13．Self-satisfaction —A Deadly Competitor
　　I am Peggy Fleming, a coach in the figure-skating team. I remember I suffered a serious failure when I was only 10 years old and the (1)       helped me win the Olympic ice-skating championship (冠军). It also gave me a deadly competitor — the other Peggy Fleming.
　　Just before that, I had been roller-skating, playing basketball, and could climb up a tree as well as any boy. So Dad (2)       me to take skating lessons. And soon I won several local figure-skating prizes. Then came the Pacific Coast Championship in Los Angeles.
　　I, a very (3)       young girl, proud of the praise from friends and newspapers, walked into the gym expecting to add another great honor to my recent success. Out on the ice, I totally enjoyed myself, flying through all kinds of figures I knew so well. But when the results were reported, I was shocked — out of the 12 competitors I had finished last! The lesson burned as bright as my skate knives: "You didn't skate your best!" I knew that only one person had (4)      me that day — myself, my own self-satisfaction.
　　The rules of figure-skating are: There are 69 figures in all. A skater must do five figures for the Olympics, but you aren't told which figures these will be until the last minute. So you must be very familiar with the 69 figures. When I (5)       every time, I would practice the same 69 figures over and over, eight hours a day. Often in the middle of practicing a figure, the other Peggy Fleming would say in a low voice, "Good enough — why force yourself so (6)      ?" At this time, I remembered the lesson in Los Angeles.
　　Now I skate professionally — teach teenagers how to skate. But I still (7)       this competitor, myself. I surely believe that each of us has a special talent. And if we lock our talent because of our own self-satisfaction, simply do not want to make (8)       or fear trying, we will fail.

14．　　Inventions have changed our life a lot. They play important roles in our daily life. Four students are sharing some interesting inventions.

15．Shake off the Shyness
　　Shyness once took over my life. When I was 13, in my French lesson, my teacher told us to record ourselves speaking about our families. I recorded myself with confidence. When I pressed "play" to listen back, I heard my strange voice — just like a little kid. That made me very shy and I avoided attending events from then on.
　　Years after that, I became a teacher in a primary school. On the first day, my hands could not help but sweat (出汗). The weight of my arms was trying to prevent me from opening the door. Though a little nervous, I opened the door slowly. Suddenly, a wave of laughter flew through the air. Then I walked in, and felt it was a bad choice to be a teacher. They did not seem to mind me at all. After class, a little girl walked up to me and asked, "Could you help me to read the passage?" with the most excited face I have ever seen as if she had just gotten a cookie. "I like your voice." she said. I shook my shyness off and my body felt as light as a feather (羽毛). Perhaps to be a teacher was not such a bad idea after all. I read the passage for her and told some interesting stories with all the kids. All of them listened to me carefully, and we had a wonderful story time.
　　Besides, there was one simple thing that surprised me most. Every day when the students left, they would clean after themselves and leave their areas tidy without ever being told to do so. Actually they behaved very well. I would have to say these students gave me one of the greatest experiences of my life. These helped me shook off my shyness. From then on, I tried to be a good teacher.
　　In the future, I want to create a space for shy people like me to shine.

16．The Sleepover Program
　　Sending stuffed animals for a sleepover at the library encourages children to read with them, say researchers in a new study in Heliyon. For the first time, the study proves stuffed animal sleepovers are an effective way to get children to read. Stuffed animal sleepover programs are designed to get children interested in picture books. Children take their toys to a library for the night, where the animals search for books they want to read. At this point, workers and volunteers take photos of the animals traveling around the library to learn about it and reading together. The next day, the children collect their stuffed animals and the photos of what they did during the night.
　　They're also given the books their animals chose to read.
　　The team organized a stuffed animal sleepover program for 42 preschool children. "We wanted to know if there really was an effect, and if so, how long it lasts," said lead author Dr. Yoshihiro Okazaki of Okayama University. They found before the sleepover, the children did not spend time looking at the books in their play area at preschool. Immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the stuffed animals was significantly (明显地) higher than the number who did not.
　　"Surprisingly, not only did the children show interest in the picture books, but they also began to read to their stuffed animals. This means that a new behavior appeared that the children had not shown before;we did not expect anything like this." When parents read to their children, it isn't an active form of reading for the child. But when children read to their stuffed animals, it is a more spontaneous (自发的), self-directed form of reading, helping them develop into more active readers.
　　However, the effect had worn off after three days. The researchers also tested a method for conting the effect:they reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the stuffed animals and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method led to a significant increase in the number of children reading to their stuffed animals.

