62-year-old Feng Huailin lives in Yuncheng, Shanxi. There are always some palace lanterns (宫灯) in his home ______ he is a lantern maker.

Feng’s family ______ lanterns for many years. “I often saw my grandfather and father make palace lanterns in my childhood. The lanterns ______ most of my childhood memories,” Feng says. People in Feng’s hometown always follow a tradition. They like to give a set of palace lanterns to ______ newborn grandchildren. They regard the pretty lanterns ______ blessings (祝福) for a bright future.

Making palace lanterns is not ______ easy job. It usually takes Feng and his wife at least one ______ to make a set of palace lanterns.

To make his palace lanterns much ______ to modern life, Feng has made some changes. Now they are very popular during celebrations and festivals.

Feng feels very ______ to keep the traditional culture alive. He plans ______ the craft (手艺) on to more people. “Nowadays people don’t use palace lanterns every day. But the culture and tradition behind them should be there forever,” Feng says.

3 . As an old saying goes, a good book is like a good friend. If so, my best friend must be The Old Man and the Sea by American writer Ernest Hemingway.

In my eyes, Ernest Hemingway is probably one of ______ writers in the 20th century. When he was 19, he volunteered ______ to war (战争) because he wanted to take risks. However, he was badly hurt in the war and got back home. In Hemingway’s life, this experience was important. He ______ several books about the war to show how bad life was for the young men who had to fight.

Hemingway liked to write in very short sentences ______ simple words. This was because he wanted his readers to feel the emotions (情感) of his stories ______. The Old Man and the Sea is one of his famous books. I ______ it twice. I learned a lot from this book, especially the spirit of the main ______, Santiago.

The Old Man and the Sea is a story about an old fisherman named Santiago who fights with a big fish by ______ in the sea. He experiences many ups and downs. He has no water, food or people to help him. But he never gives in to ______ big fish, dangerous animals, rough (汹涌的) sea or even his own illness.

______ the story is short and simple, it is still very powerful (有力的). It tells us that a man can be destroyed (摧毁) by life, but still be a good and strong man. That’s why I like the book most. Every time I read it, it cheers me up. I hope I can be like Santiago.

Mr. Barry didn’t want his sofa anymore. Then he put it in the front garden for the rubbish collection to pick up.

His sofa’s name was Darla. Darla was sad that Mr. Barry didn’t want her _______ the house anymore.

She sat in the sun, under the trees, and watched the street. _______ quiet and sunny it was! Darla had never been outside in her whole life. She liked _______ feel of the sun on her.

A little girl _______ red shoes was walking along the street.

“Hello!” said the little girl, “What are you doing here? Is someone _______ house?”

“I’m going to the rubbish tip,” said Darla sadly.

“Oh!” said the girl, “Perhaps no one will mind then, if I sit on you?”

The girl sat on the sofa. She laughed and sang some songs to Darla.

Soon a boy came past. He stopped _______ he saw the girl and Darla.

“You can _______ on it too!” said the girl.

The boy came to sit on the sofa too.

Later some birds and a family of ants arrived. It was nice to sit on a sofa in the garden, _______ they stayed.

Mr. Barry came out of his house. “Why are you all on my sofa?” he asked.

The girl and the boy, the birds and family of ants, all looked up at Mr. Barry.

Then Mr. Barry laughed, “Is there room on that sofa for _______?”

Darla was now an outdoors sofa, and with so ________ new friends, trees and the sun, she was the happiest she’d ever been.

In the year 2099, every child on Earth had his or her own spacecraft. Of course, they were small and couldn’t travel out of the solar system. This was fine for everyone except Stanley. He was curious and looking forward to _______ around the whole universe, so he worked on his spacecraft _______ it could go anywhere!

His friends, George and Amanda, were not _______ about Stanley’s super spacecraft.

“Who wants _______ the universe?” George asked. “Our solar system is _______.”

“That’s true,” agreed Amanda. “Yesterday I went shopping on Mars and then flew around some asteroids for fun. I even chased a comet.”

“Just get into my spacecraft,” said Stanley. “Today I will take you on _______ amazing journey.”

When they got into the spacecraft, Stanley _______ everything. Soon the three friends were going to fly past the moon.

“Now, watch this,” said Stanley. A red button _______ and the spacecraft went fast.

Whoosh! George and Amanda grabbed their seats _______ and looked out the window. The sun was just a speck of light round it were _______ stars in the shape of a disk.

“That’s our Milky Way galaxy,” said Stanley pressed a blue button.

Whooooosh! The spacecraft flew much _______ into space. Suddenly, they saw many tiny galaxies all around them.

“Welcome to the universe,” said Stanley.

Amanda gasped. “I will remember this day forever. Thank you, Stanley. It is kind _______ you to offer us the trip.”

“It’s amazing, Stanley. Thank you,” George said. “Can the spacecraft _______ at the moon _______ I’d like to have a pizza on our way back? I’m really _______.”

“Of course!” said Stanley. His super spacecraft raced back to the moon.

10 . Puff and Pip lived in a burrow (地洞). They were both pleased with _______ home.

One morning, a deer passed by and asked them, “ _______ can you live in this dry, dusty place? You should go out and find a better home.” _______ his words, their home didn’t look as good as it was before. They started to notice all the bad things about it, _______ the two friends set off for something better.

Soon, they came to a lush (茂盛的) field. “This is a better home,” said Pip. “Look at all that grass!” As they walked into _______ field, they heard a strange sound. A big machine _______ in their direction. “This is not a better home!” Pip shouted. They rushed out of the field.

They continued their search. Next a sandy hill _______. “This is a better home,” Pip said. “Digging is easy for us.” Then they heard _______ strange sound. A giant sand hill crane flew down on them _______ the sky. “This is not a better home!” Pip shouted. As the crane flew off, the two left there __________.

Next they came to a watering hole. “This is a better home,” Pip said. “Much __________ to water and food!” Puff’s eyes grew wide. “Yes!” As the friends took a drink of water, they saw some cattle __________ straight for them. “This is not a better home!”

Pip shouted. “It’s hard __________ a better home,” Pip said. “Why did we ever leave the one we __________?”

“Maybe ours is good enough,” Pip said, “but we __________ take an adventure walk now and then,” he added. “Just to see the world a bit.” Puff nodded.