1 . I have invented robots which improve the work of cars. My love of making things began ______ I was a kid. I really became excited about inventing after I learned about Thomas Edison.

One day in fourth grade, we ______ a project by our teacher in class. We had to write ______ a company and learn about the products. I thought and thought. Finally, I chose the Thomas A. Edison Company. Soon after, ______ company sent me a book about the life of Thomas Edison. How I enjoyed reading and re-reading about his inventions! I like the recorded sound and the electric light most. The inventions were ______ printed on my brain.

My dad noticed my interest in inventing and encouraged me. He showed me ______ I could turn my ideas into plans and then into new things. Once, I surprised my dad with a model plane I made. Later, we found a similar model plane in a store. I learned that different inventors often invent similar things. It is not unusual for this to happen. I also learned that not ______ great ideas work. Failure is a common part of the inventing.

As my father and I worked together, I ______ to realize that my dad was quite an inventor himself. He was always looking for a better way ______ a simple job. His guiding hands, together with my interest in inventing, ______ me to become an engineer and inventor. Of course, I also thank Thomas Edison. He is my hero.

2 . Every day on my birthday since I was 11, I received a white gardenia（栀子花）. I didn’t know who sent the flower to me, even no card came with ________. Calls to the flower shop were not helpful at all. After some time, I stopped trying to find out the ________ name and was just pleased with the beautiful flower in soft pink paper.

I couldn’t stop imagine who the giver might be. Some of my ________ moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My mother encouraged these daydreams. She’d ask me ________ I had been especially kind to someone. Perhaps it was one of my classmates, or ________ old man who I once helped. As a girl, I felt happier when I imagined that it ________ be a boy I met.          

A month before my high school graduation, my father died. I was ________ sad that I became completely uninterested in my coming graduation dance. And I didn’t care whether I had a new dress or not. Though my mother was also very sad, she tried her best to deal ________ the problems for us. She wanted her children to feel loved, to be much like the gardenia: lovely, strong and perfect. And the flower ________ to me as usual on my birthday.

My mom ________ ten years after I was married. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming. I realized it was mom who sent the flower to me.

3 . I am a boy in South Korea. My English name is Tony. A month ago, a robot (机器人) named Mike ________ my new teacher.

Mike teaches us English. It looks like ________ human. It can move around our classroom when it reads books and talks ________ us. However, Mike’s voice is not its own. It needs an English teacher to make it work. ________ the help of a special camera in the body of Mike, the English teacher can see us. Mike also has different ways of teaching so that we can learn ________ .

Our robot teacher doesn’t need to have a rest ________ it never feels tired or gets ill. Also, it never gets angry with us. It is so interesting that everyone in my class likes Mike.

Now most students in our class like spending more time ________ English. And most of us get ________ grades than before. I hope there will be ________ robot teachers in our school one day. Then our teachers can do ________ work at home!

4 . The back door of the ambulance(救护车) was suddenly shut. The driver ran to the front, jumped into his seat and _______ the engine. Inside were the worried parents, Mr. and Mrs. Green. The mother was holding _______ baby daughter, Ellen. The little girl had some food stuck in her throat and _______ hardly breathe.

The driver, Mr White, turned _______ his siren(警笛) and flashing light, and started speeding towards the _______ hospital. The cars ahead of him pulled out of the way as he drove through the busy traffic. From the back of the ambulance, the parents were shouting at him to hurry since Ellen had almost stopped breathing. Mr. White knew he had no time _______ so he drove straight past the traffic lights.

Coming towards him from his right was a taxi. The driver who was listening to his radio didn’t hear the ambulance. The lights were green, and he drove straight on into the path of the ambulance.

Mr. White tried to stop his ambulance, but it was too late. It hit _______ taxi. Everyone was shaken, _______ no one was hurt. Mr. White looked back to see _______ little Ellen was.

“Look!” cried Mrs. Green. “She is breathing again!”

“It must be the crash,” said her husband ________. “It knocked the food out of her throat. The accident turned out to be a blessing.”

5 . The same as Chinese schools, American schools begin ________ September after a long summer holiday. ________ two terms in a school year. The first one is from September to January and the ________ is from February to June. Most American children begin to go to school when they are five years old. They usually ________ twelve years in primary school (小学) and middle school. Most students are seventeen years old when they ________ middle school.

