Jenna, a popular girl from Westwood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new1 in high school.

However, high school was different. In the first week, Jenna went to tryouts{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(选拔赛) for cheerleaders{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(啦啦队队员). She was competing against very talented girls, and she knew it would be2 for her to be selected. Two hours later, the3 read a list of the girls for a second tryout. Her heart was down as the list ended without her name. Feeling4 , she walked home carrying her schoolbag full of homework.

Arriving home, she started with maths. She had always been a5 maths student, but now she was struggling. She moved on to English and history, and was happy to find that she didn't have any trouble with those subjects. Feeling better, she decided not to6 maths for the time being.

The next day Jenna went to see Mrs Biden about being on the school7 . Mrs Biden wasn't as8 as Jenna. "I'm sorry, but we have enough9 for the newspaper already. Come back next year and we'll talk then." Jenna smiled10 and left. "Why is high school so11 ?" she sighed.

Later in maths class, Jenna devoted herself to figuring out the problems that had given her so much12 . By the end of class, she understood how to get them right. As she gathered her books, Jenna decided she'd continue to try to fit in at her new school. She wasn't sure if she'd13 , but she knew she had to try. High school was just as her mum had said, "You will feel like a small fish in a big pond14 a big fish in a small pond. The challenge is to become the15 fish you can be."

The light from the campfire brightened the darkness, but it could not prevent the damp cold of Dennis's Swamp (沼泽地) creeping into their bones. It was a strange place. Martin and Tom wished that they had not accepted Jack'sdare. They liked camping, but not near this swamp.

"So," Martin asked as they sat watching the hot coals. "How did this place get its name?"

"Are you sure you want to hear it? It's a scary story," warned Jack.

"Of course!" cried out Tom. "If there were anything to be scared of, you wouldn't have chosen this place!"

"Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you," said Jack, and he began this tale.

"Way back in time, a man called Dennis tried to start a farm here. He built that cottage over there to live in. In those days, the area looked quite different — it was covered with tall trees and the swamp was a crystal-clear river. After three hard years, Dennis had cleared several fields and planted crops. He was so proud of his success that he refused to listen to advice.

"‘You are clearing too much land,' warned one old man. ‘The land is a living thing. It will hit back at you if you abuse it. '"

"‘Silly fool,' said Dennis to himself. ‘If I clear more land, I can grow more crops. I'll become wealthier. He's just jealous!'"

"Dennis continued to chop down trees. Small animals that relied on them for food and shelter were destroyed. He was so eager to expand his farm that he did not notice the river flowing slowly towards his door. He did not notice salt seeping to the surface of the land. He did not notice swamp plants choking all the native plants."

"What happened?" Martin asked. It was growing colder. He trembled, twisting his body closer to the fire.

"The land hit back — just as the old man warned," Jack shrugged. "Dennis disappeared. Old folks around here believe that swamp plants moved up from the river and dragged him underwater. His body was never found."

"What a stupid story," laughed Tom. "Plants can't …" Before he had finished speaking, he screamed and fainted (晕倒). The other two boys jumped up with fright, staring at Tom. Suddenly, they burst out laughing. Some green swamp ivy (常春藤) had covered Tom's face. It was a while before Tom could appreciate the joke.

Ever since I entered YYHS, I have been struggling with the courses I take, in particular math. Although much effort has been put into math, I can't see any sign of improvement. Every day, I sit in the classroom, looking at the math teacher {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(困惑地). In a sense, I can {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(被称为) an idiot in learning math. Worse still, there are countless unknown fields {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(来探索) in my spare time. Last weekend, we took a math exam and scored only 78, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(这使我很受挫和绝望). YYHS, originally known as the Eighth School, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(属于) the list of first provincial key schools in Hubei province. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(被包围) talented students here, I feel highly pressured all the time. At times, an idea pops up into my mind that I may as well {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(摆脱) this renowned school. How I wish I could learn in a relaxed atmosphere, where I can have my learning schedule {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(调整) a little bit {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（如果可能）. When I shared my idea with my parents the other day, they urged me to {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(抛弃) all my troubles and {#blank#}11{#/blank#}(留心) in each class. Without their support, I had to stay and commit myself to my work. Whatever challenge comes my way, I will face it bravely. Should I fail in the future, I can {#blank#}12{#/blank#}(接管) my family business. After all, just as the saying goes, "All roads lead to Rome."

