【推荐1】George Stephenson was born in 1781 in a poor     1    . He had to start work when he was only eight. When George was fourteen, he became his father's helper. He spent a lot of time     2     (learn) about engines. On     3     [´hɒlədeɪz], he often took engines into pieces and studied each piece     4     (careful). Soon he became a very good worker though he could not read     5     write.

He     6     (begin) to lean the English letters when he was seventeen years old. Every day     7     he did twelve hours of hard work, he walked a long way to have lessons from a young teacher.

On his eighteenth birthday, he wrote his own name     8     the first time in his life. George invented many things in his life. The train was the     9     (great) one among them. Today when we watch or take trains from one place to     10     [ə´nʌðə], we will think of this great man—George Stephenson.

Li Shizhen was born in 1518. His father was a poor doctor. Li Shizhen often saw that people fell ill. He decided to study medicine so that he could be     1     to help people.

Li Shizhen     2     many books about medicine. He found many of the old     3     books full of mistakes. So he decided to     4     a new one.

He tried     5     best to study medical science. He studied not only the herbs(草药) in his own garden, but     6     the wild ones. He set out many times on long journeys to collect herbs and talk with old farmers. He learned a lot     7     the farmers.

    8     many years of hard work and study, Li Shizhen finished his great work “Bencao Gangmu”(本草纲目). At that time he     9     sixty. His     10     is now one of the greatest contributions(贡献) of the Chinese people to the medical science of the world.

Have you ever heard of the ancient Chinese story about Boya and Zhong Ziqi? On a rainy day, the famous guqin player, Boya, is sitting by the river.     1    （quiet). Suddenly he sees a woodcutter     2     (call) Zhong Ziqi in the forest. Boya warmly invites Zhong Ziqi to come and listen    3     his music.

    4     Boya plays his guqin and imagines tall mountains, Zhong Ziqi sees Mountain Tai reaching into     5     sky. When Boya thinks of rushing water, Zhong Ziqi says, "Your music sounds like     6     (run) rivers!" Whatever Boya thinks about, Zhong Ziqi hears in his music. They are     7    （surprise) to realize that they know each other well. They hope they     8       (be) friends forever.

Some time later, Zhong Ziqi     9     (pass) away. When Boya visits his     10    （friend) tomb（坟墓）, he is so sad that he breaks his gugin in half. He never plays it again.