Scientists say there are now fewer than 2, 000 pandas living in the forests. ________ 300 or so live in zoos or research centers in China and other countries. Pandas do not have many babies, maybe only one every two years. The babies often ________ illnesses and do not live very long. Adult pandas spend more than 12 hours a day eating about 10 kilos of bamboo. Many years ago, there were ________ more bamboo forests and pandas in China, but then humans started to ________ these forests. As the forests get smaller and other human activities cause more problems, pandas cannot find enough to eat and they are having ________ babies.

Nowadays, bicycles are very ________ around the world. In some places, people use bicycles ________ to work. Some people even ride their bicycles ________ exercise. But do you know who ________ the first bicycle? Some people think Leonardo da Vinci (1452 — 1519) was the ________ of the bicycle. But ________, he only drew some pictures for bicycles. ________ he was the first to have the idea of the bicycle. More than 300 years after his ________, the first bicycle was invented in the early 19th century.

The ________ bicycle was very difficult to move. In 1817, a German named Sauerbrun made the first bicycle ________. The seat was comfortable. The wheels could ________ direction. ________ in the forest took only one hour instead of three hours on foot. But these bicycles still had no brakes (刹车), and people often ________.

It took another 45 years for the bicycle ________ popular again. Over 100 years later, bicycle riding is ________ popular than before. In fact, there are more bicycles than cars in the world today.

3 . British people usually say “hello” or “nice to see you” and ______ when they meet you for the first time. They only greet relatives or close friends with a ______. They like to start a ______ with subjects like the weather, holidays, music or books. They never talk about ______, weight or money.

Once a group of ______ students went to England for a holiday. Their teacher told them that the English people hardly shake hands. So when they met their English friends at the station, they kept their ______ behind their backs. The English students had learned that the Germans shake hands as often as possible, so they put their hands in front and ______ to shake hands with them. It made ______ of them laugh.

British people think it is rude to ______ before others. They always queue. They say “sorry” if they ______ you in the street. When they want you to move, they say “______”. They do not like to shout or laugh loudly ______. British people are very polite ______ too. They say “please” or “______” to family members all the time.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” When we are in a strange place, we should do as the ______ people do.

Zhou Chu was born about 1, 700 years ago. He was tall and strong. However, he had a bad temper (脾气). He had lots of bad _________ and was sometimes violent (暴力的). Everyone was afraid of him. They tried not to talk to him. Slowly he started to feel _________.

One day, Zhou Chu saw some old men talking in the street. He went up and asked, “Hey! Old men! Why are you looking so _________?”

One man replied, “We are worrying about three evils (恶魔) around.”

“Oh! Tell me and I’ll _________ them!” Zhou Chu waved (挥动) his arms to show his strength. “Well,” said _________ man, “first, there is a tiger in the South Mountain. It often _________ our animals and even hurts people. Then there is a flood dragon _________ the bridge. It often makes big waves, breaks our ships and kills many people.

“So, what’s the _________ one?”

The men looked at each other, but _________ spoke.

“What is the third evil?” Zhou Chu shouted __________.

One man said, “It’s you!”

“Me?” Zhou Chu was very angry.

The man said, “You are __________ doing bad things! Are you different from the tiger or the flood dragon?”

Zhou Chu’s __________ turned red with shame. He said to himself, “I __________ stop acting like this. I’ll get rid of (除掉) all the three evils!”

The next day, Zhou Chu found the big tiger and killed it. Then he went for the flood dragon. They __________ in the river for three days. Finally, he killed it.

From then on, Zhou Chu got __________ changed. With hard work, he became a famous man and was loved by people.

After my mother moved to live with us in the city, she was much heavier than before. As time went by, her health got ________. So I had to take her to see a ________. The doctor asked my mother to lose weight. She had no choice but to ________ the doctor’s words. I told her that I would exercise with her every morning.

On the first morning, she got up very early ________ ran with me in our neighborhood. After running for some minutes, I told her the proper ways of exercise and the importance of eating healthy ________. She listened to me carefully. It made me ________ that she told me everything very patiently when I was a kid.

But after two weeks, she wanted to ________ running because she thought it didn’t work at all. To encourage her, I taught her how to use the facilities (设施) for exercise in our ________. She began to exercise again.

With my help, it ________ her one month to develop a good habit of daily exercise. “Thank you, my dear daughter. Exercise brings health and happiness to me. I will ________ worry about my health.” Her words touched my heart deeply. I felt happy to make a big difference to my mother’s life.

a peacock

There was a beautiful peacock out on a rainy day. He looked at himself in the water. He said, “How beautiful I am!” But when he heard ________ own voice, he became sad. Just then, he heard a nightingale (夜莺) singing in the trees.

________ he heard the nightingale’s sweet song, he felt even more unsatisfied (不满意) with himself. “Why don’t I have such a beautiful voice?” At that moment, the goddess Juno ________. She went to the peacock.

“________ ?” Juno asked.

The peacock complained (抱怨) to her about his rough voice. “Why does the nightingale get such ________ beautiful voice? My voice sounds like rocks rolling over sand.”

Then Juno comforted him, “Every living thing ________ special in its own way. The nightingale has a beautiful voice, but you have beautiful colors! The nightingale told me he wanted ________ like you. He is sad about his brown feather.”

The peacock stood up and thought for a while, “You’re right.” he said, “I have ________ beautiful color in the forest. The nightingale has the sweetest voice. We are both great in our own ________.”

The peacock didn’t worry ________ his voice any more. “You can’t have it all.” he thought. Instead, he remembered what made him special.

English is an important subject in middle school. Everyone knows that they need learn English ________. But some people don’t know how to learn it. Here are some ________. I hope they can help you.

You can listen to English radio. It can help you to ________ your English listening. You can listen to the radio for 30 minutes every day. When you find it too fast, you can ________ to catch the key words and get the main idea.

Do you really want to learn English well? You need speak to people in English. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. It is important to open your ________ and speak.

Reading and writing are also very important. Choose ________ interesting to read. It can’t be too ________ for you. And don’t stop to ________ the new words in dictionary. You can also ________ their meanings. Keeping a diary (日记) is a good way for your writing. You can check every word in your diary ________ after writing.