1 . In America, it is not polite to telephone someone very early in the morning. The time of the call shows that the matter is very _________ and requires quick reply. It is the same to _________ telephone calls after 11 p.m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he thinks it’s a matter of life and _______. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

In social life, time ________ a very important part. In America, guests may ________ that they are not highly respected (尊重) if they get the invitation to a dinner party only three or four days before the party date. But it is not the _______ in all countries. In other parts of the world, it maybe ________ foolish to make an appointment too early because it is easy to be forgotten.

The ________ of time is different in different parts of the world. So misunderstandings happen between people from cultures that treat time differently. To be on time is valued ________ in American life. For example, if people are not on time, others may think they are impolite. In the United States, no one would keep a business partner ________ an hour because it would be too impolite. A person who is five minutes late will say a few words of explanation to show his apology.

A young woman in her 20s was sitting on the train, next to her mother. They both looked tired but ______.

The young woman was looking out of the train’s window. Suddenly, she shouted: “Mom, look! The trees are behind us!” Her voice was so _____ that everyone on the train heard.

Mom smiled. But a young couple sitting nearby look at the young woman’s childish behavior (行为) with pity. “Poor young woman. There must be something wrong with her ______,” they thought.

A while later, the young woman _____ again: “Mom, look! The clouds are running with us!” Mom ______ again. And she seemed very happy with the young woman’s words.

______, the couple couldn’t help asking the old woman: “Sorry that we have to offend (冒犯) you.Why don’t you take your daughter to a good ______?”

The old woman smiled and said: “In fact, we have just come from the hospital.”

“Then you should go to another _____. Because it seems that your daughter’s situation doesn’t improve,” said one of them. They felt so bad for the old woman.

“No, in fact, I am very ______ with the treatment (治疗),” said the mother. “My daughter was blind from birth. Today, she is seeing the world for the first time.”

Every single person has a story. Don’t judge people before you ______ know them. The truth might surprise you.

Vance and Troy lived in the same street. Both of them had a nice home. But Troy was unhappy because some of Vance’s things were better than his. Troy was a jealous (妒忌的) boy.

Vance and Troy grew up and got ________. At first, they both rode bicycles to work. Later Vance bought a motorcycle. And Troy felt jealous. So Troy also ________ a motorcycle and became happy. He didn’t feel jealous until Vance bought a car.

Troy worked hard until he had enough ________ to pay for a car. However, there were a lot of other cars on the road. The traffic was heavy and the trip to work was very ________.

After a year, Vance bought a bigger car. So Troy worked even ________, and yesterday he bought an expensive new car. This morning, Troy left home and drove his new car. There were hundreds of cars in front of him, and his car just moved 10 ________ in 15 minutes. ________, he was happy because his car was bigger than Vance’s. Then he saw Vance ________ him, but Vance was not in a car. Vance was riding a bicycle. The cars moved very slowly, so Vance cycled past them ________ and cycled away in front of Troy. Troy watched from his big, expensive new car and felt ________.

4 . Do you often watch talent competitions? They are becoming more and more ____ on British television. Britain’s Got Talent is one of the most famous talent shows in my country. In this ____ , people from around the country come and perform in front of some judge (裁判), like musicians and actors.

Several years ago, many people came and ____ lots of different talents. Some of them were ____ excellent. For example, an 80-year-old woman could dance very fast! Lots of young people were ____ and couldn’t believe she could dance that fast. You could also see some truly ____ singers, magicians and have much fun watching them.

But some of the ____ were not very good. For example, a man wanted to make his pet owl (猫头鹰) do something special to make people laugh, but the owl didn’t ____ and stay at the same place. Also, sometimes some people didn’t sing or dance very well.

Not everybody likes watching the program, but I ____ it. Why? I think all the performers are great. Each of them has his or her own dream. They come to the program and try to make their dreams ____. I hope I can always keep working hard for my dream just like them.

There’s a video online: a young girl, with an old man sitting on her shoulder (肩膀), is watching the national flag-raising ceremony (升国旗仪式) at Tian’anmen Square (天安门广场). The girl is ZhangBaige and the old man is her _________ Zhang Shuangqi.

One day in 1997, on his way home from work in Luoyang, Henan, 50-year-old Zhang Shuangqi _________ a baby girl on the roadside. Zhang took the girl home and raised (抚养) her as his daughter. He gave her a _________   Zhang Baige.

Zhang had no money, no family and no experience in raising a child. Raising a baby made his life _________. The man took on different jobs at the same time to make a living.

In the poor family, Zhang Baige managed (尽力完成) to _________. Although she did not go to college after high school, she worked hard. Now she can give her father and herself a good _________. To spend more time with her father, who is now 75 years old, Zhang Baige decided to travel around the _________ with him. He always likes to see places away from home.

Last May, Baige and her father _________ their trip. From Henan, they traveled through Shaanxi (陕西) and Sichuan, and then to Tibet and Xinjiang. People feel touched by their story after _________ videos about their travel. And they are _________ to see that the father and the daughter are living a happy life.

When I first entered Grade 9, all the things got so hard for me. I used to finish my homework by 8 p.m. But I had to stay up ________ midnight in Grade 9. I was quite stressed out. So I decided to make myself ________ by running slowly.

At first, I always felt tired, so I didn’t think of the long way that I had to run. ________, I just thought about each step that I made. After I tried the way of running, to my surprise, things got different. I started to feel the pleasure ________ running had brought me. Every single step became ________ than before. The wind beside me was no longer laughing at me, but more like a(n) ________ who came along with me. Also, everything in my life became better. For example, I ________ more relaxed in class. At the same time, I finished homework more ________. My teacher even praised me for my good job in class.

This is a very important lesson in my life. As I can see, Grade 9 is like a marathon (马拉松). So running slowly is a good way to ________ my stress. Every day is just a tiny ________. We can make our dream come true only by doing well in each step.

Lulu is a Hungarian PhD (匈牙利哲学博士) student at Tsinghua University. She first ______ to Beijing in 2017. She soon fell in love with the city. She also found her ______ hobby—Peking Opera.

Lulu watched Peking Opera for the first ______ in an opera museum. “I found it ______ wonderful,” she said. “It is so different from Western opera.”

With great ______, she joined the Peking Opera group of Tsinghua University. That made her see that Peking Opera is much more than just the looks.

The group members practiced twice a week. Mostly, they practiced singing and movements. The biggest problem for Lulu was ______ the Asian way of singing. “To _____, my throat was in great pain (疼痛). Because I was using my voice in the ______ way,” she said. But with the help of teachers, she learned very well.

There were other international students in the ______ “I really ______ Peking Opera because it brings us together,” she said. “I hope to share my love for Peking Opera with more people outside China.”

Welcome to our English class! The students are talking about ________.

“I think purple is my lucky (幸运的) color.” Jenny says. “My mother is an English teacher. She works very hard. And she comes back home from ________ very late every day. I want to buy a purple ________ for her. I hope she can go home early (早的) on the purple bike.”

“I like ________,” says Jim. “Do you know why? Guess (猜) … Let me tell you. Yes, my ________ name is White! You can call me Mr. White. There are ________ ‘Mr. White’ in my family. I am the youngest (最小的) one. My grandpa is 87 years old. He has three sons. I have a brother and four cousin brothers. I really have a ________ family.”

John likes blue. Blue is the color of seas on sunny days. John likes ________ very much. In summer, he and his friends often swim in the sea. They have a good time. Look, his blue notebooks, blue pens, blue erasers and blue ________ are all in his blue schoolbag. Blue makes him feel ________.