Honesty is a virtue, and telling a lie is morally wrong. But how can you know if someone is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}? The answer is, they're probably not. Traditional economics says that people are rational beings who will lie if it is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} their advantage. A recent university study has shown that, actually, we're pretty honest ―especially {#blank#}3{#/blank#} we're at home.

Researchers in Germany phoned people at home and asked them to toss a coin. There was a strong financial incentive (激励) to fake the result: if the coin landed tails-up, the participant would receive money or a gift voucher, while if the coin landed heads-up, they would get {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Because they were on the phone, they knew there was no {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of getting caught if they lied. And yet people revealed the truth despite that they {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (receive) nothing. Over hundreds of tosses a coin will land tails-up roughly 50% of the time. In this study over half the people (55.6%) asked said that the coin landed heads-up. Most of them didn't pursue the reward at the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} of honesty.

    Previous studies had found that people were more dishonest. In those laboratory studies 75% of people, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (include) some who faked the results, reported a winning coin and claimed a reward. So the research team guesses it's being in our own home {#blank#}9{#/blank#} makes us play fair. {#blank#}10{#/blank#}, what motivates people to do so remains unclear.

    People often don't do what they really want to for fear of failure. You don't apply for a job {#blank#}1{#/blank#}case you don't get it. You don't perform at the school concert b{#blank#}2{#/blank#}others might laugh at you. A lack of confidence can l{#blank#}3{#/blank#} to a lot of suffering. The key to o{#blank#}4{#/blank#}this problem is to believe in yourself. This might be{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(容易)said than done, but there are many w{#blank#}6{#/blank#} to help you do this. Talk about your problem with a friend or look {#blank#}7{#/blank#}advice on the Internet. Imagine yourself being {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(成功）and practice breathing techniques to keep you calm when you get nervous. And the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} important thing is： believe you can do it. When you've{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (学会）to do that, you are well on your way.

    Recently a really strange thing happened in a middle school in China's Hubei Province. Over 600 students at the school took part in a "caring for an egg like a baby"{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(active). in which they were asked to keep an egg close at hand for a month{#blank#}2{#/blank#}breaking it.

    "It's hard for parents to bring up their children{#blank#}3{#/blank#}many students just ignore it, " said Liu Kang, the school's director. "They should{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(teach) to be grateful to their parents,who have given them life but ask for nothing in return ."

    Li Ming is one of the students. His egg didn't break during the month, but he felt{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(exhaust). "I now understand what great difficulty my parents have had{#blank#}6{#/blank#}（bring）me up. I'll do all I can to make their life easier and{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(comfort) when I grow up,”promised the 13-year-old boy.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(luck), about 450 students broke their eggs. Yan Yueming broke his egg after just five days, which made him frustrated. He said,”I can't imagine {#blank#}9{#/blank#}sad my parents would be if there was something wrong with me, their ‘egg'! It is now time I did something{#blank#}10{#/blank#}return for their love,”said Yan.

    I was on my way home with a friend yesterday {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I found a mobile phone by the roadside. After picking it up, I suggested that we go to the house in front of which we found the mobile phone. And we did so. I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (knock) at the door and two young men answered. Neither of them had lost {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(they) phones, but as I referred to some names on the contact list(通讯录), one of them said he also had those {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(name) and that it must be the phone of one{#blank#}5{#/blank#}their friends. Then, he took the phone and said how wonderful it was that I took the time{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(find) the owner. Afterwards, I left without {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(leave) my name or address. I never considered keeping the phone. Instead, I immediately tried to find {#blank#}8{#/blank#} owner. And I believed that was {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(exact) what I would want someone to do if I lost my phone. It couldn't have been {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (good).

    Sometimes, helping others is just doing the right thing.

    Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often inaccurately {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (call) “Lunar New Year”, because—as part of the lunisolar Chinese calendar (农历)-the date is partially determined based on lunar phase (月相). The festival traditionally {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (begin) on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival{#blank#}3{#/blank#} is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day when Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as chú xī. It literally means “Year-pass Eve”.

    According to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (tale) and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against {#blank#}5{#/blank#} mythical beast (神兽) called Nien (年). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock (牲畜), crops, and even villagers,{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (especial) children. To protect {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (eat) the food they prepared, it wouldn't attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used fireworks {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (frighten) away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again.

This is where my kids grew up

    For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is more than just a building. In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines. Every growth stage {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(mark) in pencils, with each child's name and the date.

    Of all the objects and all the memories, it's this one thing in a home that's {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(hard) to leave behind. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress. Friends I know have visited their previous home only {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(discover) their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. Over the years, I've talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do {#blank#}5{#/blank#} about it.

    They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer {#blank#}6{#/blank#} work is about capturing the beautiful things in life. She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(take) photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints, and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph {#blank#}8{#/blank#} we had experienced in all those years. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(transform) them into a beautiful history of my family.

    Three weeks later, my children's wonderful gift made its way to me —{#blank#}10{#/blank#} life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.