of his day and then placed back from 6th grade to 5th grade.

One day a teacher asked him to come up and solve a problem on the chalkboard, but Les     4     the challenge and said that he couldn’t do it. “Of course you can,” the teacher responded encouragingly. “But I can’t,” insisted Les. “I’m educable mentally handicapped.” The rest of the class erupted in laughter. At that point, the teacher stepped out from behind his desk and looked Les straight in the eye. “Don’t ever say that again,” he told him firmly. “Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” He     5     Les to believe in himself.

Les never forgot those words, and spent the rest of his life overcoming incredible difficulties and pursuing his goals passionately and     6    . Time and time again, thanks to that one teacher’s powerful inspiration, Les has lived the phrase he’s famous all over the world for: “You have greatness within you.”

This morning my exam results finally came. I’d been expecting them for the last week. I knew I’d done quite well, but I was still nervous as I opened the     1     (信封). Before I had a chance to look at them, my sister had already run up and pulled them out of my hand! She read them out, “English A, maths A, biology A, French A ...” This was the o    2     I’d been waiting for. I’d got As in every subject — even geography, which I hadn’t been sure about!When Mum and Dad heard the news, they     3     (immediate) started shouting with j    4    . By the time I had breakfast, Mum had already called Grandma and Grandpa, and shared the good news with them!

8 . At Girls Build summer camp in Oregon, girls are learning how to use power tools like saws and drills. The camp is filled with construction excitement. Wearing hard hats and tool belts (腰带) wrapped twice around their tiny waists, girls are working on everything from pouring concrete planters to covering the roof of a sandbox. With every project they turn a pile of raw material into an actual structure.

Hughes, the camp’s director, says the girls can produce professional-quality products. She is a carpenter (木匠) with a degree in social work. While she’d like to see more women in the trade and the gender (性别) imbalance even out, she says more than any future career, it’s a sense of mastery and fearlessness the instructors are trying to pass along to the kids. “If something breaks, I want them to have the confidence to open that up,” Hughes says. “It’s our mission and objective to inspire curiosity and confidence in girls through the world of building.”

Alifanz, who sent her 8-year-old twins to Girls Build, says, “There’s not nothing they can’t do, but there’s nothing they can’t try. And that’s a lot for them to take away in a week.” Knowledge like that changes how they see the world built around them and they show appreciation of the actual effort that goes into making the world work.

But other parents ask the obvious question—is pairing pre-teens and power tools a good idea? Hughes stresses Girls Build is very concerned with safety, and instructors consider girls’ ages when pairing them with tools.

9-year-old Aleeyah takes pride in mastering these practical skills many adults are lacking. “I like it when you can be your own self, and it brings out who you really are,” says Aleeyah.

These girls are learning many things can be built, taken apart, and put back together. They don’t have to fit themselves into the designed world—they can build a world that fits them. And that knowledge is a pretty powerful tool to have in their belts.

In the past few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people studying abroad. Although studying abroad can bring great     1    , I think the disadvantages for young people are greater.

To begin with, many students who study abroad face great economic pressure. That     2     studying abroad is just not possible for everyone. Tuition fees and living     3     are much more expensive than at home and could end up costing most families an arm and a leg. Studying in China is much more     4     and can help save money.

Another important factor to     5     is the tremendous pressure that comes with studying abroad. Students must learn how to live in an unfamiliar     6     with limited language skills. Some may struggle and suffer from culture shock when learning how to     7     in new surroundings. Other students are not     8     enough to handle the challenges by themselves and may become depressed. In addition, different     9     to teaching and learning may come as a shock to many students.

To sum up, one can not     10     the fact that studying abroad has its disadvantages, so when you think about studying abroad, you should consider these many factors.