That year I was nineteen and studying chemistry at college. My family thought education was the ________ to success. I agreed. However, I felt dull in chemistry class. One day, my professor asked, “Why are you here when you have little ________ in chemistry?” I tried to explain by blaming pressure from my ________. But apparently he knew it was just a(n) ________ excuse. He said, “Your success can only be measured by yourself, but not by your parents. There is no secret to success, no examination you have to ________, but passion is very important. To be successful, you must follow your ________. Whether you are passionate about fixing cars or exploring the world, you must be passionate about your goal and ________ a path to realize it. Then you will achieve success and find ________.”

At nineteen, the advice was hard for me to ________, but I knew he was correct. His words ________ me I should consider “I think” rather than “my parents think”. I made a selfexamination and found my passion was ________. I had a gift for playing the piano but I ________ it.

There was only one way to ________ whether I could be a successful musician, so I took my professor’s advice and ________ to the university’s music school.

I’m now fifty years old, and live ________. When I watched the various awards I received on the walls in my office, a contented smile appeared on my face.

James Cook and his wife Samantha Jones started their beekeeping work eight years ago and have gained much experience. They are _______at solving the problems their bees face. The year 2020 was their year to go into business _______after working several years for other beekeepers, when they were in California’s huge farms.

In the spring, the farms were full of white flowers that _______into nuts. The crop was possible because of the many beekeepers who _______ with their hives (蜂巢) to pollinate (授粉) the nation’s crops.

Then the coronavirus (冠状病毒) health crisis hit. Cook and Jones became _______. “Do we stay? Do we go?” they asked each other. By that time, they had taken their hives from California’s San Joaquin Valley to another temporary home. Their plan was to let the bees _______the agricultural work and their contact with farm chemicals. So, they decided to _______the coronavirus restrictions in California. There, they set out to create their _______, Bird and the Bees Honey.

This summer, Cook and Jones and their small crew worked day and night to build a honey _______. They were ________tired and in debt because they took ________to get the business up and running. But they were also ________. Unlike other agricultural crops, honey can be ________for a long time. That is a good thing for Cook and Jones, because coronavirus restrictions have left them with fewer places to sell their products.

Cook, who is 35, said, “Starting a business in these difficult times is hard but it pays to do it. The experience will make us ________.” I think beekeeping taught me --you kind of need to look for the ________and the beauty that you can find,” he says.

From Zero to Hero: Italy’s Chinese Help Beat Coronavirus

When Chinese-born businessman Luca Zhou flew home from China on Feb 4 to rejoin his family in Prato, Italy, he put himself straight into quarantine (隔离) in his bedroom for 14 days, ______ from his wife and son. “We had learned about the COVID-19 disease and known what was ______ in our homeland and we were ______ for ourselves, our families and friends,” said the 56-year-old, who has a ______ exporting Italian wine to China.

After ______ his self-quarantine, he walked outside in ______ and gloves. He said the few other Chinese on the ______ also wore them, anxious not to ______ the virus to others. “My ______ friends looked strangely at me. I tried many times to ______ to them that they should wear them…but they didn’t ______,” Luca said. “When I came back to Prato, no Italian authority told me anything. We did it all by ourselves. If we had not done it, we would all be infected (感染), Chinese and Italians.”

Back from new year holidays in China, many were fully aware what was coming and ______ the word: stay home. So as Italians headed to the ski slopes and ______ into cafes and bars as ______, the Chinese inhabitants (居民) of Prato had seemingly ______.

As Italian infections began to ______ in late February and early March, some families, many of whom keep Chinese citizenship, even began ______ children to relatives in China, alarmed at the ______ and behavior of Italians around them.

Soon the disease took away many lives and perhaps it was ______ that the locals began to realize how ______ and wisely the Chinese were behaving.