My uncle worked hard in the day time. In his free time, he went on studying the     1    (character) of those plants. He is said to have placed some samples in his bedroom. Just at that time he began to think about how they     2     (evolve) from their ancestors. Although no income     3     (generate) from his study, he was crazy about it. He often used some primitive methods to carry out his experiments,     4     (detect) how the seeds grew into some tall plants. There was a time when the number of those plants was on     5     decline. He managed to find out the reason and came up with a new way to solve the problem. Later, he achieved a lot in this field. Many people had suspected him     6     his talent, but he succeeded!

Lullabies (摇篮曲) bring Mom and kids together. As the COVID-19 pandemic began changing life globally, physical distance     1    (particular) changed the way we connect. At present, nearly 70 percent of health workers worldwide     2    (make) up of women. Apart from looking after the patients, they also face the challenge of how to best care for their own families. Among them is Elizabeth Streeter,     3     works as a nurse on the COVID-19 floor of her hospital in Massachusetts. 

She made a difficult decision     4    (stay) away from her three boys in early April last year, to avoid exposing them     5     the virus. During the evenings, Elizabeth connected with her kids by phone and sang their favorite lullabies while     6    (fight) back tears. For the young mother, ensuring her children’s     7    (safe) meant being physically present. However, so far, living away from her children     8    (become) her way of keeping them safe. “It is entirely different than     9     I always thought protection looked like,” she said. “Anyway, lullabies work very well.” 

These songs remind us that we are not alone in this seemingly     10    (end) fight against the disease.

The short story “After Twenty Years” is set in New York on a cold, dark night. Everything was very quiet. A police officer on duty found a man with a scar on his face outside a shop, and they started to have    1     chat. The man talked about his best friend and the     2     (fine) chap, Jimmy Wells. 

One night twenty years ago, they     3    (dine) at “Big Joe” Brady’s. They grew up together in New York and got on very well.    4     (make) his fortune, he was to start for the West     5     Jimmy Wells stayed in New York.    6     was on that night that they agreed on the meeting date and place after twenty years, whatever their conditions might be or from what     7    (distant) they might have to come. At first, they corresponded     8     each other for a year or two, but then they lost track of each other. However, he thought     9    (confident) that Jimmy Wells would turn up as promised, so he came a thousand     10    (mile) to meet him.

Mama always sat at the kitchen table and divided the money that Papa brought home into various     1     (pile). Each pile had     2       different aim. For example, the big silver pieces were for the landlord. In their     3     (day) life, Mama tried her best not to draw money out     4     her Bank Account, however hard the life was. When Nels wanted to go on to high school, all the family did     5     best to earn or save money instead of     6     (go) to the Bank. To get enough money, Nels     7       (volunteer) to work in Dillon’s store after school, Papa decided     8     (give) up smoking and Katrin planned to look after the Elvington children every Friday night. However, when Katrin asked Mama to put the check of her first story in the Bank Account last year, Mama had to     9     (admit) that there was no account in the bank at all.       10       (actual), Mama’s Bank Account just made the children feel proud and secure.

In the family, heated arguments and cold silences     1     (be) very common between     2     (teenager) and parents. Such family tensions are often caused by teenagers’     3     (pain) physical changes, such as     4     (change) voice and weight problems. Besides, it can be    5     big headache to balance teenagers’ developing mental needs. However, teenagers can take action     6     (improve) the situation, for example, they can communicate with their parents    7     (regular) and honestly. Through such healthy communication, teenagers can learn     8     to back down and when to ask parents to relax their control. In fact,     9     is quite normal to struggle with the stress that parent­child tensions create. The stormy period will not last long and everything     10     (turn) out all right in the end.

Nowadays, more and more parents pay great attention to their children. However, we find     1     common that parents and children lack communication.

More than one reason contributes    2    the problem.

To begin with,the reason why parents spend    3    (little) time with their children is that the heavier social pressure often makes children    4     (ignore) by them. The second, although parents want to talk with their children, some of them don’t know much about the skills in communication or the necessary knowledge of education, which will have a big effect     5     communication. However, the most important reason may be the    6    (tradition) ideas of authority (权威) most parents have. Thus, when     7    (face) the children,parents are not     8     (like) to communicate with them as friends.

To sum up, the solution concerning the problem    9     (be) to diminish (减小) the gap between parents and children. Therefore, in order to make a better atmosphere     10     the children grow up, the parents should ensure the stability (稳定) of the family and act as good friends to the children.