Joseph is a teacher in New York. He gives lessons to     1     students about American history. But he was born in Kenya, an African country where the children lead a very different life. For example, a ten-year-old boy may spend     2     time in taking care of cows than studying at school. The children also learn many skills like how     3     in the wild.

Unlike many other children, Joseph went to school. And when he was fifteen, he came to study in America and then became a teacher. Joseph has written a book     4     Facing the Lion. In the book, he talks about his childhood (童年). He thinks children should learn to be strong and full of hope. Now Joseph is doing some     5    , hoping that they will help children face their own “lions”.

A man works in a restaurant in America. He isn’t a waiter. He plays the piano for     1     there. And he plays it very     2    , so many people come to listen to his music.

One night, a customer says to the man, “I don’t want to listen to the music. I want you     3     a song.”

“Sorry, I can’t sing, ” answers the man.

The customer is very angry (生气的) and tells the boss (老板) of the restaurant about it. Then the boss tells the man angrily, “If you want to work here, you must sing a song!”

The man has to sing. This is his     4     time to sing in public (公共场合), but the customers find he sings really well. So many people come to listen to     5    . After some years, people in the world know him and like his songs. He is the great black singer—Nat King Cole.

There was a girl     1     Alice. One day she     2     a white rabbit with pink eyes run past her. Alice got up, she ran     3     the field after it. She saw it go down a large rabbit     4     in the ground. Then she     5     after it.

It is said that the story happened in ancient Britain. There was a queen who loved her only son very much. As time went by, the handsome prince had grown up. In order to     1     his 18th birthday, the mum held a ball in the palace. She thought it was also a good     2     to find a girl to be princess for her country. All the girls below 18 were     3    . Many girls came to the ball, dreaming of becoming the British prince’s wife, including a princess from France, some beautiful ladies, the most famous actresses and a general’s daughter. At the ball, the prince     4     in love with the French princess for the     5     sight. They got married soon and lived a happy life forever. From then on, the relationship between the two countries stayed well for a century.

Do you know how to make a cup of tea? You may think it’s     1    . In fact, it is not. Now let me tell you the steps.

First, warm up your teapot by pouring hot water     2     it. After a while, pour the water out and put some tea in the teapot. Next, pour     3     hot water over the tea and cover the teapot with its cap tightly (紧紧地). Then brew (泡) the tea for five     4    . Good tea needs much time to brew. But the tea will be quite bitter (苦的) if you brew for too long.     5    , pour the tea into your cup and you can drink it.

Thomas Edison was a famous American inventor. He had a lot of     1    . He was born in 1847.

When he was a child, he liked to find out how things worked. He was in school for only three months. He asked his teacher many strange questions. Most of them had     2     to do with his lessons. The teacher thought the boy was not clever and was not worth     3    . When he told this to Edison’s mother, she took her son out of school. As she had been a teacher, she taught him at home. The boy read a lot. Soon he became very     4     in science. When he was ten, Edison had already built a chemistry lab for     5    . Ever since then, he never stopped searching for new and better ways to do things.