4. —You won’t believe how great Gu Ailing is ________ you watch the game.

—Really? I can’t wait to watch it.

5. I bought this car eight years ago, but it is still in good ________ now.

7. Some teenagers don’t know who ________ their own problems.

8. — Please ________ the maths paper (试卷), Mike!

— But I haven’t checked it yet, Mr. Smith.

10. — Would you mind my closing the window, Shirley?

—________. It’s too hot in the room.

My mother used to ask me what is the most important part of the body. Through the years I kept trying to give the correct answer.

When I was younger, I thought ______ was very important to us as humans, so I said, “My ears, Mommy.”

She said, “No. Many people are deaf. Keep thinking about it and I will ask you again.” Several years ______ she asked me again. This time I told her, “Mommy, sight is very important to ______ so it must be our eyes.”

She looked at me and told me, “You are learning fast, ______ the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind.”

Over the next few years, she asked me a few more times and always her answer was, “No, but you are getting smarter every year, my child.”

Then last year, my grandpa passed away. Everybody was hurt, and everybody was crying. My mom asked me, “Have you got the idea of what the most important body part is ______, my dear?”

I was greatly ______ when she asked me this now. I always thought this was a ______ between her and me. She saw the confusion (困惑) on my face and told me, “This ______ is very important. It shows that you have really lived your life.” I saw her eyes ______ tears. She said, “My dear, the most important body part is your shoulder.”

I asked, “Is it because it holds up your head?”

She replied, “No, it is because it can hold the head of a friend or loved one when they ______. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes in life, my dear. I only hope that you will have a shoulder to cry on when you need it.”

Then and there, I knew the most important body part is not a selfish one. It is sympathetic (同情的) to the pain of others.

Feeling upset (沮丧的) is part of life. Sometimes stress (压力) happens at home or school. It may leave us feeling angry or worried. We cannot control everything that happens around us. However, we can learn to calm ourselves down. With practice, we can learn useful ways to keep cool when we feel upset.

Remove yourself from the situation

Disagreements with other people can be hard to deal with. They can lead to upset feelings. Sometimes we need to get away from the situation. It is OK to say, “I’m going to take a break.” Then you can go for a walk. Or you can find a quiet place to sit. The purpose is to give yourself some space to calm down.

Accept your thoughts

Feeling upset is natural. Everyone gets upset sometimes. Accepting that we are upset is healthy. If we accept it, we can choose what to do about it. We can even talk to ourselves about how we’re feeling. When you are upset, say something like this in your head, “I’m feeling really upset right now. That is OK. I can control what I do next.”

Change your language

When we’re upset, sometimes we use unkind words to punish ourselves. We don’t have to do that. To calm down, we can try to say something to make ourselves feel comfortable. For example, instead of saying, “I am always in trouble,” we might say, “I made a mistake. It happens to everyone. Next time I’ll do it differently.”

Do breathing (呼吸) exercises

When we feel upset, the heart beats faster. The body prepares as if it is going to be in a fight. You can use breathing to calm down. If possible, find a place where you can sit comfortably. Then focus on (专注于) your breath, breathing deeply and slowly. This practice slows down the heart and helps us calm down.

①Focus on our breath.

②Try to take a deep and slow breath.

③Talk to ourselves to slow down the heart.

④Find a comfortable place to sit if possible.

An Amazing Escape (逃脱)

Touching the Void is a book by Joe Simpson, the mountaineer. It tells the story of how Simpson and another mountaineer, Simon Yates, almost died trying to climb the 6344-metre Siula Grande Mountain (斯拉格兰峰) in the Andes (安第斯山脉) in 1985. In 2003, the book became an award-winning film.

Yates and Simpson reached the top of the mountain and became the first people to climb the Siula Grande by the west face. But a disaster happened on the way down. Simpson fell and broke his leg. The men were running out of water and needed to get back to their camp, about 900 metres below, to get treatment for Simpson.

Yates tried to help Simpson to climb down the mountain. He started to lower him down the mountain on a rope. But the rope tangled (缠结) and Simpson was hanging in the mid-air. Yates couldn’t see or hear Simpson, but he could feel himself being pulled down the mountain. He tried to stop himself slipping. He held on for an hour but finally decided that Simpson must be dead. So he cut the rope, to stop himself from being pulled over the edge, and let Simpson fall.

In fact, Simpson was not dead. He fell another 100 feet and landed on a bridge of ice. From there he crawled (爬行) for three days, without food or water, until he reached the camp. Yates was surprised that he had almost killed his friend, but Simpson said he would have done exactly the same thing.

Simpson’s story is one of the most amazing in the history of mountain climbing.

As a child, whenever you have a problem, you are most likely to turn to your family members or friends. But as you grow up, you should learn how to do things by yourself, because a part of being an adult (成年人) is to master (掌握) some basic life skills.

