I feel very excited at the thought that in another week I'll be with you again on holiday.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} My host and my fellow-students are all very nice to me, but as they say in England, “There's no place like home”, and I think you will feel this above all at Christmas time.

    I'm leaving here early on Thursday, the 23^rd, and I'll be arriving in Paris on Friday morning. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Please meet me at the station. In some of my earlier letters I have told you all about the other students here. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}  Because he has no friends in England except me. He is a very nice boy. I know you will like him and I feel sure he will enjoy Christmas with us. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Please let me know soon if that's all right. I've got some Christmas presents for you all, but I'm not going to tell you what they are, so it will be a surprise.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I hope you are all keeping well. See that father always puts on his big coat when he goes out so that he will not catch a cold. We don't want him ill for Christmas.

A. I will have him spend Christmas with us.

B. But I haven't invited him yet.

C. I enjoy my stay in England very much indeed.

D. How are you all at home?

E. So I'll be home about lunch time.

F. Well, I want to ask my Canadian friend, Jan, to come and spend Christmas.

G. Things at home are much better than things in other places.

Are you afraid of making mistakes?

    Learn to accept mistakes as opportunities, then you'll feel less stressed and fearful and you'll be more confident. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} So what should you do?

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Accept that you're human and that each of us will make mistakes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you are open to learning from your mistake, you will be able to move on rather than wallowing in (沉湎于) regret.

Be aware

    In other words, look for areas of improvement. Be aware of what you are doing, why you are doing it, how you feel, and how you make others feel. Sometimes, your words just don't land right or you say something but it is not what you mean to say. People have difficulty expressing what they really mean.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Whenever you make a mistake or you are involved in a misunderstanding, take responsibility. There is always something to be learned or improved even if the other person is wrong, too.

A. By being fully aware of how you impact others, you keep an open state of learning which allows you to practice being a better person.

B. Be open to making mistakes and consider them as opportunities to learn valuable life lessons.

C. Here are some ideas that can prevent you from making mistakes.

D. Be open to making mistakes.

E. In short, you will benefit from the mistakes.

F. Say your words again so that others can understand you.

G. Accept full responsibility.

Advice for High School Students

    As a person who is graduating from high school very soon, I have some suggestions for students in high school or students who are soon going to be high school students. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I am sure others can benefit from reading them and will not make similar mistakes like me.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Do not value first impression highly. Don't dismiss a person or an idea too early just because you immediately get a bad impression. You will miss many opportunities because of that. Although something seems bad at the first impression, it does not mean it is bad all the time. Try to give everything a fair chance.

    Don't try to please everybody. There is no way you can please everybody or get everybody to agree with you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It is a huge waste of time.

    Have respect for authority. No matter how much you may dislike them, just remember that teachers and parents care about you and they are only doing their jobs. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Don't argue with them and just obey them.

    Realize a high school is not the real world. The real world isn't a closed environment. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} What is rewarded in high school such as popularity and agreement is different from what is rewarded in the real world. If high school isn't working out for you, you may find yourself better at handling the real world.

A. Do not be too quick to judge.

B. So just learn to say the word “No” a lot.

C. Listen to their advice and consider it carefully.

D. Many of these are based on regrets that I have.

E. Bad habits are hard to break and remain with you for a long time.

F. Don't spend any effort trying to please others who will never like you.

G. It is a free society where people accept responsibility for their actions.

    US City Bans Texting while Walking

    Parents usually teach their children how to cross the street safely, by looking both ways for cars. But do they also teach them to put away their cell phones?

