Macquarie Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The green grass and bare rock contrast     1    (dramatical),     2    (give) it a wild and natural beauty. The island’s recent history     3    (tell) a tragic story. In 1810     4     humans arrived on the island, they brought rats and     5    (mouse),     6     ate birds’ eggs and attacked baby birds. Later, cats and rabbits     7    (introduce) to the island, making parakeets die out. Experts felt it necessary     8    (remove) the rabbits, but cats had to eat birds. In the 1980s, traps and dogs were used to catch the cats.     9     the disappearance of cats, the mice, rats and rabbits started to increase, which led to a serious result. It was clear that the problem needed     10    (solve). People are taking some steps to give the island a happy ending.

The best way    1     (understand) Western art is to look at the development of Western painting over the centuries.

During the Middle Ages, Western art     2     (aim) at teaching people about Christianity. In the 13th century, artists began to show real people in a real environment, like Giotto di Bondone.     3     particular, his paintings are set apart from other paintings by their     4     (realize) human faces and deep emotional impact.

New ideas and values     5     (gradual) took the place of old ones from the Middle Ages. They adopted a more humanistic attitude to life.     6     important breakthrough during this period was the use of perspective by Masaccio, another innovation was the     7     (use) of oil paints. This technique reached its height with Rembrandt,     8     gained a reputation as a master of shadow and light.

The development of Western art slowed until photography was invented in the mid-19th century. Then, paintings were no longer needed     9    (preserve) what people and the world looked like. From this, Impressionism emerged in France.

Subsequent     10     (art) began to ask, “What do we do next?” They didn’t attempt to show reality, but instead to ask the question, “What is art?”

I had been    1     (dream) of taking an expedition to the Antarctic. At the age of 19, I saw an advertisement about the Antarctic expedition and     2     (apply) to join it immediately, but I was turned     3     by the captain—Sir Ernest Shackleton. I managed to hide in a small cupboard and aboard the ship     4    (secret).

The journey was very hard and about one year later, one of the five    5    (ship), Endurance, got crushed by the ice. We had to throw away all our belongings except some basic necessities. But a banjo was kept,     6     helped us keep up spirits.

While we stayed on Elephant Island, things became worse     7     worse. Soon Shackleton left us to find help on a distant island. The voyage was too     8    (danger) and difficult for all of us to make it in our small boats. Some people became     9    (patient) and bad-tempered, but Frank Wild remained optimistic all the time. He hunted penguins and sometimes seals for us     10    (eat). Without Frank and Ernest, we’d all be dead by now. Their genuine concern for others, their perseverance, and their resolve filled us with hope.

People write poetry for various reasons. Some poems tell a story     1     describe something in a way     2     will give the reader a strong impression.     3    (other) try to convey certain emotion. Poets try to express    4    (them) in many different forms of poetry. Nursery rhymes, which    5    (have) strong rhythm and much repetition, are a type of children’s poetry. List poems repeat phrases and some rhyme and some students can     6    (easy) write themselves. The cinquain, another simple form of poem,     7    (make) up of five lines. Haiku,    8     Japanese form of poetry, is not a     9    (tradition) form of English poetry, but it is very popular with English writers. English speakers have also shown their great    10    (interesting) in Chinese, like Tang poems, many of which have been translated into English.

The exhibition“From Shang to Qing:   Chinese Art Through the Ages”    1    (hold) by the Richfield Museum of Fine Art. It aims     2    (display) the Chinese artistic genius from ancient times. The highlight of this exhibition is the painting Clearing After Snow on a Mountain Pass,     3     was created by Tang Yin.     4     (being) 500 years old, the painting looks as fresh as the day it was created. Also     5     (include)in the exhibition are some bronze objects from the Shang Dynasty and many fine examples of Tang Dynasty     6     (sculpture). With trade     7     (boom) and Buddhism expanding, works influenced by Buddhism are     8     exceptional beauty and quality. The exhibition     9     (run) until November 25. The opening hours are from 9: 00 a. m. to 5: 00 p. m.   from Tuesday to Sunday. No photos     10    (allow) in the museum.