Beijing released China’s first survey on the healthiness of the capital’s dialect in late May, revealing that students in middle schools know less and less about it. Therefore, Beijing has begun to try to open courses on this and related cultural activities on campus, with a view to protecting and spreading the local tongue. 

With the influx of people from all over the country, standard Putonghua is now the 

dominant language among Beijing’s residents, so they can communicate more successfully.

The decline of dialects is not a problem unique to Beijing; all dialects across the country are being squeezed out by Putonghua. Will the rise of Putonghua inevitably lead to the demise of local dialects? Is it possible to push forward dialect education in primary and middle schools? 

The significance of Putonghua is undeniable, as it makes communication among people from around China easy and efficient. If people all speak their local dialects, they’ll find it almost impossible to understand each other. However, the importance of dialects is also clear. They are the carriers of local culture and history, and their disappearance will diminish the exclusive characteristics of local societies.

Sally loved cars more than anything else.This spring she thought of 32 a go-kart to enter for the Go-Go Race. So she asked her dad for help.

“Well,” he said. “How about this: you do some 33 first and then come back to me with a design.”

A week later, Sally brought her notes and drawings to Dad. She 34 her go-kart “Blue Lightning”. Dad looked 35 her work, thinking. “Well, that’s interesting,” he said. “Have a try. Just build Blue Lightning as you’ve 36 .”

Over three weekends of hard work, Sally turned her design into a real, working go-kart and painted it light 37 . Dad asked her to take it for a test drive. Sally agreed.

 38 she did that, Sally drove back to Dad. “Well,” she said. “Now I know 39 you wanted me to have a test drive.”

“Oh, do you?” he said. “Please share.”

“When I drove 40 , there was a lot of pushback,” she said. “I think it’s because of the lightning bolt shape.”

“Very good!” Dad said.

“So, why didn’t you tell me about that 41 in the first place?” Sally asked

Dad laughed. “Where’s the fun in that? If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a 42 .”

Sally said, “I see. 43 , designing is half the fun!”

Dad smiled. “Good. Sometimes, learning 44 during the process. We learn how to do something right by doing it a few times first and making mistakes along the way.”

That 45 Sally and she worked even harder. When she showed Dad her new go-kart, he nodded 46 pride.

Finally came the race. Sally wasn’t worried about whether she would win—in her mind, 

she had already won, by building something better than ever before.

The quest for success always begins with a target. As Berra once said, “You got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”

Too many people wander through life like sleepwalkers. Each day they follow familiar routines, never asking, “What am I doing with my life?” and they don’t know what they’re doing because they lack goals.

Goal-setting is a focusing of the will to move in a certain direction. Begin with a clear conception of what you want. Write down your goals and date them—putting them into words clarifies them. Rather than concentrating on objects to acquire and possess, focus on fulfilling your desires to do, to produce, to contribute—goal-setting that yields the true sense of satisfaction we all need.

It’s important to visualize yourself accomplishing your goal. While losers visualize the penalties of failure, winners visualize the rewards of success. I’ve seen it among athletes, statistics contrasting air and highway safety, but it made no difference. I had read too many articles describing crash scenes and imagined these scenes vividly. I had programmed myself, without realizing it, to stay off planes.

Then one summer I had the opportunity to fly on a private plane with friends to a resort; I didn’t want to miss out on a great vacation. So I spent two weeks imagining a smooth flight on a beautiful sunny day and an easy landing.

When the day arrived, I was eager to go. To everyone’s surprise, I got on the plane and I loved every minute of it, and I still use the techniques I employed that day.

The British National Health Service (NHS) was set up in 1948 and was designed to provide equal basic health care, f______ (52) of charge, for everybody in the country. Before this time health care had to be paid for by i______ (53).

Nowadays central g______ (54) is directly responsible for the NHS although it is administered by local health authorities. About 83 p______ (55) of the cost of the health service is paid for by general taxation and the r______ (56) is met from the National Insurance contributions paid by those in work. There are charges for prescription and dental care but many 

people, such as children, pregnant women, pensioners, and t______ (57) on Income Support, are exempt from payment.

Most people are registered with a local doctor (a GP, or General Practitioner) who is increasingly likely to be part of a health center which s______ (58) the community.

As the p______ (59) of Britain gets older, the hospital service now treats more patients than before, although patients spend______ (60) time in hospital. NHS hospitals—many of which were built in the nineteenth century—provide nearly half a million beds and have over 480,000 m______ (61) staff. The NHS is the biggest employer in Europe although Britain actually spends less per person on health care than most of her European neighbors.