【推荐1】Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word. For the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Sharing the sweetness

On the 25th of December, my mother expects her children to be present, exchanging gifts and eating turkey. When she pulls on that holiday sweater, everybody better gets festive. Of course, I would be the first Jones sibling     1     (go) rogue (叛逆). As the middle, artist child, I was going to do my own thing, making some new traditions. From a biography of Flannery O’Connor, I drew inspiration— I would spend the holiday at an artist colony!

No one took my new idea seriously. From the way my mother carried on, you would think I was divorcing the family. Still I held my ground and made plans for my winter adventure in New Hampshire. The MacoDowell Colony was       2     I could have wished for. About 25 to 30 artists were in attendance, and it was as artsy (艺术的) as I     3     (imagine). It felt like my life had become a strange independent film.

By Christmas Eve, I had been at the colony for more than a week. The novelty of snowy New England was wearing off, but I would never admit     4    . Everyone around me was having too much fun. Skiing! Deep conversation by the fireplace! What was wrong with me? This was the holiday       5     I’d always dreamed of. No artificial decoration. Not a Christmas sweater anywhere in sight. People here didn’t even say “Christmas,” they said “holiday.” Then why was I so sad?

Finally, I called home on the pay phone. My dad answered, but I     6     barely hear him for all the good-time noise in the background. He turned down the volume on the holiday album and told me that my mother was out shopping with my brothers. Now it was my turn to sulk (生闷气). They were having a fine Christmas       7     me.

Despite a heavy snowstorm, a large package showed up near my door at the artist colony on Christmas morning. Tayari Jones was written in my mother’s beautiful handwriting. I rushed to that parcel     8     I were five years old. Inside was a gorgeous red-velvet cake, my favorite,     9     (wrap) tightly in about 50 yards of bubble packaging. “Merry Christmas,” read the simple card inside. “We love you very much.”

As I sliced the cake, everyone gathered around. Mother had sent a genuine homemade gift. It was a minor Christmas miracle that one cake managed to feed so many. We ate it from paper towels with our bare hands,     10    (satisfy) a hunger we didn’t know we had.

【推荐3】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture(雕塑品) Festival is Harbin’s main tourist highlight every year. It     1    (become) the world’s biggest winter festival so far.     2     makes the Harbin festival special are the scale and size of the sculptures and the beautiful lighting. It is bigger than the ones in Japan, Norway, and Canada.

At first, mainly the Chinese took part, but now it is an international festival and     3    (compete). As the festival grows, the size of the snow sculptures and ice architecture exhibits keeps     4    (increase). The work of making these exhibits is     5    (astonish), and their size and beauty are amazing.

The festival is     6    (official) held from the end of December through February. Opening dates keep changing, and closing dates partly depend     7     the weather. More than 1,000 ice sculptures are on show such as ice lanterns, magical figures and animals that     8    (love) by children. It is mostly an ice world     9    (aim) at kids. There are interesting activities kids may enjoy, like ice skating. If you are planning a Harbin tour, please attend     10     wonderful festival.

【推荐1】阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Who built the first canal? Perhaps some people long ago, living in       1     dry country,discovered that they could dig ditches(沟壑)     2    (irrigate) their fields with the river water. And naturally in the days     3    boats were the most important means of transport, canals were the easiest means of reaching a place. Furthermore,a ditch     4     (join) two rivers proved efficient for boat travel.

Today, most countries in the world have canals. Even in the 2lst century, goods can be moved more     5    (convenient) by boat than by some other means of transport. Some canals, such as the Suez or the Panama,     6     (save) ships weeks of time by making their voyage a thousand miles     7    (short). Other canals permit boats to reach cities that     8    (situate) inland. Still other canals drain lands where there is too much water. Help farmers irrigate fields without enough water, and provide water power for     9     (factory) as well.

Most of the canals have a long history. Canals existed in Egypt thousands of years ago. And the Grand Canal of China was begun about 2,500 years ago. and took centuries to finish. During the seventeenth century, France built many canals that are still     10    use today.

【推荐2】The Great Wall of China is more than 6,000 kilometres long. It winds     1     (it) way from west to cast, across deserts, over mountains, through valleys     2    at last it reaches the sea. The Great Wall has a history of over twenty centuries. The first part of it     3     (build) during the Spring and Autumn period. During the Qin Dynasty,     4     (keep) the enemy out of his empire, Emperor Qin Shi Huang had all the walls     5     (join) up. Thus, the Great Wall came into being. The Great Wall is wide enough at     6    top for five horses or ten men to walk side by side. Along the wall are watchtowers,     7    soldiers used to keep watch. Fires were lit on the towers as a     8     (warn) when the enemy came.

It was     9     (extreme)difficult to build such a wall in the ancient days without any modern machines. All the work was done     10    hand. Thousands of men died and were buried under the wall they built. The Great Wall was made not only of stone and earth, but of the flesh and blood of millions of men.

【推荐3】阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词) 或括号内单词的正确形式。

Apart from the     1     (religion) festivals, people in the west also celebrate traditional festivals like Thanksgiving Day, which falls     2     the fourth Thursday of November. In 1620, a boat shipped a group of people     3     (call) pilgrims (清教徒) to the New World and they settled in     4     is now the state of Massachusetts. A few months     5    , they found that life was not easy as expected and many people died. Thanks to the native American Indians, they learned     6     to fish, hunt and grow crops. Having so much to be thankful for, a feast     7     (plan). This is the origin of Thanksgiving Day. The modern holiday of Thanksgiving comes from the efforts of Sarah,     8     is an American writer and editor. She not only gave speeches but also wrote letters to state governments as well as presidents and finally got Abraham Lincoln's     9     (permit). Today, Thanksgiving Day is a time for tradition and sharing. Certain kinds of food, such as turkeys, are     10     (tradition) served at Thanksgiving meals.