1 . Relaxing under a sun umbrella, I felt comfortable. My friend Chickie went for a swim.

The ocean was as smooth as glass. I thought,“I can float (漂浮) on my back as if I were in a swimming pool.” Then I ______ it. I closed my eyes and ______ the gentle rocking under me.

I floated peacefully until the water under me rolled and splashed (溅起) over my face. I opened my eyes and ______ around. How did I get so far from the ______? I hadn’t realized how ______ the sea was carrying me.

I ______ swimming as quick and hard as I could. I cried for help, but I was completely ______ in the water. Far off on the beach I could see people ______ their umbrellas. I thought, “It must be the time for lifeguards to leave work. I’m going to ______ here and nobody even sees me!”

Two young men suddenly came near me. One of them ______ my arm. The other held his arm. ______ they pulled me toward the beach.

“You were caught in a riptide (激流),” one man said.

“Thank you so much for ______ me,” I said.

Slowly I got up to walk back to my ______. Chickie had come back. I looked back at my ______ and found they had simply disappeared. Then I sat down with my friend to tell her about my ______.

2 .

A Bite of China is a very popular TV program. It shows the relationship between_________and people in Chinese culture. To our joy, it returned for its third season on CCTV on Feb 19th during the Spring Festival. In fact, its first season and the second were very wonderful. When A Bite of China I was on TV, it_________attracted a number of audiences.

A Bite of China III has already broadcast (播放) eight episodes(集). Every episode has a different topic. The producer and director of the third season is Liu Hongyan. She invited a Dutch photographer, Banito Strangio, to_________her team. She said that the foreign designers from different countries have_________cultural traditions. _________we can find different ways are used in the program to show the traditional Chinese diet culture.

Many experts do think of this program as an/a_________food program. It is because it shows the_________of Chinese food. A Bite of China makes Chinese people memorize their cooking traditions. Most of the traditions have been forgotten in today’s_________life. So the program has more educational_________.

Chinese eating habits__________traditional Chinese culture. A Bite of China III continue to show the beauty of the Chinese diet and the real meaning of Chinese culture.

3 . Sam Geezer is a retired (退休的) doctor and has decided to open a medical clinic (诊所). He_________a sign outside that said: “Dr Geezer’s Clinic. Get your treatment for 500 dollars. If you are not cured, you will receive a refund (退款) of 1,000 dollars.”

One day, Thomas passed_________the clinic and saw the sign. He thought this would be a great_________for him to make some money. So he went to Dr Geezer’s clinic.

Thomas said, “I have lost the sense of_________in my mouth. Can you please help me?” Dr Geezer said, “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in_________mouth.”

After _________the drops, Thomas shouted: “Agh, that is gasoline(汽油)!”

Dr Geezer said, “Congratulations! You’ve got your sense of taste back. That will be 500 dollars.”

Thomas left the clinic_________. But he went back after a couple of days to try to get his money back. Thomas said: “I have lost my memory. I cannot_________anything.

Dr Geezer said, “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”

Thomas said: “Oh no, you don’t ... That is gasoline.”

Dr Geezer said: “Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back. That will be 500 dollars.”

Thomas had lost 1,000 yuan. He left angrily and came back after several more days.Thomas said: My eyesight has become weak. I can _________ see anything!

Dr Geezer said, “Well, I don’t have any medicine for that, so here’s your 1,000 dollars back!” He then gave Thomas 10 dollars.

Thomas said, “But this is only 10 dollars!”

Dr Geezer said: “Congratulations !You got your____________ back! That will be 500 dollars.”

4 . It was snowing in the midwinter, in a rural highway outside of town. Pepper and Cooper, a pair of beagles (小猎犬) walked with great difficulty through the ________ night. Cooper, a father-to-be ________ the roadside for a spot, where his struggling companion might rest safely. Her way was made ________ by the new life growing inside her. They needed a ________, dry place safe from the bitter wind.

That December night, Gus Kiebel was driving home from work when he ________ the pair in the flash of his headlights. Feeling curious and ________, he parked his truck and ________ the animals. Gus ________ down and stretched out his hands to the beagles, which made no effort to ________. He ________ the dogs on the passenger seat of his truck. Then he ________ his phone and called the number from the dogs’ tags. A man answered and immediately grew ________ and impatient when Gus told him why he was calling. ________, the man declined to ________ the dog. These beagles were ________, no home at all in this world. Then he called his wife Katie. “You can’t put them back in the ________,” she said. “Bring them home.”

Without enough ________ for two more dogs in their small house, the next day, Katie took them to a shelter nearby. In the days following, Katie phoned the shelter ________ to check up on Pepper and Cooper. Soon after Christmas, the beagles were ________ - as a pair, by a loving family. This touching story speaks to the best of our nature. And when kindness and love overcome ________ and neglect (忽视), it can feel like the greatest miracle of all.

5 . Every year when Thanksgiving comes around, I remember a bit of wisdom handed to me. Having some ______ in my life, I took them to a friend. “Why is it, “I ________, “that I can’t seem to deal with these problems?” “It’s ________ you aren’t grateful enough.” I was ________ and asked, “What are you talking about?” “I’m talking”, he said, “about a ________ of living that you will discover someday. Be grateful to the others, and your life will grow ________.”

Half a century of observing life has left me ________ that what my friend said is true. Over and over again that I have seen the attitude of ________ brings about changes in people’s lives. I once knew a man — William Stidger — who ________ from an emotional breakdown. For months he was depressed, ________ to work. No doctors seemed to be able to help him, but a friend ________ him to try what he called the therapy (疗法) of ________. “Many people have helped you in your life,” the friend said. “Pick any one of them — I dare you — and ________ thank him.” He recalled a ________ who had got him interested in poetry. He wrote a note, telling her what that ________ had meant to him. Soon a reply came back. “When I read your letter,” it said, “my eyes were ________ by tears. Yours is the first letter of thanks I ever ________ from one of my students. I shall treasure it always.”

