Students learn their lessons in class. In class, teachers teach them. Students sit in the classroom listening to the teacher. Is this the only way for students to learn? Of course not. There is another way to learn. That is, students can teach themselves. For example, if you cannot remember anything when you are doing your homework, you can look through（浏览） your book to find the answer. This is a way to teach yourself. And it's not a difficult thing. We can do it at any place and at any time.

    How to teach yourself? The first thing you must do is to read. Read something interesting. The second is that you must ask yourself questions. Many clever students often do this. The questions are about something you don't understand or you want to know more about. You can write down these questions. The third is to answer the questions yourself by thinking hard, by reading the texts or other books, and sometimes by asking other people. These are the ways of teaching yourself. And if you do these things for a long time, you can succeed（成功）in your study.

December 22. a special day, is the shortest day of the year. Chinese people call it Dongzhi. The name means "the coming of winter"-the{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (cold) days in a year. On this day, people in northern China eat dumplings. They usually fill the dumplings {#blank#}2{#/blank#}different vegetables and meat. Sometimes, people put a coin inside.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} you happen to get the coin, you will have good luck. People consider eating dumplings {#blank#}4{#/blank#}a way to stay healthy. As the old saying goes, "Eating dumplings on Dongzhi can help {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(keep) the ears from frostbite (冻疮)."

In {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(south) China, people eat tangyuan on the day of Dongzhi. The little tangyuan balls {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(make) from rice. They have different {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(kind) of sweet fillings (馅料). People hope eating tangyuan can bring them {#blank#}9{#/blank#}happy and sweet life. In some places, people also make a special kind of rice wine. The drink brings the body {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(warm) on cold days.

Edward's Travel Tips

What kind of place do you usually choose to stay for the night during a trip? Expensive hotels that may make you feel like you don't get what you pay for? Or cheap hotels that put you  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}five strangers in the same bedroom? If both  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(choice) sound terrible to you, here's something new: holiday apartments.

In a holiday apartment, you have more space than what  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}hotel room can give you. Everything in the apartment   {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(be) free to use. The living room, the kitchen, the study, and of course the bedrooms are all for 

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (you) own use. Some apartments even have a  {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(true) lovely garden or a game room. You'll feel at home in the holiday apartment. One of  {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(good) things is, a holiday apartment is not expensive. The price  {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a holiday apartment for two people is often lower than that of a hotel room for two. You only need  {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(pay) a little more for a third or fourth person.  {#blank#}10{#/blank#}you travel with friends or your family, a holiday apartment will be a good choice!

Your parents do a lot of work around the house to keep things clean and tidy. If you want to pay them back, try to help out with the chores around the house.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, there are lots of things to do in your own room. Make your bed and f old your clothes to keep them tidy. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Get them off the floor and find some places to put them away.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Before a meal, help your parents to set the table. After the meal, do the dishes and then make sure to put them away. Be careful not to hurt yourself when doing the chores. Cleaning the floor is also important after a meal. Finally, don't forget about an easy chose—taking out the rubbish.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Sometimes your parents might keep a pet. It's a good idea to help them to care forit. Like you, a pet needs to eat well every day. So make sure to feed it on time. And remember to clean the pet's room often. The pet is part of your family, so spend some time playing with it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

I run a lot of writing workshops in secondary schools and what I often see is this: teenagers in class just look at the blank page and freeze. Even when I tell them they can't get it wrong in creative writing, they still stop and feel painful, looking to me for clear and definite instructions. This behavior results from their training to mimic(模仿). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} In time, they are afraid of getting things wrong and risking failure. Creativity is no longer supported and is even viewed as a soft skill, or even a weakness.

However, creativity is highly valued by employers. According to The Conversation, creativity has been the number-one skill needed by 20 million job ads on Linked for two years in a row. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Because of limited educational resources and assessment(评价) pressures, teenagers' thinking becomes increasingly narrow, leaving them afraid to explore other possibilities.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} It's just an ability to make new connections and follow where they go. Actually, creativity requires qualities available to us all: courage, observation, curiosity, flexibility and perseverance.

So how do we help teenagers be hopeful and brave? Firstly, we need to avoid the idea that their whole futures depend on this very task or that decision. Life is long enough to try many things, and to change directions. There is no right way to live a life. Secondly, let's encourage raising questions. Children are naturally curious, but this curiosity often fades as they grow older, although it still exists within them. Just because they lack answers doesn't mean they shouldn't ask questions; rather, they should ask even more. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Young people need reminding that their stories haven't been written. They need opportunities to try new things. They need permission to keep asking "what else is possible?" because anything is.

A. But in schools, it is different.

B. Being creative isn't a magical skill.

C. It allows us to understand their feelings better.

D. They know it is a safe way to get good grades.

E. The main problem is how to keep those creative juices flowing.

F. The world is held together with unanswered questions and endless possibilities.