From the first week of high school, my best friend, Trisha, was always going out with the popular girls. 1 I thought, “It's okay; she's just making new friends.” But soon I realized that Trisha wasn't interested in me anymore. I'd 2 my best friend. It really hurt.

    One day, I told Trisha that we should 3 pretending（假装）to be friends when we really weren't anymore. I wasn't trying to make her mad, 4 she was. After that, Trisha started talking about me behind my back, telling people that I was 5. Some of our friends 6 with her. I felt like she was taking them away from me.

    The more I thought about it, the 7 I got. Finally, I 8 a picture of Trisha and drew lines on her face. I wrote, “I 9 this person” across the bottom. And then I did something I'll always 10: I put it on a website I thought was 11. I thought people would see it, and it felt good to vent（发泄）.

    A week later, Trisha's mom saw the 12. She called my mom, who made me take it off the website right away. However, it was already too 13. Lots of people had seen it, and I was in a lot of 14.

    That whole day, I felt 15. I had to say sorry to Trisha face to face. She said she accepted my apology, but I felt she was16 angry with me.

    Posting that picture was one of the worst 17 I've ever made. I realize now I could have found a much better way to deal with my 18. If I'd just told Trisha how much I 19 her, maybe things would have turned out20. It's too late for me to change things, but I hope you'll learn from my mistake.

    When I was three years old, my parents discovered I was totally deaf. After discussing with doctors, they made a decision to send me to a 1 school.

    I experienced great 2 throughout elementary school because I 3 with most of my schoolwork in order that I could keep up. Because of my 4 I had to constantly ask everyone, "What did he/she say？"Classmates are warm­hearted. 5, I worried that everyone would soon 6 repeating everything back to me. Often I was afraid my classmates would make fun of me, so I 7 answered any teacher's question.

    Mrs. Jordan, my 5th­grade teacher, changed my 8 with a simple three­word phrase. One morning, she asked the class a question. I read her lips and immediately raised my hand. Yet I daren't 9 it — this time I knew the answer. When she called on me, I was nervous. Despite my 10, I felt confident because I was 11 that I had the right answer. I took a deep breath and 12 answered Mrs. Jordan's question.

    I will never 13 what happened next. Her 14 surprised all of us. Mrs. Jordan enthusiastically hit the floor with her right foot and ran her right finger in a full circle until it pointed directly at me. With sparkling (闪闪发光的) eyes and a wide smile she 15, "THAT'S RIGHT, STEPHEN！"

    For the first time in my young life, I was an instant star. My pride 16 in my heart. My 17 rose like never before. A simple three­word phrase delivered with 18 enthusiasm had totally changed my young life.

    From that day, my grades 19 dramatically. My 20 among my peers increased and my outlook on life did a complete turnabout.

    Ferdinand de Lesseps, once a French diplomat(外交官)，became 1 with the cultures of the Mediterranean(地中海)and Middle East and the growth of western European 2. But in 1849 he retired after a disagreement with the French government.

    In 1854,3his expectation, he returned to Egypt, 4 he was given a warm welcome and, soon afterwards, permission to begin work 5 the Suez Canal. De Lesseps had been 6 by reading about Napoleon's abandoned plans for a 7 that would allow large ships wishing to sail to the east to go8 from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, therefore 9 out the long sea journey around Africa.

    De Lesseps' plan was 10 by an International commission of engineers, but failed to win the support of the British government, 11 de Lesseps making a number of trips to London. He persevered and 12 attracted financial support from the French emperor Napoleon III and others.

    De Lesseps was no 13 ­ his achievement lay 14 organizing the necessary political and financial backing, and providing the technical support 15for such a huge project. 16 began in April 1859, and the Suez Canal was 17in November 1869. British attitudes changed when the canal was seen to be a 18and de Lesseps was treated as a great celebrity (名人) on his later visit to Britain. In 1875, the Egyptian government sold its 19, in the canal and the British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, 20effective control of the Canal Company.