    The city of Honolulu, Hawaii wants everyone to learn that lesson{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Beginning on October 24, you could be fined from $15 to $99 if you step into a Honolulu street while looking at your phone. Honolulu is the first major U. S. city to ban what is called "distracted (分散注意) walking. " It recently passed a law in a seven to two vote. The law says; “No pedestrian shall cross a street or highway while viewing a mobile electronic device. "{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The law's creators hope it will lower the number of people hit and killed by cars in the city. Mayor Kirk Caldwell told Reuters news agency, "We hold the unfortunate distinction (区别) of being a major city with more pedestrians being hit in crosswalks, particularly our elders, than almost any other city in the country. "

    The law includes all electronic devices with screens: cell phones, tables, gaming devices, digital cameras and laptop computers{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Pedestrians may use such devices in the street to call emergency services and rescue workers, such as firefighters and police officers.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The Governors Highway Safety Association, or GHSA, says pedestrian deaths in the United States increase 25 percent between 2010 and 2015. That trend continued in 2016 with the number of pedestrian deaths rising to almost 6000, 11% higher than in 2015.

    If you still want to text while walking, you could avoid being fined in Honolulu (and be safer, in general) by using a voice-controlled digital(数字的) assistant such as Siri or Google Assistant{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. The law does permit an exception.

B. Or you could just wait until you are again, safely, off the street.

C. You will be sentenced to prison while using cell phones in the street.

D. Pedestrian deaths have been increasing as the use of cell phones rises.

E. Texting while crossing the street will soon be banned in the city.

F. The law permits people to watch TV while crossing the street.

G. In other words, do not look at a screen when you cross the street or you could be fined.

    Change is hard for many people to accept. However, it's worth keeping in mind that one part of growing as a person requires you to accept that life is constantly changing{#blank#}1{#/blank#} You need to be able to deal with these changes in a positive way.

    First of all, you should understand that change is an unavoidable part of life. Before the time comes for you to accept change, learn that it is necessary for old things to go and new things to come{#blank#}2{#/blank#}The entire history of the world and the history of human progress are decided by change and development.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Even though change can have a negative effect on your life, in most cases, there is always something positive to look at. Use this as an opportunity to turn a loss or negative change into an opportunity.

    Last of all, try to understand why change upsets you so much. It's hard to change and accept it if you're unclear why it makes you so uncomfortable or unsettled{#blank#}4{#/blank#}This, as a result, might help stop some of your anxiety about change. Consider the following{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Does the change make you feel like everything you know about the world is falling apart? Does breaking up with a significant other make you feel as if you're too emotionally fragile and lacking a support system?

A. Does that bad situation appeal to you?

B. You must learn to look on the bright side as well.

C. Think about it and you might understand it finally.

D. You should turn to others for help if it is necessary.

E. Does social change give you a feeling of uncertainty?

F. You might lose our jobs, lose our loved ones, or experience other life changing things

G. Most of the time, the transition from the old to the new will bring you energy

    Find a quiet location. Keep a routine. Focus on one subject at a time. It all seems like sound advice for students who need to hit the books, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} . Here's a list of tips from Carey, a scientist, for getting the most out of your study time.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Doing practice quizzes can help you retrieve（检索）information on test day. “Tests have a very bad reputation as a measurement tool,” Carey says. But psychologists have found self-tests slow down the forgetting of material you've studied. “If you study something once, and then you test yourself on it,” Carey says, “you do better than if you study it twice over.”

    Move around

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} . “If you move around and study the same material in several places,” he says, “you may be forming multiple associations for the same material. So it's better anchored in your brain, and you can pull it out easier.”

    Mix it up

    Think about a football who does strength training, speed training and drills. Carey says alternating between different facets facts of a subject in a single sitting can “leave a deeper impression on the brain”. For example, when studying French, do some verbs, some speaking and some reading. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} .

    Space it out

    Information learned in a hurry is lost just as fast. So if you really want to learn, space out shorter, hour-long study sessions. “There's no doubt that you can cram for（突击备考）an exam.” Carey says, “{#blank#}5{#/blank#} . And once it's gone, “it's gone. You're not getting it back.”

A. Test yourself

B. Study it and practice more

C. and it turns out that some of them are in great help

D. but recent studies indicate the conventional wisdom is wrong

E. The problem is that it's so easy to forget what you just crammed

F. Changing up where you study can help you keep more information

G. Spending your time in deep concentration on just verbs isn't effective