1 . Bill Johnson was walking along the banks of the Niagara River, trying to find a good place to take a photo. Finally, he found the__________place. He leaned out (探出身子)__________the guardrail next to the pavement to get a better angle, when a gust of wind blew his camera out of his hand. Fortunately, it __________on the rocks right above the river instead of in the river itself. As the camera seemed just within__________, he knelt down and __________ out to get it. But before he knew it, he was falling head over heels into the river. Landing with a splash into the cold water, he tried to swim to shore, but the current was too __________.Then he saw a large rock in the river.__________, he tried to swim to it, but just as he reached out his hand to grab on to it, he found himself__________. He looked ahead, and could see the cloud of mist rising from the Niagara Falls __________nearer and nearer. Before he knew it, he was going over the falls. All he could see was white mist and water as he __________for what seemed like hours. Finally, the water turned dark, and he found himself buffeted (被冲击) like he was in a washing machine,__________over and over again, not knowing which __________was up. He then__________two things: That he was freezing cold, and that he could not breathe. He__________for a long while, but then realised that it was hopeless and that he could not__________ his breath for much longer. He allowed his body to go limp, surrendering (投降) himself to the rolling waves. But then, just as all hope was gone he found himself __________into the air.

Tired and gasping for breath, he paddled his hands, trying to stay afloat. Finally, he found himself being__________by his collar on to a pleasure boat at the base of the falls. Soon, he found himself __________in a warm blanket and being served hot cocoa. Then hours later he was reunited with his __________mother, who had seen him fall into the water and thought that he was dead. The next day there was his photo in the newspaper below the__________: “The Boy Who Survived Niagara Falls (尼亚加拉大瀑布).”

2 . Talking about Beijing Opera, we cannot forget to mention one of its greatest performers: Mei Lanfang, a brilliant artist who played an important role in bringing Beijing Opera to the world. Mei Lanfang was born in Beijing in 1894. He started to learn the ______ of Beijing Opera at the age of eight and made his on-stage debut (首次登台) at age eleven. Mei Lanfang worked hard to learn as much as possible from the great artists and______ of Beijing Opera, and by the age of 20, he had become a(n)______ actor in Beijing Opera’s dan role (角).

Mei Lanfang quickly became well-known among Chinese audiences ______ his acting skill. Mei Lanfang’s skill opened doors for him to become friends with people from all over the world, as he often ______ guests from other countries who wanted to meet the young actor. As Mei Lanfang ______ to know ambassadors (大使), European royal families, and celebrities from ______, he ______ bring his beloved Beijing Opera to the rest of the world, so that even more people from other countries might understand and ______ the beauty of Chinese culture and art.

And so, in 1919, Mei Lanfang began to travel abroad, ______ performances in Japan and the Soviet Union (苏联). His ______ were a great success; audiences were fascinated by this ______ opera from the Orient (东方). One of Mei Lanfang’s greatest ______ was to visit the United States, and after cight years of ______, he and his opera group finally brought Beijing Opera to the USA.

Mei Lanfang ______ his whole life to the art of Beijing Opera. He ______ sought to improve his own artistry, creating many unforgettable and beautiful ______ for the stage. His style became known as the “Mei Lanfang school (梅派)”, a(n) ______ graceful style, and is still one of the most popular styles of Beijing Opera today.

Mei Lanfang died in 1961 of heart disease. During his more than 50 years on the stage, Mei Lanfang took traditions from the past and ______ the best parts to create new and enrich old forms of Beijing Opera. Although this great opera master has now joined the heroes of history, he ______ a legacy of cultural wealth for his people and for all future generations.

3 . The origin of the Chinese New Year Festival can be traced back thousands of years. According to one of the most famous legends (传说), in _______ China there lived a monster named Year, who lived deep at the _______ of the sea all the year round and climbed up to the _______ only on New Year’s Eve to eat the cattle and kill people’s lives. Therefore, on the day of every New Year’s Eve people from all villages would flee (逃离) to the mountains so as to _______ the monster of Year.

