Inspiration

    “Mama, when I grow up, I'm going to be one of those!” I said this after seeing the Capital Dancing Company perform when I was three. It was the first time that my1 took on a vivid form and acted as something important to start my training. As I grew older and was 2to more, my interests in the world of dance 3 varied but that little girl's dream of someday becoming a 4 in the company never left me. In the summer of 2005 when I was 18, I received the phone call which made that dream a 5I became a member of the company6 back to 1925.

    As I look back on that day now, it surely 7 any sense of reality. I believe I stayed in a state of pleasant disbelief8 I was halfway through rehearsals (排练) on my first day. I never actually9 to get the job. After being offered the position, I was completely10I remember shaking with excitement.

    Though I was absolutely thrilled with the change, it did not come without its fair share of 11. Through the strict rehearsal period of dancing six days a week, I found it vital to 12 up the material fast with every last bit of concentration. It is that extreme 13 to detail (细节) and stress on practice that set us 14.To then follow those high-energy rehearsals 15 a busy show schedule of up to five performances a day, I discovered a new 16 of the words “hard work.” What I thought was my physical 17 were pushed much further than I thought 18I learned to make each performance better than the last.

    Today, when I look at the unbelievable company that I have the great19 of being a part of, not only as a member, but as a dance captain, I see a 20 that has inspired not only generations of little girls but a splendid company that continues to develop and grow and inspires people every day to follow their dreams.

    “Leave a place better than you found it.” It is a 1 philosophy, but one that William Lindesay

    2 dear.On April 22, which was also Earth Day, he led twenty 3 to help clean up the Jiankou section of the Great Wall.

    “He who 4 is the owner,” William said in the 5 remarks of the cleanup event in 2000.“The Great Wall 6China, and is also one of the greatest 7 in the world.Everyone has a 8 to protect it.Every day should be Earth Day,” he said.

    During the past three decades, he has spent most of his time 9 and exploring the Great Wall and has developed his own 10 to protect the cultural relic.

    “It's a 11 thing that people are going out to enjoy themselves and to 12 the great history and heritage, 13 it's also quite dangerous if they don't 14 how fragile (易损坏的) the historical sites are and how fragile the 15 is,” William said.

    In 1989, his first 16Alone on the Great Wall was published, and he has published another five books about the Great Wall since then.In 2001, he 17 International Friends of the Great Wall, a(n)

    18 whose efforts are aimed at protecting this 19to the past.

    His next step is to organize exhibitions about the Great Wall as a 20 over the last 400 years.

    The exhibitions are expected to be held in Beijing, London, Paris and Washington DC.

More Than I Had Dreamed Of

    From the time I was seven, I had a dream of becoming a member of the Students' Union. I always 1 my school leaders for taking responsibility for all of us. So I dreamed of being a leader. Years flew by, and soon I was able to participate in the elections, 2 I would win. But the reality struck that I hadn't had a chance. I wasn't pretty. Girls across the school hardly knew me. I just did not have what it 3 to win a school election. I was 4. As I cried in my room that evening, I 5 took a deep breath and decided I wouldn't stop dreaming. I decided that I would 6 elections again in my final year at school — and I would win.

    I recognized that my 7 had a lot of things in their favor. What were the 8 that would work in my favor? I had good grades, and I was friendly and helpful. And my biggest 9 was the faith I had. I would not allow my 10 appearance to hold me back from putting my best foot forward. That evening, I 11 my election plans a whole year in advance.

    I realized that girls would have to get to know me and recognize that I had the ability to 12 them. I loved making friends and I liked being helpful, 13 I decided that perhaps I could use these qualities to work to my advantage. In order to learn how to present a great election 14, I also attended a course on effective public speaking.

    The day after the election, when the principal announced I won the second highest number of votes, the students 15. That joy on the faces of all my friends showed me that my victory was 16 theirs.

    Suddenly, I realized that I had 17 much more than I had dreamed of. I had made many new friends and had helped people 18 the way. I had won the 19 and love of my school-mates and they knew me as somebody who would stand by them. I was able to put a smile on their faces and 20 their day.

    When I was a college student, I did a lot of traveling abroad. That was because a professor1me to do so. She said, "Now it is the time for you to travel around the world,2your knowledge through actual experiences and have fun?" I3her.

    Since I started to work for a4company, however, I have done most of my traveling through the Internet. By using the Internet, I have seen the5of many cities on my computer screen. And I have really made business6, too. With the help of the Internet, I have also got7about food in different countries.