17．　　If we compare active listening with passive listening, is one better than the other?As we will find one is better than the other for many situations but not necessarily all. Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite.
　　Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.
　　Listening well also requires people pay all their attention to someone else. A necessary part of listening well is the rule known as 'bracketing'. Bracketing includes the giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices (偏见) and strong wishes, to experience as far as possible someone else's world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. That means if you want to listen well you should have a short acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be completed only by the will to improve oneself for the growth of each other.
　　Most of the time, we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain expected results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don't want to hear.
　　It wasn't until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is always therapeutic(有疗效的). In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy (心理疗法), before any of the causes of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this experience, but the most important among them, I believe, was the patient's sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.

18．Young Kids Can Make a Big Difference
　　With the changes of their life or the environment, human being faces many different kinds of diseases. Though the diseases are very difficult to deal with, people get their ways to prevent them from developing and help others who are in need. These years, COVID (新冠状病毒) is the common topic all over the world. Every person faces it bravely and takes action actively. Ben and his classmate Anderson, led a group of students and set out to make a difference. They made their lives change a lot when the COVID hit. "We were all working hard on our study and looking for ways to volunteer in our communities," Ben said, "Sometimes it's hard at our age to really make a difference. Wearing a mask (口罩) is a necessary way to keep everyone healthy now. But at the beginning of this situation, buying masks is going to be difficult on poor people, so we want to do something useful to help them. And we are sure it will be better soon."
　　Ben and Anderson discovered the organization Mask Now TN that was giving out masks to poor people and homeless people. Their need for donations (捐赠) was great. The organization helped people in need by collecting over 10 thousand masks. Anyone who couldn't afford to buy them get help.
　　The two boys also encouraged high students at Independence High School to collect donations. Then they set up collection boxes. "Everyone we met in community was just so kind," Anderson said. "We cannot thank them enough, any word can't stand for our heart."
　　It took them about a month and a half to organize with Mask Now TN, but once they began accepting donations, they spent only three weeks reaching their goal of 10, 000. "Finding a way to help others in need has been so meaningful for us students," said Ben's younger brother, Andrew, who joined them.
　　The money from the donation was a great challenge for the kids, they learned a lot. "It may seem upsetting at first. We don't know where to buy masks and how to manage the money. It is hard to start a project like this as a teenager," Ben says.
　　"Once you get over it, if you have a good idea that will truly help your community, people will understand and support you."

19．中国传统节日, 是中华民族悠久历史文化的重要组成部分, 不仅清晰地记录着中华民族丰富而多彩的社会生活文化内容, 也积淀着博大精深的历史文化内涵．
假如你是李华, 你校英语社团正在开展线上国际交流活动, 其公众号计划做关于中国传统节日的 系列推送, 现就 "Traditional Chinese Festivals" 这一话题在校内收集素材．请你用英语给公众号留言, 推荐一个你最喜欢的中国传统节日, 对其作简要介绍, 并说明推荐理由．
提示词语:get together, traditional food, important, meaningful. ..
提示问题:
• What's your favorite traditional Chinese Festival?Please introduce it.
•Why do you like this Festival?

20．苏翊鸣在北京冬奥夺冠后, 记者得知他收到最好的生日礼物是父母在他四岁时送他的雪板．可见最好的礼物并不在于它的价格是否昂贵, 而在于它的特殊意义．
某英文网站正在开展以"The Best Gift"为主题的征文活动．假如你是李华, 请用英语给 该网站写一篇征文, 谈谈你收到的最好礼物是什么, 谁送给你这件礼物及你为什么认为这是最好的礼物．
提示问题:
●What is the best gift you have received?
●Who gave it to you?
●Why do you think it is the best gift?
The Best Gift
　　So far, I have received a lot of gifts. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________