【推荐1】Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, my mother was not among the many happy mothers, as I couldn’t visit her this year. I made a ___on the phone that I would go to see her as soon as possible.

My mother always says that kids don’t need to ___a national day to say they love their mums. However, I remember one year I ___calling her on that very day, and the next morning she rang up to complain about it.

If you ___Thailand, you could hear the sentimental(伤感的) songs about mothers’ greatest love playing in ___places a week before the holiday. Schools, especially, are places that take this day very ___. Back in my teenage years, I ___there was once a Mother’s Day singing ___and my friend represented the school. She was so emotional while singing the famous song on Mother’s Day ___Kah Nam Nom that she almost didn’t finish the song.

However, her deep connection to the song helped her to ____third prize. After the contest, I asked her why she was so emotional ____the song. She told me that while she was singing, suddenly she had the ____that one day her mother would no longer be with her and every word in the song became ____. Every time I hear this song, it’s not my mother who ____to my mind but a ____of my friend crying with a microphone in her hand. The image ____vivid today.

Last week, a colleague ____an experience with me — every year on Mother’s Day, she has to attend a ____ceremony at her daughter’s school. Every year the teachers invite ____to the school for a big gathering in which students pay ____with flower garlands(花环). She said that the event was filled with the sobbing sounds mixed with Mother’s Day anthems.

【推荐2】Have you ever worked on holidays?I spent my last Christmas Day working the whole day!

Due to the nature of my job,I had to go back to my________ and spent my whole Christmas Day there.Of course,it felt no good!Surely you will get ________ when almost all of your friends are either resting at home,watching TV,listening to music,or watching movies in the cinema,and you are the only one that is not ________.The feeling is really bad.And I really did not feel like getting up and going to work in the morning.But I ________ went to work.I am a responsible guy.Since the arrangement was like that,I accepted it.

Of course,there is something ________ about working on Christmas Day and most public holidays.First of all,since I had no plan to go out,or do any ________ activities on that day,I most likely would ________ the day at home playing computer games,so why not go to work and ________ some extra money?It makes sense to me.Besides,it is a holiday for ________ the whole world.It ________ most of my company’s offices in other ________ would probably not be working,_________ those in China and Japan as Christmas is not a holiday for people there.Less users,less problems,meaning less ________ for me to do.And the best part is,the office is mine!I can ________ my laptop to the office,watch movies,play games,and at the same time,get my extra ________!Well,what do you think of working on holidays then?

【推荐3】April Fool’s Day is a western festival. No one _______ exactly when and how April Fool’s Day began.

However, there are some stories about _______ it came into being. One story _______like this: in the sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was on April first. It was celebrated _______much the same way _______it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night. Then in 1562, Pope (教皇) Gregory introduced a new calendar (日历) for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, _______, who hadn’t heard or didn’t believe the _______in the date, so they _______to celebrate New Year’s Day on April first. _______played tricks on them and called them “April fools”. They tried to make them believe that something false was ________. In France today, April first is called “April Fish”. French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends’ ________. When the “young fool” ________this trick, the prankster (恶作剧者) shouts “April Fish!”

Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One ________trick on April Fool’s Day is ________to a friend’s shoe and saying, “Your shoelace is united (开了).” School children might tell a classmate that school has been canceled. ________the trick is, if you fail for the joke the prankster shouts “April Fool!”

In Britain today, on the first of April, even ________newspapers, radio and TV programs tell big lies. You ________read a science ________showing that doctors have found a way to cure AIDS, ________you would probably listen to a piece of news about an UFO________on an island.

【推荐1】Throughout history, people have been interested in ________ how language first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. ________, we do know a lot about ________, the languages of today and also the languages of ________ times. There are several thousand languages in the world today. Chinese is the language ________ the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by millions of people. ________, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.

There are several important ________ of languages in the world For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family ________ the Indo-European language family. The ________ language of this family was spoken about 450 years ________. Many of the present languages of Europe and India are modern ________ of the language of 450 years ago.

Languages are ________ changing. The English of today is very different ________ the English of 500years ago. In time some even ________ completely. About 1,000 years ago English was a little-known relative of German ________ on one of the borders(边界) of Europe.

【推荐3】It is properly said that one can share any secret with a true friend. He may know your deepest _________ and weaknesses and yet will never let them out. However, _________ a friend’s secrets to yourself and not telling the world about him is what makes the relationship grow strong and last forever.You need to develop mutual(相互的) trust and understanding before you start sharing secrets with each other. With a true friend, secret talks never seem to _________ and it can be really exciting to know what has been going on in your friend’s mind.

There is a period in life when one starts having a personal field in life and parents are kept from it. It is because there are certain things that they _________ but there are certain problems which we can’t discuss with them. It is then that friends become the best secret sharers.

It is a general belief that only girls share secrets. However, boys have their own secrets that they discuss with only their closest friends. The secret talks can be about relationships, _________ with parents, secret tasks, and anything else that is not _________ to be known to others! If you think secrets are _________ to only teenagers, get your fact right! Secrets can be shared at any age not just among young people.

Sharing secrets with a friend is not just fun, but it also helps to _________ a lasting trust on one another. Sometimes, sharing secrets will tell you more about the person. You will come to know whether your friend is reliable and _________ and whether it is worth sharing your secrets with him or her. You can call it a(n) ____________ of friendship and if a person fails it, he or she is surely not worthy of being made a trustworthy friend.