1 . One day, I was eating an apple when suddenly, I felt an apple seed in my mouth. I wanted to throw it away. But_________, I looked at the apple seed -really looked. It was dark brown, almost black. Its shape_________me of a candle flame. A little dark brown candle flame...

I realized I was_________an apple tree in my hand-a little seed with the_________to become a beautiful tree and_________thousands of fruits and seeds, each able to grow a new tree again._________then, wasn't the world filled with apple trees?

It is a（n）_________of nature that only a few of these seeds grow. Most_________do or are destroyed early on in their growth. I put the apple seed on the table and bent down to_________how the light was reflected from it, this tiny wonder of nature. I wondered, how many seeds would a farmer have to____________for one seed to grow into a tree? How much____________would it require?

Then it occurred to me that it's quite often so with people's____________. Wonderful ideas come to our minds but they____________too soon. We don't protect them as we should. And then one day we____________why our dreams never come true. The seeds of our dreams could never____________on their own. Like the planting of an apple tree, it might take many____________-such as the application sent a hundred times for that one good job,____________the many people you meet in life before a true friend can be____________.

I picked up the apple seed again -but instead of____________it away 1 took an empty flower pot, poured some earth into it and____________the seed. I thought that maybe one day it would grow into a proud tree, and I would never know if I didn't try.

2 . You just can’t imagine what a brave mother is like. She was a mother of three, who just __an earthquake, couldn’t tell if her children were_________for help. Or what if you knew you couldn’t yell at her for help because she couldn’t________ you? That was what happened to Connie and her three children when the 6.1-magnitude_____   rocked Napa, California. Connie is________and communicates with her children using________.

At midnight, Connie and her three children were_________on the first floor of their two-story home. She and her 16-year-old son, Juan, were________ awake. Instantly, they realized there were no disaster supplies_________. Connie, also_________one-month-old Raul and 8-year-old Adriana, called Juan to come close to her in the darkness and_____ for him to go upstairs to get a____________.

Juan slowly________ the stairs. He heard a loud creak (嘎吱声). Arriving on the top floor, he moved quickly but________ to get what he needed. Using the flashlight to guide his________back down the stairs, the family was able to take a few________from the first floor and________. Their home was almost in ruins.

Being deaf was not deterrent (妨碍物) for this____ mother. The family made it to the ___ safely, which _______everyone.

3.

A．see

B．hear

C．forgive

D．reach

3 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second___________. He learned the value and beauty of _________ there from a very young age.

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something _________ happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the _________ it caused had driven away a number of birds. _________, the number of snakes had declined as well. He _________ that it was because there weren’t enough trees to protect them from the _________. The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek _________ during the daytime. He turned to the _________ department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and __________a nearby island where he began to plant trees.

________ young plants in the dry season was ____________for a lone boy. Molai built at the __________ of each sapling(幼树)a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to____________ rainwater. The water would then drip(滴落)on the plants below.

Molai __________ to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.

4 . We always think that it’s ok for us to leave our plants unattended during our vacation as we believe that they’ll survive just_______ .Plus, plants won’t scream like pets, so_______ must be okay, right?

A recent study_______ by a group of scientists at the Tel Aviv University has discovered that some plants will scream_______ a high frequency when they are_______ stress. The research was_______ on tomato plants and tobacco plants by cutting their stems and_______ them of water. A microphone is placed 10cm away from the setup.

When they started cutting the_______, they found out that the plants started“_______” between 20 and 100 kilohertz and they believe that this scream is__________meant to warn other plants and__________ nearby. When the tomato plant’s stem was cut, 25 ultrasonic (超声波的) distress (痛苦) sounds were__________ over the course of an hour, and on the other hand, 15 ultrasonic distress sounds were recorded from the tobacco plant.

__________they deprived the plants of water, the tomato plants recorded even __________ distress sounds with 35 distress sounds in a hour__________ the tobacco plants recorded about 11 distress sounds.

The plants also responded differently__________ different kinds of stress,__________, the tobacco plant gave out a more intense “scream” when they were deprived of water than when their stems were cut. But plants that were in no __________ danger released less than one ultrasonic sound per hour.

