Do you like trying different things? Are you afraid {#blank#}1{#/blank#} things that you think you're bad at?

    Last year I started to learn t' at chi in order to improve my health and reduce my stress. It was something new for me, and I found it to be quite difficult, very {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (difference) form anything I'd ever learned before. Small {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（move） are important in t' ai chi. I was used to being fast and active ,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}to learn t' ai chi I had to learn patience. Now I've found that I'm a much more patient person than before, and t' ai chi isn't nearly as difficult as it {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(be ) before.

    We tend {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(like) things we are good at — that's normal. For example, I'm naturally very good at badminton and tennis, but I'm very had at anything {#blank#}7{#/blank#}involves keeping balance, such as skating, skiing and gymnastics. T' ai chi has {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (great) improved my balance which has been a very good thing for me.

    My point is that you can keep {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(do) the things you know you're good at and live in your comfort zone, or you can try something new. If you don't try new things, you'll never know what it would be like to try something new. Challenge {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (you). It will definitely pay off in the end.

    I won't call myself the most accomplished person when it comes to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hold) chopsticks. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my technique looks clumsy at times. I tend to hold {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (I) in the middle, more beginner than expert.

    Still, since I eat almost every meal with the eating utensil(器皿)of choice in China it's not uncommon for a new friend or acquaintance to come to a simple {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (conclude) after observing me that my Chinese husband, Jun, must {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (show) me how to use them.

    They are wrong. I've used chopsticks ever since I was a teenager, a time when my sister and mother were both fond of Chinese cuisine and introduced me {#blank#}5{#/blank#} many new dishes, along with the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (prefer) utensils in China. We always kept bamboo chopsticks along with our {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (knife), forks and spoons, ready for whenever we happened to have Chinese food for dinner. It was my closest family {#blank#}8{#/blank#} observed my first mistakes I made in using chopsticks.

    Plus, I lived over two years in China before Jun and I started dating and I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (expect) to use chopsticks in almost every restaurant, stand and bar. Trust me, when you're hungry you figure out pretty fast what it takes to down(咽下) {#blank#}10{#/blank#} meal with these utensils.

    Yuan Longping is one of the most famous scientists in the world. He{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (struggle) for the past five decades for the Chinese farmers. He grows {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is called super hybrid rice. This special strain of rice makes {#blank#}3{#/blank#} possible to produce one third more of the crop in the same fields. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (use) his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before.

    Finding ways to grow more rice has been his life goal since he graduated from college in 1953. At that time, hunger was {#blank#}5{#/blank#} disturbing problem in many parts of the countryside. Therefore, he wanted to help his motherland rid of hunger {#blank#}6{#/blank#} increasing the rice output without {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (expand) the area of the fields, and he finally made it.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a great scientist, he leads a very simple life. He believes that a person with too much money has more rather than {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (few) troubles. He has another dream {#blank#}10{#/blank#} his rice can be grown around the globe and no hunger is in the world.

    The story happened in ancient times. A king was so clever that he thought of a good way to test {#blank#}1{#/blank#} his men were reliable.

    One day, he had a huge rock {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (place) on a roadway at night. Then he hid {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (him) nearby and watched carefully to see if anyone would remove the big rock. Some {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wealth) businessmen and high officials came by, but they simply walked around it. Many of them even loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them would bother {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (get) the big stone out of the way.

    Then a villager came along carrying a load of vegetables. On {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (approach) the big rock, he stopped and laid down his burden, trying hard to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing, he {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (final) succeeded. As the villager picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the rock {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be). The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king, saying that the gold was for the person {#blank#}9{#/blank#} removed the huge rock from the road.

    The villager learned a valuable lesson that many others would never understand: Every obstacle presents {#blank#}10{#/blank#} opportunity to improve one's condition.