—________ I'd like to help.
—The trees ________ well, but I didn't water them.
Songs bring us through our life. Each time I listen to my favorite song Reach, I'm deeply 1 by its lyrics: "If I could reach higher, just one moment touch the sky..." When we hear this 2 song sung by Gloria Estefan, we can 3 imagine how she managed to return to the stage after her serious back injury. In 1990, this Cuban singer was 4 down in a terrible traffic accident, and the doctor 5 that she might never walk again. But Gloria did not 6 and kept on working hard toward her 7. Just one year after the disaster 8, she stood up again and 9 this encouraging song at the Atlanta Olympics.
Whenever I think of Gloria, a 10 crowds in my mind. When I entered university, naturally shy, ordinary looking, and with 11 scores in my lessons, just like an ugly duckling. I seemed to be the 12 outstanding one in my class. Continuous failures drove me into 13. "Am I to take a back seat to everyone else?" 14 to give in to such a fate I spared no effort to work on my lessons and joined in many 15, such as English speech contests and dramas. I just wanted to catch every little chance to 16 myself. My continuous efforts finally paid off. I received some 17. More importantly, I 18 courage and confidence to face any difficulty in my life.
19 is just like farming. You 20 what you sow. Once you have a dream, don't hesitate. Keep moving!
Still seeking a destination for your weekend break? There are some places which are probably a mere walk away from your college.
King's Art Centre
A day at the Centre could mean a visit to an exhibition of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary artists on show anywhere. This weekend tees the opening of an exhibition of four local artists.
You could attend a class teaching you how to 'learn from the masters' or get more creative with paint—free of charge.
The Centre also runs two life drawing classes for which there is a small fee.
The Botanic Garden
The Garden has over 8, 000 plant species; it holds the research and teaching collection of living plants for Cambridge University.
The multi-branchedTorch Aloe here is impressive. The African plant produces red flowers above blue-green leaves, and is not one to miss.
Get to the display house to seeDionaea muscipula, a plant more commonly known as the Venus Flytrap that feeds on insects and other small animals.
The Garden is also a place for wildlife-enthusiasts. Look for grass snakes in the lake. A snake called 'Hissing Sid' is regularly seen lying in the heat of the warm sun.
Byron's Pool
Many stories surround Lord Byron's time as a student of Cambridge University, Arriving in 1805, he wrote a letter complaining that it was a place of "mess and drunkenness". However, it seems as though Byron did manage to pass the time pleasantly enough. I'm not just talking about the pet bear he kept in his roans. He spent a great deal of time walking in the village.
It is also said that on occasion Byron swam naked by moonlight in the lake, which is now known as Byron's Pool. A couple of miles past Grantchester in the south Cambridgeshire countryside, the pool is surrounded by beautiful circular paths around the fields. The cries of invisible birds make the trip a lovely experience and on the way home you can drop into the village for afternoon tea. If you don't trust me, then perhaps you'll take it from Virginia Woolf—over a century after Byron, she reportedly took a trip to swim in the same pool.
Grey clouds move as low as smoke over the treetops at Lolo Pass. The ground is white. The day is June 10. It has been snowing for the past four days in the Bitterroot Mountains. Wayne Fairchild is getting worried about our trek over the Lolo Trail—95 miles from Lolo Montana to Weippe in Idaho, across the roughest country in the West. Lewis and Clark were nearly defeated 200 years ago by snowstorms on the Lolo. Today Fairchild is nervously checking the weather reports. He has agreed to take me across the toughest, middle section of the trail.
When Lewis climbed on top of Lemhi Pass, 140 miles south of Missoula, on August 12, 1805, he was astonished by what was in front of him; "high mountain chains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow." Nobody in what was then the US knew the Rocky Mountains existed, with peaks twice as high as anything in the Appalachians back East.
Today their pathway through those mountains holds more attraction than any other ground over which they traveled, for its raw wilderness is an evidence to the character of two cultures: the explorers who braved its hardships and the Native Americans who prize and conserve the path as a sacred (神圣的) gift. It remains today the same condition as when Lewis and Clark walked it.
The Lolo is passable only from July to mid-September. Our luck is holding with the weather, although the snow keeps getting deeper. As we climb to Indian Post Office, the highest point on the trail at 7, 033 ft, we have covered 13 miles in soft snow, and we hardly have enough energy to make dinner. After a meal of chicken, I sit on a rock on top of the ridge (山脊). There is no light visible in any direction, not even another campfire. For four days we do not see another human being. We are occupied with the things that mix fear with joy. In our imagination we have finally caught up with Lewis and Clark.
