学进去

Dad recently read me a speech, hoping to satisfy my endless search for answers-answers to everything. Ever since I was very young, I’ve asked countless times “What should I do?”, trying to avoid making mistakes. Maybe I feared to take my first baby step on my own I think.

During my middle school years, I changed. It was when I decided to try for the lead in Beauty and the Beast (野兽) without asking Dad for advice. Never mind that I would have to memorize lines and movements, and I would take the chance that I might fail.

On the day of audition (试镜), I kept telling myself, “If you don’t think you can do it the right way, just don’t go.” My heart was pounding; my hands were shaking so badly that I wasn’t certain whether people would hear me.

But something happened. When I opened my mouth, I found the sound was loud, powerful and sweet! And I even reached the high notes that I’d never reached! It was fantastic! I was trying bravely even though I might fail. But I didn’t. That audition wasn’t the end of the trap that kept me from trying, but it was definitely an important part of the process of growing.

That day, I realized that if I want to live my life to the fullest, I have to push myself. Because my parents, friends and teachers don’t always have the answer to “What should I do?”.

Now, I do take these chances, with baby steps, every day, like voicing my opinions in class discussions, riding my horse over a three-foot jump...

“Life is learning to deal with Plan B.” Dad stated in his speech. But I now know the Plan As I make for my life will become easier and easier with every chance I take.

Having a good sleep is always my dream. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve had problems falling and staying asleep. When I do fall asleep, an hour later I’m right back up, worrying about study or the kids or something stupid I did in high school. It was like I couldn’t turn my brain off.

The doctor told me that I couldn’t sleep well because of anxiety. But I considered myself a positive person, and my sleep problems have given me too much trouble. So I decided to do something about it, and I carefully found the solutions to the problems.

So I read lots of research. Along the way, I learned a surprising fact. A study form the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that about 25% of all Americans experience insomnia (失眠) each year. That’s awful! Suddenly, I wasn’t doing research just for myself anymore. I was doing an experiment to help all my readers experience a better night of sleep. So I started trying different methods and recording my results.

First, I got a white noise machine. My mind just focused on the noise, and it ended up having an opposite effect. Then I tried earplugs. However, it’s hard to fall asleep with earplugs in! They were very uncomfortable! After that, I tried to take Xanax. But once again. I didn’t love it. Even though it helped me get to sleep and stay asleep, it left me feeling weak the next day. If I kept taking it, I thought it would do harm to my health.

Recently, I have kept reading articles about how a new blanket, the Odyssey Blanket, was supposed to be good for sleep and anxiety. But even though I saw it again and again, I didn’t pay much attention to it because I didn’t believe a blanket would help. But the more I read, the more it seemed like this blanket might be a good idea.

For middle and primary school students, being able to cook has become a must. They will also need to learn how to plant vegetables, raise poultry (家禽) and maintain home appliances under new requirement, for labor education.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) brought out a new standard for labor education in schools last year. Starting from the 2022 fall semester, students in primary and middle schools have to take courses on labor skills at least once a week. Labor education helps students value hard work. It includes things like household chores (家务), on-campus labor and community volunteer services.

The new standard includes three types of labor tasks. The first is for things like everyday chores, including cleaning, organizing, cooking, and using and maintaining home appliances. Next is productive labor, including agriculture, making traditional handicrafts, and applying new technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting. The third type is service work, which includes volunteer work.

Schools in China have traditionally placed more focus on studying, and many have seen household chores as a waste of children’s time. But according to the MOE, labor education must be built up to help students cultivate (培养) social values and develop an interest in labor.

Online, people have been busy discussing the new standards on social media.

Liu Fang, a mother of 6-year-old twins in Beijing, strongly supports labor education. For the past year, she has trained her daughters to do household chores and make simple dishes for the family.

“The main idea is to let them share responsibility as family members and become independent as early as they can,” said Liu. “Through doing housework, their hand-eye coordination (协调), time management and organization skills can be trained and it’s also good to help them relax.” Through such education, Liu said her twins have found pleasure when doing chores and are more independent.

Traveling by subway can sometimes be a challenge, especially during rush hour. You have to fight your way into the carriage(车厢), and keep away from others' hot water. The smells of some passengers' food are very strong, too.

Since April, the local government of Beijing has collected public opinions on the new Beijing Subway Passenger Rules. The rules say that if passengers have bad manners while on the subway, they will end up with bad credit(信用) scores or even being refused by the subway. Four kinds of behaviors(行为) were added to the new rules. They include stealing others' seats, eating or drinking, handing out advertisements, and not paying for the tickets.

As for eating and drinking on the subway, ①不同的人有不同的观点. Some people support the rules that all passengers except babies and people with certain health problems are not allowed to eat or drink on the subway. ②The have pointed out that the smell of food and drink can make other passengers unhappy.

