December 16, 2013 was my birthday. It was the day     1     my best friend left me. I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was also our Christmas concert.     2    (offer) a job in Colorado, my friend’s father had to leave our city. And his family had to go with     3    (he). Mr. Escalante, our old headmaster, brought her whole family up on the stage, and they made a big     4    (announce) about how they     5    (leave). After the concert ended, I was in a total mess. I felt as if I had made something torn out of my body that could never be     6    (full) replaced. My best friend’s name was Hannah Zona.

Ever since I was a little girl, my family was always with the Zonas. We would go to the fair, did anything you could think of.     7    (live) so close     8     each other, we could always go to each other’s houses after school.     9     she is about 7 years older than me, we act like we are sisters.     10    (word) can’t describe how much I miss her. When she comes back to California, it’s like we were never apart. Hannah Zona is the best friend you could ask for. No one could ever replace her and the love I have for her.

Friendship is a kind of treasure in our lives. It is actually like a bottle of wine. The longer it    1     (keep), the sweeter it will be. It is also like a cup of tea. When we are thirsty, it will be our best     2     (choose), but when we have enough time to enjoy ourselves, it is also the most fragrant drink.

However, in this fast-developing modern society, the reality is not that. More and more people forget     3     (enjoy) the beauty of life and the beauty of friendship; they work hard in order to gain a     4     (high) position in society and to earn more money for their work. Of course, we don’t deny that it is important to find a better place in our     5     (life), but we wish more and more people could pay a little more attention     6     themselves and their friends. All of us have to spare some time for personal lives. We have to find the chance to express our emotion and love. When     7     (stay) with our friends, we can release ourselves     8     (complete). We can do whatever we want, we can laugh together, talk together,     9     even cry together. I should say that being together with our best friends is the most wonderful moment of our lives.

As we know, we would feel lonely if we didn’t even have a friend, but it doesn’t mean we could depend on our friends all the time. There is     10    famous motto saying that “A friend is like a quilt with cotton wadding, but the real thing that keeps you warm is your own temperature.”

A little boy became very ill. Because other children weren’t allowed     1    (come) near him, he suffered greatly and spent his days in bed, feeling sad. There wasn’t much     2     he could do except look out of the window. One day he saw a strange shape in the window. The boy was very     3    (amaze). He was trying to work out what had happened when he saw     4     monkey busy blowing up a balloon outside his window. At first the boy asked     5    (he) what that could possibly be.     6     more and more crazy-looking characters appearing out of the window, he burst out     7    (laugh) and found it hard to stop.

Before long, his health improved so much that he was able to go back to school again. There he told his    8    (friend) about all the strange things he had seen. While he     9    (talk) to his best friend he saw something sticking out of his friend’s school bag. The boy asked his friend what it was, and he was so insistent that finally his friend had to show him what was in the bag. There, inside, were all the fancy-dress suits his best friend had been using to try to cheer     10     the little boy!

When people     1    (face) with health or nutrition questions, it is     2    (increase) common to go online and diagnose themselves. But the Internet is full of conflicting health warnings with no regulation to get rid of the wrong advice, some of which    3     (be) extremely dangerous! Also, search engines rank results by     4    (popular) rather than accuracy, so solid facts can be quite tricky to find. It is worth     5    (check) if the writer of an online piece is properly qualified as an expert. Anyone can call    6     (he) a “diet expert”, “nutritionist” and even a “doctor” — given it could refer to qualifications like a PhD. But remember, only officially    7     (recognize) doctors as well as dietitians have degrees    8     giving practical medical     suggestions. So if you are unsure and still wondering     9     the chocolate diet really does work or not, then it pays to make     10       appointment with your dietician or doctor. The truth is out there, and you just need to look in the right place!

When people     1     (face) with health or nutrition questions, it is     2     (increasing) common to go online and diagnose themselves. But the Internet is full of conflicting health warnings with no regulation to get rid of the wrong advice, some of     3     is extremely dangerous! Also, search engines rank results by     4     (popular) rather than accuracy, so solid facts can be tricky to find. It is worth     5     (check) if the writer of an online piece is properly qualified as an expert. Anyone can call     6     (they) a “diet expert”, “nutritionist” and even a “doctor” — given it could refer to qualifications like a PhD. But remember, only officially     7     (recognize) practicing doctors as well as dietitians have degrees     8     giving medical     9     (suggest). So if you are unsure and still wondering whether the chocolate diet really does work or not, then it pays to make       10     appointment with your dietician or doctor. The truth is out there, and you just need to look in the right place!

Senior citizens are the first to come to our mind when you think of hearing loss,   but in a recent report,   hearing professionals worry teenagers will soon outnumber aging adults     1     it comes to living with hearing loss.

The rise in popularity of personal audio devices from iPods to smart phones has had dangerous effect on the ears of those who use them most,   teenagers! A research     2     (conduct) by the World Health Organization finds that nearly 50% of teens     3     (fall) into the habit of exposing themselves to unsafe levels of sound so far.

A sound is considered unsafe when it goes beyond 85 decibels (分贝). At that level, it takes just 8 hours of listening over your lifetime to cause damage. The louder the sound is, the     4     (little) time it takes to cause damage. Because hearing loss is     5     (typical) considered a health problem for the elderly, it is difficult to convince already stubborn teenagers that they really are doing damage     6     their ears.

Young adults     7     have been exposed to loud noise over a period of time may have some hearing loss symptoms. Their     8     (able) to learn is compromised, and they may have difficulty developing social skills.

In an effort to help teens better protect their hearing, we suggest     9     (set) volume limits on personal audio devices.     10     is also good to limit the amount of time exposed to noise and to take listening breaks to give the ears a rest.