The group of scientist then said that this changes the way we think of plants as we had always__________that they are silent, but the thing is their voices are so high-pitched that we just can’t bear them. Last year, another study has found out that plants feel pain when touched and it will, __________, cause the release of a disgusting chemical.

5 . An aged man lived in a nice cottage with a garden in a town. He is seen _____ looking after his flowers all the time.

One day a young painter _____ his garden. He was deeply _______ by the beautiful flowers,_____ how happy he could be if he lived there. Then, ______ he found the old gardener was _______The painter was very surprised to ask, “ Why are you busy __ these flowers which you can't see?”

The blind gardener smiled, answering, “I can tell you four ______. First, I was a gardener whenI was young, and I really like this ______ . Second , ______ I can't see these flowers, I can touch them. Third, I can __ the sweetness of them. As to the last one, that's for _______“Me? But you don't know me.” ______ the painter.

“Yeah, it is true that I don't know you. But I know flowers are ____ angels which everyone knows and would never turn them ______   I know many people who show ___ in life would stop by and the beauty of my garden will get them into a good ___ In the meantime, it also _____ a chance to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

I believe every flower has eyes, with which they can see the kindness of the old man's heart and the sweetness of his soul. He grows flowers in his ___I suppose although failing the _____ of the beauty of blossoming, he surely can hear the voice of it.

6 . Medi Bastoni, a 43-year-old father of four from Indonesia, is walking 800 km from his home on a volcano in East Java to Jakarta. He is doing it _________ in the hope of drawing attention to the archipelago’s (多岛屿的) quickly _________ forests.

He set out on his _________, backward journey in mid-July, with the _________ of reaching the capital by August 16, a day before the Southeast Asian nation’s independence day anniversary. He just took a short break when he was _________. “Of course I’m exhausted, but I’m ___________ to do this to fight for the next generation and I just make my _________ to do it,” Bastoni said. “My home is ___________ all of its trees so I have to do something. I can _________ the pain and tiredness.”

Bastoni says that when he arrives, he hopes to __________ President Joko Widodo and highlight the ____________ of deforestation (滥伐森林) across the archipelago, __________ at his home on Mt Wilis, a dead volcano. Indonesia __________ from one of the high rates of deforestation in the world, according to Greenpeace. Bastoni __________ 20 to 30 km backwards every day under the sun, with a rear-view mirror (后视镜) __________ to his backpack to avoid bumping into objects. Along the way, supporters cheer him on, __________ him meals or a place to stay overnight. But in order to stay ____________, Bastoni always leaves at dawn.

“Walking backwards is meant as a __________ to Indonesians to reflect on the __________ and remember how national heroes __________ for the good of the country,” he said.

7 . When still a young child, Morales Casanova saw children harm local trees. And sometimes they   ______harm their own pets. So she formed a group called Humanity United to Nature in Harmony for Beauty, Welfare and Goodness to________the problem. Through small group meetings, she taught friends to grow plants and care for pets, inspiring new________for nature.

A few years later, at age 13, she sent the president of Mexico a________for creating a protected area to train children about________issues and was awarded the prize for National Youth Award for Environmental Protection, which________the expansion of its grassroots________conservation   projects. Several years later, the state capital donated________that let her fulfill a long-held________of opening an environmental education________.

Opening in 2013, Ceiba Pentandra Park provides a free, interactive learning experience for children and teachers on________topics ranging from climate change to wildlife protection. The park’s_____ aspect is the teachers: other children, since Morales Casanova believed children had the________to be leaders.

Park students who show________ability are trained to be peer educators. They learn to speak________, plan activities, and do________to cover the cost of program fee. When kids see other________providing information and making a real difference, they’re________that they can do it, too. The children are gradually________new values -they are already taking action to change not only their own________, but the minds of families and teachers.

