1 . A week before Christmas, my grandmother passed away. My boss _______ gave me several days off to go home for the funeral (葬礼) in Nova Scotia. I planned to leave on the 20th so that I could get home ______ to help my mother with both the funeral preparations and the preparations for a very ______ and busy Christmas.

Here, my string (一串) of bad luck began: my plan was ______ by a big storm, and I had to ______ a ferry (渡船) ticket for the 22nd, the last day that the ferry would run. I left as the roads were still ______, and I was two-thirds of the way through the long drive when my car ______. I pulled over and found, although I had a ______ tire (轮胎), I didn’t actually know how to ______ it. And it was snowing; I was so anxious that I almost ______. Just then a car stopped nearby. A lady came out and asked whether I was asking for ______. I told her I had to go home ______ for my grandmother’s funeral, but I had a flat tire and I would ______ my ferry. After hearing what I said, the lady took out her ______ and quickly helped me put on my tire at no charge! I was filled with ______. Thanks to her ______, I was able to catch the very last ferry, _______me hours of driving.

The woman is a stranger, ______ she tried her best to help me get home — even enough for me to give a hand to my mom and say goodbye to the dead. I’ll never ______ the kind stranger, who made a hard Christmas a lot easier, for both me and my family. I ______ the world is beautiful because there are lots of kind people in it.

5 . Today we see writing all around us. We would be _________ without writing.

The earliest people have no _________ of writing. However, writing _________ over thousands of years in different cultures around the world.

_________ writing existed, drawings were used as a form of _________. Rock drawings have been found in many places. One rock drawing in a mountainous area of New Mexico _________ a mountain goat standing up and a man riding a horse upside down. Experts believe that the drawing was a _________ to riders that the road was dangerous.

Modern forms of writing began when people _________ to use symbols, such as letters, words, to stand for _________. At first, they used __________ that stood for words. __________, a picture might show a hunter, the tools the hunter used, and a pair of deer the hunter killed. __________ developments took place in Mesopotamia, where people learned to use the same symbols to stand for different words. The writing used by ancient Egyptians also used __________ known as hieroglyphs (象形文字).

Even greater advances were __________ in China about 3500 years ago. The Chinese used tens of thousands of signs. With their systems, they could __________ new words. This, __________, was a different system. To make writing __________, things had to be simplified in some way. The __________ was the development of alphabets. The Phoenicians (腓尼基人) are __________ considered to have developed one of the first useful alphabets. The Phoenicians alphabet used about 20 or 30 signs. They were well on their way to at least one type of modern writing __________, as we know, the modern English alphabet uses 26 letters.

7 . The world would be a better place if we all had children’s eyes. This is not because children’s eyes are too sharp to allow any blot (污点, 瑕疵) to pass without being ______, but because adults have too many conflicting concerns to keep their eyes open to all wrongdoings.

Not long before, an examination, intended to ______ some police officers to higher positions, was held in Gansu province. Someone ______with a good idea that 18 primary pupils could be invited to act as invigilators (监考人). At that age, students would do as they are told and act fearlessly. ______, they caught 25 officers cheating on the spot, which has caused a stir (轰动, 搅动) and ______the question of whether adult invigilators would _______their duties as well.

The implication of this event goes ______its impact on the work style of local police officers and the examinations. Most people said what these children have done points to the sad fact of ______being less trustworthy. If adults acted as invigilators, they would quite ______turn a blind eye to cheating.

We Chinese have been holding the ______that human nature was good at birth: as ______of blot as a sheet of blank paper, which can be ______with content (good or bad) in the process of growing up. Everything should be done on the basis of certain principles (原则). ______, nowadays the repeated reports of cheating in examinations, selling ranks and ______and embezzling (挪用) public funds paint a ______picture of common social morals. Adults have become too concerned with their own personal gains to ______basic sense of principles. When no one ______ any principle and the only concern is personal interest, everyone will ______not only those who first break the rules.

Besides, cheats are unfair to honest examinees, and when the success of cheats _______more people to cheat, the consequences will be disastrous.

In a word, we adults need to have our eyes as ______as children’s on matters of principle.

9 . Jack is a retired worker from Rio de Janeiro. Now he is sharing a close relationship with a penguin which is ______ to South American’s Patagonian region. For the past five years, the penguin seems to have ______ his natural migrating route just in order to be able to ______ Jack several times a year.

The unusual ______ began in 2011, when Jack found the bird, nicknamed Jinling, trapped in oil on the beach near his house. He brought the penguin home, ______ him up, and offered him a good meal and a shady spot to ______. Since then, the penguin has ______ stayed away from Jack for too long.

The kind man tried to get the penguin to ______ to the open sea after he got better, ______ the bird just kept coming back. He even took him out in a boat, far from ______ and let him loose in the ocean, but by the time he got back home, with ______, he saw Jinling was already waiting for him.

______ penguins migrate thousands of miles between Patagonia and Rio de Janeiro, Jinling doesn’t stay away from Rio for more than four months at a time. He always runs back to Jack’s little ______ by the sea, sometimes ______ as long as eight months to a year with the old man. And he is a little ______, too – it seems that he can’t stand other animals getting anywhere close to his ______.

The local fishermen show their kindness to the penguin and they think it is a great ______ not only for Jack himself but also for all the villagers. Jinling has been regarded ______ the village mascot (吉祥物) since 2012. However, some are ______ about this unusual relationship thinking about Jinling’s identity. But good friendship will last for long regardless of the ______, isn’t it ?

10 . I like to bargain when I buy goods. It isn’t _______ I don’t have money. It feels good when I get goods _______ than other people.

Last winter vacation, I went to “Dong-Dae-Moon”, an open _______ market in Seoul. At that market, you can buy a lot of clothes at really _______ prices. I tried to buy a warm jacket to wear in Michigan this winter.

I got a _______ idea of putting only half of my money — sixty dollars — in my wallet to trick the seller. Since the market is really _______, I had to walk a lot to find a jacket that really _______ me. _______, I found the jacket I wanted. I asked the price and the vendor shouted, “eighty dollars, sir.” From my experience, I knew the price was _______ for it. I made a counter offer (还价) of sixty dollars; ________, he refused my offer. He said I had to pay ________ sixty-five dollars.

At that time, I realized ________ I really could get that jacket for sixty dollars, so I made a ________ face and told him that I really wanted it, but I had only sixty dollars ________ in my wallet. I showed him my wallet to ________ it.

After he had a quick look at my ________ and saw I had only sixty dollars in it, he agreed to sell me the jacket for that ________. I felt really good, but also ________ for him, because he worked really hard to make a living. ________ I have a chance one day, I will go shopping there again and purchase more goods. I’ll bargain of course, but I won’t bargain as ________ as the last time since the seller was really kind to me.