It was early on Monday morning and Mr.Thomas said, “It’s hard ________ this, but I’ll have to leave school ________ a few weeks’ time.” His students were shocked at the news. All of ________ loved him very much and they never thought that he might leave. ________, Mr. Thomas reached the age when he was going to retire (退休). After hearing this news, the class was sad for the next few days until the class monitor ________ them a small scolding (斥责).

“We should not be like this,” she said, “Instead (反而), we should study hard to thank Mr. Thomas for being so good to us.” The class ________ her and they thought of an idea of throwing Mr. Thomas a farewell (送别) ________ to surprise him.

On Mr. Thomas’ last day at school, ________ bought a different kind of delicious finger food to class. They covered the blackboard with farewell messages. When Mr. Thomas showed up, all the students said “Goodbye and Thanks, Dear Teacher” together and promised Mr. Thomas that they would do their ________ in schoolwork in future.

Mr. Thomas was really ________. And he was really touched. The class, in turn, was glad that they did the right thing. After all, it was the simplest way to show love and thanks to their favorite teacher.

A lot of teens (青少年) think that the most important people in their life are their friends. When they are in trouble, they always ask their friends for advice, but not their parents. They find that their parents don’t know them as well as their friends do. Some teens don’t tell their problems to their parents, because they don’t want their parents to be too worried about them.

Children usually spend most of their free time with friends. They like to do things together with their friends. They like to talk with them. When they feel sad, their friends will comfort (安慰) them. When they laugh, their friends will laugh together with them. Friends make their life more colorful.

Having one or more friends is very important. However, choosing friends is more important. If your friends have bad habits, you may get into bad habits easily. So be careful when you make friends.

If someone leaves you his lottery ticket (彩票) with a prize by accident (意外地), what will you do?

On a Friday night, a poor young violinist was playing his violin at the entrance (入口) of the subway station. The music was so amazing that people put some money into his hat.

The next day, the violinist came to the entrance again. He put down his hat as usual. Beside the hat was a piece of paper with some words on it: “A George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Welcome to claim (认领) it.” After a while, a man named George Sang ran here quickly and got back his important thing.

The important thing was a lottery ticket. George bought it and won a prize of $5,000,000. But when he gave $50 to the violinist for his wonderful music, he threw the lottery ticket, too. The violinist was a college student. That morning, he was going to Vienna for his education.

However, when he found the ticket, he canceled (取消) the flight and returned to the entrance.

He said, “Although I don’t have much money, I live happily. If I lose honesty (诚实). I won’t be happy.”

In order to make students become more interested in learning English, 21 elementary schools in South Korea have started to use robot teachers.

The robot teacher is called Engkey. She was developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. She is about one meter tall and is white, egg-shaped. She takes a display panel (显示板) as her face. She can move around the classroom while she speaks to students. She can also read books to students and dance to music by moving her head and arms.

Now, 21 robot teachers have been used to teach English. They are controlled by English teachers in the Philippines. There is a camera in each of the robot teachers. With the help of the cameras, English teachers in the Philippines can see and hear the students. At the same time, the facial expressions of these English teachers are very interesting.

Besides helping students to become more interested in English, the robot teachers can also help children in poor areas without English teachers.

Robot teachers have many good points. For example, they don’t need a rest because they don’t get tired.

As we all know, time is very important to everyone. We should try to make the best of our time! Today we had a discussion about “If you have only one day left”. It seems that different people have different opinions.

Most students said they would stay at home and help their parents with housework. They wanted to show love to their parents. Some students wanted to do something different such as helping others. They said they should do something meaningful to the world. Only a few students said they would do nothing but just have a rest at home. They had too much to do every day. They needed a rest.

Although the class had different ideas, we all knew that we should cherish (珍惜) our lives. At last, the teacher summed up (总结) our discussions. She said, “Think about how much time you spent with your family last week, and how much time you spent on the Internet playing games or watching TV. I hope all of you can use your limited (有限的) life to do something meaningful.”

I am really     41     (excite) to hear that you will come to Brazil (巴西) to spend your vacation. Let me tell you something about my hometown Rio de Janeiro     42     (one). It is     43     big and nice city. If you travel to Rio de Janeiro, you can see the biggest park in Brazil, the biggest library     44     South America and the biggest football stadium (体育场) in the world. If you     45     (be) a football fan, Rio de Janeiro is the best place to visit. You can see many famous     46     (star) playing here.

If you come to Brazil in February, I will take you to join in the carnival (狂欢节). That will make you relaxed     47     happy. It is the biggest carnival in Brazil and it usually     48     (last) for three days. During the festival, you can see a lot of people wearing colorful clothes and     49     (dance) in the street. You can also join     50     (they). It’s great fun.

I hope to see you soon.

56. 寒假即将来临，你打算怎样度过一个有意义的假期呢？请根据下面提示，写一篇英文短文来分享你的假期安排与计划。

My name is Li Hua. I will make some plans for the coming winter vacation.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________