On the day of that New Year’s Eve the people of Peach Blossom village were _______ their houses when there came from outside the village an old beggar (乞丐). Seized with _______, the villagers were in a great hurry to run away and no one was _______ the mood to care for the beggar.

Only a grandmother living in the east end of the village gave the old man some food and advised him to _______ to the mountains to avoid the Year monster. But the old man said with a smile, “If you allow me to stay at your home for the night, I’m sure to _______ away the monster Year.” The old woman was surprised to hear this. She went on to ‘persuade him to take flight. But he only smiled without ________. Thereupon the grandmother could not help ________   leave her home and flee to the mountains.

Around midnight the monster Year rushed into the village. He found the house of the grandmother in the east end of the village was brilliantly illuminated (照亮的), with bright red paper stuck on the doors: Greatly ________, the monster Year made a dash for the house. As he ________ the door, there came all of a sudden the exploding sounds of bang-bong. Trembling (颤抖) all over, the monster dared not make a step ________ . And when the door of the grandmother’s house was thrown open and an old man in a red robe (袍服) burst out laughing in the courtyard, the monster Year was scared out of his wits and ran away.

The next day when people came back from their hideouts and found everything safe and ________. The old woman suddenly ________ what had happened and told the villagers about the old beggar’s ________. The villagers rushed into the grandmother’s house, only to find that the doors were stuck with red paper, the ember (余火) of a pile of bamboo were still giving out exploding sound of bang-bong in the courtyard, and a few ________ were still shining in the room.

From then on, on each New Year’s Eve, each family ________ on their doors antithetical couplets (对联) written on red paper, blow up firecrackers, keep their houses brilliantly illuminated and stay up late into the night. These customs are spreading far and ________ and kept for generations. It becomes the most ceremonious traditional festival of the Chinese people.

4 . When Bob Cialdini was a senior in high school, he was really good at baseball. Good enough that a scout (球探) ________ at his last game of the year, and offered him a ________ to play in the minor leagues.

The scout then had a  ________with him. “‘So tell me something. Are you any good at school?”’ Cialdini recalled him asking. “I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ He said, ‘Good enough to get into ________?’ ‘Yes, I am.’”

He pushed Cialdini about his interest in college, asking him if he ________ academic work. When Cialdini said he did, the scout put the contract away.

“He said, ‘Go to ________ because most likely, you won’t get to the major leagues (职业体育总会). But what you’ve told me is that you’re ________ at something you really like. That should be where you go.’”

Cialdini ________ the scout’s advice. Instead of pursuing professional baseball, he went to college. It  ________ : he became a well-known psychology researcher on the science of influence.

Decades later, Cialdini is still ________ by the way the scout looked out for his best ________. Cialdini shared the scout’s  ________ with his students, as they make major  ________ about what to do next in life.

“Don’t just go where your ________ is,” he tells them. “Go where you have the ________ to realize the dream.”

5 . If someone were to ask me who the most influential person in my life was, I’d most likely tell him or her that it’s my brother, Chris. My brother is one of the most important people in my life. I may not always _________ like it, but I look up to him and _________ him. It’s hard to think of everything he’s _________ for me and not like him. There’s the basic stuff that most older brothers do. You know, baby-sit you, help you with your homework, and let you use their _________ . But my brother did a lot more for me. He was the one who taught me how to read and how to _________ my shoes. He taught me how to _________ my breath underwater.

He even taught me how not to touch his things. He also did other _________ big brother stuff. Like _________ me in the closet(储藏室), play tricks _________ me, “forbid” me to use his stuff. But for each “ __________ ” thing he did to me, he did about five nice things. One nice thing he did was that he always let me __________ around him and his friends. Because of that I __________ have two brothers instead of one. My other “brother” is Chris’s best friend, Corey. They spent a lot of time together when they were younger, and since Chris was nice, I usually got to do stuff with them. __________ Corey was as much my brother as Chris was, of course they both pulled little tricks on me. But I must __________ a lot of the tricks worked because I was a __________ gullible(易受骗的)child. One that readily comes to mind is when Chris and Corey tried, and succeeded, to convince me that they were being sucked(吸入)into the __________ .

