4 . Jenny used to get angry when meeting problems.

One day, her father took her to the ________. Then he poured water into two pots and put them on the fire. When the water ________, he put a potato in a pot and tea leaves in the other.

“Why are you doing this?” Jenny asked.

“Just be ________ and wait for fifteen minutes.”

When time was up, Jenny’s father took the potato out and poured the tea into a cup. He asked Jenny, “Have you learned anything from them?”

“No.”

Her father said, “The potato was hard before; now the water has turned it soft. ________, the tea leaves changed the water and created something new.”

Jenny then knew what her father ________. Both objects were boiled, but they reacted differently, just as people could deal with the same situation with different attitudes (态度). Then Jenny decided to change her attitude towards problems.

5 . Chinese scientists said they had developed robotic fish that could “eat” microplastics (微塑料) while moving through the water. Researchers working on the project say the robots could be ______ in cleaning up plastic pollution in oceans.

The project was ______ by a team at Sichuan University in southwestern China. The researchers said the robots had already performed well in shallow (浅的) water and that they planned to carry out more tests in ______ water.

The team said the robotic fish could be ______ by light. Turning on and off the near-infrared light laser (近红外激光) causes the fish’s tail to move. It can swim at a ______ of about 3.5 cm per second.

Wang Yuyan was a member of Sichuan University’s research team. She told Reuters that the small robotic fish were being used to ______ microplastics for research purposes. But Wang added that the team planned to expand (扩展) that use, so the robotic fish could remove larger amounts of microplastic ______ from deep ocean areas.

“The robotic fish can take in different kinds of microplastics and even ______ itself when it is broken,” the researchers said. “And if a robot fish is accidentally eaten by a real fish, the real fish can ______ digest (消化) the material. So it does no harm.”

Wang said similar robots could be developed to be placed inside human bodies to remove ______ materials. And there is still much to be improved for the robots.

7 . After their 15-year-old pet dog died, Rain and his wife, Ann, looked for months to _____ the right new pet. “I love dogs,” said Rain, a worker at a health club in New York. “I can’t imagine not having one.”

Finally, the couple found a lovely young _____ and decided to _____ him home. They named him Little Sheep. Little Sheep quickly made himself at home, sleeping on _____ new owners’ bed at night.

With heart disease for 25 years, Rain _____ took his medicine four times a day and always had no problems. _____ on March 17, he took the wrong amount (数量) of medicine before he went to sleep. When he got out of bed to _____ the bathroom at night, suddenly, he felt his heart beating fast and later fell to the floor heavily.

“Little Sheep was usually very _____ and well-behaved,” said Ann. “But when my husband hit the floor, the dog gave a loud cry like a wild animal. I was woken but didn’t know what was happening. Then I saw my husband _____ on the bathroom floor. I ran for the ______ and called a hospital at once.”

Rain spent several hours in the hospital. By 6:30 a.m., he had been ______ enough to go home. “It surprises me that Little Sheep has such great courage,” said his ______ owner. “He’s becoming a calm little gentleman. When we walk him on our street, everyone wants to ______ him kindly.”

“We feel the name Little Sheep ______ good enough,” said Rain, “So now we call him Big Hero, more suitable (合适的) for an animal of his ______.”

An African-American boy was born in New York. The family was very poor and he could not see any ________ for the future.

One day, the boy’s father showed him an old shirt and asked, “How much does it ________?”

“Probably $1, ” he ________.

“Can you sell it at $2?” the father looked at him.

“________ a fool will buy it!” the boy shouted.

“Why don’t you have a try? If you manage to sell it, you will help the ________ a lot. ” his father explained.

The boy nodded and said, “I will try, but I can’t ________ anything. ”

He carefully ________ the old shirt. The next day, he came to a subway station. After about six hours, he sold the clean shirt to a passer-by. He held the two dollars and ran all the way home ________.

After ten days, the father asked his son, “Can you sell this old shirt at $20?”

“No ________! This old shirt is only worth $2. ” The boy argued.

“Why not try it again?” said the father.

The boy asked his cousin to draw a cute Mickey Mouse on the shirt. Soon it was sold to a little girl. She loved the ________ very much and she gave him $25.

When the boy got home, his father handed him another old shirt and asked ________ he could sell it at $200. Surprisingly, the boy took the shirt ________ hesitation (犹豫) .

A famous movie star came to New York. The boy made his way ________ the crowd and asked her to sign on the shirt. Very quickly, a businessman bought the shirt at $1200.

Hearing the news, his father was ________ and asked, “My boy, what did you learn from selling these old shirts?” The boy answered, “Our value depends ________ we add to it. ”

Meeting a polar bear

I put my day’s supply of food into my bag and then began to take down the tent. Suddenly I heard a deep, long growl (嚎叫) from my dog Charlie. I looked at him and then in the direction he was watching closely. A polar bear!

It was a mother ________ by two cubs coming slowly towards me. They were 200 meters away. With a pounding (狂跳) heart, I picked up my flare (照明) gun and ________ walked sideways a few steps to Charlie. Without taking my eyes off the bear, I untied Charlie and, again walked sideways.

The bear, now only 150 meters aways, wasn’t stopping. Her cubs had dropped back but she kept going, while I tried to remember all the ________ that had been given. Keep eye contact, move sideways or forward, never backward, stay calm, don’t show ________. Don’t wound a bear and you’ll make it ________ to control it. Never run. Repeating to myself, “Stay calm, stay calm,” I fired a warning shot (射击) to the bear’s left. The loud noise had no ________. She came around. I fired a flare, landing it a little to her right. Her head moved in its direction but she didn’t stop. I fired another, this time dropping it right in front of her. She stopped, looked at the flare. She was only 30 meters away now.

By this time, I was so nervous that my heart could have been heard at base camp. The bear began to step around the flare, and I dropped another a meter in front of her. Again she ________, and then she fixed her tiny black eyes on Charlie, who was trying to reach her. She looked back at her cubs, waited, and then moved to my left in a half circle. I fired two more flares, trying to draw a line between her and me. She stopped again and seemed to want to ________ the line of flares but was unsure of the result and of Charlie, so she decided to stay ________. Finally, with a last long look, she walked north with her cubs behind her.

My hands were still shaking, but I now knew that I could ________ a bear in the wild bravely and stay calm enough to act properly.

10 . I loved everything about school except for one person: Mildred. Every day, as we walked home after ________, she would step on the backs of my shoes. Then, when I stopped to adjust my shoes, Mildred would suddenly slap (拍) my back. She ________ me.

Soon, my mother figured that something was ________. I told her the whole story. My mom told me not to worry and said she had a ________. The next day, my mom walked up the hill ________ me. Just as we got to the top of the hill, we saw Mildred.

“Hello, Mildred.” My mom said quietly. Mildred stopped, standing ________ like a statue (雕塑). Her hands and face were bright ________. Her oversized coat hung open. There were only two buttons on it. My mother didn’t say anything at first. Instead, she ________ up Mildred’s coat and turned the collar up around her neck. “I am Marion’s mother. I need your ________, Mildred.” My mother’s hands held Mildred’s as she ________. “Marion doesn’t t have any brothers or sisters. She needs a best friend at school, someone to walk up the hill with her after school. Would you be Marion’s friend, Mildred?”

Mildred ________ “Oh, thank you!” My mother said, “I just know you are someone I can ________.” Then she hugged us and left ________ nothing unusual had happened.

Mildred and I walked on to school. As I looked over at her, I saw Mildred ________! I’d never found her so happy before. We walked up the hill each day after school together and pretty soon we became best friends. I didn’t understand my mom’s plan at the time. But finally, I came to understand her message: ________ never fails.