However, others question this rule, saying that drinking water should be allowed ③____

Education appears to protect older adults especially women, against memory loss, according to a study by researchers Georgetown University Medical Centre.

The study tested declarative memory (陈述性记忆) in 704 older adults (58-98 years of age). Declarative memory refers to our ability to remember events, facts and words, such as where you put your keys or the name of that new neighbour. The researchers found that their memory performance became worse with aging. However, more years of early-life education countered these losses, especially in women.

For example, the declarative memory abilities of an 80-year-old woman with a bachelor’s degree (学士学位) would be as good as those of a 60-year-old woman with a high school education. So, four extra years of education make up for the memory losses from 20 years of aging.

“Simply said, learning brings about learning,” says the study’s senior researcher, Michael Ullman. “Since learning new information in declarative memory is easier if it is connected with knowledge we already have, more knowledge from more education should result in better memory abilities, even years later.” adds the study’s lead author, Jana Reifegerste.

“Evidence suggests that girls often have better declarative memory than boys, so education may lead to greater knowledge gains in girls,” says Ullman. “Education may bring advantages to memory abilities in women, even years later in old age.”

“These findings may be important, especially considering the rapidly aging population,” Reifegerste says. “The results argue for further efforts to increase chances of receiving education.”

“Education has also been found to slow down the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease,” Ullman says. “We believe that our findings may explain why this happens.”

For many years I have been a proud dreamer. I could get lost in the clouds for hours, dreaming of __________ to far away countries and enjoying different cultures there. My dream __________: a bestselling author, changing people’s hearts with my words, or a reporter, serving the people and giving __________ to those who have not been heard for centuries.

I spend most of my time on dreaming. What’s the problem with spending so much time dancing among sunset-painted cotton candy clouds? Well, the __________ is that my bare feet seldom kiss the earth, and by being lost in my dreams often, I become _________ from my own real life and out of touch with the people I love.

“Stop dreaming. Be a doer not a dreamer,” the famous television producer Shonda Rhimes described in her __________ for the graduating class of Dartmouth. “You just have to keep doing something, catching the next chance, staying open to __________ something new. It doesn’t have to satisfy your imagination of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not __________ . Just... DO.”

One of the hardest lessons a dreamer has to learn is that in order to cultivate（培养）the type of life we fictionalize（幻想）so often, we must match our dreams with __________. Otherwise, as Shonda puts it, “Dreamers often end up living in the basement（地下室）of relatives.”

Another hard truth that we dreamers must _________ is that by being lost in dreaming, we overlook（忽视） ourselves. We usually dream of becoming _________ else. We dream about the person who is not us, and this is a problem because it _________ we would rather be others instead of ourselves.

So, this is me waving goodbye to my cotton candy clouds. I am _________ myself to meet my dreams with action. It won’t be _________. Those light and soft clouds have been a great source of comfort through the endless thunder storms that have disrupted（打扰）my life.It’s comfortable.

However, as my best friend often ________ me, good things don’t always bring comfort, even hell（地狱）can get comfortable if you stay there long enough.

The best thing for us is challenging. It is a lot more meaningful than those cotton candy

When it comes to opera, you might think of Peking Opera. But have you ever heard of Qinqiang Opera(秦腔)?

Qinqiang Opera is one of the e1． forms of opera in China. It started on the ancient folk songs and dances of the people in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. According to historical r2．, the local opera dates all the way back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206B.C.).

Hou Yan is the president and Party secretary of Qinqiang Theater of the Ningxia Performing Arts Group. She started learning Qinqiang Opera at 4.

Training in the basic skills of Qinqiang Opera is very c3．. In 1985, Hou studied at an art school where teachers were very strict with students. Leg stretching(伸展), waist bending(弯曲) and somersaults(翻筋斗) were just some of Hou’s daily training routines. While training, each basic move would have to be held accurately for half an hour and a single m4． could mean she had to start all over again. Her hard work f5． paid off. Hou became a performer with a troupe(剧团) in Yinchuan at 16. But in 1993, the sweeping trend(趋势) of pop and Western music hit Qinqiang Opera hard. The troupe was closed and Hou had no choice but to leave the opera stage.

In the past decades, however, China has made great efforts to develop its traditional culture. Hou r6． to the stage in 2000 and put her heart into the opera form.

Now, Hou’s team gives hundreds of performances every year. The average age of Hou’s opera team is 30. In 2021, they staged about 150 school performances.

“As we become more c7． about our culture, more young people feel proud of our traditional culture and take it as a fashionable trend. They also become promoters(倡导者) of our own culture,” said Hou.