I was so convinced that I went inside and told Mom that they were being sucked down. As I said, I was a slightly gullible child. Another little prank(恶作剧)was when one of my friends was over while Mom and Dad were bowling and Chris and Corey were __________ us. We hid in the bathroom and __________ the door, and they decided to take a __________ , open the closet door, which is across from the bathroom and opens __________ , tie one end to the closet door knob(门把手), and tie the other end to the bathroom door knob. The bathroom door opens in. Yes. We had some interesting times.

6 . Learning the Ropes Course

We were dozens of feet off the ground, balancing on an inch of rope, slowly one foot in front of the other, crossing over toward the next platform, one cautious step at a time.

I tried to tell the counselors (辅导员). No. I’m not doing it. Somehow though, they _________ me go up on the ropes course: _________ a balance beam (平衡木), up a netted ladder that made me sick, knowing there was no _________ way out now.

At the end of the ropes course, I climbed up a ladder to the tallest tower I’d ever been on, _________ with a terrifying zip line (滑索) back down to the _________. I was shaking. The counselor at the top had a kind _________. She sat me down and asked what _________ me. I’d been on a zip line like this before at a _________. I fell straight into the water because I couldn’t hold on. The counselor told me to take my time. I decided to try it her way. She closed her eyes and had me close mine.

“I want you to remember this _________. So, I want you to take a deep breath __________ your nose and __________ the air as much as you can.”

I __________ the handlebar and looked down with a huge swallow (咽口水). Nope. Not gonna happen.

“You know you can do this. Just let go and you’ll be on the ground in three seconds. Like this: One. Two. Three.”

I thought about going on three. Nope. Not gonna happen.

__________ myself off that platform was terrifying even though I knew it would ultimately be exciting.

I took another deep breath. “Okay, let’s __________ again. “One. Two. Three.” Nope. “It’s alright sweetie. Just because you couldn’t hold on __________ doesn’t mean you can’t hold on now.”

“Let’s count one more time. One. Two. Three.”

And I let go. I __________ to the ground in one, two, three… With every butterfly I’ve ever known to exist flying around in my __________. And after dangling (摇晃) over the forest floor for three __________, my feet landed and __________ me running across the ground.

I was __________.

I felt supported.

I did it!

7 . A Virginia third-grader has won two national awards for her exceptional skill in handwriting. That’s pretty remarkable on its own. But what makes the girl’s _________ extra special is that she accomplished it _________ having no hands.

On April 26, 9-year-old Anaya Ellick was named the _________ of the 2018 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest. The award _________ students with special needs who develop a great skill in handwriting. All participants have a mental or physical _________.

Anaya was born without hands on either arm. _________ she was fitted with prosthetics (假肢) for a time, she decided she was better off with her _________ ones and removed them. Instead, she has learned to _________ a pencil between her arms to draw and write. Two years ago, she made _________ across the world when she was named a winner in the contest’s print category. For 2018, she __________ again for her cursive writing.

Tracy Cox, Anaya’s teacher, said Anaya is a role __________ to other students. “Anaya does not let anything stand in her __________ of reaching her goals,” said Cox. “She is determined and independent. She has the best __________ in her class. Her classmates see her doing the __________ tasks and they are often __________ that she can do just as well, sometimes even better.” Anaya’s dad Gary Ellick said Anaya had always been __________. “It was always like ‘I can do it.’ I’m proud to see that hard work does __________,” he said.

Anaya was __________ at school on Wednesday, and the school shared photos of her with her new award and examples of her writing. But another __________ doesn’t mean she’s slowing down. When asked what’s __________ on her plate, she said, “Sports.”

8 . Nan Hauser has spent much of her life in the South Pacific Cook Islands. As a whale researcher, she has been_________the international title of “Earth Ambassador.” While many of the locals had heard of this_________, it was an encounter (偶遇) that would make her known worldwide.