Middle school students take four ________ five subjects each term, such as math, science and so on. They are helpful and ________. The students go to classes happily every day. Their homework is always a book report. To finish homework, ________ need to go to the library a lot. They ________ have many activities after school. Some are about sports, like ________ and ball games. Some are about art, like singing, dancing and drawing. Students have a lot of fun from these activities.

With a history of more than 1,800 years, dumplings are a traditional Chinese food. They are _________ a must for Chinese New Year. They are popular in China, especially in North China. Even some foreigners are interested in _________ them.

Chinese dumplings can be made to look _________ ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots（银锭）. It’s said that the more dumplings you eat during Chinese New Year, _________ money you can make in the coming year.

People usually put minced meat（绞碎的肉）and vegetables in thin round dough skins（面皮）to make dumplings. Popular fillings are minced pork, fish, chicken, beef, and vegetables. People cook _________ in different ways.

Some people believe _________ people shouldn’t eat sauerkraut（酸泡菜）dumplings during Chinese New Year. Because it means _________ poor and difficult future. People like eating Chinese cabbage dumplings, _________ “白菜” sounds like “百财”. It means one _________ a lot of fortune in the future.

When making dumplings, there should __________ a good number of pleats（褶）so that they will bring wealth. Sometimes a coin is put in a dumpling, and the one who eats it is supposed to become wealthy.

7 . Long long ago in a village, a farmer owned land near the sea. He always wanted workers ___________ him, but most people did not want to work on farms near the sea. They were afraid of the terrible storms that often hit and destroyed（摧毁）buildings and plants.

Finally, a short man came to the farmer. “Are you ___________ good worker?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although surprised by this answer, the farmer gave him the job ___________ he really needed help. The little man worked very _________ on the farm, and the farmer felt pleased with his work.

Then one night the wind blew loudly in from the sea. Jumping out of bed, the farmer ___________ to the short man’s room. The farmer shouted, “Get up! A storm is coming! ___________ things down before they are blown away!” But the little man ___________in bed lazily and said,” No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”

When hearing the words, the farmer hurried outside to prepare for the storm on his own. ___________ his surprise, he found that ___________ was tied down and nothing could be blown away. The farmer then understood ____________ the short man meant, so he returned to his bed to sleep while the wind blew.

When you’re prepared, you have nothing to worry about. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?

8 . I had a two-day vacation with my family. The first day was interesting. I arrived _______ Penang in Malaysia in the morning. It was sunny and hot, so we decided _______ to the beach near our hotel. My sister and I tried paragliding. I felt so _______. For lunch, we had _______ —Malaysian yellow noodles. They were delicious! In the afternoon, we _______ bicycles to Georgetown. A lot of old buildings are still there. I really enjoyed _______ around the town.

The next day, we wanted to walk up to the top of Penang Hill. We had to take the train to the top because it started raining. We waited over an hour for the train because it started raining. We waited over an hour for the train because there _______ too many people. When we got to the top, it was raining really hard. We didn’t have an umbrella so we were wet and cold. _______ the weather was bad, we couldn’t see _______ below. My father didn’t bring enough money, so we only had one bowl of rice and some fish.

What ________ terrible day!

10 . I used to be a shy girl. But this term, I decided to do a brave thing.

When our teacher asked ________ would like to be the physics monitor, I put up my hand and got the role. But it was not as easy as I thought.

At ________ beginning, when I checked the homework list, I found that many students ________ in their homework. I was a little worried. I felt the job for me at that time was to push these students. And I spoke ________ loudly that my face turned red. It made my classmates angry, too. One girl asked, “Why are you shouting ________ me? You’re making it seem like my fault.” Then I suddenly realized it was actually ________ fault. I should talk to my classmates in a kind way and not get so angry.

After this, I changed the way of ________. “Excuse me. Could you please hand in your homework?” I said. To my surprise, many students understood me much ________ and finished their homework quickly.

I found the best way to communicate, ________ it helped me solve problems. Now, I am getting along well with all my classmates. I also realized that a good monitor ________ be responsible and patient. I really cherish（珍惜）this experience. It makes me grow up like a young tree day by day.