1 . Lilies (百合) filled my sister Betty’s hospital room. They were her favourites: She knew she wasn’t____________for this world, so her mood was bad, appearing to be ____________. But whether she looked at the lively, bright lilies,____________would wash over her and she would become calm for a moment.

On the last day of her life. I bought all the ____________I could find in the market and ____________ her room with them. She closed her eyes ____________. I knew it was all because of lilies. Several months after her ____________, I was still sad. That fall, my husband Jim bought me some lilies. He hoped that Betty’s favorites could ____________me as it did to her.

The lilies brought me anything ____________peace unfortunately. They only made me ____________Betty in the hospital —the flowers withered easily by time, and how____________were to my sister, who got weaker day by day.

“Why don’t we ____________some lilies outside?” Jim suggested. “If they ____________the cold weather you might feel differently about them in spring.” ____________here is extremely cold. How could weak lilies survive it? ____________, Jim planted some lilies. I didn’t have any ____________on them so I paid no attention.

In spring I was surprised: a green appeared out of all the lilies Jim planted. “Probably it is a weed,” I ____________. But as the plant ____________with more leaves. I knew I was wrong. This strong, brave plant was a lily.

Betty had ____________during the last days of her life, but she would be strong again in Heaven. And she was telling me this by ____________her favourite flower to live through the cold winter successfully. I became peaceful, as I knew my sister was well in Heaven.

Tom is an American painters visiting Beijing. Yesterday he wanted   go to the zoo to see the pandas,but he didn’t know how to get there. He stops Chinese lady in the street and asked her the way with English. But the lady couldn’t understand her. Tom looked worrying.He thought for a moment. Then he had an good idea.He took out a pen and a piece of paper. He drew a panda on the paper but handed the picture to the lady. The lady looked at the picture careful.She smiled and showed him the way to the zoo. Tom thanked for her for her help.

In my local elementary school, I saw a child who looked bowed by burdens which were too heavy for his small shoulders. Tears ran down his cheeks. He was in a blue shirt, which is my favourite color. He sat alone at a desk in the back of his fourth-grade classroom, with his face to the wall of backpacks, coats, scarves, lunch boxes and little boots.

“Tony, you hadn’t done a bit of work all week,” his teacher said, looking in his direction. Her expression was that combination of helplessness and frustration I have seen too often on teachers who have too many students and too little help with the difficult ones.

I was a substitute for the special-education teacher, who provides individual and small-group instruction for kids who have difficulty in a regular classroom. I am untrained in psychology and inexperienced in special-education children. The only ice breaker I learned was: I’ll tell you one thing about me, then you tell me one thing about you. Except that, I didn’t know other ways to connect those special-education children.

Tony was not among the three students I’d be taking to the small special-education room for a math lesson. But I always thought of him as I taught the other three how to add numbers. Why was he sitting alone? Why was he weeping silently? Children usually cry or sob; they do not suffer in silence.

I looked up and saw the brightly coloured motivational poster on the wall. I put it up the day before. Seeing the words “You are worthy. You are loved.” on it, I wanted to help Tony.

That afternoon, I returned to Tony’s classroom and was met by his teacher, Max, who told me he loved reading. My other students for the reading lesson included Tony.

He was still sitting in the back of the classroom, still weeping silently. He didn’t argue when I asked him to come for his lesson: He simply didn’t move. His teacher comforted him. Max promised him the lesson would be fun. I promised to bring him back if he felt uncomfortable. Slowly, he got up. He followed Max and me into the reading room, tears dropping on the floor.

After they sat down, I began with my usual ice breaker with a smile.

After praising his worksheet (活页练习题), I saw Tony’s tears had stopped and a smile appeared.

4 . Lisa and Barry were out walking their dogs after supper when a terrifying thing happened. They did not usually _________at that time but happened to head out to enjoy the warm_________. They were chatting to a passer-by when Lisa saw a pushchair_________into the water. It happened so quickly. The pushchair disappeared under the water within_________.

Lisa jumped into the river along with the baby’s mother._________, the couple didn’t know whether there was a baby in the pushchair at first because the_________was also with a little girl, about two years old. Lisa could swim, but she was not a_________swimmer. She couldn’t feel the bottom, which made her feel panicked.

Meanwhile, Barry_________to help pull the pushchair from the water as Lisa and the woman fought to keep it above the _________. It was absolutely frightening. As the pushchair__________, he could see the baby still in the water. Luckily, people around found out what had happened and came to help. Finally, the baby was__________Ambulance service was called, and the__________arrived within minutes. The mother and baby were taken to__________Lisa still felt shocked the next day. She called the hospital yesterday evening. Lisa was__________to hear the baby was okay.

One thing is for certain: When meeting someone in trouble, Lisa didn’t__________to pay no attention to it. It was Lisa’s effort that saved the baby’s life.

There is a food festival near Madison Square Park in New York each May. This time about 30 sellers came to attend it. Huge, colorful     1     (umbrella) stood over 40 small, round tables. Jack and Betty decided to visit the festival     2     (try) new foods. It was 8:30 pm     3     they arrived there on foot. “It should be a place filled with fun. I just hope it’s still open, ”Betty said to     4     (her). So they went to the festival and visited each table. They read each menu     5    (careful). They walked around the tables and looked at what people were eating.

Suddenly Betty saw something she was     6     (interest) in. She said to the diner, “Excuse me. The food you are eating looks delicious. Can you tell me     7     it is? Where did you get it?” The diner told her the table was over there. Betty went over to that table quickly and asked for that dish. The cook said, “I’m sorry, but that dish     8     (sell) out just now. In fact, we’re getting ready to close down. Don’t worry. We will cook     9     same dish tomorrow. To enjoy the dish, you should be here     10     (early) than today. ”

9 . Tiffany and her family were sleeping at home. Their pet dog Buddy was asleep next to Tiffany. It was 4:36 a.m. The night was quiet, and no cars were passing on the street. That was when it happened. The house started shaking. Buddy started barking(吠叫), and it woke up Tiffany. She looked around and saw that everything in her room was shaking. She started crying out in fear. Soon after, her father came in and told her to come out quickly.

It was a big earthquake. Tiffany was so scared that she couldn't move. Suddenly, her father picked her up and tried to get out. Buddy was behind them. All of them managed to get outside, where Tiffany’s mother and brother were already. Tiffany and her brother cried together. They didn't understand what just happened.

Luckily, Tiffany’s mother had prepared an emergency kit and had it outside. She looked for the key, which was under a rock, and unlocked the box. She took out blankets(毯子) to keep her children warm. Tiffany then saw her father take a flashlight out of the box. He used the flashlight to see if the house had any damage. The father knew it was not safe, so they stayed up until someone could check the house.

The children didn't go to school because of the earthquake, so they spent the day with their parents. Tiffany was so thankful because her parents knew what to do during the earthquake. Tiffany went up to her mother and father and hugged them because she felt the protection of her parents.