I had just returned to Canada after spending almost a month in a warm mountain valley in Mexico. What a ________ it was being back in freezing cold Alberta.

My first day back at work went well and as night ________, I remembered the car needed gas. It felt a lot ________ by the time I headed for the only gas station that was open at eight in the evening. I hadn’t wanted to use that station ________ it was self-service only.

I must have looked quite ________ as I tried to squeeze(挤压) the gas handle with my hand in my ________. There was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ________ me .

I felt that I should provide an ________. “I know I look silly, but I’ve just returned from Mexico, my hands are so cold and I think if I put my hand in my pocket I could use my coat for ________. Of course, that means I have to stand in this strange position.”

For a moment, he said nothing. “He probably thinks I’m ________,” I thought to myself. Then I heard a voice “Could you ________ a pair of gloves?”

“Oh, yes please.” I replied, taking the offering and slipping my hands into the warm leather gloves. I noticed that the police officer had ________ to protect his own hands from the cold. I had thought he was lending me some ________ gloves, not taking off his only pair.

I felt grateful for the kindness of the officer. I also felt ________. I suggested he take back the gloves. And he refused. “ I get used to it. Don’t worry, I’m fine. ________!”

The gift was small but my hands and my heart didn’t think so! What a lovely “welcome back” from the country I love.

The big debate: Is cold weather better than hot weather?

Some people prefer frosty days, while others say sunshine means fun time.

Researchers in Germany have found that fish can do math. In a study, stingrays and cichilds were able to add and subtract (减)— even with no fingers to count on.   

_________ Past research has shown that many animals, including fish, can tell the difference between larger and smaller amounts. For example, mosquitofish prefer to join the largest possible social group and will choose a group of four over a group of three. Cichlids and stingrays can see a small collection of objects and tell right away how many there are, just as a person might quickly notice that there are three cookies on a plate. _________   

The researchers in the team trained the fish (stingrays and cichilds) to add and subtract. They used a method that had ever been used on bees. First, they showed the animal a card with blue or yellow shapes on it. Blue meant “add one.” Yellow meant “subtract one.” For example, if the fish was shown two blue circles, it should look for a card containing three blue shapes. If it saw two yellow squares, it should look for one yellow shape. When the fish touched its nose to the correct card, it received a tasty treat.

_________ After the training period, the researchers gave the animals a test. About half of the fish had learned to do the task successfully. They recognized the number of objects, worked out whether to add or subtract, and chose the correct answer. _________

The study subjects seemed to find addition easier than subtraction, with both types of fish achieving a higher percentage of correct answers on the blue cards. The researchers are not sure why that is, or why fish would need to do math, but they hope their work will encourage people to treat fish with respect.

Sakumaseika, a Japanese company that has produced a beloved candy, says it will be going out of business in January. The company recently announced it would be forced to end operations because of rising production costs, but drops in sales.

The company’s main and most popular product is called “Sakuma’s Drops”. The candy which comes in eight different fruit flavors has been beloved in Japan for generations. Sakuma’s Drops are famous in Japan and even appeared in a successful film.

“We always had a can at home when I was in grade school,” said Naoe Watanabe, a 53-year-old sweets-shop owner. He remembered how he used to use a 10-yen coin to lift open the can. Sakuma’s Drops have been sold in candy shops for 114 years. “It feels like a sign of the times,” Watanabe said. “There are so many choices now, compared to when I was a kid, but I still like the can.”

Sakumaseika said it had not raised the price of the product in years. The company has been unwilling to raise prices even though its material and production costs have been increasing. It fears that passing along those costs may turn off many buyers.

Hiroshi Matsuzawa is a store owner on a popular Tokyo shopping street. “Sakuma’s Drops are mostly popular with older people, a lot of children are now uninterested in the candy”, said Matsuzawa, “because they have so many other products to choose from.”

Teruyo Ishiguro runs a small food store that traditionally is visited by many children walking home from school. She said she had stopped carrying Sakuma’s Drops last year because most buyers were in their 50s or older. “It’s very sad to see something disappear that’s been around for so long,” said Ishiguro, who had been selling the candy for more than 60 years.

Messi is a famous and successful football player around the world. Lionel Messi was born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. At four years old, he joined the Grandoli local club, where he was coached by his father. He practiced day in and day out. Football nearly became the air he breathed.

Messi experienced many difficulties on the way to a famous football player. As a kid, Messi was smaller than most of the boys he played with because of a sickness that restricted his growth. The treatment cost a lot and his parents couldn’t afford to pay for it. Luckily, at the age of 13, Messi was offered a chance to play for Barcelona and had his medical bills paid by the team. In this case, the whole family moved across the Atlantic to Spain and Messi began his career in the European land.

As the seasons went on, the talented football player kept improving and breaking his own records. In 2003, he not only took part in his first match but also won the match. When he was about 20 in 2005, he became one of the best, the youngest and the most popular football players. By the age of 16, he had made his first appearance for Barcelona. He put himself in the record books on May 1, 2005, as the youngest player to ever score a goal. That same year he led Argentina to get the title in the under-20 World Cup. The boy who was once too small to play with his cousins is now the winner of eight Golden Balls, six European Golden Shoes, and is one of the top goal scorers in the world.   

Off the field, he is a husband and father of three. He also founded the Leo Messi Foundation in 2007. This organization supports programs bringing education, clean water, and health care to children around the world.

“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” Messi said in an interview and so he did.

The Little Prince is a fantasy novel by the French writer Anotoine. It was first published in 1943 and has been t    61     into more than 190 languages, making it one of the b    62     ever.   

The little prince lived on a planet called Assteriod B-612, where he had a unique r    63     and fell in love with her. One day, he had some quarrel with the rose, then left his o    64     planet and took an exploration at some neighbour planets. On his all-alone j    65    , the little prince met different kinds of people. One of them was the Geographer who recommended the little prince to visit the e    66    . On the earth, the little prince met a fox. The fox who told the little prince about the m    67     of the word “tame” became his new friend. At the time to say farewell, the fox made him know that his rose was unique and i    68     because she was his rose and tamed by him. “It’s the time you have d    69     to your rose that makes your rose so important” the fox told him. From that, the little prince began to treasure f    70     and decided to be responsible to his rose. He went back to his own planet.