My heart beat with that feeling, like blood to my body as my fingers flew across the piano keys. As the piece neared the end, I ______(16) up to take my final bow. For a second, the room was ______(17) . Yet, even in that one second, I had enough time to ______(18) whether I had done perfectly. Then, suddenly, the applause came.

“Thank you so much,” I said, ______(19) to the person standing on my other side. Olga, my  piano teacher for six years, smiled back at me. “You’ve been an ______(20) student all these years,”

she said, “I hope that whatever you do, you never stop practicing.”

I leaned forward, ______(21) I would keep playing because I loved piano, and hugged her.

As it turned out, the promises weren’t as meaningful as I’d hoped. Right after the ______(22) , I kept up my strict practicing schedule every day. But ______(23), it began slipping away from me. I stopped taking ______(24) because of my busy schedule with homework. Not long after, I stopped practicing altogether. It was ______(25) not to have to worry about piano any more. But something was changing inside of me. I was ______(26) inside.

One day I met Michelle, who had also taken piano lessons from Olga. “Are you______(27) taking lessons from Olga?” she asked.

“Actually, I just stopped weeks ago.” I replied.

“What a pity!” she responded. “I remember your performance a year ago; it was ______(28) ”. Two days after talking to Michelle, I was at a ______(29) what to do. I moved slowly into the living room unconsciously, but in fact I knew ______(30) what I was doing.

As the music spread, a familiar feeling rose inside me.

A

There are many people who are dissatisfied or just bored with the office work. There is also a small group of people who are doing jobs that you will never believe exist. Here are just a few you may have never heard about. Would you want to switch to one of these?

Golf Ball Divers

If you enjoy scuba diving and being outdoors, then you are a perfect candidate for this unusual job. Golf ball divers are responsible for collecting all the golf balls from the bottom of ponds on courses. Sounds easy and enjoyable! Well, the truth is that many ponds are not well taken care of, and you can find a lot of nasty mud, algae, and even snakes down there. Gross.

Face Feeler

Feelers work for skin care companies. They don’t produce products, but they feel the faces of people who are trying new products to see if there is any improvement. You do need some serious ability and knowledge to feel the difference, and it is a big responsibility to approve or decline certain products based on your face-feeling experience.

Snake Milker

Snake poison can be used for many things, but the most important is its use in medical research or to produce “antivenom.” As a result, there is a high demand for snake poison every year. Snake milkers spend their days pushing snakes (certain types only) into a plastic container to extract or milk the snake. These true heroes literally save lives by milking snakes.

Worm Picker

This is a simple job that requires you to be in love with being outdoors. When somebody goes fishing, they need worms, which you can buy in many shops. Have you ever wondered how the worms get into the shop? Worm pickers walk in grassy areas (gardens, parks, golfcourses) after dark and pick up earthworms.

B

There is more of a connection between food and culture than you may think. On an individual level, we grow up eating the food of our culture. It becomes a part of who we are. Many associate food from our childhood with warm feelings and good memories and it ties us to our families, holding a special and personal value for us. Food from our family often becomes the comfort food we seek as adults in times of frustration and stress.

On a large scale, traditional food is an important part of culture. It also operates as an expression of culture identity. Immigrants bring it wherever they go, and it is a symbol of pride for their culture and means of coping with homesickness.

Many immigrants open their own restaurants and serve traditional dishes. However, the food does not remain exactly the same. Some materials needed to make traditional dishes may not be readily available, so the taste and flavor can be different from what they would prepare in their home countries. Additionally, immigrants do not only sell dishes to people from the same countries as them, but to people from different countries. Therefore, they have to make small changes about the original dishes to cater to a wider range of customers. Those changes can create new flavors that still keep the cultural significance of the dishes.

We should embrace our heritage ( 传 统 ) through our culture’s food but also become more informed about other cultures by trying their food. It is important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a window into culture, and it should be treated as such.

C

Everyone gets anxious when the world takes an uncertain turn. And often, we treat that anxiety with a little panic buying.

A study published last year in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people buy things in troubled time as a means of keeping control over their lives. The researchers noted that utility items—specifically, cleaning products—tend to move most quickly from store shelves. The hoarding of toilet paper, as perhaps the most fundamental cleaning product, may represent our most fundamental fears. As invisible enemy moves slowly and quietly towards us, we need to hold on to something in uncertain times. Maybe a hoard of toilet paper brings promises.

The thing is, it’s not actually going anywhere. For all the sharp words and even sharper elbows thrown around by the crazy toilet paper shoppers, they seem to be missing one essential fact: There is not toilet paper shortage.

As The New York Times points out, shop owners that see their shelves emptied often fill up the shelves again in a day, often in just a few hours.

“You are not using more of it. You are just filling up your closet with it”, Jeff Anderson, president of paper product manufacturer Precision Paper Converters, tell The Times.

The thing is, the toilet paper—obsessed shoppers have been infected with something many times more contagious ( 感染性的 ) than any coronavirus: fear.

“People are social creatures. We look to each other for cues for what is safe and what is dangerous,” Steven Taylor, a clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, tells Fox News. “And when you see someone in the store panic-buying, that can cause a fear contagion effect. People become anxious ahead of the actual infection. They haven’t thought about the bigger picture, like what are the consequences of hoarding toilet paper” .

Some people put their bicycles away once they learn how to drive a car. For many people, bicycling is not just an easy way of getting around town but also an exciting sport.______(41) .

One kind of race is the time trial. Each racer leaves the starting line at a different time and heads hard for the finish line. The cyclist who covers the distance in the shortest amount of time wins the race.______(42), because the bicycles are spread out and are not likely to run into each other.

Another kind of race is more difficult. A few city blocks are closed to traffic. Then all the racers line up in a tight pack and begin racing at the same time. ______(43). The race requires more than speed. It also requires skilful handling of the bicycle as it runs at full speed around other bicycles. The racer who completes all the laps first is the winner.

______(44) . Racers have to cover anywhere from 35 miles to almost 3,000 miles. The race course may be a straight stretch of road or a long series of roads across the country. The prize goes to the first person who crosses the finish line.

Between races cyclists stay in good condition by doing exercise that builds up their strength so that they can keep riding for long periods of time.______(45) , they often join bicycling groups and become licensed racers. Then they can enter special races all over the country. If you’re a cyclist,keep practicing. You could become a star.

As the rain starts to pound on the windows, you may find your dog hiding under a low piece of furniture or in the corner of a dark room. It’s not unusual for a dog to attempt ______(46)(become) grounded during storms by seeking ______(47) lowest place in a house or some place near the house’s pipes.

But why? ______(48)you might suspect, noise is one of the ______(49) (reason). Thunderstorms can frighten dogs with noise phobia, ______(50)is a severe fear of loud noises. Noise phobias can start at any age and worsen over time if ______(51)(leave) untreated.

Another reason is static electricity(静电). During a thunderstorm, static electricity in the clouds builds up, eventually ______(52) (burst) into lightning. Dogs can sense this static electricity, and often even before the storm reaches our own neighborhood. Static electricity ______(53)(feel) by dogs through their fur. It could be helpful to ______(54)(gent) lead your dog to the bathroom and into the bathtub as the porcelain may actually help block static electricity.

At the same time, try not to take care ______(55)your dog too much. Otherwise, your dog may think that its behavior is something you’d like to see again.