    Everybody seems to pay more attention to my little sister Lisa. I've 1 enough of this big-sister thing!

    So I decide to 2, with my favorite toys and other 3 like clothes. Mother 4 my running away. However, she's not as upset as she 5 be, "Are you going to Grandma's?" I can't believe she can even 6 this out. She's like a witch!

    I don't 7 her and go out. So 8 on my leaving, I'm unaware Mother is 9 me. Finally I get to Grandma's. 10 I even knock, the door opens. I realize Mother has 11 ahead.

    Mother comes in and sits down, patting her thigh (大腿), "Come here." I don't want to, but I'm hot and tired, so I 12 her thigh. She pushes my hair behind my ear and asks 13, "Dear, why have you left?" And it all comes out: "It's 14 and all the time with Lisa, I get into trouble..."

    Taking my face in her hands, Mum says, "I don't want you to be so 15. If it's hard for you, I'll call the orphanage and send her away tomorrow." I start to 16 and I beg her, "No. Don't send her away!" Seeming 17, Mother agrees.

    18, whenever we have a(n) 19, if I say, "Mum, Lisa's being mean to me!" Mum smiles, "You had your 20."

Omar Vazquez grew up in poverty on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. He watched his single mother struggle to put food on the table, and today the memory inspires him to help those in need. When an invasive (入侵的) seaweed called sargassum showed up on Mexico's Caribbean beaches, Omar looked past the matter of it all and saw an opportunity to help others.

Sargassum is not dangerous, but it has an unpleasant smell and can become so thick that it keeps people from entering the water. Mexico has experienced record-setting amounts of the seaweed in recent years, and it has made its way to Florida's beaches as well. Experts say there could be as much as 100 tons of sargassum blocking Mexican shorelines in 2023.

With tourism dollars at risk, officials and locals alike were eager to remove the seaweed, but only Omar saw its true potential. The professional gardener organized a beach cleanup that provided jobs for about 300 local families, but he knew there was more to do. Since people's attitude towards the seaweed reminded him of his own life experiences, he decided to become an agent (推动者) for change.

When sargassum started arriving, everyone was complaining. "I wanted to make something good out of something everyone saw as bad," Omar explained.

In 2018, Omar found a way to turn sargassum into building blocks that he calls Sargablock. He creates these blocks by mixing 40% sargassum with other materials like clay, then putting them in a block-forming machine and baking them in the sun for days. The end result is an organic, sustainable, and ecologically friendly building material that experts say could last for 120 years.

To date, Omar's company, Bluegreen Mexico, has used 700 tons of sargassum to build low-income housing for those in need. Omar said he would take on more projects, and donate more houses to single mothers like his own mom.

At a snow park in Zhangiakou, Hebei, Chinese teenage snowboarder Su Yiming won a silver in the men's snowboarding competition on February 7, 2022. It was the first time that a Chinese snow boarder had ever competed in this event at any Olympics. 

Su was introduced to snowboarding at the age of 4 by his parents who were both snowboarding fans. Su fell in love with the sport the first time they took him to a ski center. Later he kept on practicing after class. To save up more time for snowboarding, he would get up at 5 a. m. and finish his homework early. Su just saw snowboarding as a hobby in the beginning. However, on July 31, 2015, when he knew that 2022 Winter Olympics would be held in Beijing, his mind tuned to professional (职业性的) competition. He dreamed of joining in the Winter Olympics. And he decided to go professional. 

In 2018. Su became a member of China's national snowboarding team. In 2020 and 2021, he took home gold medals (奖牌) in all national competitions. In January 2021, he became the first Chinese male snowboarder to finish the Cab 1800-one of the most difficult snowboarding skills. 

Behind his success is Su's hard work. He has made full use of every chance to train more. Usually he arrived at the training center earlier than his teammates. In that way, he could practice more. He even broke several snowboards in one week because of heavy training.