Last month, George and Sophie designed a community (社区) programme. After the activity, the community centre gave them a special     32     for what they had done.

The idea came to them one day as they were walking home from school through the park. They noticed that there was a lot of     33     on the grass and by the lake. The park didn’t look clean or tidy, so they decided to plan a community clean-up day. They asked local people to come and help clear away all the rubbish. People in the community were very     34     to hear about the plan as it could make a clearer neighbourhood.

In order to make it convenient for people to join them, they     35     a Sunday for the activity. Then they contacted the community centre to ask for rubbish bags for the work. After that, they     36     posters to the houses near the park. They also put up some posters in their school.

That day, more people came than expected—eighty-six volunteers     37    . Some were from the local community and others from the school. Even tourists came to help. One family was on holiday in the area and they took part in the activity after seeing the posters. It was a successful day!

A man is travelling in the desert and he loses his way. He has no water to drink and thinks he will die. After walking for two days, he finds an old wooden house. He enters the house, and finds a water pump (水泵). He is very excited, and goes to pump some water, but no water comes out. He loses heart, and sits on the ground. Then he sees a bottle near the water pump. It is full of water and there is a note on it. It says, “You must put the water into the water pump to get water out of it. Don’t forget to fill this bottle when you leave.”

He looks at the bottle of water, and can’t decide what to do. If he drinks the water, he may be able to survive in the desert for a while, but if he puts the water into the water pump, he may get enough water to help him get out of the desert, or may get nothing. Finally, he puts the whole bottle of water into the water pump. He again tries to pump water out, and this time plenty of water comes out. He drinks as much as he can, and fills the bottle with water again. A few days later, he walks out of the desert.

Have you ever heard of Wang Zhenyi? (1768—1797) Perhaps most of us didn’t know this great name until she was introduced in a CCTV programme.

Wang Zhenyi was a great Chinese ________. She was born in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, girls had no chance to get a formal education. However, her father and grandfather were open-minded. They thought girls should share equal opportunities with boys. They ________ her to read more books in their home library. Wang Zhenyi taught herself and read a lot about astronomy (天文学), maths, geography as well as medicine. Later, she decided to ________ astronomy.

In her time, many people expected the stars to tell what was going to happen. They thought certain events (事件) in the sky, such as lunar eclipses (月食), happened when gods were angry. But Wang Zhenyi thought differently. She believed in facts and observation. In order to explain those “strange” events, she did some ________. She used a round table as the Earth, a lamp as the Sun and a mirror as the Moon. She moved them around to show what ________ happens during a lunar eclipse: when the Earth is passing directly between the Sun and the Moon, the sunlight cannot reach the Moon and the Moon “disappears”.

Throughout her short life, Wang Zhenyi wrote many articles about her research. In her articles, she explained difficult ideas in clear and ________ ways so that people could understand science more easily.

Trees are one of the oldest “citizens” of our earth. They keep our air clean, reduce noisy pollution, improve water quality and provide food and building materials.

When trees are 4 years old, they begin to grow very rapidly and become strong enough to face challenges (挑战) later in life. At the age of 15, trees become young adults. They grew s    66     and begin to produce flowers and fruit.

It is not until the tree is 20 to 25 years old that it becomes a r    67     adult. The tree reaches its largest size. Not only does the adult tree gives us shed, oxygen and natural beauty; it is also a great place for a tree house, or a place for us to nap or read a book or listen to music. If the adult tree receives proper care, it will continue to live h    68     for many years.

Gradually trees begin to grow older and older and even die. At this time, they still have their important place in nature. When a tree becomes hollow (空心的) or part of it dies, it provides a home for small animals, and is also a source of food for many o    69     animals.

In many ways, the life of a tree is similar to our own life especially. When looking at the life of a tree, we learn that each period of life brings its own form of joy and challenge. Enjoy every minute of it and take care of the trees!

One day on the street, Mr. Wilson met a young man, who asked him, “Do you remember me?” Mr. Wilson said, “No.” Then the young man told him he was his student and now he was a teacher as well. Mr. Wilson asked the young man at what time he decided to be a teacher.

The young man then told him the following story:

When I was a little boy, I used to be very quiet. At that time my parents were busy with their work. I had to live with my grandparents. It seemed that nobody cared much about me.

One day, a friend of mine, Martin, came in with a nice new watch. It was shiny brightly in the sun and I knew I wanted it. I took it out of Martin’s pocket.

Shortly after, Martin noticed that his watch was missing and immediately told you about it. You told the class that whoever took it, he should return it. I didn’t give it back. You closed the door and told us all to stand up and form a circle. You were going to search (搜查) our pockets. However, you asked us to close our eyes because you would only look for his watch if we all had our eyes closed. You searched my pocket and found the watch there. You kept searching everyone’s pockets and when you were done, you said, “We have the watch.” You never said who took the watch to save my dignity (尊严) forever. But it was the greatest shame (耻辱) of my life. You never said anything. You never shouted at me or took me aside to give me a lesson. I received your message clearly.

“Do you remember this story, Mr. Wilson?” The old man answered. “Yes. I remember the situation with the missing watch. I was looking for it in everyone’s pocket. I didn’t remember you because I closed my eyes, too. You know, young man, I gave knowledge and I also did what a teacher would do for students.”