In today’s geography class, Mr. Brown told us something about a small country—Nauru.

Nauru is a small     1     (岛屿) country in the Pacific Ocean (太平洋). The population of the country is about ten thousand. There are no mountains in Nauru, not even hills. Most people live in the area near the sea. Nauru is near the equator (赤道) and it often rains, so people often take u    2     when they go out.

Nauru is small, but it is very rich. It’s famous for the phosphate (磷酸盐). It’s one of the country’s main exports (出口商品) and brings     3     (数百万) of dollars every year. People’s life in Nauru is p    4     good. There are     5     (宽的) roads in the country and there is also an airport—Air Nauru.

In Search of Good English Food

How come it is so difficult to find English food in England? In England, it is     1     (easy) to find Indian and Chinese restaurants than English ones. In London, you can eat dishes almost around the world, but where are the English restaurants?

It is not only in restaurants that foreign dishes are taking the place of     2     (tradition) British food. In every supermarket, spaghetti and pizza are more popular. Why has this happened? What is wrong with the cooks of Britain that they prefer cooking spaghetti to     3     (potato)? Why do the British now like cooking in wine and olive oil? That’s     4     they can get ingredients (食材) from all over the world in just a few hours. Anyway, was’t English food always terrible and tasteless? The answer to this question is “No”, but     5     (understand) this, you have to go back to before World War I.

    6     fact, the British have always imported(口) food from abroad. From ancient times, foreign trade was     7     main influence on British cooking. English kitchens got ingredients from all over the world. All of them     8     (use) in British dishes successfully. Another important influence on British cooking was     9     (certain) the weather. For the British, the good old rain gives     10     (they) rich soil and green grass. That means they are able to produce some of the finest meat, fruit and vegetables, which don’t need many sauces (调料) to cover their taste.

People often think of China’s water towns as “Venice in the East”. They are famous     1     their old buildings, bridges, canals and ways of life.

Lying in the north of Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, the beautiful water town of Wuzhen is one such town. It has     2     history of over 6, 000 years. During those years, Wuzhen didn’t change its name, water system, or way of life. It is just like a living museum for people     3     get much knowledge.

People there built houses     4     were made of black bricks, grey tiles and white walls in the small town along the river. From the far distance it is just like a Chinese ink-wash drawing.

The place is quiet, and     5     are many nice cafes, restaurants and theaters. If you want to run away from the busy city life and relax, you can even have great fun on a boat tour. Wuzhen Water Town is a great choice.

【推荐3】Beijing’s annoying smog s    1     to have hurt the city’s appeal to tourists. Last year ，Beijing Youth Daily reported that the number of visitors to Beijing   had   fallen   50   percent since January. It’s said that the city’s bad air q    2     was responsible for the decline. It’s also more difficult to a    3     high-end employees to work in Beijing, especially those with children.

H    4    , the blanket of poisonous smog hasn’t hurt Beijing’s office market, which has jumped up quickly on a g    5     ranking to become the fourth-most-expensive location to rent office space in the world. According to a recent research, office space in Beijing’s Central Business District c    6     on average $1,412 per square meter per year.

That’s more expensive than No. 5-ranked central Tokyo or No.6-ranked Madison & Fifth Avenues in New York. The research took into c    7     both published rental rates and “additional costs”，which i    8     agent fees and other costs to make the deal happen.

London remains the world’s most expensive city in w    9     to rent office space. Hong Kong, home to the priciest office space in Asia, comes in second globally. The cities experiencing the highest annual g    10     in office rental rates are both in South Africa with 40 percent rate for Durban and 44 percent for Sandton.

【推荐2】Thailand literacy Program

Omkoi is one of the mountainous areas in Thailand. It is an area of     1     (北方的)Thailand. There are neither schools     2     (也没有)libraries there and people cannot read or write. The government of Thailand hopes to change that with a program. It     3     (包括)bringing books to the villages.

A number of these villages can be reached only on foot, and there is always a very long rainy     4     (季节)in Thailand. So how do the villagers get books that they need most, especially     5    （在……期间）the rainy days? Of course, teams of     6     (大象)!

Now there are several teams carrying books in Omkoi. They spend almost a month covering     7     (七) or eight villages. These special teams make it possible to provide education for almost two thousand people in Omkoi.

In Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, there’s a program called “Train Library for Young People”. The train serves the homeless children on the     8     (街道). Years ago, the railway police of Bangkok realized that those children     9     (真正地)needed a good place for learning and they began to act immediately. Now they have cleaned up and     10     (修理)some old railway cars. These cars are turned into libraries for the children.