I ________ in the UK last weekend to learn English. So far I have already made ________ friends and had some traditional English food there. But ________ having hamburgers, sandwiches and potatoes, I thought none could be ________ than Chinese food, ________ my favorite—huo guo. You can’t imagine how ________ I was when I got to know that there was going to ________ a free meal of hotpot to welcome the new students. On the way to the canteen, I seemed to smell huo guo in the air.

To my ________, when I stepped into the room, I didn’t see any sign of huo guo. Where was it?

________ many questions in my head, I ________ down to have the free meal. After I talked with an English girl, I got to know that Chinese huo guo was completely different ________ hotpot. Chinese huo guo is ________ in two words—hot pot; and hotpot, one word, is a traditional English dish.

Hotpot is made from mutton and onion. On the top are pieces of potatoes. People put it in the oven all day in a heavy pot on a low heat. It ________ very little effort to prepare. You can often see it at parties in the UK because it’s easy ________ for many people and is not expensive.

Hotpot tastes ________. However, I still miss huo guo—hot pot, two words!

Now students’ English handwriting gets worse and worse. That makes their teachers feel worried. Is your English handwriting beautiful? If not, here are four steps that really work!

    56     Using paper that has lines can keep you writing straight when you write English words or sentences. Those lines on the paper can help you to write words in the right size.

    57     If your writing is hard to read, slow down a little. For some kids, going slower makes the handwriting clear. If you write too fast, it’s hard for you to stop where you should, and even worse, you may make more mistakes.

    58     When you hold your pencil in the correct way, writing is much easier. Some kids press (按，压) down really hard when they write. That makes the handwriting not nice. Relax yourself, don’t hold the pencil so hard.

    59     Drawing can improve your handwriting. You need to use the skills to control your pencil better when you are drawing pictures.

    60     Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a world-famous movie star or a well-known sports player, what do you do when your fans run up to you?

One pleasant evening, I was holding Grandpa’s hand and taking a walk in the park. “Where are the peanuts? Give me now!” He suddenly said. How I wished I had some with me! “Oh, my little Tom, the monkeys are taking long to come out today. Wait till they smell the peanuts.” I knew he was lost in one of his memories again. I remembered the stories he told me of how he fed the monkeys when he was a kid. Then, he saw the goldfish! He acted as if he was seeing them for the first time.

Poor Grandpa! He fell ill with Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默氏病) last year. The doctor said it was a lifelong disease which could destroy a person’s memory. The patient might also not be able to make reasonable judgement (判断). But when my parents invited him to stay with us, he turned down and said he liked living alone. One day, he forgot to turn off the fire after cooking porridge. Luckily, one of the neighbors came to help him before the fire could spread.

It was then that my parents brought Grandpa to live with us. Often, he would forget my name and ask me who I was and what I was doing in his house. Each time I would answer softly, “It’s me, Tom, Grandpa!” He had forgotten who I was, but he would always be my beloved grandfather.

My name is Bob. Many people ask me what my favorite invention is. I find it very hard to answer the question, because there are so many things in my life that I can choose. However, I have chosen a pen. Don’t you think it’s surprising?

To most people, a pen is very boring, but to me, it stands for possibility (可能). There are so many things you can do with a pen. You can write a novel or a song, record information, or draw a picture.

A pen is like the beginning of something amazing to me. Every day, I write a new page with my pen, and I am slowly making a path (路) for my future. Maybe I will be a scientist and change the world with my discoveries. Maybe I’ll become a musician and touch people’s hearts with my music. Or perhaps I will be a writer and move people through words.

There are so many possibilities as to what I will do with my life in the future, but I know that with the pen in my hand, I will write a good future for myself. Tell me what future you will write for yourself.

81. 初中阶段的学习生活即将结束，假如你是李华，请给你的老师写一张感谢卡，表达感激之情和美好祝福！

Li Hua

83. 仔细观察图片，展开合理想象，然后写一篇短文。