Once upon a time, there was a king. He felt upset because his people didn’t obey him. At first, he didn’t _____ what to do. But one day he ordered an old wizard (男巫)—the wisest man in the kingdom—to _____ a magic potion(饮剂) which would get people to obey him. The wizard made a lot of potions. However, _____ of them worked.

One day, a young man traveled to the kingdom and _____ about it. He went to meet the king, saying that he knew how to _____ the problem. He gave the king two small pieces of paper and said, “Use the first _____ saying what you want your people to do, and use the second when they have done it. If you do like this, your people will obey you from the_____.”“Is that true?”, the king wondered but at last he decided to have a test. After a while, he saw a servant carrying a _____ in his arms. The king said, “Please, Alan, come here and let me see it.” Alan was so _____. He got close to the king. After ______ the turkey, the king said, “Thank you, Alan. You may go now.” Alan left, smiling. It ______! The king was very ______. He gave the man much money.

Before the man left the kingdom, the old wizard asked him what his ______ was. The man answered, “I got my magic from school when I was a little child. My teacher told me that ______   good manners one could get anything. Your king ______ needs good manners to get what he wants.”

Once two screws（螺丝）were friends, and they worked in an engine. One screw was proud of its _____ head. The second was only doing its job to the best of its ability_____.

One day the second screw was a little rusted（生锈）. Filled with _____, the first screw said to the second,“How _____ you have become?” Then it began to laugh so hard that it failed to notice that it was loose. Then it dropped off the _____ and fell into the dirty oil below.

Now, the second was faced with doing the _____ of two. Meanwhile, the first screw cried, “Just look at me! I’m dirty and all my beauty is gone.”

A short time later, the owner of the engine _____ it up. He immediately noticed something didn’t sound right. When he _____, he immediately saw one screw was missing, “Ah ha!” the owner said, “it must have worked itself loose and fell into the oil.”

He reached into the oil and found _____ missing screw. “Look at you!” the owner said, “You’re all ______ with oil, how ugly you are! ______ I’ll fix that right away.” He reached for a cloth and wiped all the oil and dirt off until it shone even brighter than before. Then he put it on the part. Before he turned away, he noticed the second screw was a little rusted. With the ______, he wiped the head clean and bright. Then he walked away.

______, the engine was started. The two screws, now ______ beautiful, held the part tight. “Excuse me, my friend,” the first screw said. “I was so busy laughing ______ you that I didn’t notice that I was working myself loose. I shall no longer judge others by their looks.”

During an experiment, a biologist put a shark into a large tank and then put several small fish into it, too.

As you would_____, the shark quickly swam around the tank（容器）. When it found the smaller fish, it _____ began to attack and eat them. The biologist then placed a strong piece of _____ glass into the tank, creating two separate parts. She then put the shark in one part of the tank and a new group of fish in _____.

Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark knocked into _____ glass divider and bounced off(弹回). The shark kept repeating this behavior every few minutes but it _____. Meanwhile, the small fish swam around _____ in the other part. About an hour later, the shark_____ up. This experiment was repeated several _____ over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive(攻击性) and didn’t want to ______ attacking the small fish, until the shark got ______ of hitting the glass divider and simply stopped attacking.

The biologist then removed the glass divider, ______ the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe there was a barrier(障碍) between itself and the small fish, so the fish swam wherever they wished, without ______.

In fact, many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the ______ in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when there is no “real” barrier ______ where we are and where we want to go.

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very _____ as they were wealthy and had no problems.

Once, the king decided to travel and visit far-away places of great historic importance. He chose to travel on foot, _____ he wanted to talk to his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a _____ with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king _____ to the palace. He was quite happy to visit many places and see his people. _____, he felt a lot of pain in his feet as it was his first trip on foot covering a long distance. He _____ to his ministers that the roads were covered with stones and weren’t _____. He said that he was very worried about _____ people who walked along them.

He ordered to cover the roads in the whole country with _____ in order that the people of his kingdom could walk comfortably. The king’s ministers were very surprised to hear his order as thousands of cows would have to be ______ for leather. And it would also cost a lot of money.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that ______ had a better idea. The minister said, “Instead of covering the roads with leather, why not just have a piece of leather cut in the right ______ to cover your feet?”

The king was ______ by his idea and praised the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Changes are unavoidable, and they should come ______ ourselves. We cannot or should not __depend on others to make them. That means, instead of trying to change the world, we     61     try to change ourselves.

Ever since I was little, my favorite season was winter. I loved to play in the snow and enjoy the hot chocolate. _____, winter never gave me the special gift of snow on my birthday. I would ask my grandmother _____ it didn’t snow on my birthday. She would laugh and tell me that I asked too many questions. _____ one day, she promised that she would make it snow on my next birthday.

That year, _____ my birthday, my grandmother died. I was sad but angry because she had promised to make it snow. The day of my sixth birthday, I _____ and ran to the window, hoping to see just one snowflake.

But there was no snow. I felt mad at my grandmother. She had _____ her promise. By my sixteenth birthday, I had lost all _____ of getting my snow, even though I still wished for _____. During my party, I stayed with my friends and family and was truly happy. I had the _____ time ever! Then I saw the white snow falling down all around. I was so excited that I ran around screaming and laughing. My______ all laughed at me, but I didn’t care. When I ______ home, my grandpa said he had a gift for me. I was ______ because he had given me a gift. It was a small white box, which looked old. I opened it. There was a crystal snowflake(水晶雪花) with a card that ______, “Happy Birthday.”

