1 . Donnie Wiseman was worn out after work. But his son was _________ on going to a reptile show at Scales and Tails, Utah. So, after a short rest, he _________ his son to the show.

Inside viewing windows was the show’s star attraction, a huge alligator (短吻鳄). It swam around the pool before _________ its head on a two-foot-wide platform. It was feeding time, and the _________ alligator was staring expectantly at its trainer, Lindsay Bull.

For the sake of _________, Bull wanted the alligator off the platform before beginning the show. Entering the enclosure, she held out one arm and shouted “Back!” — a(n) _________ that usually worked. _________, this time the alligator responded by opening the jaw and _________ her into the pool of water.

Outside the enclosure, some _________ if this was part of the show. Not Wiseman. Sensing something was __________, he threw open the glass door and climbed inside. “Jump on its back and push your fists into the top of its nose!” shouted Bull. Wiseman did as he was __________, pressing down with all of his 180-pound body weight. Time seemed to stand __________ for a while. Finally, the alligator eased its __________ and Bull was quickly helped out of the enclosure. Meanwhile, Wiseman __________ a chance to jump off the alligator.

Apart from minor wounds, Wiseman was more __________ than injured. “One mistake and I’ll be a statistic, but still, I’m just glad I was there,” he said.

2 . A year ago I paid no attention to English idioms, ______ my teacher said again and again that it was important.

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to ______ . As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner shook his head, saying, “You don’t say! You don’t say!” I was surprised, I thought, perhaps this is not a ______ topic. Well, I’d better change the topic. So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? ______ the way, have you ever ______ there?”

“Certainly, everyone back home will ______ me if I leave China without seeing it. It was great.” I said, “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. It is a place of ______ ,” Soon I was interrupted (打断) again by his words, “ ______ !” I couldn’t ______ asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do so”, he answered, gently surprised.

I said, “Didn’t you say ‘You don’t say’?”

Hearing this, the Englishman ______ to tears (眼泪) . He began to ______ , “ ‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘‘really!’. It is an ______ of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention ______ English idioms.”

Then I knew I had made a fool of ______ . Since then I have been more ______ with idioms.

3 . I was said to be the worst student in my class and my family thought I was hopeless. I had to _________ sixth grade. At that time a new teacher, Miss Sadia, came to our school.

One day after class, she _________ that I was staying alone during the lunch break. She came to me and began to talk to me. It was just a normal conversation. After that day, she gave me particular _________ and it made me feel special. I started to work hard because she gave me the feeling that someone believed me. So my _________ started to improve in her subject.

Months later, she moved into a house near my _________. We would walk home together after school. Her constant support helped me, _________ in my studies. I knew she would check my grades both in her subject and the other subjects. So I tried my best and finally _________ second in my class.

Then, after sixth grade, she started to drift apart (逐渐疏远) _________ still kept a constant check on me. By the time I was in seventh grade, we hardly spoke. But by then I had become the _________ in my class. When I left school, I lost _________with her. As she never answered the _________ when I called her.

Then I graduated and went to a good university. One fine day, our paths _________ again. I met her at a wedding. I could not _________asking her, “Why did you stop talking to me?”

“You are a clever boy. I wanted you to be a tree _________ on your own roots, not depending on others. Now here you are and I feel _________ of you. You are your inspiration and do not need to look for a shoulder,” she said. I could not say anything, but I smiled. I’ll always thank her.

4 . Snowy wanted to be a show jumping horse. Every day she would _______ her mum to allow her to jump. Finally, her mum decided she was _____ enough and they went into the jumping arena (竞技场).

Snowy was very excited, but when she saw how ______ the jumps were, she started shaking." I can't jump that high. It's a good idea that we ________." she said. Her mum said,“I wouldn't expect you to _________ that high. There's a log (原木) on the ground. Why not start jumping over that?" Snowy gathered (积聚) her ________, walked to the log and then managed to jump over it.

“I did it!" she shouted happily. _________, her mum said,“You can't just jump over logs if you want to be a show jumper. ________ the low jump over there."

Again, Snowy was ___________but she tried it and found she could do it. As time went on, Snowy progressed to taller jumps, until finally she ________ the arena and looked at the tallest jumps. Over the past few weeks, something had _______. These jumps seemed much less ______ to Snowy. She jumped over them easily. Her mum looked with ________ at her and said,“This is what happens when you start ________ and build your way up."

So never be afraid of ________   in life, but start small and keep trying. Then you'll be able to do anything.

5 . Some kids are too young. Maybe they will not remember this time of social distancing and ________during the global pandemic (流行病)．Other ________ teens will remember schools closing, playgrounds off-limits and no ________ to family or friends forever.

My father-in-law, Hub, bad a great memory, He often told of his special time. However, what ________ me most was the detail about his teddy bear.

He was 5 at the time. His oldest sister Alice got sick, and the doctor diagnosed it as scarlet fever (猩红热)．Outbreaks of scarlet fever in the early 1900s were often ________ or left children with lifelong disabilities. It was also highly contagious.(感染性的)

The doctor said Hub and his another older sister Mabel had to stay away ________ Alice got better.

