Tony is a warm-hearted repairman, who lost his job again a few months ago. He was really _________ applying for (申请) a new job.

One day, he brought together all his courage to go to a job interview. The interview was at 10 a. m. and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus, he saw a man _________ kicking one tyre (轮胎) of his car. Clearly, there was something wrong with the car. Tony _________ to help.

An hour later, Tony finished repairing the car, getting his shirt dirty. The man thanked him and wanted to pay for the _________. "I was just helping out," Tony _________. "I have to rush for an interview now," he added. "Well, I could take you there. It's the _________ I could do, please!" the man insisted (坚持). Then Tony agreed.

While waiting in the long line of the applicants (应聘者) _________ his dirty shirt, Tony felt embarrassed and nervous. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office with _________ looks on their faces. Finally his name was called.

The _________ was sitting on big chair with his back towards Tony. "Do you really need to be interviewed?" he asked. Tony's heart sank (下沉). "With the way I __________ now, how could I possibly __________ this interview?" he thought to himself.

Then the interviewer __________ his chair. To Tony's surprise, it was the man he helped earlier in the morning!

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I had made the __________ decision to have you in our company even __________ you came into this office. I just know you'd be a good worker I can __________. Congratulations!"

Do you get lots of reading tasks as part of your homework? You might wish that you could read faster. There are some people who say that you can learn to read at super-high speeds. But experts disagree on this idea.

"Speed reading is not actually possible," said Elizabeth Schotter, a scientist at the University of South Florida, US. Schotter pointed out that people who say that they can teach others how to speed read are usually doing it to make money by selling courses and books.

In fact, speed reading has been made known to people since 1959, when US educator Evelyn Wood introduced a speed reading program. Several US presidents have even asked their officers to take sped reading courses. However, there is no real science behind sped reading.

Schotter explained that reading is a task difficult to finish. It includes four steps: seeing a word, getting back its meaning from your memory, connecting it to other words. in the same sentence, and then moving on to the next word, This process uses many parts of the brain at one time. It can't be sped up.

Some people who say they are able to speed read are simply skimming. Skimming involves reading a passage quickly and only looking for certain words or sentences. Skimmers can figure out the main idea of a passage—especially if it's a topic they're familiar with—but they will not be able to remember all the pieces of information.

So is there a way to become a faster reader? Research suggests that you should try to improve the number of your words and simply read more.

One day Vimala and her new friend Mary, were playing at school. Mary was a very quiet and shy girl but Vimala liked her. While jumping, Mary’s glasses fell off and broke. Just then the bell rang and they had to hurry to their science class.

“Oh dear, I’m going to be as blind as a bat. But we’d better hurry. It’s Miss Lee’s class,” said Mary.

At the start of the lesson, Miss Lee explained how to do the experiment to produce large eye crystals. Then she started to question the class. Nobody dared to give a wrong answer because Miss Lee was a very strict teacher Miss Lee held up a clamp(夹具) and said, “What do we use it for? What do we call it? All the girls looked down, while she looked at their heads for one to pick on. “Mary?” she finally asked.

Mary was sitting at the back of the class. She stood up and peered at Miss Lee, but she could not see clearly what the teacher was holding. She was nervous a bit and did not answer.

Miss Lee repeated her question. This time she spoke more slowly and there was anger in her voice.

“What is this used for?” she asked

Vimala saw storm clouds climbing up to Miss Lee’s face. She knew that the storm was about to burst on Mary, so she put up her hand. Miss Lee paid no attention to her and stared through narrowed eyes at Mary, waiting for an answer.

Mary did not know what to say. She looked to her left and right for help. Too scared to say out that she couldn’t see clearly, Mary hoped that if she kept quiet Miss Lee would ask somebody else.

Vimala guessed what was wrong, so she decided to take a risk. She jumped to her feet and said, “Excuse me. Miss Lee. Mary broke her glasses just before the lesson started. I don’t think she can see the clamp clearly.” Then she sat down, praying (祈祷) that the ceiling would not fall on her.

“Oh!” Miss Lee said, a little surprised. She had thought that Mary was refusing to answer.

Now that she understood, her anger faded away. “Thank you, Vimala.” she said Then she turned to Mary and said, “Come and look at this.”

Mary left her chair and went to the front of the class.

“It’s a clamp.” she said. “We can put it on a metal stand(支架) and use it to hold things in place.”

“Well, you got it right at last.” Miss Lee said with a brief smile. But you’d better not do any experiments until your glasses have been repaired. You can watch Vimala while she does the experiment.

The storm clouds disappeared. The smile disappeared from Miss Lee’s face and she continued with the lesson. Vimala winked at Mary who peered at her and smiled weakly.

Egypt is one of the oldest civilizations (文明) in the world. It has great culture and history. Let’s take a look at some wonderful places in the country.

Arabian Desert

Do you think it might be fun to ride a camel in the desert? If so, you should go to the Arabian Desert. It is also known as the Eastern Desert. It takes up nearly one-quarter of Egypt’s land. Riding a camel is fun. Camels kneel down to let you sit on them.

Luxor

If you want to see ancient palaces and buildings, Luxor is a great place to go. People there call it the “open-air museum of ancient Egypt”. Many people visit Luxor every year. Some famous places there include the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx is a statue of a lion with a man’s head. It’s very large. The Sphinx is about 240 feet long (about 73 m) and 65 feet high (about 20 m). Its eyes are two meters high! For hundreds of years, the Sphinx has guarded(守卫) the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

It’s June, and summer vacation will begin soon. That’s a good thing. Most kids love summer vacation —they’ve worked hard during the school year and    31    . Also, the freedom of summer gives them self-esteem (自尊心), happiness, and creativity. When kids have free time,     32    , causing them to feel good about themselves and believe in themselves.

But there’s another side: the freedom of summer can cause the “summer drop,” where kids forget some of the reading, writing and math skills    33    . Many students go down in reading levels during the summer. Math skills are also easily forgettable for kids during the two months of school break. A lot of teachers spend weeks playing catch-up in the fall to make up for the summer drop. To avoid this drop in learning,    34    .

Traveling can be a fantastic way for parents to encourage continued learning during the summertime. Whether taking the kids on a road trip to visit family, or getting on a flight to travel in a different province or country, the learning possibilities are endless. If you and your family have a road trip or vacation planned this summer,    35    . With a little planning, parents can create learning opportunities that are so fun, The kids won’t even realize you are putting education into their free time quietly and secretly.