1 . Family is the most important thing in the world. Sometimes it can be hard to get along with family members but you love them. How can you have a better relationship with your family members?     1    

●Spend more time together.

Think about how much time you spend with your family already. Is it enough?

    2     Arrange time when you all have freedom to do things together. Go on a picnic, visit a museum, go to a sports match and so on.

●Improve yourself.

Perhaps they complain about your grades, your attitude or your lack of goals; don’t assume it’s all nagging. Some of what they are saying is most likely for your own good, and they’re trying to protect you from life’s hardships and encourage you to be the best you can be.     3    

●Be as independent as you can.

For example, don’t ask your father to wake you up in the morning.     4     Or, don’t expect your parents to help you out all the time, especially not as an adult.

    5    

If your parents come home late at night after work, try to make a simple dinner for them, instead of making your mother cook for you again. If your brother or sister is not doing well at school, show him or her how to succeed with the subjects.

Tony became ill and had to spend all day in bed. Because other     1     (child) could not come near him, he felt sad and lonely.

There wasn’t much to do, so he just looked out of the window. One day, he     2     (see) something strange outside the window. It was a penguin (企鹅)     3     (eat) a sandwich. The penguin said “good afternoon”     4     Tony and then left.

Tony was very     5     (surprise). He tried to find out what was going on. Suddenly, he saw a monkey playing with a balloon (气球) outside his window. As he saw more and more strange animals, Tony couldn’t help laughing     6     found it hard to stop.

Before long, his health improved and he went back to school, where his friends Tom, Jack and Mark were all waiting for him. He told     7     (he) friends about all the strange things outside his window. While he was talking, he saw something in Mark’s schoolbag. Tony asked what it     8     (be) and Mark showed him.

Inside the bag were a lot of clothes     9     looked like animals. His friends wore them to cheer Tony up while he was ill!

From that day on, Tony always tried his best     10     (make) sure his friends never felt sad or lonely.

4 . Mary, a reporter from History Weekly, is interviewing Malcolm, the curator (馆长) of the Powell Cotton Museum.

Mary: Hello, I’m Mary. Nice to meet you.

Malcolm: Hello, I’m Malcolm. I’m the curator of the Powell Cotton Museum. Welcome.

Mary: Could you show me around the museum?

Malcolm: Sure, come in.

Mary: So who started this museum?

Malcolm: The museum was built by an Englishman called Powell Cotton. He was born in 1866 and died in 1940.

Mary: Who was he?

Malcolm: He was an adventurer, explorer and hunter.

Mary: So which countries did he visit?

Malcolm: He visited mostly Africa but also parts of Asia as well, including Ladakh and some parts of India.

Mary: Did he have a favorite country?

Malcolm: I don’t know about a favorite country, but certainly his favorite continent was Africa.

Mary: What was his longest trip?

Malcolm: His longest trip was thirty months and that was in 1903 to Africa.

Mary: What is your favorite thing in the museum?

Malcolm: My favorite thing is this lion. This is the same lion that attacked Powell Cotton in 1906. He survived because the local Africans killed the lion.

5 . “Where is the light?” My dad used to ask me the question when I was little. It’s one of those questions that parents often use to find out how smart their young children are. During my teenage years, my dad jokingly told me that he thought I was going to be dimwitted(愚蠢的) because I pointed at him whenever he asked me where the light was.

Dad is from a rural area about 230 kilometers north of the capital Manila, and where most people live off the land, raising and selling livestock and poultry. His father, an artist and street magician, died when he was very young. To make ends meet, his mother went about town and washed laundry in various households. My dad found himself alone—lack of nurturing (养育) and love, short of family bonds.

Dad loved reading and always looked for opportunities to educate himself. One day, when my father was 16 and out of work, a stranger saw him sitting under a tree, absorbed in a book. He approached Dad and asked him why he wasn't in school. Dad replied that he had no money for college. The stranger saw his desire to study and recommended him to University of the Cordilleras as a working student. He also gave Dad a job in a local factory. Thanks to the warm-hearted stranger, Dad got his Bachelor of Arts degree, then went on to study law and became a successful lawyer. He wrote a widely-read textbook on Philippine law.

Looking at my father now, I can see how he was able to overcome so many obstacles. He is by nature a hardworking man, pouring his energy into his career without forgetting his family. He values education—when we were younger, he would tell me and my brother to constantly seek improvement in ourselves through learning.

Like a light, he shines with dignity and respect because of his achievements, but his light radiates the brightest for maintaining our family as a cohesive (有凝聚力的)unit with love and faith as its foundation.

There are times when my dad kids around and asks me, using my childhood nickname, “Sasi, where's the light?”

I just smile, and point at him.

6 . Ma Li is a dessert shop owner in Yinchuan, Ningxia. On a cool morning, she received an online _______, but it took an hour for her to wait for the deliveryman (外卖送餐员).

When the deliveryman came, Ma was a little _______. “It is too cold outside and my motorbike didn’t work,” explained the deliveryman. After she heard his words, her anger was _______. She invited him to sit for a while and offered him a cup of hot water.

At that moment, Ma noticed the deliveryman’s face and hands were dark purple _______ he was working outside for too long. She felt sorry for him. While they were talking, Ma knew that the deliveryman wanted to buy her daughter a _______, but he thought it was a little expensive.

After the deliveryman left, Ma _______ what happened just now on her WeChat Moments (微信朋友圈) with two photos of the deliveryman.

Heartwarming comments (评论) poured in, such as “life is not easy but _______ of us give up!”, “Thumbs up(点赞)for hard-working people” and “Showing understanding to deliverymen.” Some _______ offered money for a cake.

The next day, Ma got in touch with the deliveryman and invited him to her shop. When they met, Ma expressed people’s kindness to him and gave him a cake for his daughter’s birthday. The deliveryman was _______.

Ma received more than 600 yuan in donations ________ her friends and customers. She said she would use the money to offer some help to people in need.

7 . Joe and Della were a new couple. They were both interested in art--one in painting, the other in music. They lived in a small flat. They loved each other and they were happy.

But one day they found that they had spent all their money. One afternoon Della told Joe that she had found a _________ and was to give her three music lessons a week. For that she could get fifteen dollars a week. But Joe was not _________ because he didn’t want to stay at home, playing with his art while Della was at work. He wanted to earn some money too.

Every day they parted in the morning and _________ in the evening.

A week _________ , Della brought home fifteen dollars, but she looked a little _________. Joe took eighteen dollars out of his pocket. They were both _________ to have so much money at hand.

The next week, Joe _________ home another eighteen dollars but Della came home with her right hand in a bandage (绷带). Joe asked Della what was the _________. Della said, “It was because of an iron-- I mean a plate of soup spilled on my _________.”

“What do you do every day, Della? Do you __________ give music lessons?” Joe asked. “Tell me the __________!”

Della cried. She told Joe that she was working in a laundry (洗衣店), __________ shirts. A girl accidentally __________ an iron on her hand and she got a __________ burn. But Della asked Joe how he had guessed that she wasn’t giving music lessons.

Joe told Della that he worked in the engine-room of the same laundry where she worked. They both let out their __________ and laughed.