1 . Everyone wants to perform well at school. Add these tips to your life and you should be on your way to being a top student!

    1    I cannot stress how important it is to pay attention to what your teacher is teaching you. Take part in class discussions if you have something worth adding. Pay attention during class.

Taking notes is important. You don’t need to write down every single word your teacher says but write down what he or she writes on the blackboard, or any special fact you think you might need for a test.    2       In this way, it will help you learn more effectively by thinking about what you are writing.

Don’t skip school. You will be missing courses.    3    However, you will have more work and you have missed lectures. Also, try not to be late for class. It’s most likely that your teacher won’t appreciate it and you will get yourself behind.

Keep a good attitude (态度) towards things. If you have an “ I don’t care about school or this class” attitude, then teachers will be less willing to help you with problems. The same goes for lazy attitude. Have a respectful attitude to the teacher and other students.     4    

Always ask questions.     5     If you don’t understand, ask someone. Read your textbook and notes, and then if that fails, ask a teacher, friend, classmate, parent, etc.

2 . A Race against Death

It was a cold January in 1925 in North Alaska. The town was cut off from the rest of the world because of the heavy snow.

On the 20th of that month, Dr. Welch _________ a sick boy, Billy, and knew he had diphtheria, a deadly infectious (传染的) disease mainly affecting children. The children of Nome would be _________ if it struck the town. Dr. Welch needed medicine as soon as possible to stop other kids from getting sick. _________ , the closest supply was over 1,000 miles away, in Anchorage.

How could the medicine get to Nome? The town’s _________ was already full of ice, so it couldn’t come by ship. Cars and horses couldn’t travel on the _________ roads. Jet airplanes and big trucks didn’t exist yet.

_______ January 26, Billy and three other children had died. Twenty more were _________. Nome’s town officials came up with a(n) _________. They would have the medicine sent by _________ from Anchorage to Nenana. From there, dogsled (狗拉雪橇) drivers — known as “mushers”—would __________ it to Nome in a relay.

The race began on January 27. The first musher, Shannon, picked up the medicine from the train at Nenana and rode all night. __________ he handed the medicine to the next musher, Shannon’s face was black from the extreme cold.

On January 31, a musher named Seppala had to __________ a frozen body of water called Norton Sound. It was the most __________ part of the journey. Norton Sound was covered with ice, which could sometimes break up without warning. If that happened, Seppala might fall into the icy water below. He would __________, and so would the sick children of Nome. But Seppala made it across.

A huge snowstorm hit on February 1. A musher named Kaasen had to brave this storm. At one point, huge piles of snow blocked his __________. He had to leave the trail (雪橇痕迹) to get around them. Conditions were so bad that it was impossible for him to   __________ the trail again. The only hope was Balto, Kaasen’s lead dog. Balto put his nose to the ground, __________to find the smell of other dogs that had traveled on the trail. If Balto failed, it would mean disaster for Nome. The minutes passed by. Suddenly, Balto began to __________. He had found the trail.

At 5:30 am on February 2, Kaasen and his dog __________ in Nome. Within minutes, Dr. Welch had the medicine. He quickly gave it to the sick children. All of them recovered.

Nome had been __________.

The Chinese war film The Battle at Changjin     1     (arouse) enthusiastic discussion on Chinese social media since it debuted around the country on September 30.

The film tells the story about how Chinese People’s Volunteer soldiers held their ground during fierce cold and the enemy’s more advanced weapons. However, the real battlefield is far     2     (impressive). Changjin Lake     3     (locate) in North Korea. The war was     4     in severely cold winter with temperature of around minus 40℃. CPV soldiers did not only need to fight against enemies,     5     had to battle over the nature with their strong will. Chinese People’s Volunteer Army won the battle by     6     (fight) against impossible odds. The Battle of Changjin Lake became a critical moment in the war. It is not the film itself but the     7     (hero) of the war years who fought     8     (blood) for our country and the people     9     make people moved.

Song Zhongping,     10     military expert and TV commentator, emphasized that the film shows that the Chinese people don’t provoke troubles, but never flinch (退缩) when troubles come their way and are able to defeat provocation (挑衅).

I went to Xiangshan Park in last week. At the gate I happened to meet some America tourists. I greeted him in English and then we begin to chat. I got to know that they were college students travel in China. They were busy with taking pictures and were much impressed by the changes had taken place in the past few years. After that, we visited Bei Jing hutong and had a good time. We exchanged our e-mail address so that we could write to each other on the future. I was very glad to have a chance to practice my speak English.