After my mother died, my father married an American woman, my step-mother. I     1     (meet) her for the first time when I moved to America. That night, before I went to bed she came to my room, which   was the     2     (one) room I had ever had of my own. She told me she was glad to have me and that she would take good care     3     me. She asked me for a hug, but I did not know what     4     word “hug” meant.     5     (look) at her, I didn’t know what to do.     6     she didn’t give up. She called my father into the room and asked him     7     (explain) to me what she meant. When he did, I looked at my new step-mom and wondered     8     she wanted to hug me. She then told me it was because she loved me and you hug people when you love     9     (they). So she opened her     10     (arm) wide and timidly I opened mine and we hugged.

That was my first hug. It opened the door of love between my new step-mom and me.

Wang Tianchang and his family moved into the Gobi Desert 22 years ago. They have been fighting with the desert ever since,     1     (become) a symbol of China’s anti-desertification(治荒漠化)campaign.

Wang,     2     native of Gansu Province, grew up with the Gobi Desert. In 1998, Wang’s family moved into the desert. They started planting bushes and sapling. To fund their efforts, they sold most of their farm animals and there were only 6 sheep     3    (leave) to support themselves. To make matters     4     (bad), the trees they had planted in the first two years       5     (blow)away by strong winds, because they weren’t familiar with the environment. Then they learned that adaptable grasses were ideal for holding down the sand. A bush known as the sweet-vetch has an 80 percent survival rate even in severe desert conditions,     6     has become a key part of the Wang’s efforts.

Now, although Wang is suffering from serious health     7     (problem) and is in his late 70s, he has no plans     8     (quit) his mission. His efforts have not gone unnoticed. The Chinese government not only appointed(委任)Wang Tianchang and his sons     9     forest ranchers(大农场主), but also started funding their work. The family’s home is now surrounded by a     10     (beauty) vegetable garden, proving that land can in fact be transformed from the desert.