1 . The public library is one of the greatest inventions humankind has ever imagined and actually made happen. Libraries are a (an)_______ , quiet place where all people can hang out and read, without having to ______ anyone anything. Apart from being a place that is full of ______ to borrow, libraries are something that offers ______ and warmth. A post on Twitter celebrating the wonderfulness of libraries ________ this point perfectly.

“Today a woman with developmental disabilities came into the library, and she was ________,” wrote a Twitter user. “She didn’t _______ her address, but her phone number was in her pocket on a piece of paper with Elmo on it. She kept saying, ‘The library is a safe place.’We called and her guardians (监护人) came right over. It seemed that they were not worried at all. Apparently this happens pretty _______. They even stayed long enough for her to _______ some new books and Sesame Street DVDs. The library is a safe place indeed.”

The post _______ others to share their own stories of libraries being safe places for them, and it’s enough to _______ even the hardest of hearts. For people who grew up in dysfunctional (功能失调的) homes, the library can be a safe heaven of calm and kindness. For people lacking financial means, the library is a space that provides free education and free entertainment, as well as a free indoor place to go. This is the reason why _______ people grouped to libraries when they have nowhere else on earth---the only place that doesn’t _______ money. We cannot understate Literal lifesavers. Libraries also fill up a lot of gaps in other social _______ and help people find their way to information about other opportunities. They open the doors to so many ________.

2 . Books are very important for us in our life. Books teach us about the world and open our minds to amazing new ideas. And where’s the best place to _________ piles (成堆的) and piles of enjoyable books? The library! But what if you live far, far away from the library? Sometimes, the library can _________ you!

Some families in the Gobi Desert travel from place to place _________ their animals. A library in a building would not _________ for them, because it couldn’t move. But a camel library can!

The first _________ libraries in England were pulled by horses. Now trucks do the _________ . Library trucks, also called bookmobiles, drive all around the city and into the country. Some villages in the mountains of Thailand, _________ , can not be _________ by truck. To bring books, you have to walk or ride an elephant. Besides elephants, there are some other   _________ that help move the ______________ . Luis Soriano, a librarian in Colombia, ______________ up and down the hills of Colombia every weekend with his donkeys (驴), bringing ______________ to children who live in faraway villages.

Books are delivered to other places in ______________ ways. In the icy Arctic areas of Canada, kids who live in small towns there get books in the ______________ from libraries in bigger cities. When they’ve ______________ reading the books, they bring them to the post office to ______________ them back.

Before cell phones, if you wanted to make a ______________ outside your house, you used a phone box. Now that most people ______________ their own phones, some telephone boxes in England have been ______________ libraries! Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tiny library on the corner of your street? The good news is it’s open 24 hours a day. The ______________ news is if you want to sit down, you’ll take up the whole library.

3 . One of Switzerland’s most popular ski areas has been covering mountain areas with cloth material in an effort to reduce ice melt aver the summer.

Workers have ________ large blankets of material around Mount Titlis, a ski area near the Swiss mountain town of Engelberg. The area contains a glacier (冰川) that has been ________ large amounts of ice over the past 20 years. The ________ cloth, made of a chemical material, is designed to ________ the sun. “Putting the blankets ________ the glacier provides a natural protective shield,” Gian Darms, who oversees snow conditions and mountain security in the area, explained to Reuters. Decreasing snow cover ________ higher temperatures presents a huge ________ to ski areas across Europe. Having a glacier can provide some protection from ________ change. It can help ________ large snow supplies on the mountain year-round. This snow can later be moved to fill in areas where it is needed.

But the Swiss government has ________ that 90 percent of the country’s remaining 1,500 glaciers will ________ by the end of the century ________ nothing is done to cut man-made pollution emissions. Davms said he has had to ________ increase the size of the blankets over the glacier in recent years to save what is ________. A small group of ________ work over five-to-six weeks to cover parts of the glacier. ________ the summer, the workers spend weeks removing the ________.

Currently, the reflective material covers about 100,000 square meters, which is about the ________ of 14 football fields. The blankets help reflect the sun’s energy ________ into the atmosphere.

Collected ________ is used to fill openings in the glacier that could open up along the area’s ski runs. The snow also helps support lift structures that are fixed into the ice.

4 . “Don’t forget your water!” This is a familiar______whenever I leave the house. Water indeed is______— especially when one is 69 years old and might forget the ______and get trapped on Long Island.

This makes me think back to my______. In the early 1960s, when I left to play outside all day, my mother______ said, “Don’t forget your water.” There was no way to bring water or buy a water bottle back then. How did I______?

I was______to live on Long Island. My family lived on more than 50 acres,______cows, horses, sheep, ducks and chickens. Some 60 acres of woods lie on the east side of our little farm. That’s______I followed my dad, uncle and grandpa as they hunted rabbits, squirrels and pheasants. We had only seven TV channels. I______the remote control, changing stations at my dad’s request. Life was______and good.