    Therefore, I was beginning to feel that actual trips were8necessary when I happened to read a famous chef's (厨师) comment on the Internet. He said, "It is very difficult to have real Italian food in a foreign country, because we enjoy food and the9around us at the same time. So why don't you fly over to Italy and enjoy real Italian 10? "Those words reminded me of my11advice. As information technology12, you might be able to do without making some real trips. But this also means that you will miss the various13 you can get from traveling.

    Today there are people who14 direct communication with others and spend much of their time on the Internet. It is not surprising to see a group of people15not with each other but into their micro phones. It seems as if such people are16by an invisible wall. They seem to be losing out on a good chance to17and talk with other people. I do not think that they are taking good advantage of information technology. We should use information technology as a tool to make our daily18 more fruitful. However, we should never let it 19our time for face to -face communication. Let's make use of information technology more20, and have great fun in experiencing the actual world.

Overcome the Fear for Your Dream

    I stood nervously behind the red curtain and glanced out across the stage. A girl about my age sat at a piano; I could see her fingertips moving over the black and white keys in front of her. The beautiful melody (旋律) was so relaxing, 1 my body tensed with anxiety.

    My body 2 when the girl stood up from the bench. It was finally my turn. A part of me wanted to run home and 3 under my bed, but I knew I had chosen to 4. When the girl onstage walked toward me, I could hear my heart beating 5. The girl had a proud smile on her face and when she passed me, I heard her say “Good 6”!

    “Well, here goes nothing.” I said to myself.

    I stepped onto the 7 and walked slowly toward the piano. The bright lights nearly 8 me, making it difficult to see the audience. When I reached the 9, I automatically slid onto the bench into position. The sounds of whispering and people walking around gave way to complete silence. I stared at my 10 fingers and for a moment my mind went 11. Closing my eyes, I imagined the music sitting in front of me and tried to recall every tiny detail.

    Finally, I took a deep breath and began to play Beethoven's Moonlight sonata（协奏曲）. The rich tones of the piano rang out. One by one, each muscle in my body loosened and relaxed. I sat on the bench and my 12 danced over the row of black and white keys as if they had a mind of their own.

    All the practice and 13 I put in for six months showed this was what my teacher was pushing for. I tried to 14 all the things she reminded me to do. “Keep your wrists up, relax your arms, don't raise your shoulders… ” I remembered feeling slightly annoyed hearing these things continuously, but I never realized until now how it really 15.

    When I reached the end of the piece, the audience started 16. I rose from the bench and gave a deep bow. A proud smile 17 up my face. Inside I felt 18 that it was over and that I had done so well. As the applause died down, I turned and walked to the other side of the stage. I saw a young boy standing nervously behind the red curtains staring 19out at the stage. When I walked by, I passed to him the two words that were given to me for20: Good luck!

    The daughter of two "extremely intelligent and very, very hardworking" doctors, Katherine originally had plans to follow in her parents' footsteps. She told a careers adviser that her first 1 was medicine, followed by politics. The third on her list of career choices was musical theatre. "Even though those first two 2 were very different, I always want to do something that was going to make a difference," she said.

    By the time she 3 from high school, Katherine knew she wanted to be an actress. But she was 4 by every acting school, in that she was too young and didn't have enough life 5. So she 6 teaching herself everything she could about the craft. At the end of that year, some managers from the US visited Australia. She was asked to 7 an audition tape. The next day the managers called her to say they wanted her to audition. Needless to say she 8 it. Katherine 9 a school student Hannah who committed suicide in 13 Reasons Why. And she 10 a Golden Globe nomination for the role. Hannah's life, Katherine admitted, was 11 easy. "Luckily for me, my high school experience was very 12 to Hannah's. I went to a gifted and talented school, and I got 13 from a group of friends," she said.

    This year Katherine 14 in her film Love, Simon, which is another coming-of-age drama, this time 15 bullying. "What 16 me about Love, Simon was it's not a high school movie; it's a love story. There were so many narratives that felt 17 yet unique, just because of the way they were written and the way I felt they were portrayed," she said.

    Being thrust into the public eye so suddenly and so early in her career has meant a 18 learning line for Katherine, who now finds herself walking the red carpet at Hollywood events and being approached by strangers in the street. Despite being involved in such a massive hit, she's not particularly 19 in the size of her following on social media. She said, "For me, it doesn't matter how many followers I have, but if my followers love the show and I'm able to interact with them, that is the biggest 20."