In a fast-paced world driven by noise, excitement, and continuous connections due to technology, I think we’ve lost a(n) ______ for something essential to the human experience: Quiet.

This past weekend, I found myself ______ to my computer screen in a flurry (忙乱) of ______ work to build my career. I was ______ social media and worrying about building my vision for tomorrow. Like so many evenings, the call of the Internet had ______ me in, and the beautiful July night in Pennsylvania was ______ until my husband stepped in and reminded me that there’s more to life than noises, likes and followers.

We got into our truck and drove ten minutes to a local state park, a place that has ______ our different stages of life through the years. Phones and computers ______ we spent the evening in nature, enjoying simple scenes and ______ in the quiet of the setting.

Gone were the rings of notifications, the honking horns (喇叭声) of cars flying by, and the ______ of YouTube videos. In their place, a silence ______ something we both know but sometimes lose ______ of: Life’s quiet, simple moments are sometimes the most beautiful.

In these peaceful moments, I found a(n) ______ with nature and with my husband. I found a reminder that there is a world ______ the computer and the ______ of our fast-paced life.

______, I was reminded that in these quiet moments, we were able to hear the most important voice: our own.

Our world ______ constant attention and engagement. We become so ______ to constantly connecting and engaging with others that we fail to appreciate something ______ to our happiness: our inner voice.

So take a moment, take a break and take some time to find the quiet in your life. Let the quiet moments in life remind you that your inner voice ______ to be heard.

It’s been five years since I came to America. The year before I arrived, every weekend I was woken up by “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night”, _______ by my mother on a zheng.

My mom was always enchanted(着迷) by the beauty of Chinese traditional music, _______she never had the chance to learn a _______. In 2009, she got a zheng from a friend and has been playing and performing ever since. Sometimes when I _______ her, I search for the songs she used to play on the Internet. I _______ expected to hear them here in Boston.

Earlier this year, as I _______a new apartment, I met Zhantao Lin, the director of the Boston Chinese Musicians Association. At Lin’s house, I heard the _______ of the erhu. Lin later _______ me to his music team and I heard then rehearse(排练) for a _______ this year. It was beautiful and powerful——it ________brought me back to my hometown in China.

________is also part of Lin’s daily routine. Besides performing, he passed on his love of the erhu to his ________. I went to one of Lin’s classes and met 9-year-old London Turk. I asked him ________he chose to learn the erhu. “It’s much ________to learn than the violin,” he said. Perhaps Turk hasn’t really started to ________the beauty of the erhu, but his mother has always loved the instrument.   “There are so many beautiful things in Chinese ________: the music, the language, and the art. So we just try our best to let him have a ________ to explore it,” she said.

I ________ my mom for giving me a chance to immerse(使沉浸) myself in the Chinese musical world. The music makes me feel relaxed. It can also________me of my homesickness. If you listen to one piece, you will ________ its uniqueness, power, and beauty.

There was once a time that I would only do what I knew was comfortable for me. Stuck in a continuous cycle of repetitive choices, I knew what was________when it came to making decisions. I knew what wouldn’t _______me too much, what would me glued to the floor of where I already was________ little did I realize at the time that this was not the right path for me.

After living the same type of life for so long I decided bat there was more for me. Although it was uncomfortable at first, I pushed myself to get_______ in things that I wouldn't normally do, I decided to open up and talk to other people that I didn’t think I would have the_______ to show my face to, and I started to share more about myself with others that already knew me. By doing these things, I _______ to find more parts of life to open myself up to.

A quote said"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."Reading the quote made me realize that I was stuck in a life that wasn't truly mine. I was bound by chains that made me _______ to experience life, so I always keep it as a reminder to myself to go beyond my_________.

There are a few ways you can begin to push past your comfort zone. First, make a bucket list. All you need to do is write down a list of things that you want to ______ in your lifetime, but make sure you do them. A bucket list isn't useful unless you are _______ going to try and achieve it.

Secondly, if you want, ask someone to tag along(H E). If you have a friend who is also interested in experiencing more of their life then you can join _______ and work together. That way, you can push each other to actually go out and experience.

Finally, ________ yourself. Make yourself a promise that if you check something off your bucket list then you will do something nice for yourself. Maybe you have always been interested in bungee jumping, but have been toe afraid. Put it on the list and promise yourself a shopping trip or anything else to _______ yourself into doing it.

Life is about ________ it up with as many experiences as possible, so don’t miss out on an amazing opportunity to ________ yourself or lean something valuable.