Colorado's grays peak rises 14,278 feet above sea level, high enough that trees can't grow toward the top, though there are plenty of shrubs and rocks. It was in this unforgiving landform that Bev Wedelstedt was unlucky enough to get seriously injured in her left knee.

It was August 2018, and Wedelstedt, 56, was on her way back down the trail with three friends. A storm was brewing, and they were anxious to get off the mountain. When they approached a rocky drop of a couple of feet, Wedelstedt decided to leap. She landed on her left leg. Then she heard the snap. Every step after that was agony（剧痛）. Before long, she had to stop. As one friend ran down to get help, a number of other hikers, all strangers, attempted to help Wedelstedt down the narrow trail by walking on either side of her to support her weight, but that proved slow and dangerous. "One man was so close to the edge that I could see rocks falling down from where he stepped on them." Wedelstedt says.

Finally, one hiker, Matt, asked her, "How do you feel about a fireman's carry?" Before she knew it, he had lifted her over his shoulder. "Now, I'm not tiny," says Wedelstedt, a former college basketball star. Matt clearly couldn't carry her all the way down by himself. So six hikers and one of her friends took turns carrying her while she tried to make light of a difficult situation: "I told them I wanted to meet a lot of guys, but this isn't the way I wanted to do it." Three hours and two rock-strewn miles later, this human conveyor belt finally met the medics, who took Wedelstedt to the hospital.

She stayed in hospital for a period time. Now she has mostly recovered from her ill-fated hike, but Wedelstedt knows she'll never shake one thing from that day: the memory of the band of strangers who came to her rescue. "I'm still in awe."

Zhang Guimei taught at a school during the day and took care of a children's home in her spare time. One day, Zhang met a teenage girl {#blank#}1{#/blank#} told Zhang that her family was too poor {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (afford) school fees. Zhang went to persuade her parents to allow their daughter to continue schooling {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, the parents refused Zhang. With the little girl lingering in her mind, Zhang tried to figure out how to help those poor local girls.

In 2007, Zhang {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (elect) as a representative of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and attended the meeting in Beijing. A news report on Zhang helped her ambition of building a school {#blank#}5{#/blank#} girls gained the attention of Huaping county officials and other {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (support). A year later, Huaping Girls' High School, China's {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (one) tuition-free high school, opened and enrolled 100 students, with Zhang as its president. Most of the girls were from remote areas.

{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (follow) in Zhang's footsteps, many of the graduates of Huaping Girls' High School have chosen to work in remote areas.

In July 2021, she was one of the recipients of this year's July 1st Medal, the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (high) honor for a Communist Party of China member, for her outstanding contributions to education in the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (mountain) region.

Road trips were part of my childhood, but it is hard to say they are entirely fond memories. As someone who easily got carsick, I spent most of the long drives with my head against the window or leaning awkwardly to the side. More often, however, I would have to sleep through the CDs in our beaten car.

There was one CD that we often played, one that became the symbolic Road Trip CD in my mind. It was an album in Mandarin (普通话) by my mom's favorite music artist, Leon Lai, who I understood was a major Cantopop legend in his day. We seemingly only played the unidentified Leon Lai CD during our hour-long road trips. I didn't know what it was called until I was in high school and successfully uncovered it by searching through Leon Lai's albums on Spotify until I found the one like the CD cover art.

向往，or Longing, a 1998 Mandarin release, didn't seem to be one of Leon Lai's most famous works. My mom didn't seem to remember why she had it either. The fact that it was in Mandarin, however, made my parents even more willing to play it on repeat. To make up for me and my brother's embarrassing unfamiliarity with the Chinese language, throughout our childhood they were keen on having us watch shows and listen to music in Chinese as a way for us to immerse ourselves and make up for the ground we lost. They were usually in Mandarin, because that was what our formal Chinese schooling taught us, even though Cantonese was the dialect our family actually spoke. This at least meant I could use what I learned in class to understand the lyrics in this album, though I found the singing harder to understand.

Due to the endless exposure to the songs on the road the genuinely memorable mix of upbeat and ballad-like tunes, as well as how well it shows my complicated connection to the Chinese language, this random album holds a special place in my heart.