Children are playing on the grass. Their mothers and fathers are eating food and watching     1    . Are they having a picnic in the park? No, they are mountain gorillas (山地大猩猩) in a forest in Africa.

Mountain gorillas are the     2     gorillas in the world. They live in groups in the forest. They have long hair. It     3     them warm in cold mountains. They eat plants and they eat them     4     of the day. They get up     5     in the morning and start eating. When it is very hot, they sleep a little, and then they get up and eat till it gets     6    . Some mountain gorillas eat 18     7     of plants one day! At the end of the day, the gorillas build nests (窝) to sleep in.

Forests are mountain gorillas home, but people     8     cutting down the trees. Now the number of mountain gorillas is getting smaller and smaller. They become     9     animals. If we want to see them in the future, we must provide     10     for mountain gorillas.

A road is a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge between East and West for more than 2,000 years. The Silk Road has been     1     included into the UNESCO World Heritage List (世界文化遗产名录) at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha.

But did you know the Silk Road is not a single route (路线)? It is a series of     2     and cultural transmission (传送) routes. It began during the Western Han Dynasty. The trade route starts from the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province and     3     in Eastern Europe, near today’s Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was about 6,500 kilometers     4    . It went across one­ fourth of the planet.

The Silk Road got its name     5     Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Apart from silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. From the west came glass, gems and food     6     carrots and sesame(芝麻)．

The Silk Road was very     7     to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was     8     across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and     9     each other.

Today,     10     along the Silk Road are great travel destinations (目的地), such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang Gansu.

Ian was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up near the sea. As a child, he loved swimming, fishing and sailing in Sydney Harbor. After finishing school, he started a construction company, but his     1     love was the sea and sailing. For more than 40 years, he represented Australia in international sailing competitions. In 1987, he was competing in an around-the-world sailing race when he began to notice the huge amount of rubbish in the world’s oceans. When he returned to Australia, he decided to do     2     about it. He started close to home by organizing a community event called “Clean Up Sydney Harbor”. On Sunday, January 8, 1989, more than 40,000     3     came out to make the clean-up a national event. The day was called “Clean Up Australia Day”. It was a huge     4    . Across Australia, about 300,000 people spent the day working to improve their local environment.

Every year，Americans eat a lot of hot dogs. July is seen as the National Hot Dog Month，and 23rd July is the National Hot Dog Day. Hot dogs are clearly one of the country's    1    loved foods.

Frankfurt，Germany，is traditionally thought to be the    2    of hot dogs. It is said that a German butcher（屠夫）first    3    the hot dog in the late 1600s.

The term "hot dog" came from a newspaper cartoonist（漫画家）Tad Dorgan. At a 1901 baseball game at the old New York Polo Grounds，vendors（商贩）began    4    hot dachshund sausages in rolls，"Get your dachshund sausages while they're red hot！" Tad drew a cartoon describing the scene but he wasn't    5    how to spell "dachshund" so he simply called them "hot dogs". And the term "hot dog" was born.

Hot dogs are mainly made of    6    and sausages. And by law，a hot dog can contain up to 3.5%of “non-meat fillings”. Don't be scared. They are just some type of milk or soy products used to add to the nutritional value. Many hot dogs may be high in fat，but they are also a good source of protein，iron，and other necessary vitamins.

Beijing Opera is our national opera. It     1     a history of over 200 years. Its music comes from Xipi and Erhuang in Anhui and Hubei. Beijing Opera is full of famous stories,beautiful facial paintings, wonderful gestures and fighting. Yesterday I     2     to a theater to see Beijing Opera with my father. The people in the story couldn’t     3     with each other. They became angry, unhappy and lonely. Then they found a way     4     peace with each other. Everyone was happy in the end. Beijing Opera is an important part of Chinese culture, and more young people     5     interested in it now. And more people around the world are learning about Beijing Opera’s special singing, acting and facial paintings.

Paper cutting can be seen in many parts of China during the Spring Festival. The works     1     on windows, doors and walls as symbols of wishes for good     2     and a happy new year.

The ancient people cut paper into animals or people. About one thousand years ago, paper cutting     3     for decoration (装饰). According to history books, women in the Tang Dynasty (唐朝) used paper cutting as a kind of headdress. Paper cutting is all made by hand. It’s easy to     4    . People only need a pair of scissors and paper. It can be one piece of paper or many pieces. The paper is usually     5     before it is cut with scissors. But if people want to     6     it more beautiful, they need different kinds of scissors and     7    . No mistake can be made during the process. The more common pictures are flowers,     8    , animals and things about Chinese history. In the past, women in the countryside     9     together in their free time to make paper cutting. Now fewer and fewer people learn this skill while there are some people who still do it. There are factories for paper cutting in China. Paper cutting also appears in cartoons, on stage and in magazines. It has     10     into a kind of art.

The Silk Road has been a bridge     1     East and West for more than 2,000 years. The Silk Road has been     2     included into the UNESCO World Heritage List(世界文化遗产名录) at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha. But the Silk Road is not a single route(路线)! It is a series of     3     and cultural transmission(传递) routes. The trade route starts from the city of Xi’an in Shanxi Province and     4     in Eastern Europe, near today’s Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was about 6,500 kilometers     5    . It went across one-fourth of the planet.

The Silk Road got its name     6     Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Apart from silk, jade, ceramics(瓷器) and iron went west to Rome. From the west came glass, gems(宝石) and food     7     carrots and sesame(芝麻).

The Silk Road was very     8     to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced     9     other.

Today,     10     along the Silk Road are great travel destinations(目的地), such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and Mogao Grottoes(莫高窟) in Dunhuang, Gansu.