In most countries, people usually eat t    1     food on special holidays. A special day in the United States is T    2    . It is always on the f    3     Thursday in November, and it is a t    4     to give thanks for food in the autumn. At this time, people also remember the first travelers from England w    5     came to live in America about 400 years ago. These travelers had a long, hard winter, and many of them d    6    . In the next autumn, they gave thanks for life and food in t    7     new home. These days, most Americans still c    8     this idea of giving thanks by h    9     a big meal at home with their family. The m    10     dish of this meal is almost always turkey, a large bird.

The king and the rice

A long time ago, there was a king in     1    . The king’s favorite game was     2    . One day, a     3     old man came to the palace and the king     4     him to a game. The king     5     the old man, “You can have any     6     if you win the game.”

Great inventions

Thomas Edison     7     the first     8     light bulb in 1879. Before the invention of the light bulb, people had to use oil lamps or     9     to see at night. With light bulbs, people can do as many things as they can in the evenings as they can in the daytime. Can you     10     living without them?

Did Thomas Edison really invent the light bulb? The answer is no. The real i    1     of the light bulb was Joseph Swan. He invented the electric light bulb in 1860. But Swan’s light bulb could not glow（发光）for a long e    2     time to be useful.

Ten years later, Thomas Edison decided to improve on Swan’s light bulb. He did a lot of experiments to find a better bulb wire. Finally, he f    3     the right one. It could glow for about 1,200 hours and, at the same time, it was cheap. In the 20th c    4     , light bulb began to be widely used all over the world. Even street lamp began to use light bulbs i    5     of oil. Since then, the light bulb has helped humans see things clearly anytime. It is one of the greatest inventions in history.

5 . Canberra is     1     capital of Australia. It is a modern and lively city with a population     2     403, 468.

History   Canberra is the eighth largest city in Australia. It is, about 238 km from Sydney and 507 km from Melbourne. Sydney is     3     (big) than Canberra. People in Sydney wished to make their city the capital. It was difficult for the government     4     (make) the decision. Then the government chose a place to build the new capital. It was between Sydney     5     Melbourne, the two largest cities. In 1927, the city was set up. It became the capital and was named Canberra. “Canberra”     6     (mean) “a place to get together”.

Culture   Canberra is a beautiful city     7     trees and flowers everywhere. There’s a Flower Festival in September each year. People can enjoy all     8     (kind) of beautiful flowers and welcome the spring to arrive. The man-made Lake Burley Griffin is in the centre of the city, It’s about 11 km long. People like to ride bikes, walk or run around the lake. In Canberra, there’re many famous     9     (university) like the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. The National library and the National Museum of Australia are also famous     10     (place) that people like to visit.

6 . In 1827, a Frenchman named Nièpce needed pictures for his business.     1    （然而）, he was not good at art. So he invented a camera which was very     2    （简单的）and put it in a window in his house.

The next important     3    （发展）in the history of photography was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another French, invented a new kind of camera.     4    （比较）with the first one, you could see everything very clearly, even the     5    （最小的）things in his pictures.

    6    （不久）, other people began to use Daguerre’s     7    （办法）. After 1840, photography developed further. People could take pictures of moving things     8    （虽然）it was still a bit difficult. In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photography. Anyone who wanted to take photos could buy film in boxes, so they did not have to make the film     9    （他们自己）.

Photography became a kind of art by the end of the     10    （十九）century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, just as other kinds of art do.

"Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light shining on the comer bright…" This is a children's song about traffic lights. The song is easy to learn and sing, but it has a special     1    （mean）.It teaches young     2    （child）about the use and importance of traffic lights. What do "traffic lights" mean? Well, everybody     3    （know）that red means "stop", green means "go", and yellow means "wait or glow down".

Do you want to know the history of traffic lights? The     4    （one）lights were designed by an engineer（工程师）in London, England, in 1868. The engineer wanted     5    （help）people keep safe and keep the traffic in order.     6     the traffic light were not perfect at first, and sometimes they brought danger. One day, a policeman     7    （lose）his life because the traffic lights exploded（爆炸）. Then people weren't interested     8     using traffic lights any more. In 1912, a policeman invented the first electric traffic lights. Two years     9    （late）, the traffic lights system was born in America, and it became much     10    （good）. Then more countries began to use traffic lights.

8 . Early in the     1     (fifteen) century during the Ming Dynasty, the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di decided     2     (create) a great encyclopedia. It was     3     huge job for the scholars to collect and copy thousands of texts from all over China.     4     (they) work was finished in 1408. This amazing collection was called Yongle Dadian. It was made up     5     22,937 rolls in 11,095 volumes, and it was one of the     6     (early) encyclopedias that had ever been made.

    7     printing techniques were already quite advanced at that time, Yongle Dadian was never printed because of its     8     (long).     9     the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the original work was lost. Nobody knows what     10     (happen) to it.

9 . Basketball is still a young game. It was over a hundred years     1    . In the winter of 1891, a certain college was having some trouble with its boy students. The weather was so bad     2     the students had to stay inside. As they couldn't play outside, they were     3     (happy), and some even got into fights from time to time.

At the college, a teacher     4     (call) James Naismith was asked to invent a game so that the students night have something to play with in cold winters.     5     was not easy to invent such a game because it had to be played inside, and the court（球场）was not very large.

Dr. Naismith thought for a few days and invented     6     kind of ball game. It was a fast, wonderful game with much moving and passing of the ball. It was played     7     two teams. The team could make a score after the ball     8     (throw) into the basket ten feet above the floor on the wall.

At each end of the court there was such a basket. At first, Dr. Naismith wanted to throw the ball into a box. As he could not find     9     (box) of the right size, he had to use fruit baskets instead. That is     10     the game got its name. And now it has become one of the most popular sports in the world.

You stick a stamp on the envelop. And then it travels across the world to find another person. Stamps help people keep in touch     1     their friends and families. They play     2     important role in people's lives for a long time. People have a special day for stamps. October 9^th is World Post Day.

Before stamps, people didn't pay for the letters they     3    （send）, but instead they paid for the letters they got. The first stamp, a     4    （Britain）one was called Penny Black. It     5    （make）in 1840 with a picture of Queen Victoria on it.

Years ago, sending letters     6    （use）to be the most important way to communicate with other people.     7     seemed that everyone had stamps on hand. Although now fewer people send letters, stamp collecting is still one of the world's most popular     8    （hobby）. Even some stamp clubs are set up     9    （help）people find new stamps to add to their collection. Interestingly enough, the Internet may have reduced the need for stamps, but it is     10    （actual）offering new ways for collectors to find more stamps.