People all over the world celebrate the new year. However, not all countries celebrate in the same way, and in some countries, the new year doesn't begin on the _________ date every year.

In many countries, the new year begins on 1^st January, but people start celebrating on 31^st December, New Year's Eve. In New York many people go to celebrate in Times Square. _________ they're waiting for the New Year, they listen to music, sing traditional songs and have fun. Just before 12 o'clock, everyone _________ down from 10: 10, 9,...... As soon as it's 12 o'clock, everyone shouts very _________, "Happy New Year!"

New Year's Day is often a family day. Some families get together for a speical meal. When the weather is fine, many families go out for a _________.

On New Year's Day, many people make resolutions for the new year. They _________ a list of things, such as "I will help out more with housework. I will work _________ at school than others." Or "I won't spend so much time playing video games." When they have made _________ list, they read it to their family or friends and promise to _________ their resolutions.

So it doesn't matter how they celebrate. __________ people in countries all over the world, it's a time to say goodbye to the old year, and to welcome the new one.

Learning another language is a difficult task, but Andrew decided to learn Spanish. He wanted to learn Spanish because his girlfriend was from Spain. Andrew had already learned some easy words. Yes in Spanish was si, no was no, and thank you was gracias.

Andrew's neighbor Jose taught him Spanish. Jose was good at both Spanish and English. He was born in Mexico, and moved to the United States at the age of ten. Joe was happy to teach Andrew Spanish. Andrew insisted on paying Jose for the lessons, although Jose offered to do it for free. After a few months, Andrew was able to have an easy talk in Spanish. Andrew decided to test his Spanish, by introducing himself in Spanish to his girlfriend.

"Hola, mi nombre es Andrew," Andrew said with a smile on his face. He said in perfect Spanish, "Hello, my name is Andrew." His girlfriend was surprised at his Spanish as they talked about the weather. Jose's efforts paid off.

Andrew knew that if he wanted to do better in learning Spanish, he had to take Spanish lessons at the community college. That was exactly what he did the following days. Andrew asked some of his friends if they would like to learn Spanish with him at the community college. "No, thank you," most of them said. Andrew's friends thought it hard to learn Spanish. They didn't know Spanish wasn't that difficult to learn, but Andrew knew about the fact.

Language students often think they have memory problems. They worry because they can’t remember words. In fact, the problem usually isn’t with their memory. The problem is with how they study.

To remember words better, you need to understand how memory works. There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long-term. When you see, hear, or read something, it goes first into short-term memory. But short-term memory lasts for only a few seconds. You will only remember something longer if it goes into long-term memory. Your long-term memory is like a very big library with many, many books. And like a library, it’s organized（有条理的）.When you put away a book-or memory-you can’t just leave it anywhere. You have to choose a place where you can find it again.

How can you do this with vocabulary? The answer is to work with the word and think about the word in new ways. You can do this by writing new sentences that include it. Even better, you can invent a little story about the word, with people or places that you know. Another way is to make a picture in your mind with the word. For example, if the word is height, you can think of the tallest person you know and try to guess his or her height. All of these activities are good ways to think about words. They make the meaning of words stronger in your long-term memory. And they give a way to find a word when you need it.

There are several ways you can find out about the countries and places you wish to visit. You can talk to friends who have travelled to the places, you can go and see a color film about them, or you can read a travel book.

It seems that there are three kinds of travel books. The first are the books that give a personal, subjective（主观的）idea of travels which their writer has got himself. These books can be useful if the writers share their traveling experiences with others. The second kind are the books which give objective（客观的）information of things to be done and seen, If a cultured person has written such a book about the facts of a place, then it is more useful. The third kind are the books which are called "a guide" to some place or other. If they are good, they will describe and explain the place in detail for the visitors. Like the first kind, they can be interesting and exciting, but their main purpose is to help the reader plan his travel in the most practical way. Whatever kind of travel book you get, you must make sure that the book does not describe everything as interesting, exciting or fantastic, You must also pay attention to its time of publication（出版）          many things change quickly in the 21th century. Finally, you should make sure that it's easy to find the useful information for your travel.

It's necessary to plan the journey before you start it. We often advise visitors to get a good travel book to help with it.

The TV play Love for Separation （《小别离》）is very popular with Chinese families. The story has brought us much love and     41    （warm）, which makes us moved. It tells us that parents are always considering w    42    to send their children abroad or not. More and more parents are eager to send their children to study abroad     43    （direct）before they finish high school. It is quite     44    （普通的，平常的）for parents to send their children to study abroad because they place high expectations on their children. During the past few years, some children     45    （success）in studying abroad and getting a better life. Parents are encouraged by the stories of these children. As a result,     46    （create）a chance for children to study abroad is becoming hotter and hotter. Actually, it is a useful way to help students become both knowledgeable and experienced,     47    going abroad at an early age is not necessary. So it's     48    （明智的）for children to go abroad after they finish college at home. When children have the     49    （能力）of learning and living by    50    （they）, they will be well prepared for life abroad.

56. 随着中国的发展，世界各地掀起了“汉语热”，作为中国人，我们更应该学好汉语。请以“My Chinese Learning”为题，写一篇短文。

My Chinese Learning

With the development of China, Chinese is__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________