Later in life, Hub put his memories to paper. He wrote, “There was no place to go except to Grandpa and Grandma's just down the road. We ________ and were sent off to their house. My teddy bear fell off the wagon, but ________ , a man found it on the road and gave it back. It was so important to me. It ________ me out of the days spent waiting out in the front yard, watching the men work on the highway and waiting for my sister Mabel to return from school.”

They stayed with their grandparents for three or four weeks. "It was a happy day. ________ Dad told us we could go home"

What will be our memories of this time in history?

I hope we remember family, friends and neighbors caring for one another. I hope we remember the ________ medical personnel sacrificing their own health, the truck drives, food service workers and all the cashiers who kept grocery stores ________. Besides, never forget the garbage collectors sand that the mail kept coming.

I hope we remember the plants ________face masks and ventilators (呼吸机), and the scientists racing to find a vaccine.

I hope we remember how fears ________ a long shadow and how we renew soul searching.

We are writing history. ________ we write it well.

6 . A sobbing (哭泣) little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was too crowded. “I can’t _________to Sunday school,” she sobbed to the pastor (牧师) as he_________by. Seeing her sad appearance, the pastor took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday_________class. The child was so touched that she went home thinking of the children who have no places there.

Some two years_________, this girl died and her poor parents called for the kind-hearted pastor,_________had treated their daughter kindly, to handle the final arrangements . As her poor body was being moved, a worn wallet was_________ . Inside it was discovered 57 cents with a_________, which read, “This is to help_________a church big enough so that more children can go to Sunday school.”

For two years she had_________for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully__________that note, he knew what he would do.

A newspaper learned of the__________and published it. It was read by a rich man who offered them the land worth many thousands. When told that the church could not__________so much, he offered it for a 57-cent payment.

Church members also made large subscriptions (捐献). Checks came from far and __________. Within five years the little girl’s gift had __________to $250,000—a huge sum for the church, with the money they built Temple University , where tens and thousands of__________are trained .

7 . “Leave a place better than you found it.” It’s a _________ philosophy, but one that William Lindesay holds dear. On April 22, which was also Earth Day, he led twenty _________ to help clean up the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

He who _________ is the owner, William said in the _________ remarks of the cleanup event in 2000. “The Great Wall _________ China, and is also one of the greatest structures in the world. Everyone has a _________ to protect it. Every day should be Earth Day,” he said.

During the past three decades, he has spent most of his time _________ and exploring the Great Wall and has developed his own efforts to protect the cultural relic.

“It's a _________ thing that people are going out to enjoy themselves and to _________ the great history and heritage, __________ it's also quite dangerous if they don't __________ how fragile the historical sites are and how fragile the __________ is,” William said.

In 1989, his first __________ Alone on the Great Wall was published, and he has published another five books about the Great Wall since then. In 2001, he __________ International Friends of the Great Wall, an association whose efforts are aimed at protecting this __________ to the past.

His next step is to organize exhibitions about the Great Wall as a monument over the last 400 years. The exhibitions are expected to be held in Beijing, London, Paris and Washington D. C

9 . Last summer, we went to Hawaii for holiday. During my _______ trip with my husband, we spent most of our time _______ during the day in the sea, and then enjoying walks along the beach in the evenings.

We didn’t take any _______ because we had enough. We had visited the island many times _______. On our way to the _______ we joked that other than our sunburnt skin, we had no way to show that we had _______ there!

As we stood in line at the check-in, we noticed the _______ who had been on our plane the week before. _______, they all had tear-filled eyes this day. On the plane, we sat directly behind them: a mother and her four children without Dad’s _______. We learned that the father had been ____________ in a jet-skiing accident that week, and his wife and children had to ____________ make their way home without him.

We watched the children become ____________ while they were playing cards. But the mother stared at her knees, ____________ to believe her husband’s death. We could ____________ feel her pain as we realized that this could have happened to any of us. ____________ we were laughing and playing in the water, this poor family had been ____________ the sufferings. The vacation they had dreamed about had ____________ the terrible dream they would never forget.

I suddenly ____________ that we had no pictures for this vacation together. I closed my eyes, ____________ that my mind had recorded all the wonderful moments that I had ____________ with my husband that week. What a trip!

10 . In 2009 we were staying at our cousin’s house in Triora, Italy. Settled just above a window was a bird’s nest which my ______ said had been there for many years. Each year, different families of starlings (椋鸟) came back to make it their ______.

We knew they were ______ because the chattering (鸣叫) of six newly hatched chicks _____us early every morning. Standing on a chair, I ______ to look into their nest. The first time I looked, the chicks were ______ and almost featherless. Their parents ______ backwards and forwards, bringing food to ______ their hungry and noisy chicks.

Being ______ parents, whenever they saw me they screamed and flew at the window. So I could only ______ the chicks when they weren’t around.

____ the chicks were only a few days old, I realized the parents were teaching their young to fly. One brave chick beat its wings a few times and then ______ across the street landing on the roof of the house ______. Well done, I thought. The next day, my husband and I left for a tour and I was ______, thinking of how I would miss the rest taking their first ______.

Two weeks later, on our ______, the first thing I did was look in the nest. It was ______. Then, suddenly, I head the beating of ______ and all eight of them were flying toward me. They _____a semicircle, singing to me. I felt as though they were saying, “Thank you for not harming us.” Then they flew off ______ into the blue sky.