In my third-grade year, I______Mom to let me ride my bike up Jericho Turnpike to go to school. You can’t imagine a mother letting a 10-year-old bike every day three miles into town. She______and I met about 10 to 12 other guys for baseball or football. We played wildly without water. Not to say we didn’t get______. When we did, we went to drink from the electric cooler. It was cold, free and satisfying. Occasionally, we had money in our pockets and______ourselves to a Coke or Pepsi. What a fun, stress-free and safe place to grow up on Long Island even without water bottles.

5 . About 20 minutes away from River Campus, one might hear sounds of magical flights at the mysterious Mushroom House of Powder Mills Park. The private houses, _________ as the landmark of Town of Perinton, show off extraordinary architectural _________ with tree-like doors and wooden sculptures, treasure-filled mosaics, and naturalistic components in both inside and _________.

This odd artistic _________ has gained the Mushroom House its own official website and widespread media coverage. Since the house’s _________, it has actively been covered by many media. Much like Disney’s Pixie Hollow, the Mushroom House appears to be a collection of “found” parts. The _________ starts from the underground garage to the tunnel, a reminder of the University’s tunnel system, _________ the outer of the Mushroom House.

The round tops and inner branches of the Mushroom House are in good condition, _________to any old mushrooms found in a backyard. But the different types of glass, with their unique shapes and materials, used to build walls of the Great Room and the master bathroom lend the inside a colorful personality. Though _________, the curves (曲线) of the ceilings in all four mushrooms create acoustics (音响效果) that its website__________ that of Carnegie Hall in New York City. __________ builders Peter Strong and William Ashton, the four 80-ton Mushroom Houses were __________ from models on the ground. The outside Mushroom House was then __________ with works of art, including fashionable lighting and handmade bricks, hobbit-like doors, tree and __________ sculptures, sand-molded walls and ceilings, custom wood furniture, and iron railings.

These works of art were all designed and __________ by local artists. Though this seems like a dream, it carries a sweet past.

6 . Researchers have found that urban heat island effect made worse by sunbaked roads can be relieved by a simple measure: Paint the streets gray.

A study by Arizona State University found that _________a reflective, gray-colored material to black asphalt（柏油）resulted in a 10.5-to-12-degree Fahrenheit drop in average road surface temperatures. Meanwhile, sunrise temperatures _________an average 2.4-degree drop.

“This is exactly what we were hoping for,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said. “It’s exciting to see a technology that has the potential to meet the demands of a growing desert city in a world where temperatures are_________rising.”

Experts say road temperatures in the Phoenix area can rise to 180 degrees on a hot day. That_________energy remains in paved surfaces for hours, radiating heat back into nighttime air. Higher overnight temperatures result in warmer mornings, creating a_________of urban heat island effect.

Researchers found as well that the greatest temperature_________was near the road surface, with less dramatic results 6 feet above the ground. Even so, the neighborhoods with streets reflecting light experienced air temperatures 0.3-to-0.5 degree cooler compared with neighborhoods with_________roads.

But reflective pavements don’t affect all surfaces the same way. Researchers said that “the most meaningful measurement” was of radiant temperatures, a measure of how the body_________heat. Those measurements showed that the “human experience of heat_________at noon and the afternoon hours was higher due to surface reflectivity.” It’s been noted that the increase in__________ temperatures “may be a necessary trade-off（妥协）to reduce surface temperatures using a reflective surface.”

Heather Murphy, a spokesperson for the Transportation Department, said the response has been __________from drivers and residents in neighborhoods where the material is applied. “We have had some people who don’t like the look of it, but generally the response has been very__________”.

Still, officials cautioned that reflective pavement is not a remedy for the urban heat island effect.

“If you’re standing over these surfaces on a hot day,__________, you’re still going to be hot if you’re not in the shade,” said Jennifer Vanos, an assistant professor at Arizona State University. “So if we really want to __________true solutions, it’s not going to be just painting all the streets gray.”

A second phase of the study will examine questions about how the material performs under different__________, including changes in reflectivity, degradation and subsurface temperature over longer periods.

7 . Working hard, Stevie had saved money for many years and was able to buy a nice house on a cliff (悬崖) overlooking the ocean. It seemed that all his work _________ and that he had finally realized a (n) _________.

As life would have it, along came events over which he had no _________. The cliff was eroded (侵蚀) so much that the backyard was totally _________ and all that was left was the back of the house sitting on the _________ of the cliff. The cliff was over one hundred feet high so no matter who tried to save the house, it was really _________.Worse still, he became very _________ to the point where he had to take a lot of time off from work.

Stevie had no house insurance because he couldn't get any from insurance companies who knew of the _________. Stevie thought he had reached the dreams he had worked so hard for and now only to find everything was _________, though it was not his __________.

The good news was that he wasn't done for. __________, his family, neighbors, friends and even those who didn't know him personally __________ to fund raisers and __________ to help him get enough money to __________ over. And, they did.

Life has a way of turning around and __________ us in the backside and even kicking us again when we are really down and out. But, life also gives us a way out if we look for it.