One day many years ago, a friend surprised me by using Spanish “Como estas?”instead of the English “How are you?”She told me _________ that she was learning Spanish at the University of Hawaii. It was the first time I had _________ the Senior Citizen Visitor Program (SCVP), which was free to those suitable.

Immediately, I rushed back home and _________ everything about the SCVP online. The next day, I _________ the SCVP office at UH. My_________ course (课程) was the Life-long Study for Hawaii Elders. However, the person at the other end of the phone _________ me: I had to be at least 60 years old to_________ . At that moment, I really hated to be so_________ ! But no choice — so I started _________ to get older.

At the end of 2018, after my 60 birthday, I telephoned the SCVP office again. In the spring__________of 2019, I got registered(注册) and __________ two classes: Ballroom Dance and Introduction to Interpretation.

No matter how old I was, once I was sitting among young people, with both my body and spirit __________ in the classroom, listening to and writing down what the __________taught made me forget my age.

Of course, I used this experience to__________ that old people’s brain may get__________but it’s still enough to learn __________. Second, for aged people, returning to school helps them to seemingly __________ their real age, especially when they get the same__________as younger classmates do in examinations. And third, we aged people are useful ones who have rich __________including knowing why, what and how to keep __________.

Don’t know where to choose gifts for friends or family? Here are five special gift shops featuring different kinds of gifts.

Games Gadgets

Tel:402-875-5543

Games Gadgets is the perfect one-stop (一站式的) shop for electrical goods. Here at Games Gadgets we provide a wide range of electronic goods at some of the very best prices around. From Cameras and GPS Sat Navs to Gaming Accessories and Computers, iPads and iPods, we have everything you could ever need.

Reba

Tel:406-637-2219

Reba supplies fashion clothes, jewellery (珠宝) and gifts to people throughout the local area. Reba is an independent store, supplying well-known brands as well as up-and-coming designers. Reba is a store for those who love clothes, jewellery and gifts and it always aims to ofier something different.

The Sweet Shop

Tel:421-896-3129

The Sweet Shop is a brand-new gift store created just for chocolate lovers. The shop sells a wonderful range of chocolate-themed goodies from dark to white chocolate. It is extremely popular with all kinds of parties, chocolate lovers and people who are looking for a fun activity.

Blue Department Store

Tel:419-156-9910

A favorite shopping destination for many foreigners, Blue is devoted to top brands including expensive famous wines which are all 30 percent oft, maybe 40 to 50 percent off. We have no more than70 kinds of world-famous wine in our store. Location: No. 6001 Oak Street, O Hare International Airport.

Quality Stuff Off-Price Department Store

Tcl:491-938-9012

Quality Stuff Off-Price Department Store opened only one month ago and it features new sportswear this season. They have well-known brands such as Nike, Adidas, Levis, Nautica and Hush Puppies. Quality Stuff Off-Price Department Store is famous for the reduced price of each item. Reduced rates vary from 40 percent to 80 percent. The best buys here are some brands, which find a nice balance between style, quality and price.

When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation. I suggested that they should stay at “bed and breakfast” houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.

“We didn’t stay at “bed and breakfast” houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”

I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!

We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole.

English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffeepot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you.”

In the mornings, as I walked from the train station to the office, I planned my day by making a to-do list in my head: the scientific articles I would read, the data sets I would analyze, and most urgent of all — the insights into human nature that it was my job to discover.

Each evening, I went back to the station, again going through my mental checklist but this time sizing up my performance against the expectations Td set for myself that morning. Time and again, when comparing my to-do list with my got-done list, I felt frustrated because I had fallen short.

But one day, something very strange happened. During my trip home, without any conscious intention, my thoughts began to change. Instead of feeling bad about my weaknesses, I said aloud very softly: I’m a nice person. I’m a nice person. I’m a nice person. By the time I boarded my train, I was done with my little chant-until the next day when I walked home. And again, after counting my failures, I found myself saying quietly: I’m a nice person. It turns out that there’s a technical term for this practice: values affirmation (肯定). And what it emphasizes is recognizing and strengthening the personal values you hold most dear.

When you affirm a core personal value, you raise your sense of self-worth. You broaden your outlook:Instead of focusing on your shortfalls, you switch to a wide-angle view that includes your resources and opportunities. And the people who do this are happier, healthier, and more hopeful. Over time, I made progress in my research and learned a lot about what makes most successful people special, including this: Nobody has passion and determination unless what they do lines up with their values. Try values affirmation for yourself and teach the practice to your students.

Take a moment and think of a value you hold dear, whether it’s kindness, creativity, or gratitude. Whatever it is, name it. And then say to yourself: Come what may, I know who I am. Your values are your foundation and your compass, too. Trust them, and they will lead you home.

The Christmas holidays were fast approaching, and we had ordered many gifts online, So when the doorbell rang, I was sure some of the packages had arrived. I ran to the door, but no one was there. T sensed something and looked down, only to find a beautiful calico kitten (杂色猫) sitting there, looking up at me with big, intelligent eyes. There was no way that she could have rung the doorbell by herself. We figured that someone had found the kitten somewhere and left her there, and then rang the doorbell and ran away. They accurately guessed we would welcome an additional family member and take care of her.

My husband called her our little angel, so we named her Angelica. She turned out to be the perfect companion. Always by my side, she was more like a puppy than a kitten. She had plenty of energy that made every day special. As the days went by, Angelica filled our home with joy and she indeed was a blessing to me.

Angelica was brave, too. One snowy evening, I noticed Angelica behaving strangely. She constantly scratched (用爪刨) at our back door. With a sense of curiosity, I followed her outside. To my surprise, I found an old woman, my neighbor, Mrs. Jensen, fallen in the snow, unable to get up.

Thanks to Angelica’s cleverness, we got to Mrs. Jensen just in time. The warmth of Angelica nestled (偎依着) into her, keeping her safe until help arrived. That night, Angelica was not just my brave calico kitten, but an angel. The bond between us deepened greatly as I thanked my little angel, who had saved not just a neighbor, but filled our lives with love, laughter, and warmth.