【推荐1】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. intentions 　　B. feature 　　C. inviting 　　D. conservation 　　E. entertaining F. matched 　　G. confused 　　H. fascination 　　I. survive 　　J. defining 　　K. evaluate

The odds are high that you’ve seen a beauty pageant (选美比赛) or two in your life. They are among the most attended and viewed events in the world. Despite numerous different opinions, beauty pageants continue to not only     1     but also become more popular.

Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth are known as the Big Four beauty pageants, and all of them continue to this day. These competitions     2     young women on their physical attractiveness, of course, but they also are judged on their personality, intelligence, talent, and responses to interview-based questions. The eventual winners receive prizes including cash, scholarships, clothes, beauty queen crowns, and of course, the title of the event for one year.

All these awards do not come cheap for the young ladies. They have duties to fulfill while holding their titles. Beauty queens often appear at functions to raise social awareness about environmental and social issues such as nature     3    , racial or gender discrimination, and disease prevention. By projecting the image of a well-educated, respectable character     4     with a successful personality, every beauty pageant winner is seen as a role model, and not just for young girls alone.

Some beauty contests     5     men rather than women. Similar to their feminine counterparts, men enter Mister Global, Mister International, and Mister World for their looks, style, and talent. These contests should not be     6     with the Mister Universe contest, which is an annual bodybuilding competition.

There are other strange and     7     pageants all over the world that celebrate everything from being old to being pregnant.

Beauty contests, whether organized with noble     8     or just for fun, have attracted criticism since they were first held. Some critics object to the focus on physical beauty, especially emphasis on a certain stature and body shape. Further, they point out that some participants will actually harm themselves through dieting or plastic surgery to achieve the perfect appearance. Despite these complaints, beauty may be only skin deep, but     9     it and competing for the glory of being the fairest of them all holds a timeless and universal     10    .

【推荐3】从方框里选择合适的词语的适当形式填空。

A.qualifying       B.difficult       C.distant       D.disappointment       E.crash     AB. undeniable   AC.memory       AD.scoring       AE.sour     BC.make       BD.work

Germany Crashes Out of World Cup

Germany became the latest defending champion to crash out of the World Cup at the first hurdle, part of a trend but definitely not part of the plan when Germany arrived here.

A smooth-running    1    machine when it won the Cup in 2014, Germany now appears in need of a reform after losing,2-0,to South Korea here on Wednesday and saying goodbye to Russia about three weeks earlier than many expected.

It has been the earliest exit for a German team at the World Cup since 1938,which seems even more     2    when you consider Hitler was then the country's leader and only 15 teams participated.

With stars like Kroos, Mesut Özil and Mats Hummels, Germany won every match in    3    for this World Cup, the first German team to do so. But it could not even    4    it out of the group phase in Russia.

There seems to be a World Cup curse at    5    .Since the 1998 edition, the defending champion has been eliminated in the group phase on four occasions: France in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and now Germany.

But this team's early exit was still a(n)    6    shock, and Joachim Löw, the German coach since 2006, used that same word—"shock," in his own language-to describe the experience on Wednesday.

“The    7    of being eliminated is just huge,” said Löw, who added that the team deserved to go out early.

“It turned    8    . I must take responsibility for this.”

A four-time World Cup winner, Germany was a finalist in 2002, third in 2006 and 2010 and the champion in 2014 after dealing the host nation of Brazil a 7-1 defeat in the semifinals, the     9    of which still leaves many Brazilians in pain.

The Germans certainly have historical company, however. The list of defending champions to lose very early shows how    10    it is to maintain momentum and focus with national teams whose players practice and play together much less frequently than they do with their clubs.