I can well remember that I was once asked to deliver a speech titled “A Real Test in My Life” before the whole class at the age of 9! You can imagine how{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(terrible) shy I was with so many eyes fixed on me. I had no choice but {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(prepare) for it, though. First of all, I was to draft the speech, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} was just a piece of cake for me, a good writer. But the hardest part {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(lie) in my oral presentation from my memory—for to read from the paper {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(forbid). The real moment began when I stood on the platform with my legs {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(tremble) and my mind blank. But my listeners were waiting patiently without any signs of rushing me. Gradually I found {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (I) back, delivering my speech without difficulty. After {#blank#}8{#/blank#} seemed to be a hundred years, I found my audience applauding—I made it! From then on, my fear of talking before the audience disappeared. Actually with my {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(confident) built up, I now turn out to be a great speaker. Looking back, I know the{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(great) difficulty on our way to success is our fear. Overcome it and we will be able to achieve our goals.

    California is the third {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(large) state in the USA and it is the most multicultural state. About 15,000 years ago, the first {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(settle) crossed the Bering Strait and arrived in California. The Native Americans suffered {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(great) after the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century. In the 18th century, California{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(rule) by Spain until 1821 when the people of Mexico gained their independence{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Spain. California then became part of Mexico. But after the American-Mexican war in 1846, California was given to the USA.

    In 1848, gold was discovered in California，{#blank#}6{#/blank#}attracted people from all over the world to arrive there{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(achieve) their dreams of becoming rich. In 1850, California became{#blank#}8{#/blank#} 31st state of the USA as a multicultural society.{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (attract) by the climate and lifestyle, more and more people from different parts of the world have been immigrating to California{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(include) Asians, Africans and Europeans.

    Our world has seen {#blank#}1{#/blank#} increasing number of students pressuring their parents into buying luxuries (奢侈品) just to look good before their peers. Problem is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is to blame, parents, students or society? Now, some schools have taken action.

    To avoid {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (show) off superiority among wealthy students, Woodchurch High School in northwestern England has recently made an {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (announce) to refuse quality designer coats, including Canada Goose, often worth hundreds of dollars. Such coats make poor students feel bad since these items lead to inequality. "They feel left out and inadequate," {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (say) The Independent in its last issue.

    The ban has aroused nationwide debate. Some argue that we shouldn't take away parents' right to buy anything {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (value) they like for their kids. However, most parents applaud, believing it decreases their worries on lower incomes.

    Just as Libby Purves, a UK reporter, put it, how you feel at school largely affects your whole life. Columnist Michelle Singletary wrote on The Washington Post that now comes the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (big) chance so far to teach students {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (understand) clothing in fact measures nothing.

    Not just this. In May St. Wilfrid's Primary School banned students {#blank#}9{#/blank#} using designer pencils in case poor students would feel {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (look) down upon.

Photographers Turn Their Cameras on Pets

In 2019 photographers Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks visited 14 countries on assignment. When the couple described the adventures {#blank#}1{#/blank#}they had experienced when photographing, people invariably asked, "But who takes care of your four cats and dogs?" They joked that the pet siter made a lot of money.

But 2020 couldn't have been {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(different). Due to COVID-19, Brinson and Banks never left the United States. Often, they didn't even leave their Los Angeles neighborhood. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#}spending long hours in airport security lines and waiting-for the perfect lighting, the pair stayed along with dogs Tux and Tia and cats Rex and Kudzu. "Our pets became emotional therapy animals, and our only friends we could safely hug in a world {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(strike) by a deadly pandemic," Banks said.

As COVID-19 lockdowns swept across the world in March of 2020, the change made an especially great impact on photographers, who are accustomed to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(spend) long periods abroad. And so many cameras {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(turn) on a domestic subject: the pet.

Research suggests that pets have offered emotional support during the pandemic, helping {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(make) the long days of isolation more bearable, says Emily MeCobb, a clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. In fact, the pandemic has sped up a trend, according to McCobb's and other scientists' observation, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the pet is becoming a member of the family. "In the past 20 to 30 years, the role of the pet in the family {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(take) on a whole new role," says MeCobb." It really hasn't been that long {#blank#}11{#/blank#}these furry child substitutes gained this kind of importance in American society."