Food from the air

Everyone has seen plants growing, but have you ever thought     1     they get their food? In the seventeenth century, a European scientist     2     (call) Van Helmot asked this question. Like most people, he thought that plants must get their food from soil. However, Van Helmot decided       3     (test) the theory with experiments.

First, he dried some soil, put it into a pot and weighed it. Next, he weighed a small tree, planted it in the pot and added rain water. Then, he watered it     4     (regular) with rain water.

After five years, he removed the tree from the pot and weighed it again. He found that the tree had gained     5     huge amount of weight. When he weighed the soil, however, it was almost exactly the same as it had been five years    6    . So Van Helmot drew the    7    (conclude) that the tree grew by drinking water. Though it turned out to be wrong, he showed the importance of the use of scientific evidence to support ideas.

We now know that plants and trees make their own food. Their leaves, when exposed     8     the air and sun, are like factories    9     can change the energy from the sun into chemical energy. During this process (过程), oxygen and sugar     10     (produce). The oxygen is released back into the air, and the sugar is used by the plant as food.

The protection of national and traditional culture is     1     great significance to Chinese cultural diversity and also to the harmonious development between local economic     2     social development. It is reported that the Chinese government pays special attention to     3    （save） traditional culture from cultural relics to intangible cultural heritage. And it did work so well     4     many kinds of traditional culture     5     ( protect).

In my opinion, some more     6     (measure) should be taken to protect traditional culture     7     (effective).     8     (start) with, we should make a law to regulate the society’s performance. Besides, we should draw more people’s attention to it, for     9     more they know about the importance of culture protection, the stronger support we can get from the public.

In a word, it is high time for     10     to treasure and develop our own valuable culture.

Last week, 18-year-old Diana got her yearbook(毕业纪念册). She was looking through it when she noticed a very special student all of     1    sudden. It was a picture of a dog. Diana said,”I thought it was     2     (real) cute, and I knew that some of my     3    (friend) hadn’t seen it yet because they didn’t have their yearbooks so I took a picture and tweeted it.”

Her tweet has since been retweeted     4    (many) than 2500 times.

This very special student is called Alpha, and he’s a service dog for Andrew,     5    is 16 years old and has Type 1 diabetes (I型糖尿病). Alpha’s job is to remind him when his blood sugar is getting too low or high.

“The amazing thing about Alpha is that he knows 20 to 40 minutes before my blood sugar actually does go low or high because     6    his amazing sense of smell,” Andrew said.“He     7    (save) my life many times already, by    8    (wake) me up in the middle of the night to extremely low blood sugars, which are very    9     (danger),” Andrew said, “ I just brought it with me when I got my yearbook picture     10    (take).

It is a big challenge    1    (find) and keep the right balance between progress and the protection of cultural sites. However, big challenges can sometimes lead to great solutions. When the Egyptian government suggested    2    (build) the Aswan Dam, they were faced with various problems,     3    (include) destroying an important part of Egypt’s cultural heritage. As a result, the government turned     4    the United Nations in 1959. A committee    5    (establish) to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings and prevent the    6    (lose) of cultural relics. Finally, a document was signed and the work began in 1960. Temples and other cultural sites were taken down piece by piece, and then moved and put back together in a safe place. Eventually, the project was completed    7     (succeed)．

Not only     8     the countries found a path to the future     9    did not run over the relics of the past, but they had also learnt that it was possible for countries to work together to build a better tomorrow. Therefore, if a problem seems too difficult for a single nation, the     10    (globe) community can sometimes provide a solution.

When the Amber Room was first built, his owner could have never imagined it would have such an     1     (amaze) history. The valuable Amber Room,     2     took the country’s best artists many years to make, was really a treasure     3     (decorate) with gold and jewels. After being finished, the Amber Room belonging to the King of Prussia, was given to Peter the Great as a gift. It     4     (think) highly of by its new owner. As a matter of fact, Catherine II liked the Amber Room so much that she had it moved to a palace     5     she spent her summers. However, when the country was at war with Germany, the situation was out of control. Some of the Nazis stole the room secretly. Many people have been in search     6     it, but in vain. Nobody knows     7     happened to the Amber Room. Where it is now still     8     (remain) a mystery.     9     (luck), the Russians and Germans have built a new Amber Room by studying the photos of the former Amber Room. Nowadays, the new Amber Room is open to public and really worth     10     (see).

