I moved from Russia to China with my family 14 years ago. When I arrived, I couldn’t speak     26     (some) Chinese, and it was very difficult for me to adapt (适应) to this new way of life. But soon the difficulty was gone.

In 2008, I attended a Chinese primary school     27     was the place where I started my journey of studying Chinese. At first, it was not easy. I often found myself speaking Russian to my Chinese classmates when I tried to express myself. But somehow we understood each other and     28     (become) good friends.

Now when I speak, many people think I sound like a local person. What impresses me most about China is     29     (tradition) culture and long history. I’ve learned things     30     Chinese calligraphy (书法), paper cutting and even traditional Chinese medicine so I can truly experience Chinese culture.

Now people can pay by scanning(扫描）their faces while shopping. Is it _______ to pay by scanning other parts of our bodies? Amazon has a new technology that scans _______.

The technology can tell if the person is the right one by scanning his or her hand. The scanner examines things such as finger prints. It then sends a picture to a certain center which can decide who the person is.

In September 2019, Amazon made a payment system for a US supermarket. People can pay _______ by scanning their hands under a machine. Their hand scan is connected to their bank cards, so they can pay successfully. It's quite convenient, especially for _______ people. With this new technology, people _______take their cards with them. They just scan their hands.

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day. I had just driven my daughter to the     36     to catch an early morning flight (班机). My sons and I then went to a fast food place for breakfast. The restaurant was at the very top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill was a stop sign so we found     37     at the end of a long line of traffic waiting.

As I looked down to the bottom of the hill, my eyes saw an elderly man standing by the stop sign. He held a cardboard sign: Need Help, Please! My heart went out to him and I     38     myself in his situation.

As car after car turned onto the road without     39     for him, I saw a young woman walk up to him along the side of the road. She was carrying a bag full of food from the     40     I was just at. To my surprise, after she gave the food to the man, she hugged him. This     41     choice for kindness shook my heart.

By the time I reached the bottom of the hill, both the man and the lady who had helped him were gone. As I drove home, the sun seemed to shine even     42     and Heaven felt a bit closer     43     Earth.

A choice is such a(n)     44     thing. It can touch a heart and change a life. Each day we are given a thousand choices. May you make all of yours for     45    .

Robert Frost was one of America’s best-known writers. But his fame came late in his life. When people began to read his poems, he was forty years old.

Robert was born in San Francisco. His childhood was unhappy. His father often drank too much and became angry. His father treated him unkindly and always put him in the dark room. As a child, Robert was afraid of darkness. When he was eleven, his father died.

After high school, Robert’s grandfather offered to pay his cost at Dartmouth College. But Robert left there after a few months. He did not like it. He spent the next few years working at different jobs. Sometimes he worked as a teacher, sometimes a reporter. But always, he wrote poetry (诗歌). In 1912, he decided to make a new start. He took his family to Britain. In Britain, his first book of poems, A Boy’s Will, was published in 1913. Robert received high praise from British readers. But Robert’s best book of poems was North of Boston. In Britain, readers liked his writing style—took simple natural things and built a world of new meanings. His works were easily understood.

But his life was sad. His son killed himself. His wife was often sick. Robert Frost, suffered from his own imaginary sickness. He lived a different life through his poems. He talked about simple, natural things: trees, the weather, seasons, night and day.

A team of scientists are carrying out a project at the University of Greenwich in London. They are trying to find ways to make food on Mars in the future. The project is called Feeding Mars. It tries to use water, fish and fish waste to grow fruit and vegetables on Mars.

It would take at least 21 months to reach Mars, learn about its surface and return to Earth. So it would be a big help if the spacemen could grow fresh food on Mars itself. However, farming on Mars will be very hard. There’s a lot of water that could be taken from ice just below the surface, but the land on Mars is short of the nutrients that living things need. The team says that they could solve the problem by growing plants and fish together. Fish waste can then be used to provide nutrients for plants.

“It is expected that you can grow lots of food, such as vegetables, tea and medicinal plants on Mars,” said Dr. Benz Kotzen, who leads the project. “You can even harvest fish for food then.”

One day a fat frog (青蛙) and a thin frog fell into a large pot. The pot was difficult to climb, so they couldn’t get out.

    61    . The fat frog said to the thin frog, “There is no use swimming any longer. So we had better give up.” The thin frog replied, “Keep swimming! Someone will get us out.” The fat frog agreed.     62    .

After some time the fat frog said, “I am becoming very tired, and nobody is coming. We are so unlucky. There is no possible way out of here.” But the thin frog replied, “Keep trying! Keep swimming!     63    .”

Quite a few hours passed. The fat frog said, “I can’t go on any longer. It’s meaningless to do so because we are going to drop down anyway.”     64    . Soon he drowned (淹死). But the thin frog kept on swimming.

A few minutes later, the thin frog felt something hard under his feet. He stood on it and jumped out of the pot.     65    .

In our life, we may meet many difficulties, but we should never stop trying our best until we achieve our goal.

It is interesting to know what people of different nations like to be best.

    66     In France, when a woman enters a cafe or restaurant, she is freely discussed, not only about her looks but about her past and future as well, whether she is beautiful or plain. There is no better way for a woman to get back her self-confidence than a walk in the streets of Paris or Marseilles, and women really like that.

    67     In Italy, people love talking. They sit in cafes, exchanging news and discussing politics. They do not care too much to ask questions about the family, income (收入) and private life of anybody who happens to be there.

    68     The Swiss eat as a pastime (消遣). Ladies walk into a teashop, eat a couple of ice creams and a large piece of chocolate cake, and then complain about their weight.

    69     For Americans, the greatest interest is said to be the push of buttons (按钮). They push a button in the lift, they push a button for cigarettes, chewing gums, stamps, even for life insurance (保险). You can even push a button to get married and another button to get divorced (离婚).

    70     In England, waiting in a line is a national hobby. The English will form a line whether they have the chance. Long queues can be seen, for example, at stations when the train is almost empty and everybody can have a seat.