A: What are you doing {#blank#}1{#/blank#} vacation, Sandy?

B: I'm going to Tibet for a week.

A: That {#blank#}2{#/blank#} interesting！What are you {#blank#}3{#/blank#} ?

B: I'm going hiking in the mountains. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} about you, Tony?{#blank#}5{#/blank#} are you doing for your vacation?

A: I'm {#blank#}6{#/blank#} my friend in Hong Kong.

B: Oh yeah? How {#blank#}7{#/blank#}are you staying?

A: {#blank#}8{#/blank#}for four days. I don't like going away {#blank#}9{#/blank#}too long.

B: Well, have a good time. Show me your photo {#blank#}10{#/blank#}   we get back to school.

    Have you ever picked up a pen to write some characters, but you can't {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(记得) what they look like?

    You're not alone. CCTV-10 started a show {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(叫做) Chinese Character Dictation Com-petition (《中国汉字听写大会》) last year. On the show, only three out of 10 adults{#blank#}3{#/blank#}（正确地）wrote bingjiling (ice cream 冰激凌), and no one could   write out penti (sneeze喷嚏). According to a survey, 94.1% of people said they had memory lapses (差错) when {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(写) some characters.

    It seems that Chinese characters are in danger. Since the digital(数码) age began, fewer and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(少) people use pens and paper. Most people now write Chinese on keyboards using pinyin. As a{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(结果), many people would forget the features（特征）of a Chinese character, such as its structure and {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（意思）easily.

    Chinese characters are one of the world's{#blank#}8{#/blank#}（古老的）written languages, dating back (追溯到) to 1100 BC. It's not only a way for us to record things,{#blank#}9{#/blank#}（而且）it's important to pass on Chinese culture. For example, the character nan (male男) is made up of two{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(部分), tian (farmland田) and li (strength力). We can tell from it that in the old times Chinese men were in charge of (负责) working on the farmland.

    It is not always easy to discover yourself. From a young age, I had a strong sense of who I would become. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, an accident changed everything.

    To me, skating was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (important) than anything else in the world. Nothing else filled my heart with so much joy. I spent 24 hours a week {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (develop) my skills. I had no social life or interests other than skating. But I was rewarded (回报)with first place {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(medal) in nearly all competitions.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(unlucky), during one competition, I fell and was badly injured. The doctor told me that I couldn't skate anymore. The pain in my back was hard to bear and even basic daily tasks became difficult.

    My passion had been taken away. I {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (lose) heart and had no idea who I would become. After eight months of suffering, something had to change. Instead {#blank#}7{#/blank#} sitting around and wasting my days, I began to work with local community service projects. By volunteering {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a swimming teacher and summer reading assistant for kids, I got {#blank#}9{#/blank#}idea of who I wanted to become. Little by little, I stepped out of the shadow and rebuilt my confidence.

    Sometimes, challenges in life will get in our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to get past these challenges. My accident was a challenge that failed to stop {#blank#}10{#/blank#} from reaching success. Now I'm a very confident person.