(A)

Bags of Love

       Last year, I was assigned to work at an office near my mother's house, so I stayed with her for a month. During that time, I helped out with the housework and contributed to the groceries.

      After less than a week, I started noticing that the groceries were running out pretty quickly — we were always suddenly out of something.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (wonder) how my mum could consume them so quickly, I began observing her daily routine for two weeks. To my surprise, I found that she would pack a paper bag full of canned goods and head out every morning at about nine. Eventually, I decided to follow her and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} happened truly amazed me. She was taking the food to the refugee camp, in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} she distributed it to children.

       I asked around and found out that my mum was very well known in the area. The kids were very friendly with her and even looked up to her as if she were their own mother. Then it hit me —why would she not want to tell me about what she {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (do)? Was she worried about how I would react or that I would stop {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (buy) the groceries if I found out?

     When she got home, I told her about my discovery. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} she could react, I gave her a big hug and told her she didn't need to keep it a secret {#blank#}7{#/blank#}me. She told me that some of the children lived with an older lady in a shelter while others slept on the streets. For years, my mum has been helping out by giving them whatever food she could spare. I was so impressed by {#blank#}8{#/blank#} selfless she was.

    Time Activities On 15th July: Toby and his brother leave London and will take a {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (fly) to Morocco. Then they are going to travel on camels {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the Sahara Desert{#blank#}3{#/blank#} they can see beautiful stars on clear nights. About a week {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (late), they are going to travel down the River Nile and go white-water rafting {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (wear) a helmet and a life jacket. After that they will go to Kenya to see wild animals. They will buy a large backpack to carry their {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (supply) of water and food. They will walk across the land, following{#blank#}7{#/blank#}tracks of big animals, and try to take some good photographs. After the Kenya trip they will go on {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (climb) Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The activity can be very {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (tire), and many people feel sick as the air gets {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (thin). After about 15th August, they are going to the Himalayas.

    We want our children to succeed in school and, perhaps even more importantly, in life. But the paradox(悖论) is that our children can only truly succeed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they first learn how to fail. Consider the finding that world-class figure skaters fall over more often in practice than low-level figure skaters. Why are the really good skaters falling over the most?

    The reason is actually quite simple. Top skaters are constantly challenging themselves in practice. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stretch) their limitations, they keep trying their best. They fall over so often, but it is precisely why they learn so fast. Lower-level skaters have a quite different approach. They are always attempting jumps they can already do very easily, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (remain) within their comfort zone. This is why they don't fall over. In a superficial sense, they look successful, because they are always on their feet. Never {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (fail) in practice prevents them from making progress.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} is true of skating is also true of life. James Dyson worked through 5,126 prototypes (原型) for his newest vacuum before coming up with the design {#blank#}6{#/blank#} made his fortune. These failures were essential to the pathway of learning. As Dyson put {#blank#}7{#/blank#}: "You can't develop new technology unless you test new ideas and learn when things go wrong. Failure is essential to invention."

    In healthcare, however, things are very different. Clinicians don't like to admit to failure, partly because they have strongegos (自我) —particularly the senior doctors—and partly because they fear litigation (诉讼). The consequence is that {#blank#}8{#/blank#} learning from failure, healthcare often covers up failure. The direct consequence is that the same mistakes {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (repeat). According to the Journal of Patient Safety, 400,000 people die every year in American hospitals alone due to preventable error. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} healthcare learns to respond positively to failure, things will not improve.

One day, an old wise man was going to teach people in a village. The villagers there were very  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(interest) in the wise man's ideas. Each person in the village had prepared well, thinking about  {#blank#}2{#/blank#} questions they might ask the wise man.

The wise man finally arrived and  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(take) into a large room in the village, in {#blank#}4{#/blank#} people got together to ask their questions. There was great  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(expect) and excitement.

The wise man walked silently around the room and sang a sweet song. One by one, people took up the song. Before long, everyone started to sing along with the wise man. As people became comfortable with  {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(he) song, the wise man started to dance  {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the music. He danced everywhere in the room, and one by one, people danced with him. Soon everyone in the whole village was dancing  {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(wild) together. Everyone danced with such big smiles on their faces that they totally forgot their worries in life.

Later at night, the wise man slowed the dance and finally stopped {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(dance). He looked into everyone's eyes and said gently," I believe that I {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(answer) all of your questions."