Not long ago, my daughter’s leather shoes were cut by a knife. She burst into tears. I took the shoes to a shoemaker to get them repaired.

The young shoemaker took a look at the opening and said, “There is ________ I can do but change the leather.”

His master looked at them and said to me, “If you ________ me, I will add more cuts in the form of special style and reuse.”

I didn’t quite know why, but I decided to ________ the shoes.

Two days later, I went there to get the shoes. At the first sight I found there were indeed five or six ________ on each shoe, but all the openings were covered by soft red leather sewed (缝) with thick thread (线). The shoes looked more special and interesting than ever. I couldn’t help ________ the master for his work.

Another time, my sister’s white ________ had a large opening on the back. My wife took it over and checked ________ , and then said, “Let me take it home and repair it.”

Three days went past, and I was ________ to see it again: all the openings were sewed up by thin and ________ thread and they looked like the ice crystal (晶体) on winter’s branches (树枝) in the north. She ________ made a lovely snowman and a wooden house on the blouse. I said with praise,“It’s just as beautiful as a piece of ________ .”

“I learned from the master. Patches (补丁) can be designed to look ________.” replied my wife.

Her words taught me even more: perfection is ________ to achieve in everything; patches are unavoidable (不可避免的), so is human’s life, which will appear in the form of wound, disability or disease. ________ you can’t change that, all you can do and have to do is to cover the wound by patches and try your best to make a most beautiful flower on the wound, and that is ________ life teaches us. Once you understand it, you can enjoy your life better.

Great mix of representatives from across China

A total of 2,287 representatives (代表) attended the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (中共十九大), which was held in Beijing from Oct. 18.

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In October 2002, Winston Churchill was chosen by the British people as “the greatest British man”. The great British men behind him were Shakespeare, Newton, and Darwin. But many people did not know that Churchill was thought to be a bad boy when he was a child.

At the age of seven, Winston Churchill was sent to a boarding(寄宿) school named St. George. The school rules were strict. He often got serious punishment. Churchill cried loudly and kicked wildly when he was beaten. At the end of the term, he returned home with a report card and pains all over his body. The report card said that he was “naughty”(顽皮的).

At the age of twelve, his father sent him to Harrow Public School, which was famous for training English gentlemen. Because he failed the entrance exam, he was placed in the last group of the class with worst grades. He fell behind the others in study. He gave many people the impression of low energy, strangeness, and lawlessness. Fortunately, he still had a friend, his grandfather. The American of great wealth who had experienced the world said, “Let him go! As long as boys have the chance to show their talents, they are sure to become better.” Churchill kept the words of his grandfather in mind, and secretly looked for it in his heart.

Many years later, Churchill was already a successful politician and writer. He worked as a reporter, as Secretary of the Navy, and as Prime Minister (首相) of the United Kingdom. He said, “My grandfather taught me that boys must choose their own path. I don’t have special talents and my success is by working hard.”

Just the other day, I was in a bookshop and found a book named How to make friends with foreigners. As a Canadian living in China for a year, I was curious to see what kind of advice a Chinese writer giving on this matter.

One piece of advice really caught my attention and, I must say, made me feel quite angry. In the writer’s opinion, foreigners are an "opportunity (机会)" to improve your oral English; whenever you see a foreigner, American or English, you should practise speaking English with him or her. If the foreigner doesn’t want to answer your questions, then he or she is a rude person who you wouldn’t want to spend time with anyway. I think this advice is not only incorrect, but also may harm the relationship between Chinese and foreigners in China.

Like most other "Lao Wai" living in China, I know how lonely one can sometimes feel living in a culture different from our own familiar (熟悉的) ways. However, I simply accept as part of being here. So far my time in China has been rewarding. I have improved my Chinese language skills, learned about one of the fastest developing countries in the world today and made some very close Chinese friends.

However, I have also met many Chinese people who consider me only as an "opportunity" to improve their oral English. I have had people following me from town to my flat to trouble me to teach them English. I have had complete strangers throwing articles or speeches in my face, insisting that I help them with the English translation. I have had people asking me non-stop questions for half an hour at the weekly English Corner ...

Friendship for a lot of foreigners is about spending time with someone whose company (陪伴) they really enjoy. So if there is any advice to give on making and keeping friendships with foreigners, I would say that it is this: Treat foreigners as people, not opportunities. Expect to make friendships step by step, over a period of time, not in a rush. ________ If your only reason for becoming fiends with a foreigner is to improve your English, then you will probably find that you don’t have a foreign friend for long.

The FA Cup

The FA Cup is a very special football competition. It is the oldest football competition in the world as it has been played since 1871. It is also famous for the number of football teams in England that enter.

More than 700 football teams take part in the competition every year. That is all of the teams from the four professional (职业的) leagues and hundreds of small non-professional clubs. These clubs come from small towns and villages from around England.

Because there are so many teams, it lasts for a very long time. The early games are only between the small teams. After six matches, the professional teams from the third and fourth league enter and then, two games later, the biggest clubs from the Premier League.

Often very small clubs will play against big teams. There have been many surprise results in the past many years. Teams from the fifth league have even won against teams from the Premier League, but a Premier League team does usually win the competition every year. However, there is always a chance of seeing a surprise result. As a result, people show great interest in the FA Cup.

It’s amazing that the FA Cup has the power to change a football club, rewrite the past and shape the future.

Paper is one of our oldest, simplest and most important inventions. It is the pride of us Chinese, but it also presents a danger to the world.

First, the making of paper requires the loss of many millions of trees each year. According to The World Counts, between 2001 and 2019, the world lost a total of 386 million hectares of forest. Of the trees that were cut down, 42 percent went to paper production. That represents a great part of the world’s forests. And worldwide use of paper is expected to double in the next 40 years. Clearly, the planet cannot keep such a high rate of forest Loss.

The second great problem with paper is that when the paper is used, it is useless. A great deal of wastepaper ends up in rubbish and even landfills (废物填埋场)，where it can produce harmful gases. Paper in landfills causes the release (释放) of methane, a gas that is an important factor (因素) in climate (气候) change all around the world.

One simple way to help out can greatly reduce both of these problems: paper recycling. Instead of cutting down trees, recycle used paper to meet the need of paper-making. Effective recycling requires an effort from everyone all over the world. The way to begin is with education and understanding. Once enough people realize the need for recycling, more effective recycling systems can be put into use.

The need is real. The loss of tees influences everybody on earth. Everyone should do their part to recycle paper and encourage government and industry to do the same. The world will be a better place for it!

Sometimes, children can’t keep a single bit of information in their mind while they are doing something else. If so, they may have problems with their working memory. It is an important s
68．for children. Here are some t
69．to help improve children’s working memory.

Read actively. They may form long-term (长时间的) memories more e
70．when children take part in active reading. Active reading i
71．not only asking notes, but also speaking aloud and asking questions about the material that they are reading.

Use visualization (形象化) skills. When reading something, ask children to imagine the scene of the story and d
72．it. For example, ask them to set a table for a few people and have a p
73．in their mind, and then have a description.

Ask them to teach others. Teaching a
74．person means being able to understand the information well before saying it aloud. When children are learning a new skill, ask them to show others h
75．to do it. They should be able to explain it to others.

Moreover, there are lots of matching games that can be p
76．to improve their working memory, or you can use something simple l
77．a magazine or a newspaper. Have them find a certain word as many times as they can in one minute.

世界上有很多事物能够表达我们内心的感恩、敬意、关爱……例如，一个微笑、一份礼物……请你以“A ________ with special meaning"为题写一篇英语短文,参加校刊英文专栏的征文比赛。

A ________ with special meaning