Face—to—face with the New Me

    Jessica's mother noticed Jessica hadn't returned to the dentist waiting room just before her surgery was supposed to start. She walked to the bathroom and found Jessica in here, crying. She took her daughter into her arms. "We're going to say goodbye to the old Jessica," she said. "And hi to the new Jessica."

    Jessica, from St Louis. US, had been wishing for this day since high school, when the bullying about her started. Now that it was finally happening, she was nervous.

    It was a social—media post two months ago that got her here. Someone posted a photo of Jessica with a comment about her overbite. The post was shared many times, with many people making mean remarks about her appearance.

    The bullies didn't know the road Jessica had traveled. She underwent nine operations on her ears from age 2 to 12 years old. She was almost deaf in her right ear. Her adult teeth didn't start coining in until she was 11 or 12, and doctors couldn't figure out why they were pushed outward. It got worse as she got older. Jessica had been trying for years to get her teeth fixed, but it was always too costly.

    When her story got out, Maryann Udy, a dentist, got in contact with Jessica and offered her a new smile—free of charge. The surgery was long and complicated It took several months before Jessica's new smile was ready.

    Later that year, she looked at her old photos online and smiled. "I loved her," she said. She's grateful to be in less pain, to be on the path to a new smile. Sometimes, though, it feels like something is missing from who she was.

    Still, she loves taking selfies and admiring her new appearance. "I looked good before," she said. "I look even better now."

A zero－waste life is a lifestyle that hardly creates any rubbish. "Zero waste" was first suggested by a French woman called Bea Johnson. Her idea is：live a life and try not to create any rubbish；use different kinds of ways to save the environment，such as stopping the use of one－off objects；giving unwanted things to others or donating these things to organizations like the Red Cross. 

A zero－waste life follows the 6R rule—Refuse，Reduce，Reuse，Repair，Recycle and Rot. Chen Yuan，27，is deeply interested in this idea. She and her boyfriend Joe have lived in Beijing for many years. Over August—October when Chen followed the rule of zero waste 6R，she and her boyfriend both produced only two cans of rubbish. Now the couple have opened a small shop in Beijing，where they use wood products to take the place of plastic ones and cloth bags printed with environmentally logos. The store also has second－hand books and CDs to make the best of the used things. 

 "The zero－waste lifestyle is not for ascetics（苦行僧）. It is just around us. " Chen expects some of her friends to join her on the road to zero waste. 

Our community library decided to offer a painting class. I told my friend Ella, and we both signed up.

On the big day, our first 1 was to paint a white vase of cheerful yellow sunflowers against a blue background.

We were asked to paint our canvas (画布) 2 . It was easy to follow the instructor to move the brush. Although I had never painted before, I could tell I was a 3 . I started thinking about where I would hang my new masterpiece.

Immediately after that, however, I began to run into 4 . The first curved (弯曲的) line of my vase looked perfect, but when I painted the line on the opposite side, my hand slipped (打滑). I tried to 5 that white streak (条痕) with blue paint, but it didn't work.

While I was busy fixing my messy painting, the instructor explained how to paint the sunflower leaves. Things went downhill fast after that. My leaves looked like fat, green caterpillars (毛毛虫). When I failed to clean my paintbrush, I accidentally made the sunflowers green. I felt 6 when I saw how good everyone else's paintings looked.

Ella sweetly praised my sunflowers, perhaps feeling sorry for me. When I said that hers were much better, she looked surprised. "No, they're not. I messed up in at least five places." After a few seconds, she asked, "Want to 7 paintings?"

Until that moment, I had felt only dislike for my painting. And yet for some reason, giving it away felt wrong. It wasn't a perfect painting, but it was mine—the first one I had ever created. I knew Ella must have realized that she felt the same way when she suddenly shook her head and said. "Never mind."

My sunflower painting still hangs directly above my bed. I often look at it. Every time I look at it. I 8 . It always brightens my day and brings warmth to my room. I really like it now.

John was riding his new bike. When he got to the end of the road, he turned around. He 1 the bike in front of Mom.

"See? I'm good at doing it. Can I ride to the 2 on my own(独自) now?"

Usually, when John rode a bike to the park, Mom or Dad came along 3 him. But this time, he was sure he could do it on his own.

Mom looked at John and said "Okay. But be careful about the cars and bikes 4 when you ride. And remember to come home 5 . Now, have fun on your own!"

John felt excited to hear(听到) this. The park was not far from home. John looked both 6 when he rode into the street and he 7 his mom's words. At the end of the street, John had to turn right to get to the park. He used his arm to make the signal(信号) so cars would know 8 he was going.

When John got to the park he slowed down(减速). He parked his 9 and ran to find his friends.

"You know what? I rode my bike here all by myself!" John sad. "Do you think it's very 10 to do it on my own?"