In a small room, Jenny was lying in bed waiting for an operation (手术), nervous and worried. To her surprise, a new patient was sent into the room. After a kind greeting (打招呼), they began to talk. The 80-year-old newcomer was named Susan. She had two children. Her son was boss of a big company and her daughter worked in a TV station. As her children were too busy to take care of Susan, she lived in an old people's home. Susan was proud of her children who had wonderful jobs and made a lot of money. Jenny really envied (羡慕)Susan. Compared with Susan, Jenny was nothing but an ordinary (普通的) woman from the countryside. Her children were just ordinary workers.

Soon, it was supper time, Jenny's daughter cooked several dishes which were her favorite. Jenny invited Susan to share her supper, but she did not accept the invitation. Susan was expecting her daughter when she received a call. Unfortunately (不幸), her children couldn't come to visit her. Worse still, Susan had missed the mealtime in the hospital. She lay in bed, disappointed and silent. Jenny's daughter offered to buy her some food but she had no appetite (食欲) at all.

The next day, Jenny and Susan would go through a series of regular medical checks (一连串的常规检查) before the operation. Jenny's daughter took care of her carefully while Susan was still alone. Out of sympathy (出于同情), Jenny's daughter helped to queue up (排队), fill in different forms and register (挂号) for Susan. For several days in hospital, even during her operation, Susan's children didn't come. Susan really envied Jenny as her daughter looked after her all the time until she recovered and moved out of hospital.

Care from the loved ones can really make one happy and encouraged, especially for old parents. So don't forget to look after your parents even while you are busy working.

As you walk down the street, an object falls from a tall building and {#blank#}1{#/blank#}you. Who should be responsible for this? Or maybe you try to help someone in danger, but you accidentally hurt the person. Will you get in trouble for this? China's Civil Code(《民法典》) will give you the  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

On May 28, the National People's Congress (全国人民代表大会) agreed China's first-ever Civil Code. With 1,260 articles, it is a collection of laws that is about personal issues, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}property (物权), marriage, family, personality rights, and inheritances (继承). It's like an encyclopedia (百科全书) for social life.

China does have laws that cover these issues. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} , all kinds of these laws are not unified. The Civil Code gathers them into one unified document and makes improvements. With the Civil Code, China hopes to set up a country under the rule of law with {#blank#}5{#/blank#} protection for civil rights.

One special thing about the code is the part about individual (个人的) rights. It's a major innovation (创新) to form the individual rights into one part alone. This part includes laws{#blank#}6{#/blank#} relate to one's body, health, name, image (肖像), and fame.

Some of the laws in this part deal with how new technology is{#blank#}7{#/blank#}.For example, people who use AI face swap (调换) tools to make videos may go against {#blank#}8{#/blank#} image rights. The laws also provide data protection rights relating to possible data leaks by tech companies.

As we know, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were several attempts to draft (起草) a civil code in 1954, 1962, 1979 and 2001. But the conditions {#blank#}9{#/blank#} not good enough. In 2015, China started to work on the present code and{#blank#}10{#/blank#} it after 5 years. This year, the code took effect on Jan. 1.

I started learning English at the age of 22. It is kind of 1 to start studying a language. However, age is never a problem if you really want to 2 something.I was preparing myself to study engineering in the USA. To enter（进入）my dream university, I had to 3 a TOEFL score（托福分数）of 90 or higher. After careful thought, I signed up for（ 报名参加）a six-month program to study English.

It was 4 to get 90 in six months for someone who started learning English from the very beginning, but I decided to have a try. In order to join the 5 , I moved to a different city and rented（租用）a house with a friend. We were in the same program. We did not have any distractions（使人分心的事物）in 6 house, such as televisions, computers or smartphones.

We had classes every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 7 a lunch break only. After the classes were over, we had something for dinner and started 8 what we had learned and doing homework. We would study 9 we became sleepy, and usually we would finish it by midnight.My friend and I encouraged each other and we did our best. 10 , we both got perfect TOEFL scores and went to the USA at last.

Once a man went to the doctor in his village and said, "Sir, the thoughts in my mind are always bothering（使烦恼） me. Please1 me. "

The doctor gave him the2 of another doctor and said, "Go to his house and live with him for a month. Look carefully at his lifestyle. There you will3 how to solve your problem. "

The man went to the doctor's house and told him, "The doctor in my village asked me to4 with you and learn about your lifestyle. " The doctor5 . 

Days went by, and the man found there was nothing6 about the doctor's lifestyle. He talked to the doctor, but he didn't find anything to learn from their talks either. The only thing the man couldn't7 was that the doctor washed all his plates at night and he washed them again the next morning. 

One day, the man asked the doctor about it. 

The doctor replied, "I do this8 it's necessary to make sure the plates are not covered with dust（灰尘）. Since a little bit of dust falls again on them during the night, I wash them again in the morning. 9 is your problem. Clean your mind at night and clean it again in the morning. 10 the mind will become pure（纯净的） and not bother you anymore. Regular（有规律的） cleaning of mind is very important to a happy life. "

 Billy always loved blueberries. They were his favorite fruit. Today he was going to make juice with his uncle. His uncle liked to make juice out of everything. He made carrot juice, apple juice, vegetable juice, and more juices. He had never made blueberry juice before though!

 First, Billy and his uncle went to a blueberry farm. They were each given a basket. They picked for an hour and got several pounds. It was hard work picking the little berries from the trees. Now Billy understood why they were expensive in the store. 

 Next, they had to wash the fruit. Some of them still had leaves. Those had to be pulled off. Then the bad berries had to be thrown away. They washed the berries and made them air-dry. 

 After that, they pushed the blueberries through a strainer (过滤器). The strainer caught most of the seeds and skins, and only left a small glass of dark purple juice to them. 

 When they tasted the juice, it wasn't very sweet. Billy's uncle didn't want to add white sugar (糖) to the juice. It was better to use a naturally sweet juice, like apple juice, pear juice, or grape juice. They use grape juice as a sweetener, because grapes had a similar color to the blueberries. 

 Finally, they could drink it. It was a lot of work to make juice, but it sure was refreshing!

Bill Bird is a shoemaker in London. He makes shoes for people with feet of unusual. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}very large, very small, very fat or very thin. The shoes are as beautiful as those found in shopping centers. His shop is so popular that he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}he can＇t make shoes fast enough for his growing number of customers（顾客）. 

Mr. Bird says, "My {#blank#}3{#/blank#}is that I need more workers and I can't find therr. Young people ali want to work {#blank#}4{#/blank#}computers these days. I'm afraid shoemaking will {#blank#}5{#/blank#}a lost art because there are fewer and fewer shoemakers nowadays. I am 45, and now I want to teach young people {#blank#}6{#/blank#}Iknow about making shoes. It's a good job, and a lot of people want to buy beautiful shoes specially made for them. "

Mr.Bird{#blank#}7{#/blank#} making shoes 19 years ago and now he employs（雇用）three people. "Our customers come because they want {#blank#}8{#/blank#} shoes which are the right size," he says. His customers pay about £500 for {#blank#}9{#/blank#} first pair of shoes. Extra（额外的）pairs of shoes are between £320 and £450. They are never cheap, as it takes one employee about a week to make{#blank#}10{#/blank#} one shoe.