8 . It was a mid April－a time when the planet Earth turns under the hot rays of the Sun. There was a large desert in Africa with no trace of _______ except a little rose. There was not a bird or a tree in _______ . The sand dunes(沙丘) became piles of burning coal as the days _______ . But the little rose _______ the cruelty of the Sun. The Sun was very _______ to have seen the rose’s ability to _________ such unfavorable conditions.

One afternoon, the Sun said to the little _______ , “Dear Rose! I am the supreme power in this universe. I have the _______ to give and take life. Thousands of living things _______ every day, as they are not able to bear with my heat. But, you have been weathering even my hottest rays ________ any complaint. May I know the source that gave you this great ________ ?”

“Oh, mighty Sun,” the little rose said ________ , “I don’t know much about this desert. But it appears ________ and there seems to be no one else in the whole world my eye could stretch. I began to feel ________ for the loneliness of this desert and ________ to help it as possible as I could. And in this process, I never ________ anything that causes pain to me. My whole ________ has been to be a good friend to this desert and ________ its loneliness.”

________ by the little rose’s care for the large desert, the Sun offered a(n)________－millions of other roses filled the desert with their sweet smells and thus turned the entire stretch into a great oasis of life.

9 . It started on a Friday ______ when the 5-year-old and his older brother were playing ______their home near the resort town of Aspen, Colorado. Hearing the sound of ______, the mother raced to her front yard to find a ______ sight: A mountain lion was bent over her 5-year-old son, biting him. The poor boy was completely under the cat and was ______ to get free.

So the mother ______ she charged the animal, pulled away one of its ______ suddenly with a lot of force and discovered her son’s whole head was in its mouth. She didn’t back down. The mother ______ the lion’s mouth and got it open,______ the boy. She then quickly picked him up and ran away.

The boy’s father had just returned from a run when the ______ occurred. He ______ into the car with his wife and son and called 911 shortly before 8 p.m. As they ______ to a hospital in Aspen. The boy suffered cuts to his ______, face and neck. The mother ______ bite marks on her hand and scratches on her leg. Aspen valley Hospital reported that the child was not seriously injured and in ______ condition and has since been ______ to children’s Hospital in Denver for his recovery.

The mountain lion was estimated to be about 2 years old and was not fully grown. It was, perhaps, forced out to hunt on its own. Young lions may be keen on easy ______, like pets and small children.______ , it wasn’t a big cat. Had it been a 110-pound lion- which was once seen around there - this would have been a much ______ story.

The mother, who had to physically remove the lion’s paws from her son’s face, is credited with ______ his life. She’s a real hero.

10 . For many people, being without any electronic devices (设备) creates an uneasy feeling. I recently experienced a weekend without _______. Allow me to share my _______.

Last month, my family and I drove to my aunt Nan’s home. My aunt was preparing to move closer to us. The _______ of our visit was to help her pack her belongings. During the ride, my dad _______ us that Aunt Nan’s _______ of living was old. We wouldn’t hear cell phones ring because _______ for electronic devices are not stable in the mountains. My dad also told us that Aunt Nan had a television, but it _______ few channels. My mother added that my aunt didn’t own a computer and that I would need to write my English paper on Aunt Nan’s typewriter (打字机).

Once we finally _______ Aunt Nan’s house, we packed household items. Very quickly, however, I realized that it was _______ to figure out what to do at my free moments. I was used to watching television or movies in my ________ time. I was becoming restless (烦躁的).

I’m sure that adults you know ________ tell you stories about the games they played and how they had time to think quietly when they were at our age. Our parents grew up in a time when electronic devices were not advanced, ________ instant communication with friends and family wasn’t even possible.

Once the packing was ________, there seemed to be nothing else to do. All the quiet thinking time made me ________, so I began writing my English paper. The old typewriter was fun to use, but I had to be more ________ about making typing mistakes since there was no delete key. The best part of ________ the typewriter was hearing the sound that the keys made.

I soon finished my paper. My ________ had time to hike, draw, and make unusual crafts — much like my parents did. The ________ of putting these ideas in my paper made me realize that our dependence on electronics has ________ our creativity. I challenge you to spend a day without ________ any electronic devices.

Maybe you will discover the benefit of thinking quietly as well.