When I was 14, I was too shy (害羞的) to talk to anyone. My classmates often laughed at me. I was sad but could do _________. Later, something happened. It was _________ English speech competition. My mother asked _________ to take part in (参加) it. What a terrible idea! It meant I had to speak in front of all the _________ and students of my school!

“Come on, boy. Believe in yourself. You _________ sure to win.” Then, my mother and I talked _________ many different topics (话题). At last I chose the topic “Believe in yourself ”. I tried my _________ to remember all the speech and practiced it over 100 times. With my mother’s great love, I did well in the competition. I _________ the first place. My mother hugged me and cried _________.

Since then, everything has changed for me. __________ I do anything, I try to tell myself to be sure and I will find myself. This is true not only for a person but also for a country.

Do you have any hobbies? My hobby is cooking, and I love it. My favourite cook is Thomas Keller from the US. I often _________ his videos of cooking food on the Internet.

Last Saturday, after seeing a video of Keller cooking a steak (牛排), an idea _________ me—why not make some food by myself?

So I went to the _________ and bought all the things I needed. I followed Keller’s video step by step. I defrosted (解冻) the _________ to make it ready to cook and then I began to fry (煎) the steak and eggs. After that, I fried the broccoli and put everything together. I was so excited that I had a quick taste while cooking. Wow! It was really _________!

I _________ my parents to come and have a taste. “Unbelievable!” my mom said. I could tell from my parents’ _________ that they were so proud of me.

I don’t know whether this successful _________ was just beginner’s luck or a real mark of my talent for cooking. But it certainly made me _________ in cooking. I’m planning to try __________ dishes in the near future.

I’m Tony. I’d like to tell you what I did last Sunday with my dad.

I wanted to go to the mountains. Dad thought it was dangerous because it snowed days ago. So we decided to go to the beach by train. But dad’s car stopped working on the way to the train station. We missed the train.

After my dad repaired (修理) his car, it was about 1:00 pm and we got hungry. Then we went into a restaurant for lunch. My dad had some noodles and I had a hamburger. It was a cold day, so we had a bowl of warm soup.

After lunch, we went to a park. My favourite sport is badminton, but we didn’t have a ball or rackets (球拍), so we went boating. At 6 o’clock, we left the park and went to watch a great football game. I couldn’t move my legs when we got home and I went to bed early.

The day was fun. I enjoyed going out with my dad.

Hello everyone! Welcome to Class 1,Grade 8! I’m your English teacher Miss Li. You are new here. Now let me tell you something about our school day.

The school gate opens at 7:20 in the morning. You can take school buses to school. You can ask your parents to drive you to school, too. If your home is close to our school, you can also walk or ride a bike to school every day. Your morning classes start at 8:00 and end at 11:30. In the morning, you usually study Chinese, maths, history and English.

At lunchtime, you can have lunch in the school cafeteria. There are vegetables, meat, and fruits that are good for your health. The lessons in the afternoon begin at 2:30. There are only two lessons and they are usually P. E., music or art. They are fun. You can have a good time. After school, you have outdoor activities. You can play basketball with your classmates or read in the school library. You must keep quiet in the school library. Then you can go home and do your homework.

Everybody has his best friend, and so do I. My name is Lily. Today I want to tell you something about my best friend—Gina.

    31    . She was 11 years old then. She is an outgoing(外向的) and smart girl. She likes volleyball and plays it every day. She is good at sports.     32    . In fact, I’m quite different from her. I’m not as tall as her. I like music. I don’t like sports,     33    . She thinks it is good for my health. I’m more serious(严肃的) and hard-working.     34    , so maybe I should help her more. It’s not important to be the same. I like Gina because she is kind and she can make me laugh. There’s no secret (秘密) between us.     35    . We are not the same, but we care about each other. That’s the most important thing.