There's a song by the great Jamaican singer Bob Marley called So Much Trouble In The World. Marley understood that part of the reason why there are so many problems in the world is the lack of tolerance between people. The UN understands this too—that's why it made Nov 16 "International Day for Tolerance".
But first of all, what is tolerance? French philosopher Voltaire (1694—1778) can give us some help. According to him, tolerance "is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty (脆弱) and error; let us pardon each other's folly—that is the first law of nature."
Nobody's perfect. When we're tempted to criticize another person, we should perhaps remember our own imperfections first.
Very often, people don't realize that they're intolerant. This is because intolerance has a lot to do with ignorance. For example, the UN's campaign is in part about the treatment of females by males. But often, the behavior of men toward women is intolerant because men don't put themselves in the shoes of women.
It's worth thinking a little about the words "tolerance" and "intolerance". Are they the best words to describe the evils of which we're speaking here? To agree to be "tolerant" of someone isn't necessarily a very respectful thing. When someone is tolerated, it implies that there's something wrong with them.
But it seems wrong that people should agree to "tolerate" people with black skin, for example. And should women think they have received the respect they are due when men agree to "tolerate" them?
Still, what Voltaire said stands: We humans are not perfect and this weakness is something that we all share. That's the reason we should be tolerant.
It's a little like generosity. We can give things to another person, and we can also give our forgiveness. Bob Marley understood this. In the song mentioned above, he advised: "Write your love on a rock so it stays for eternity; write your hate in the sand so the waves will wash it away."
Don't we all know a "Happy Meal" when we see one—the famous boxed meal that includes a hamburger, kid-sized French fries, fruits and milk, served with a toy that's extremely popular with children who love to collect them?
A Happy Meal is a form of kids' meal sold at a certain fast-food chain since 1979. A toy is included in the meal, both of which are usually contained in a box or paper bag. However, collectors of these little toys will not get them any longer, since the company will replace toys with books and each of these books will mainly pass on nutritional messages.
Happy Meals are extremely popular with kids, especially for their collectable toys, when you consider that over 1.3 billion of these packages are sold each year. These packages have been very controversial. Health supporters believe that drawing kids to these meals with toys is clever way of promoting unhealthy food choices. They see it as an advertising strategy of "catching its customers young"—a move that has paid off very well for the fast-food company.
Child development experts say that food habits get formed in children by age six and continue through to their adult life. Fatty and sugary foods such as those served in Happy Meals are believed to play a big role in growing health problems such as obesity and diabetes. Public health care costs have gone up and untold amounts of money have been spent on coping with these health problems. On November 2, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law requiring that children's meals sold in restaurants must meet certain nutritional standards before they could be sold with toys, to overcome the problem of childhood obesity—in other words, the State of California tried to ban the toys in Happy Meals. However, it was strongly opposed by some as being heavy-handed, and the ban was thrown out by the government.
While some people believe that the fast-food company, with its large following of children, can create a powerful message through the books, others believe its actions are contradictory. Anyway, the company is trying to spread the message of nutrition while it is serving food that is anything but healthy.
Seven years ago, my wife told our 6-year-old daughter about our wedding weekend. My wife had moved back home to spend the weekend with her family.
As I was tucking our daughter in (把女儿的被子掖好) later that night, she asked if she could "come home like mommy did" when she got married one day. (Hopefully, one day far off into the future...) I told her our house would always be open to her. She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She was extremely happy.
After a few seconds, I could see her mind churning (思绪翻腾)—the happiness dissipated. She pushed her finger into my belly and told me in low spirits, "Your belly is too big and you are too fat. I don't know if you are going to make it."
I was shocked. It was true that my health had fallen into a huge decline in the previous five years as I was building Contegix. I had not thought of it as destroying a future with my family. A 6-year-old girl saw what I missed.
I decided to run a mile the next morning. I couldn't make it 1/4 mile. I didn't give up and went out the next morning.
Seven years later, I have lost 60 pounds and regularly run ultra marathons. I attempted my first 100 miles last August, but I missed the terminal point at mile 87 after running on a torn hamstring (腿筋撕裂) for the previous 79 miles.
Yet, the most important distance I will ever go will be walking her down the aisle (结婚) one day. I would not make it if it hadn't been for the honesty and innocence of a 6-year-old.
要点：①时间、地点和观看人员；②内容：欣赏以歌曲形式咏唱的经典古诗词；③建议：提前了解一些中国古诗词，观后谈感受。
注意：①词数不少于100；②可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
提示词: 《经典咏流传》 Everlasting Classics; 咏唱 chant
