2 . A 29-year-old woman Chelsea Haley of Marietta, Georgia, who adopted (收养) a former student and his brother, is now celebrating being completely debt-free. She has paid off a total of $ 48,683.41 — the amount she owed in credit cards and student loans with interest. “It doesn’t feel real yet,” Haley, mom of Jerome, 17, and Jace, 6, told the press.

Haley was teaching in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2015, on a two-year commitment to Teach for America, which is an organization that finds recent college graduates to work in low-income schools. Her son, Jerome, was in her 4th-grade class at the time.

When Haley saw Jerome having difficulty in progressing academically, she started spending time with him — going to his football games, buying him school supplies and more. Soon, Haley adopted Jerome together with his brother. “Being their mom is the greatest blessing of my life,” Haley said.

Haley went to all the expense of adopting the two boys. She also borrowed money to afford taking care of them, which increased the difficulty for her to pay their student loans. Determined to rid herself of debt, Haley took on part-time jobs. On top of being a teacher, she was teaching an individual student or a small group in her spare time a couple of days a week. On Fridays, she was paid extra to stay late at the school and work as the building manager. Haley also delivered (送) groceries. She sold her home and moved back to live with her parents on Nov. 6. Her goal is to save money for a new house and prepare Jerome for college. Both boys are doing well in school.

“It allows me to focus on the boys’ future,’’ Haley said. “Earning and saving money for them, and not spending money saved in the past.”

Her advice for making a determined effort to free us of debt is never to ignore your spending and stick to a plan.

4 . Tomatoes were first planted in 700 AD by Aztecs and Incas. Explorers returning from Mexico introduced the tomato into Europe, where it was first mentioned in 1556. The French called it “the apple of love”，the Germans “the apple of paradise(乐园）”.

Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C and fiber，and are cholesterol(胆固醇）free. An average size tomato (148 grams or so) has only 35 calories. Furthermore, new medical research suggests that the consumption of lycopene(番茄红素) ，the stuff that makes tomatoes red，may prevent cancer. Besides, the fruit now appears to have two more health giving benefits. Protection against sunburn and helping keep the skin looking youthful are the latest pluses, a study has found.

Professor Mark Birch-Machin said tomatoes could provide a cheap and easy way of improving health. Researchers at Manchester and Newcastle universities recommend two tomato-based meals a day for health. Possible menus include a glass of tomato juice with breakfast and a salad later or tomato soup for lunch and pasta(意大利面）with a tomato sauce for dinner.

To test the fruit’s ability to protect the skin，ten volunteers were asked to eat five tablespoons of tomato paste mixed with olive oil every day for three months. Another ten had a daily dose of olive oil - minus the tomato paste. The tests showed the tomato-eaters were a third better protected against sunburn at the end of the study than at the start, the British Society for Investigative Dermatology’s annual conference heard.

The researchers stressed, however, that their findings were not an excuse to throw away the sun cream. Professor Lesley Rhodes, a Manchester University dermatologist, said: “People should not think tomatoes in any way can replace sun creams but they may be a good additive.”

In December 2018, a bunch of friends and I went to Europe to travel. Upon arrival in Vienna, we got the keys to the house from its owner. The     1     (decorate) of the house was quite good.

In Vienna, if anyone wants to copy a key, he or she is expected     2     (prove) their ownership of the property (房产) the key is for. It’s also really expensive. An ordinary key usually costs 150 euros (1.170 yuan). As the person in charge of the keys, I had a great responsibility.

    3     next day, we went everywhere, including the Sisi Museum and a coffee shop in the city center,     4     had dinner in a fancy restaurant. We felt quite relaxed. While we     5     (enjoy) dinner, my friends came up to me, asking for the keys so they could leave early. It was then that I realized that I’d lost them.

The host asked us to give him 300 euros to cover the cost of a new set of keys. We made a complaint about it but we had to pay the money. So, hoping to get our money back, we decided to do some detective work     6     our own.

I wrote an email to the Sisi Museum in the middle of the night, wondering whether the staff had found them. Early in the morning, I received their reply, saying that they had not.

    7     (fortunate) in the end, the keys were found in a souvenir shop. The host even said congratulations to us.

Though we saw many great     8     (sight) in Europe, the most     9     (value) thing about my trip was this lesson I learned: Never lose your keys in Vienna. Your keys ought to     10     (take) good care of.

10 . I live in a town near Prague(布拉格), the capital of the Czech Republic. Besides cars, bikes are the most important _________ of transportation(运输). As it _________ you to go almost anywhere you want, cycling is a big _________ for Czech people. On weekends, you can see cyclists _________ through the towns wearing helmets (头盔) and cycling clothes.

Some people _________ that living in a town is inconvenient (不便利的), including me. _________, I find life in towns much more _________ than that in big cities after living here for a while. I was _________ given a bicycle by my host family. _________ it is only an ordinary bike, I was still __________ and couldn’t wait to take a cycling trip alone.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, I took my first cycling trip to a village nearby. I cycled for a while, alongside a river. But then, something happened: One of my tires __________. There was no choice but to __________ my bike back home, which took an hour.

I didn’t give up though: One week later, I __________ again. This time, however, there was__________ wrong with my tires. It was a very beautiful town, with a typical Czech castle and a park full of peacocks. People were taking part in a marathon that day. There were also stands selling __________ Czech foods and drinks, such as potato pancakes and beer.

It was already sunset when I __________ to head home, and I saw almost no one on the way back. As the warm breeze softly stroked (轻抚) my face. I felt very __________ and happy.

I believe many of us need a(n) __________ like this to take a break from our __________ life sometimes. So, I really do encourage all of you to take a cycling trip alone, even just to a nearby village. Just look around you, and you’re sure to __________ some hidden beauty.