Nowadays, lots of foreigners are learning Chinese. Like many of them, I 1 knew two words of Chinese ("Ni Hao" and "Xie Xie") when I first came to Beijing, China in 2009. As you can guess, my life was 2 for a while after I arrived. Simple tasks like ordering food or taking a taxi were quite stressful.

    I knew I had to learn more Chinese, so I 3 a Chinese class. My teacher was 4, although I didn't learn enough to have a real conversation. Later I studied on my own as well, but my progress was still slow. And I decided to 5.

    Around this time, I started playing in a band with a Chinese man who became one of my best friends in Beijing. He taught me a lot of 6 about music, such as "melody". He learned a lot of English from me in return, so it was a good way to 7 language and culture.

    I have learned enough Chinese to 8 many problems like booking train tickets. These days, there are more foreigners who are studying Chinese. I can 9 why it's an amazing language. Finally, I found that the best way to learn a 10 is to make friends with native speakers and spend time with them.

I went to Grand Canyon (大峡谷) National Park in July 2012 for the firsttime and I knew I wanted to work there as a park ranger（管理员）. Park rangers protect the park's animals, plants, land, buildings, andpeople.

Now, as a park ranger forGrand Canyon National Park, I share the science, history and beauty of this parkwith thousands of visitors from around the world.

National parks are like outdoormuseums. Park rangers have all kinds of jobs, depending on where they work and whatthey studied during college. I teach school field trips（实地考察）, work at visitor centers and helppeople stay safe during their visit.

My favorite part of my jobis showing children their first look at the Grand Canyon during school field trips.Children are often amazed at the canyon's size and colors. Sometimes, they thinkit looks like a painting.

Being a park ranger requiresa lot of energy. I walk several miles and talk with hundreds of people each day.Park rangers must enjoy working with people and speaking in front of groups. Nearly5 million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year.

Park rangers must also beprepared for any situation. Recently, I broke a traffic jam(堵塞). It was caused by a huge elk（麋鹿）standing in the road. Elks can become dangerous when they get scared,so I asked visitors to stop their cars and take pictures from far away. Believeit or not, I also help protect people from monkeys. It is not allowed to feed animalsin national parks. But sometimes, visitors try to feed monkeys.

Ray was thought to be a strange boy. One day when he was flying his kite, he said to himself," Did anybody ever try to fly a kite at night? I think it must be very fun. But the kite can't be seen in the dark. What if I tie a light to it? That would be really good. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(try) it tonight."

As soon as it was dark, he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(take) his kite and lantern, and went to a large field about a mile from his home. He tied the lantern to the tail of his kite. The lantern {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(make) of paper. The kite flew higher and higher. He tied the string (线)to a tree, and then he stood there, staring at his kite. It floated (飘) high up into the air. How wonderful! While Ray {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(enjoy) his special kite, some people in the village also saw it.

"Look! A light{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (fly) in the sky," one person said. "It can't be a light," said a man.

"Perhaps it's a big firefly (萤火虫) ,"said another,

"Maybe it's a comet (彗星),"said another man.

"How strange!" said a boy.

"Let's find out what this strange light{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (be)," the last one said. Then they went to the field.

Ray, who had gotten tired of standing, was sitting behind a tree. He{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (see) the men as they came, but they didn't see him. When they reached under the light, and saw what it was, they looked at each other and said, "There is nothing unusual {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(happen)! This is just a trick of some naughty boys, but it {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (fool) us all.

Let's keep the secret. "Then they laughed and went back to the village. When the men had gone, Ray thought it was time for him {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(go), so he went home, too. When his mother heard what he had done, she hardly knew whether to laugh or scold (责备), but just told him to go to bed.