William Stidger ________ writing notes of appreciation to others, until he had written over 500 such letters. By then, fully ________, he was back at work. Whenever he fell depressed, he would reread them and let the therapy of thankfulness do its work. Anyone who is grateful is focusing on what is good, and all good things come back ________.

6 . It was January, the first day of the year. I decided to get the bank work out of the _________. The bank clerk, an elderly gentleman, was _________ curt(简短而失礼的) to my polite “Happy New Year” _________. He nodded and I sat in front of him. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Then very _________ I put my form in front of him. He was busy _________ entries in his register. I sat there wondering why we had _________banking if we were still filling in registers. While waiting I showed all _________ of being impatient, I asked him _________ my work was done. The moment I uttered the words, he shouted, “Nothing is done, it will take time!”

Just then I saw his morning tea lying there, _________. It had turned almost cold. Suddenly I sensed how he feels when customers come who are __________ hurried to get their work done and __________ him for doing their work first. We don’t even feel the __________ to thank him. Then I told him, “Sir, please have your tea, I am not hurried.” This man suddenly __________ me and for the first time we had eye contact.

I realized he was also missing the __________ things in life just like a hot cup of tea. He gave me a rare smile and said, "It is an everyday __________ with me." His wise words really __________ me. I felt that we all had put shields (盾牌) on our __________, and that we were scared to show our hearts and __________ too much of ourselves. From then on, I __________ to be more friendly to others and be __________ that they are there for me.

7 . How can you think in English? I think the best way is to practice as what a football player does every day. During the _______ the football player will pass the ball to his teammates over and over again. So he won’t have to _______ passing the ball in the game, he will just do it.

You can _______ yourself to think in English this way. The first step is to think of the words that you use daily, simple everyday words _______book or shoe or tree. For example, whenever you _______ a book you should think of it in English instead of in your mother language.

After you have learned to think of several words in English, then move on to the next step-thinking in _______. Listening and repeating is a very useful _______ to learn a language. Listen first and don’t care too much about _______ you fully understand what you’re hearing. Try to repeat what you hear. The more you listen, the _______ you learn. After you reach a higher level, _______having conversations with yourself in English. This will lead you to think in English.

8 . Lilies (百合) filled my sister Betty’s hospital room. They were her favourites: She knew she wasn’t____________for this world, so her mood was bad, appearing to be ____________. But whether she looked at the lively, bright lilies,____________would wash over her and she would become calm for a moment.

On the last day of her life. I bought all the ____________I could find in the market and ____________ her room with them. She closed her eyes ____________. I knew it was all because of lilies. Several months after her ____________, I was still sad. That fall, my husband Jim bought me some lilies. He hoped that Betty’s favorites could ____________me as it did to her.

The lilies brought me anything ____________peace unfortunately. They only made me ____________Betty in the hospital —the flowers withered easily by time, and how____________were to my sister, who got weaker day by day.

“Why don’t we ____________some lilies outside?” Jim suggested. “If they ____________the cold weather you might feel differently about them in spring.” ____________here is extremely cold. How could weak lilies survive it? ____________, Jim planted some lilies. I didn’t have any ____________on them so I paid no attention.

In spring I was surprised: a green appeared out of all the lilies Jim planted. “Probably it is a weed,” I ____________. But as the plant ____________with more leaves. I knew I was wrong. This strong, brave plant was a lily.

Betty had ____________during the last days of her life, but she would be strong again in Heaven. And she was telling me this by ____________her favourite flower to live through the cold winter successfully. I became peaceful, as I knew my sister was well in Heaven.

9 . Old Brown lives in a city. He has three _______, but they’re all busy. When they are at work, he stays at home _______. Sometimes he does some reading, or waters the flowers in the garden. He goes out for a _______ when it is fine. He has a few friends and they often communicate with each other about something in the park.

It rained and it was wet everywhere. The old man _______ stay at home all the time. He couldn’t talk with anybody. When it stopped this morning, he went to the park, _______ he couldn’t see any friends. He walked near the _______ and watched the ducks swimming in it. At four in the afternoon, he felt a little _______ and hoped to have a rest. He found a chair under a big tree and sat down.

About half an hour later, a beautiful girl in red sat down on _______ chair. The old man had a look at her and found she was saying something. But he couldn’t _______her. So he shouted at her, “It is no use talking to me ________ over there. I am a deaf.”

“I am not talking to you,” the girl shouted back. “I’m chewing bubblegum.(口香糖)”

I feel betrayed by my friend Hannah. We have been best friends _________ primary school and spend almost every day with each other. On Monday, we had a surprise math quiz. I thought it was quite_________ and was not worried about the results. The next day after class, my math teacher told me that I had the lowest grade in the class! I felt so ashamed. I _________Hannah not to tell anyone else, and she said she would_________my secret. _________, the next day, I noticed that my classmates were _________at me as I came into math class and, when I went to sit down, I was shocked to find a piece of paper on my desk that said, “Stupid Sarah got a D!” I thought that Hannah _________ have told my classmates about my grade after promising not to. I was so angry that I went _________to Hannah and told her we weren’t going to be friends any more. She was really upset and swore that she hadn’t told _________ , but I didn’t believe her explanation. I don’t think I can ever truly forgive her. Now I have __________ my best friend. What shall I do?

Yours sincerely,

Sarah