【推荐1】How do you usually celebrate New Year's Eve? By getting together with your family, or singing karaoke with your friends? Perhaps you'd like to take a look at h    1    people in different countries celebrate this big day.

In the US, t    2    of people gather in Times Square in New York City to welcome the New Year at midnight. Starting at 11:59 pm, people c    3    down the seconds as the New Year's Eve Ball slowly drops down. When it hits the bottom at 12 pm. and lights a sign that r    4    "Happy New Year", fireworks go off.

In Scotland, UK, fireworks are s    5    off, in front of Edinburgh Castle. After midnight, people sing Auld lang Syne, The words which are in Scottish mean "days gone by". The famous Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote the s    6    in 1788.

In Brazil, most people wear white clothes on New Year's Eve to bring good l    7    for the New Year. If they live near a beach, people go there after midnight, light candles in the sand, throw flowers in the sea, and make a w    8    .

In Ireland, people celebrate the New Year in a d    9    way. The Irish strike (击打) the doors and walls of the house with Christmas bread to chase bad luck out of the house.

In Spain, when the clock strikes midnight, almost e    10     eats 12 grapes. They eat one grape on each toll (钟声) to bring happiness for the next 12 months of the new year.

You asked me about the Dragon Boat Festival. Now let me tell you something about it.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival we Chinese     1     (celebrate) for over 2, 000 years. It’s one of the three most important lunar (阴历) festivals in China, along with the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival takes place on the     2     (ten) of June this year.

Over the years, many stories have been told about the     3     (begin) of this festival. Among them,     4     (famous) one is about Qu Yuan, a well-known scholar (学者) in ancient China. He not only wrote good poems but also gave     5     (suggest) to the king. The king didn’t like him     6     he devoted (献身) himself to his country. This great person drowned (溺水) himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month because his Chu State fell to Qin State. Local people tried to save him or find his body, but they didn’t find him     7     (success). Qu Yuan was later considered as     8     national hero. To remember him, every fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people beat drums and go boat racing on the river as they once did     9     (keep) fish away from his body.

Dragon boat racing is one of the most important customs Chinese people practice to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. This activity     10     (hold) widely in China’s southern and southeastern areas where there are lots of rivers and lakes.

Lots of love,

Wendy

Easter Sunday, which falls on April 4th this year, dates back nearly 2,000 years. It is     1     by hundreds of millions of people around the world. For my family, it is     2     as the greatest holiday of the year.

Every Easter my brothers and I would wake up early and, like Christmas morning, run downstairs to see what     3     were waiting for us. We were always excited when the Easter Bunny（兔子）, who is like   Father Christmas, came and     4     us a basket of candy. It's wonderful. It is like there is a miracle every Easter morning.

Our mother, however, would not let us eat the chocolates like we wanted. The chocolate bunnies, and candy eggs would have to wait.     5    , we would have to get dressed in our new clothes.

Then my family would go to church. After church we would go to an elder family members’ house for a feast（盛会）. My mother’s family came to the US from Eastern Europe, so we would often eat many traditional     6    . My favorite was ham and a special potato salad. We usually had 20 or more family members at the dinner. After dinner my cousins, brothers and I would go outside. We were sleeping the night before, and then it's the time for our parents     7     plastic eggs throughout the back yard. We would always have a     8     to see who could find the most eggs. The     9     would get a prize. It was our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Sometimes, in summer, we would     10     an egg we missed on Easter.

【推荐2】I still remember visiting Moscow. It is the capital of Russia, the    1     (large) country in the world. I went there     2     my parents when I was eight years old. I lived and studied there for one year and I had some happy     3     (memory). One of the most interesting things of that city    4     (be) that there are many dogs. Perhaps Russians like dogs very much. You can see dogs here and there. Almost each of the families has a dog. I made friends with many     5     (Russia) children when I was living and studying there. They were all very nice. They had fair hair and fair skin. I played with them    6     (happy) though I could only speak a little Russian at first. They were     7     (friend) to me. The weather in Moscow was very cold. It    8     almost every day in winter. The ground was always     9     (cover) with a lot of snow. We often made snowmen together. Now I am back in China,     10     I miss it so much.