However, it seems that many kids, even adults are gradually (渐渐地) losing these skills. Whether they are learning to ride a bike or swim, they all have a bit of trouble in mastering some certain important life skills. Nowadays, some children don’t know what to do with the trouble they meet. When they are in trouble, they ask their parents for help right away. In this way, they can’t improve their own independence (独立).

Why do children lose their ability of independence? One reason is that parents care about them too much. In fact, many parents often care more about children’s study, while they easily forget the importance of children’s independence. They try every way to help them and even don’t let them do any housework. Once these children leave the family, they won’t have the ability to take care of themselves.

American researcher Tuimeng has spent more than 30 years researching 1,500 children and he found that excellent children have independent ability and persistent spirit (坚持不懈的精神) and they also have the desire (欲望) to tackle any difficulty by themselves.

In fact, every child has a strong sense of independence. When they can finish something independently, they will be very proud and happy. So parents should give their children support and encouragement (鼓励). And schools can provide more chances for students to attend competitions, social activities or volunteer jobs. Parents and schools can also teach them some basic life skills according to their age, like cooking, washing and cleaning.       

Children are members of the family, and they should take the responsibility (责任) to do some housework. This can not only develop their independence, but also improve the sense of belonging (归属感).

We all dream about things that we would like to do and things we hope to get in the future. But are everybody’s dreams the same?     36    

What are the hopes of teenagers (青少年)? We received several different answers to the question: What would you like to do after you finish your education (教育)?     37     Other students hope to go on studying after they finish school and to go to college. Although money is important, many teenagers want to do jobs they like.

    38     Teenagers have all kinds of dreams. Some are more realistic (现实的) than others. For example, many students would like to be volunteers if Beijing could hold the World Cup. And many students dream of having a trip to every corner of the world one day.

According to the survey, less realistic dreams are also common (常见的), but many students reported that they were willing to work hard to make their dreams come true. Quite a few dreamed of becoming famous, maybe famous sports people or singers. Some students would like to go on exciting trips. One student would love to sail across the Pacific Ocean.     39     Three students would like to be able to fly.

It is clear from the survey that teenagers have similar hopes. It seems that most students hope to have a good education and find a good job.     40     It is very important to dream, so hold on your dreams. One day they may just be realized.

44. Eating too much cold food at a time is bad for your ________ (胃), girls.

46. I like listening to soft music because it always ________ (放松) me.

50. Kitty felt very happy at her birthday party after ________ (收到) so many good words.

52. 我们过去常梦想没有护照周游世界。

We ________ around the world without a passport.

53. 在设法抢救病人后，这个医生筋疲力尽了。

The doctor __________________ to save the patient.

54. 音乐会已开始一个半小时了。可能快要结束了吧。

The concert ________. Maybe it will be over soon.

55. 你能给我一些有关如何处理这个问题的建议吗？

Could you give me _________ this problem?

Have you found that more and more people are using emojis (表情符号) to c    56     online? Emoji is a kind of pictograph (象形文). Shigetaka Kurita created it in Japan and it was popular on the Internet and in mobile phone users. The purpose of creating emojis was to make people’s expressions more interesting. By     57     (use) them, we can understand the feelings behind the words, and even an emoji can show our feelings.

One of the nice things about emojis is that people from all over the world can understand them. But I have     58     (recent) learned that some emojis mean differently in China.

Take the basic smiling face emoji as an e    59    . At first, I thought it was just a normal, friendly smile. But later , I     60     (find) out that it could mean something different. Now it can mean that someone is thinking himself superior (优越的) to you or even laughing at you. I read online that although the emoji is smiling, its eyes are looking downward, which     61     (make) it look like not a true smile.

Or what about the smiling face with a waving hand? It is certain to look friendly enough. But in fact, Chinese people use this emoji     62     (show) that they don’t want to talk to someone – the hand is waving “goodbye”, as in “never talk to me again”.

In fact, some emojis also have two different     63     (mean) in Western countries. One of my favourite emojis is the “cry—laugh” emoji. At first, it meant “rolling on the floor laughing”, or ROFL. But now, the meaning     64     (change). It is often used to describe situations that are so tragic (悲惨的) that you can’t help but laugh to make     65     (you) happy again.

It looks like the language of emojis changes over time, just like the real language. We should think twice how we use it when speaking to others.

66. 假设你是李明，刚收到澳大利亚笔友Steven的邮件，想了解你家乡的变化以及你的阅读情况。认真阅读下面的邮件，根据信中内容及你的真实情况用英语回复。

I’m so glad to receive your e-mail. In your letter, you asked me about the changes in my hometown and my reading habits. Now let me tell you something about my hometown first.

Yours faithfully,

Li Ming