How could this be? My grandpa said it was my grandmother’s final ______ on my “sweet sixteenth”. I cried. I was ______ that my smiling grandmother angel had been watching over me.

A ship was badly broken during a storm at sea. Only two of the men were able to swim to a small, _____ island. Not knowing what else to do, so they agreed to pray(祈祷) to God for help.

However, they wanted to find _____ whose prayers were more powerful. So they divided the island into two parts and each of them _____ stayed on their own part of the island.

The first thing they _____for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a tree with plenty of fruit on his side of the island. But the other man’s part of the island _____ nothing.

Soon after that the first man prayed for a house, _____ and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man _____had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a _____ so that he could leave the island, and in the following morning he really found a ship at his side of the island.

The first man was very _____ and got on the ship. He decided to leave the second man on the island. He thought the other man was unworthy to receive God’s blessings(保佑) since none of his prayers had been ______.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a ______ from Heaven, “Why are you ______ your friend on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone ______ I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered, so he doesn’t deserve(应得) ______.”

“You are ______!” the voice shouted. “The only prayer your friend prayed was that all your prayers would be answered.”

English is widely used in the world now. However, most students find it not so easy to learn____well. Here are some tips which________help you master English.

The biggest _____ most people face in learning a new language is their_____ fear. They worry that they won’t say things _____ or that they will look stupid, so they don’t talk at all. Don’t do this. The fastest way to learn anything is to do it again and again_____you get it right. Like anything, learning English requires _____ .Don’t let a little fear stop you getting what you want.

Even if you study English at_____language school,it doesn’t mean you can’t learn outside of class. Using as many different sources, methods and tools as possible will allow you to _____ faster. There are many different _____ you can improve your English. ______ don’t limit yourself to only one or two. The Internet is a perfect tool ______ the language learner because it has plenty of useful information.

The ______ way to learn English is to surround yourself with it. Take notes in English, put English books around your room, and _____ English language radio broadcasts, English news and watch movies and television. ______ English with your friends whenever you can. The more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will begin thinking in English.

The event that all students in Shanghai Cunzhi Middle School had been looking forward to, the Ninth School Book Festival, finally arrived. It’s an every-year school festival to_______ students to enjoy reading. At this exciting event, the book________ is always the most important activity.

In the playground, there were fifteen bookstands designed by students for the purpose of collecting different ________. Students could bring their favourite books to share with others and in return, they would get a ________ bookmark. At the bookstands, they could also exchange their own books for ones they were interested in.

Another amazing part of the festival was that it was open to________ as well.

During the activity, we had the chance to share our lovely books with our parents. We wrote some book reviews based________ our opinions and feelings to help our parents get to know them better. Our parents did the same. We found a lot of ________.

What’s more, during the festival, we had class meetings to share our reading experiences and________ good books. As the Chinese Poetry Conference(中国诗词大会) was so ________ recently, we also organized a small themed class meeting about the Chinese poetry. We shared _________ enjoyed our favourite classic poems or works with each other.

Former USA President, Abraham Lincoln once said, “An ability and taste for reading give access(接近) to whatever has_________ been discovered by others.” Our School Book Festival has the same _________: To let us find the happiness of reading through all these activities. It also encourages us to _________ a good reading habit.

I’d like to conclude(结论) with a popular_________ in my school: “Make every day in your life a _________ day.”

Before I could turn 10, I had lost my parents. To support myself and _____ education，I had taken up delivering (递送) newspapers.

I would be up every morning by 5 a.m. and walk five kilometers from Hydery to the newspaper office. By 6 a.m., I would _____ 50 copies of newspaper. After delivering them, I would rush home to cook my breakfast, eat _____ and be off to school.

One morning, I found a boy of my age at my doorstep. He introduced himself as Jimmy and said his _____ wanted to see me.

Jimmy’s mother opened the door. She _____ me a large plate of snacks and fruit salad. It was a rich breakfast, one that brought back memories _____ the happy time with my parents. As I was about to leave, Jimmy’s father, Mr. Kader, appeared with a _____ bicycle.

“This is for you!” He said, patting my shoulder.

“_____ I have no money!” I cried.

“Who is asking you to _____ this, my son?” He continued.

It took me a few seconds to sense the ______ moment. I didn’t even realize my tears were rolling down my face. Jimmy’s mother held me closely. It was like ______, as if my mother were there.

Mr. Kader said that my newspaper editor, Mr. Brown, was a friend of his, and the editor told him my ______ .

I bowed, thankfully, and left. This time, I didn’t have to ______!

For many years there after, it was the ______ that changed my life. I also learned a lesson： help should always be ______ according to people’s needs. Never try to feed a person who is dying of thirst.

I was never very neat(整洁), while my roommate Kate was well organized. Each of her things always had its _____, but I was always looking for something every minute. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay _____ my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired_____ each other.

War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her shouting, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Then, I saw my shoes flying at _____. I jumped to my feet and__started yelling(叫嚷), but she yelled even _____.

The room was filled with _____. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered_____ it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell_____ right away her grandma was _____ ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬) into her bed, under the covers, sobbing(抽噎).

Clearly, that was something she should not go through ______. All of a sudden, a ______ feeling rose up in my heart.

Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the shoes and swept the floor, even on her ______. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had ______sat up.

She looked at me in surprise, reaching out her hands to get hold of mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”

Kate and I stayed______ roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree,     151    we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.