【推荐3】How time flies! Now we are in the     1     (nine) grade. Our junior high school years will come to an end in several months,     2     I still remember the first time when we came to the school. We came from different places and we met     3     the first time, so we didn’t know each other. In the past three years, we have not only experienced lots of difficulties, but also had many beautiful     4     (memory) in our school life. We once     5     (fight), and then we made peace with each other. We are good friends now.

I remembered that our school held     6     sports meeting last autumn. We came to school     7     (early) than usual. Although it was September and it was a little cold, we didn’t feel cold at all. We ran, jumped and cheered for     8     (we) teammates.    9     (luck), we won the first prize in our school. How happy we were!

I will put all of these     10     (value) things in my heart forever.

【推荐1】阅读下面短文，在各题空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Hot food and warm tents:

people from all walks of life rash to save earthquake-hit Gansu

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook Mr. Ma and his family members out of sleep around midnight     1     December 18th in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, and left     2     (they) without a home overnight.

After the 6.2 Gansu earthquake jolted (震动), a bowl of hot beef     3     (noodle) and a cup of     4     (drink) water offered Mr. Ma the warmth and comfort. “My family are safe here. We can stay warm and we can boil water. The rescue team (救援队) members care for our needs,” said Mr. Ma, 27.

There     5     (be) 102 tents, eight to nine people can stay in one. Mr. Ma and 1,000 others of the county, whose houses were damaged or     6     (destroy) in the quake, spent the night in tents.

They     7     (receive) meal boxes provided by local government and beef noodles cooked by volunteers. Ma Qinglong, chairman of Xingda Group, said, “We prepared 500 kilograms of beef     8     (help) everyone get through the difficult time.”

Besides government efforts, people helped each other. At the Gaji Chunlei Primary School, 79 boarding students were guided     9     the playground by their teachers as soon as the earthquake hit the area.

Zhang Shunshan, the school’s headmaster, said the teachers lit fires and kept the children warm through the small hours. “First we contacted the parents and then we helped the students return home     10     (safe) by 10 a.m.,” Zhang said.

One day, a tired mother came back. When she opened the door, she found her elder son     1     (wait) for her. He told her     2     his younger brother did. “While I was playing outside and Dad was talking on the phone, Jack took his colored pencils (彩笔) and     3     (write) on the wall! It’s on the new wallpaper (壁纸) you just bought. I told him you would be mad (生气) at him.”

She became angry and asked, “Where is your little     4    ?”

“He     5     (hide) in his closet (衣柜).”

As she got into Jack’s room, she called his name. Jack was afraid     6     (answer), so he didn’t come out. For the next ten minutes, she shouted at the little boy about how     7     the wallpaper was and how she saved the money. The     8     (many) she shouted, the madder she got. Finally, she went into the dining room. When she saw the wall, her     9    became wet with tears (眼泪). The words     10     the wall were, “I love mommy.”

Run for Class President

Two months ago, when our class election started, I decided to run for class President. I enjoyed speaking in public and got along well with people, so I felt it easy to win, but I was a    1     that people would feel bad for me if I lost.

I was busy preparing in the following week. My plan wasn’t to make promises to do things I couldn’t m    2     but to show my class why I wanted to be president. I put up my posters in hallways and in the classroom. I also spent three hours writing my speech, saying that I was the one they could turn to whenever they had a problem. Since I was c    3     prepared, I felt that my chances of winning were strong.

However, when I gave my speech on Election Day, the response wasn’t what I’d e    4    . Few people actually listened when it was my opponent’s turn, everyone was screaming his name, his speech was short but all to the point, but by then I realized I should have made mine shorter and clearer.

It was obvious who would win. For the rest of the day, I felt like it was over, I wanted to just go home and cried, but I made it through.

My prediction was right. I didn’t win.

The next day, people were still talking about the election. I just pretended not to hear but later things got better. People f    5     about the election and talked to me just as they did before.I don’t regret putting time and energy into the election because I’ve learned that things aren’t always going the way I looked forward to. And moments of failure like this build c    6     since then I’ve learned to face disappointment and grown stronger.