What is culture? Culture is the shared characteristics and knowledge of a group of people,     1     (include) their language, religion, food, social habits. music and arts. The word “culture” has     2     (it) root from the Latin “culture”, which is related to the meaning of “growth”.

A number of historical events     3     (help) shape Western culture in the past 2, 500 years. The fall of Rome cleared the way for the establishment of a series of states in Europe. The Black Death of the 1300 cut the population of Europe by one-third,     4     remade the society. Gradually, Christianity became the strength of all religions in Europe. Then the trade between East and West allowed Europeans     5     (explore) North and South America.

Eastern culture generally refers to the traditions in Asian     6     (country). Like the West, Eastern culture was heavily influenced by religion during its early development, but later it     7     (influence) by the agricultural development significantly.

    8     culture differs from area to area, one thing is for certain: Cultures change. “Culture plays     9     important role in our interconnected world,” De Rossi said. “But it is no longer fixed. Culture is     10     (constant) moving and essentially fluid.”

For those who just love to shop online, Nov 11. is the    1    (good) time of the year. Online group buying is quite popular    2    the young. The main reason is that things in this way are    3    (cheap) than those bought in usual stores. Then, it is convenient to     4    (make) orders and pay. Besides, it is a trend and young people love following trends.     5    , every coin has two sides. Online group buying has    6    (advantage). It is sometimes unsafe. One of my friends was     7    (cheat) once. He bought     8    MP4 on a group buying site. Several days passed, he still didn’t receive the MP4. He called to find out    9    the problem was, and found that the site was a trick. Therefore, we must be careful when    10    (do) such shopping. In addition, buy only what we need and never buy unnecessary things just because they are cheap.

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford Hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liza who was suffering     1     a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion (传输) from her five-year-old brother,     2     had amazingly survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies (抗体) needed to beat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked     3     boy if he would be willing     4    (give) his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before making a     5    (decide) and saying, “Yes, please do it if it will save Liza.”

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in a bed next to his sister and smiled,     6    (see) the color returning to her     7    (cheek). Then his smile faded and his face     8    (grow) pale. He looked up at the doctor and asked in a frightened voice, “Will I start to die right away?” Being young, the boy didn’t understand the doctor     9    (correct), he thought he was going to have to give     10    (she) all his blood.

John Snow was a famous doctor in London, who was so expert that he attended Queen Victoria as her    1    (person) physician. But he was famous for    2    (defeat) “King Cholera”.

Cholera was a deadly disease and neither its cause     3       its cure was understood. John       wanted to face the challenge and solve the problem. He suspected that people absorbed this disease into their bodies with their meals so when another severe outbreak     4       (hit) London, he began his enquiry. By gathering information and making    5    (far) investigations, he found that many victims linked to the outbreak were near the water pump, so he got the handle    6    (remove).       Soon afterwards the disease slowed down. He drew the conclusion     7       the polluted water was       8    (blame).

The water     9    (company) were instructed not to expose people     10       polluted water any more. Finally “King Cholera” was defeated.