It happened two years ago. I was getting ready to go to Beijing     1     I fell down the stairs and hurt my leg. I thought nothing     2     (bad) could happen to me, so I decided to go anyway.

I managed to talk my father into giving me a ride to the station,     3     was five kilometers from our house. We planned to set out very early     4     (catch) the 7 a.m. train but the car wouldn’t start. When we finally left,     5     was already 6:30. My father is a very slow driver so I asked him to speed up. When we were doing 120 km/h a policeman stopped us and handed out     6     rather heavy fine to my father for speeding. I was very nervous — there were only fifteen minutes left and we were nowhere near the station yet. Much to my annoyance, the car     7     (sudden) started to jerk (颠簸) and it soon turned out     8     we had run out of petrol. We had to stop at the petrol station to fill up the tank. We finally got to the station at three minutes to seven.

I kissed my father goodbye, jumped on the train and settled     9     in my seat in relief. But as soon as we reached the next station, I realized that I     10     (get) on the wrong train: I was traveling to Wuhan, not Beijing!

Anne Frank was a young Jewish German girl who became internationally famous after the publication of her diary but she never enjoyed her fame because the book     1     (publish) after her death.

Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Germany. In1933 her family moved to the Netherlands to start a new life because they were afraid of Hitler. Anne was a hard-working student     2     had a passion for books. She loved reading and dreamt of     3     (be) a famous writer. She was also a very     4     (energy) and outgoing girl. She had many friends in the Netherlands and spent long hours playing with her friends.

In June 1942, Anne     5     (receive) a notebook for her thirteenth birthday. She decided to use it     6     a diary and wrote about her dreams to become a writer. In July, her father was ordered     7     (go) to a work camp and he was afraid. As     8     result, they decided to hide in the attic of her father's workplace. They shared the small space with another family for two years.

    9     (fortunately), in August 1944, German security police discovered them and they were arrested. Anne died in March 1945. Her diary was found and given to her father. It is one of the most widely read     10     (book) in the world today.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I, both traveling in the south of France,     1     (decide) to go to the chocolate festival,     2     (call) “Feria du Chocolat” in French. I had     3     wonderful time.

There were stalls (货摊) selling boxes of chocolates, sweets, dessert wines, etc. All the stall owners were very friendly and happy to see the     4     (arrive) of foreigners like us. They explained their methods of     5     (make) chocolate, showed us photos of their factories, and, of course, let us try their products! My friend bought some chocolate cups,     6     I think is a great novelty (新鲜事物) — you drink your drink, and then you can eat the chocolate cup!

We then went to a masterclass where we learnt how to make chocolate. I was a little     7     (worry) before the masterclass, as there were only 12 people in a class, and I wasn’t sure if my French would be good enough     8     (understand) everything! Luckily, everyone was     9     (extreme) friendly — the lady next     10     me was making notes of everything we did, so she explained when I didn’t understand. At the end, our class stayed in the room and chatted about how much we were enjoying the day and eating lots of chocolate!

Hebei Province's Saihanba is the planet's     1    (large) man-made forest. Before 1962, Saihanba   was a wasteland with only 12% forest cover. With a small-but-mighty crew of 369 able workers, the Saihanba reforestation (重新造林) project     2    (begin). Many of them left their previous homes, to move to Hebei and join in the work. Although     3     (challenge) with long periods of frost and drought (干旱）in the 1970s and 1980s     4     resulted in the death of large quantities of plants and animals in the Saihanba, they continued their work and the forest began to take on     5     new look.

At present, the Saihanba measures 185,000 square acres of     6     (heavy) forested land. The Saihanba's trees can absorb 747,000 tons of carbon dioxide and produce 545,000 tons of oxygen each day. The Saihanba has become a showpiece of three     7    (generation) of hard work and determination. The zone is studied and has been used as an example of     8     deserted land can be transformed into       9     (value) and vital forests. The northern China area's success has been so notable that the term "the Saihanba Spirit" has come to indicate     10     (brave) and commitment and brought Hebei praise and honour from around the world.

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1     (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       3     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     4     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     5     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     6     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     7     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     8     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     9     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     10     (day) routines.