The works of Charles Dickens are as popular now as they were 150 years ago. Oliver Twist, a hit     1     (publish) in 1838, told the story of a young orphan, who lives alone in the dangerous streets of London. The story ends     2     (happy)—the young boy discovers     3     his real parents are and finds a loving home. It brought child poverty     4     the attention of the public. As a result, the lives of the poor children     5     (improve).

I worked in     1     factory when I was young. Working long and hard, I treasured my lunch breaks, during     2     I could read lots of comic books. Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Iron Man were some of     3     ( I ) heroes.

There were always two distinct     4     (pattern) in those books. First, there was always a battle     5       good and evil. The battle was always tough.     6     strong the superhero was, evil pushed him to the very limit and most times almost     7     (defeat) him. Second, the superhero was never paid by the society. Superman made money as a newspaper reporter; Batman, an industrialist; Spiderman, a photographer; Iron Man, the owner of Stark Industries.     8     of them were paid for being a superhero and the contributions they made. In other words, though they have risked     9     (do) everything for others, real heroes don’t get paid for the superhero stuff.

We can all do superhero stuff — volunteering. Helping someone in need, or doing anything     10       (benefit) that takes time, effort, energy or resources.

Use your powers well!

You may wonder why we have a holiday in summer     1     winter, but not in spring     2     autumn. There are some reasons     3     it. Like most people, your intelligence（智力）changes from season to season. You are properly a lot sharper in the spring     4     you are     5     any other time of the year. Ellsworth Huntington, who’s well known to us all concluded from other men’s work and his own among people in different climates that climate and temperature have a clear effect     6     our intelligence. He found that cool weather is far better for creative thinking than warm weather. This     7     mean that all people are not     8     quick at learning in the summer as they     9     during the rest of the year. It tells us,     10    , that intelligence of large numbers of people seems to be lowest in the summer.

Climate change is bad news for the world’s coral reefs. As global temperatures increase, the world’s glaciers melt,     1     （cause） sea levels and ocean temperatures to rise. These conditions have led to coral bleaching（白化） events,     2     the coral turns white and slowly dies, unable to survive in its changing environment.

Global sea levels     3    （expect） to rise about 1.5 feet by 2100, meaning coral reefs will be deeper underwater than they were     4    （previous）in. The deeper the coral, the less light it receives, and the less     5    （able） it has to make food. This has potential to change the entire ecosystems of reefs and the marine life they support.

But a new study from a team of     6    （researcher） at the National University of Singapore （NUS） provides a ray of hope. They studied nearly 3,000 corals from 124 species at two reefs off     7     coast of Singapore: Pulau Hantu and Raffles Lighthouse. The water where these reefs live is     8    （cloud）, murky and thick with sediment（沉淀物）.

The light reaches down about 26 feet, yet there are corals growing well     9     that level and below. They’ve adapted to surviving under the changing conditions. Researchers say it’s likely that these corals will survive sea-level rise, according to the findings     10    （publish） in the journal Marine Environmental Research.

Xuan paper, known as one of the Four Treasures of Study, first came into     1     (exist) in Xuan Prefecture in the Tang dynasty. The traditional skill of making the paper     2     hand has been passed down through generations. The process takes as many as 108 steps, all of     3     require a level of delicacy.

Take papermaking master Zhou Donghong for example. He uses a fine screen to filter (过滤) a mixture of water and fibers. He lifts it up, and it’s a sheet of paper. It takes him and his partner only 15 seconds     4     (form) and shape it, but they’ve devoted     5     (they) to perfecting the skills for decades.

“There are a lot of tricks of filtering the fibers, and timing is the most difficult part of all. We have only one chance to filter the right amount of fibers , and only the proper weight guarantees the paper is neither too thin     6     too thick, and the margin (差额) for error is     7     (extreme) small,” said Zhou. With just the right degree of thickness, top quality Xuan paper holds ink and tightly.

The skill of papermaking,     8     (recognize) as a national treasure, has also proven to be an international one. We felt     9     great sense of pride as it was listed as a world intangible culture heritage (非物质文化遗产) by UNESCO in 2009. Since then, in Jingxian County, Xuan papermaking     10     (teach) in schools.