A study showed that people born (出生) in the Netherlands are some of the tallest in the world, but the Dutch people born in 2001 are shorter than those born in 1980. 21-year-old Dutch men now are an average (平均) of 182.9 cm tall, and women are on average 169.3 cm tall. However, men born in 2001 are on average 1 cm shorter than the men born in 1980 and women are 1.4 cm shorter. The result of the study was from 719,000 Dutch people aged between 19 and 60.

“We became taller and taller over the last century (世纪), but since 1980 the growth (增长) has stopped,” the study said. “Immigration (移民) and food are the reasons behind this.”

Those changes to the country are often shorter than the average Dutch people. That is to say, they probably have shorter children. The study also showed that height growth slowed down for those parents and grandparents both born in the Netherlands. However, people in the Netherlands are still the tallest in the world.

Though Dutch people are very tall now, they weren’t always tall in the past. In fact, at the start of the 19th century, they were small and only started to get taller in the 1840s. Just a century ago, it was the United States, Norway, Sweden and Denmark that had the tallest people. The Dutch became the tallest in the late 1950s.

Long ago, Raman and Tarun lived in a village. They were best friends. They stayed with each other all the time.     41     They didn’t have much time to meet each other.

One day, Tarun got ill (生病) and he had to stay in bed. When Rama n heard about that, he went to Tarun’s house. He didn’t stay there for long or talk much.     42    

Tarun felt very sad. When he got well, he went to work again.     43    

A few weeks later, Raman got ill. When Tarun got the news, he went to visit Raman quickly and stayed with him to look after him. Soon Raman got better.

Raman said to Tarun, “My dear friend, I feel very guilty (惭愧的). When you were ill, I didn’t take care of you.     44     How can I return the favor (报答)?”

Tarun smiled and said, “    45     I think friendship is more important than money.”

What does a friend mean to you? For Jeff, he thinks a good friend is like a     46    . He is quieter and more     47     than most kids. He studies harder than the other kids in his class. His best friend is quiet, too. So they enjoy     48     together. Though it’s not easy for him to make friends, he doesn’t think it’s     49     to have a lot of friends.

Mary thinks a true friend can     50     for her hand and touch her heart. Her best friend is a kind and     51     girl. She broke her arm but her friend made her laugh and feel     52    . Mary’s friend cares about her.

Huang Lei’s best friend is Larry. They are quite     53     from each other. Larry is good at sports and more outgoing, but Huang Lei is good at studies. Huang Lei always gets better     54    . He often helps Larry with his homework. Larry     55     him to play tennis.