How are you? I am sorry I haven’t written for a while since I have been very busy     1    (train) for the local table tennis tournament. In your last letter you asked me to tell you something about table tennis.

Table tennis，also     2    (call) ping—pong，is played all around the world and is an Olympic sport. It is played on a table     3     is 2.74 metres by 1.525 metres and stands 76 centimeters from the ground. The net goes across the centre of the table and is 15.25 centimeters high. It is very similar to playing tennis on a court.

The exact origin of table tennis is not known.     4     we do know is that it began in England in the 1890s. Many people played tennis     5     it did not require players to go outdoors. The game was popular     6     foreign visitors too, and soon it     7    (spread) to much of Europe and Asia.

Many players believe table tennis is not only a physical game but a psychological game     8     well. A frequent technique used by many players is to stare at the people they are playing against to make them feel uncomfortable. Today，players from China，South Korea and Germany among others play leading roles in     9    (internation) table tennis competitions.

I hope this information will be of     10    (use) to you. Good luck with your sport.

Yours,

Lu Fang.

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the     1     (good) picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures, and he     2     (interest) in two of them. But he could only choose one.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful towering     3     (mountain) were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky     4     white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged and bare. Above     5    (be) an angry sky from     6     rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look     7     (peace) at all. But when the king looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on his nest…perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

The king chose     8     second picture, explained the king, “Because peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in     9     (you) heart. That is     10     peace really means.”

Howard Carter is     1     of the most famous explorers the world has ever known, He was brave and loved to visit and     2    (explore) new places. During his life, he discovered many amazing things.

Howard Carter didn’t go to school,    3     learnt to draw from his father,    4     was an artist. He was bright and curious     5     the world outside his home town. In 1891. At the age of 17,he set sail for Alexandria, Egypt. By the 1920s ,he had become an explorer,     6    (search) for the tombs of the Egyptian kings. He found several important ones. Inside the tombs, he discovered a great fortune in jewels and gold, along with the     7    (preserve) bodies of dead kings. These preserved bodies are known as mummies.

In 1922, Howard Carter made his most amazing     8    (discover) of all, in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. He had received money from Lord Carnarvon, a British man who was very interested in Egypt. Carter’ team was working at a place near a city called Luxor. There, they found the tomb of King Tutankhamen. It was the most important tomb that had ever been found. “The tomb contained more treasure     9     any of us had ever seen before, as well as the mummy of the King”, said Carter. “After we looked into the tomb, we closed it and hid     10     entrance. We wanted to study the tomb later when we had more time. Afterwards, all of its contents would go into a museum.”

Good afternoon, students and teachers. As a member of the International Olympic Committee, I am     1    (delight) to have been invited to your school to talk to you about the history and     2    (significant) of the Olympic Games. I’ll share some     3    (interest) facts and stories with you, and then we’ll have time for questions?

Do you know when the ancient Olympic Games began? It was in the year 776 BC. They     4    (hold) at Olympia in Greece every four years, for almost 12     5    (century), until AD 394.

Some of the sports from the ancient Olympics are still seen today, such as the long jump, wresting and running. At the ancient Olympics by tradition the athletes were all men and they had to compete     6    (wear) no clothes. Single women were allowed to take part in their own competition, at a separate festival in honour of Hera, the wife of the Greek god Zeus. Today, both male and female athletes from around the world can take part, no matter what nation they come     7    .

The contemporary Olympics were first held in 1896, in Athens. It was a Frenchman, Pierre de coubortin,    8     brought the Olympics back to life. He dreamed that the Olympics would make     9     possible for people of all countries to live side by side in peace. Now people all over the world are helping to realize this dream. Among them are many well-known athletes.

Did you know that perhaps the most famous boxer of all time first came to public attention during the 1960 Rome Olympics? He won the gold medal for the USA, under his birth name Cassius Clay. Afterwards, this young man went on to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship in 1964 and later changed his name to     10     one we all know, Muhammad Ali. He returned to the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.

Raised by a single, immigrant mother, Christina Williams and her two brothers didn’t grow up with much. So one day when the family was listening     1     the radio and heard about a call-in competition, Christina decided this was her chance to get something     2     (much).

The third-grader called in and after     3     (answer) a few small questions, won the $50 prize. “It wasn’t much, but to me, it was everything because it showed me there     4     (be) bigger things and chances out there,” she said.

Her mother helped her put     5     money in her very own bank account (账户),     6     made her be able to deal with her finance (财务)     7    (free). Now, as an adult, she doesn’t have to worry about money but she’s never forgotten that small win as a child.   

“It inspired me to start my present project     8     (name) Back Getters, a company that helps others ‘have each other’s backs’, ” she explained. “I hope that people will    9     (encourage) to make kindness, sympathy, and compassion the first things in every communication they have because every single one of us is so     10     (power) and our actions, big or small, can have a huge effect — just like that $50 I won from the radio station.”

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us have dreamed of     1     (be) rich and famous. Most       2     (music) form a band because of the same interest       3     writing and playing music. They may play anywhere     4     (earn) some extra money as well as fulfill their dreams. However, the Monkees,     5     started differently, began as a TV show with musicians     6     (play) jokes and music in the programme. Only after a year or so did they become more serious and they produced     7     (they)own records and later became even     8     (popular) than the Beetles in the USA. The band once     9     (break) up and reunited. In memory of their former time as a real band, they produced     10     new record in 1996.