Gift from a stranger

My local supermarket is always busy. The first parking space I found was convenient, but I'd noticed a woman in a blue car circling for a while. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I was in a good mood, I let her have it. On the edge of the car park I backed into the next available spot—it was a tight fit.

Pretty soon I'd made my way through the supermarket and was back in the fresh air. Feeling good, I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (empty) my purse change into the hands of a homeless man and helped a struggling woman reverse park（倒车）.

Just as I approached my car, 1 saw the woman I'd let have my car space earlier. She was giving me {#blank#}3{#/blank#} odd look—half puzzled, half intent (热切的). I smiled and wished her a pleasant day. As I squeezed back into my car, I spotted the same lady {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  (look) in at me. "Hello," she said, hesitantly. "This {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  sound crazy but I was on my way to drop some of my mother's things off at the charity bins.” You are just so much{#blank#}6{#/blank#} her.” You helped those people, I noticed, and you seemed so happy.” She looked at me meaningfully and passed a box in through the window. “I think she would like you to have it.”{#blank#}7{#/blank#}  (shock), I took it from her automatically. She smiled and walked away.

After a pause, I opened the box. Inside was a beautiful gold necklace with a large grey pearl. It was{#blank#}8{#/blank#}  (nice) gift I'd ever received, and it was from a complete stranger. The necklace was around my neck, a warm reminder of human kindness.

    Alex and Donna Voutsinas are like many couples; they met at work, fell in love and were preparing for the coming {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (marry). Days before their wedding, the couple was looking at old family {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (photo) when Donna came across a picture of herself as a child {#blank#}3{#/blank#} vacation at Disney and showed it to her boyfriend.

    But Alex was more interested in the man {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (walk) in the background behind Donna's smiling family and the character Mr. Smee from Disney's “Peter Pan. Alex recognized the man in the background because it was his father, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} was pushing a stroller (婴儿车) during their own family trip to Disney.

    Decades before they met as adults, the couple {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (cross) paths at Disney as kids.

    “Just {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (be) in the same picture with my wife when we were {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (basic) babies, it's unbelievable,” Alex Voutsinas said. The chance meeting is more unbelievable because the two families lived countries apart. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the photo was taken, Donna's family was living in Florida and Alex's family called Montreal home. I was glad he asked me to marry him before the picture, Donna said, because I know that it's because he loves me and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} because he thought it was meant to be, it was fate.”

    The word Nushu literally means “women's writing” in Chinese: As the name suggests, Nushu is created and specially used by women.

    Often {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（call） “the world's only surviving characters for women”, these slim words were developed from standard written Chinese. In the old days, Nushu {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（teach）by elderly women to girls at home because female children weren't allowed {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（attend）formal school. During gatherings in villages, women used the characters to .write poems or song lyrics to express their emotions {#blank#}4{#/blank#} were hidden from men. The words were full {#blank#}5{#/blank#} encouragement and positive energy, and showed an uncommon open-mindedness among women at that time.

    Ji Xianlin once said that Nushu is a feminist（女权主义者）symbol. “It's {#blank#}6{#/blank#} unique writing system created by {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（talent）women who were deprived（剥夺）of the right to education,” he wrote in an article. “It has significance in various {#blank#}8{#/blank#}（field）and represents Chinese people's strong spirit.”

    Nushu was made as a national cultural heritage in 2006. However, it is not {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（wide）used in daily life today. In fact, it is a dying language. Now linguists are taking action to prevent this incredible cultural heritage from{#blank#}10{#/blank#}（disappear）.

    Last weekend our school held a sports meeting. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (realize) it was our last high school sports meeting, we decided to make {#blank#}2{#/blank#} an unforgettable experience for all of us.

    We first attended the opening parade, for {#blank#}3{#/blank#} our class had made a lot of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (prepare). To our excitement, our parade performance was a great success. After the parade, the games started. My classmates attended {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (vary) events such as running, high jump and long jump. Due to the hard training they {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (do) before, their performances were very {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (impress). On the stand, my classmates applauded and cheered for the athletes, some raising their cameras to capture the exciting moments. Finally, the result{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (announce). It was{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (amaze) that our class won the second place. Our efforts paid off! Cup in hand, we took a picture together.

    I believe this sports meeting will remain a precious memory for all of us {#blank#}10{#/blank#} time goes by.

    When I was a kid, Mom used to cook food for us. One night after {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (spend) a long hard day at work, Mom placed a plate of bread jam and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (extreme) burnt toast（烤面包） in front of my dad, I was waiting {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (see) if he noticed it. However, while eating his toast. Dad just asked me {#blank#}4{#/blank#} my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night,{#blank#}5{#/blank#} I do remember I heard Mom apologizing to Dad for burning the toast. I'll never forget what Dad said, “Honey, I love burnt toast.”

    Later that night, I {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (go) to kiss Daddy good night and asked him if he really liked his toast burned. He gave me {#blank#}7{#/blank#} big hug and said, “Your mamma put in a long hard day at work today, really {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (tire). Besides, a burnt toast never hurts but cold words do!”

    What I've learned over the years {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (be) that learning to accept each other's faults is one of the most important {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (key) to creating a healthy, growing and lasting relationship.

Tsinghua University was established in 1911, originally under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang". The school was renamed "Tsinghua School" in 1912. The university section {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (found) in 1925. The name "National Tsinghua University" was adopted in 1928.

Tsinghua University was forced {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (move) to Kunming and join with Peking University and Nankai University to form the Southwest Associated University due to the Resistance War {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the Japanese Invasion in 1937. In 1946 the university was moved back to its {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (origin) location in Beijing after the war.

In November 1952, Mr. Jiang Nanxiang became the President of the University. He made {#blank#}5{#/blank#} significant contribution in leading Tsinghua to become the national center for {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (train) great engineers and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (science).

{#blank#}8{#/blank#} China opened up to the world in 1978, Tsinghua University has developed at a breathtaking pace into a research university. Tens of thousands of students have graduated from Tsinghua since its founding, among {#blank#}9{#/blank#} are many outstanding scholars, excellent businesspersons and great statesmen {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (respect) by their fellow Chinese citizens.