One day in 2017, Nan dived into the ocean to shoot some videos with the whales, when the most_________thing happened. As she swam alongside them, they began to display_________signs that danger was near. Suddenly, she saw another whale make an_________on her at full speed. Just as_________hit, one of the whales used its fin (鳍) to push Nan onto its back and_________of ...not a whale but a tiger shark.

After the shark disappeared, the whale safely_________Nan back to her boat. She climbed aboard and yelled her_________to the whale. After a few minutes, the whale disappeared into the__________, and Nan said goodbye, feeling grateful for this lifetime__________.

Almost a year later, Nan received a call from a local fisherman saying that he__________whales in the harbor. Could her whale friend have__________? She jumped onto a boat quickly. Nan__________recognized her friend by the two__________marks on his tail, and dived into the water to swim with him.

After Nan’s encounter, she__________with how best she could thank the whale. After all, it’s__________to hug something much larger than you. So what’s the most__________way to thank a whale? It’s by caring, learning more about them, and__________their habitat. As for us, we can help in small ways. For example,__________using the plastics will make a difference.

9 . An Olympian, Andrejczyk Maria, won silver in Tokyo. She would be auctioning（拍卖）off her silver medal to _________ money for Miloszek Malysa's operation, which she _________ Facebook.

MiLoszek had a serious heart disease. He _________ an operation. He already had a head start from Kubus, a boy who didn't make it in time but whose parents decided to _________ on the funds they collected.

Andrcjczyk said in her post that the baby required around $383,000 to _________ all expenses. Andrejczyk added that half of the _________ had already been collected in the online fundraiser.

Last week, she announced that the _________ of the auction was Zabka, a Polish convenience store chain. “It is with the greatest _________ that I give you my medal, which for me is a _________ of struggle, faith and the pursuit of dreams despite many __________ situations,” she wrote on Facebook. Zobka later said it would still provide the funds but Andrejczyk could __________ her Olympic medal.

“We were moved by the extremely __________ gesture of our Olympian, so we decided to support the __________ of funds for Miloszck.” the company said. “We also decided that the __________ from Tokyo will stay with Ms Maria, who showed how great a __________ she is.”

Andrejczyk said, “Winning the Olympic silver medal __________ me enormous happiness. I want to pass the feeing on to a __________ child. The true value of a medal always __________ in the heart. A medal is only a（n） __________ , but it can be of great value to others. This silver can save lives, instead of collecting __________ in a closet.”

10 . In the early 1950s, I was a junior high student at Punahou School in Hawaii. During summer vacations, I often swam at Waikiki Beach. There was another man who would also _________. He was a tall, handsome, silver-haired Hawaiian. Occasionally I saw him swimming gracefully and effortlessly at a(n) _________ pace to the beach wall and _________ again.

One morning when I arrived as usual, he walked past me on his way to the water. Suddenly he stopped and asked me if I’d like to _________ against him. “Just for fun. Down to the beach wall and back.” He pointed in that direction. After some thought, I _________ it.

We jumped into the water and started swimming. Teenagers are often very _________, and I was no different. I started out as fast as I could to build a strong _________. But in the first 50 yards, we were even. When we reached the beach wall, we were still even. I was already _________. My legs felt heavy. My shoulders started to burn. As we turned back, my arms and shoulders were numb, and my head was spinning. I wanted very _________ to quit and __________ the rest of the way. But I struggled and __________ it, fighting the water.

When we finally arrived where we started, I was out of __________. “Just about even. You’re pretty good,” he said. He walked out of the water and up the beach. I stayed where I was, __________.

Ten minutes later my friend, Sammy Kauua, arrived. I told him what had happened. Sammy laughed, “Are you __________? That’s Duke Kahanamoku. He won gold medals at the Olympics!”

Several days later when I saw Kahanamoku on the beach, I talked to him about his swimming __________. What I really wanted to know was __________ an athlete could become good enough to win in the Olympics. “Oh, I trained,” he said. “__________ not hard, really. I did most of my swimming at the beach. I swam because I liked it. We trained of course, but __________ we just swam. It was natural.”

I was __________ at that time because there was no secret formula (秘诀) for success as an athlete. Thinking back on it now, though, I find the __________ he gave me very appealing.