Every Thanksgiving my family and I, along with others, prepare and serve Thanksgiving meals for the people in our small mountain community. My husband and I also bring meals to the disabled.

This Thanksgiving we did     1     same. After delivering them to some individual apartments, we went to the     2     (centre) dining room. We put the boxes filled with Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and some other foods on the tables. People invited     3     (we) to stay, and thanked us,     4     we had other deliveries and had to leave. As we started to go out, I turned around and saw them all     5     (watch) us. Then I asked, “Would anybody like a hug?” They lined up. There was so much     6     (warm) in each hug.

My eyes     7     (fill) with tears and my heart with love. Now I visit now and then     8     (chat) and, of course, hug. This year at my Thanksgiving delivery, when they line up     9     their hugs, I am going to have them turn around and hug each other. These people have no family at Thanksgiving-- what could be     10     (good) for them than hugs!

I was nine years old when I leant to ride a bike. The bike was a birthday present from my uncle. You can imagine how excited I was when I saw the bike, and I     1     (beg) my uncle to teach me how to ride it right away. However, before I got on the bike, I felt     2     (extreme) nervous and I was afraid that I would fall off and hurt myself. My uncle held onto the seat and helped me to get on the bike. While I was riding, he was running along beside me, holding the seat     3     I would not fall over. I was so grateful to him for his help.

As I was practicing, I became more and more confident. Then, I heard my uncle     4     (shout), “You are riding it by     5     (you) now!” I was both excited and scared. I was really riding by myself, but what if I fell off? Could I use the brakes     6     (stop)? As I was wondering about this, my uncle ran after me and got hold of the bike. I slowed down and came to     7     stop. My heart was still beating fast when I got off the bike.     8     (late) that day, having learnt how to get on the bike and get off it, I felt like I was walking on air! I am still     9     (thank) to my uncle for teaching me to ride a bike     10     my ninth birthday.

On June 12, ten-year-old Selah Schneiter became one of the     1     (young) people to successfully complete the famous climb up EI Capitan, a famous mountain-sized rock in Yosemite National Park in California, which once     2     (regard) as impossible to climb. But it was finally done in 1958.

With a love of climbing, Selah, who says she’s thought of climbing EI Capitan since she was six, made the climb along     3     her father and his friend. Climbing EI Capitan isn’t the kind of thing for people     4     (take) on in a rush. Selah’s group took their time,     5     (enjoy) their mornings and lunchtimes. It was hard at times,     6    she kept going. Selah admits she was afraid sometimes, though always     7     (protect). But overall, she says it was fun. At 5:45 pm on the fifth day,     8     were finally at the top. Her father was super proud of her, just to see how strong she was. He said. “She just made     9     (prepare) for it, training for it.”

For those thinking of similar challenges, Selah says, “It doesn’t take     10     (necessary) a super special person to do something like that. You have to put your mind to it.”

Once a group of     1     (high) successful engineers got together to visit their old university professor, Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. While they were     2     (talk), the professor went and prepared coffee in the kitchen. Then back with a pot of coffee and cups     3     different kinds, some ordinary-looking, some expensive, some delicate, the professor told them to help     4    (they) to hot coffee. When they all had a cup of coffee in their hands, he said, “If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups     5     (take)up, leaving behind the plain and cheap-looking ones. While it’s normal for you to choose the best for yourselves, that’s the source of your problems and stress. In     6     (real), the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. What mattered most was coffee, not the cup,     7     you went for the best cups directly and     8     (bad) still, you began eyeing each other’s cups. If life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They’re just tools     9     hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn’t change. Sometimes by     10     (concentrate) only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.”

Don’t let the cups drive you, and enjoy the coffee instead.

At about 3 p.m. on October 2, carpentry students from Harvard H. Ellis Technical High School (ET) in the United States     1     (put) the finishing touches on a handicapped ramp (残疾人坡道) at Northeast Placement Services. It was a thing of     2     (beautiful), leading from a platform outside one building to the entryway of the new Community Education Center. It was one year ago     3     students started the project. It took so long, because ET has a rotating (轮流的) schedule — two weeks of academic work followed     4     two weeks of shop work. Their academic schedule made it difficult     5     (finish) the job very quickly. During the summer, work stopped altogether.

    6     (arrive) at ET, Senior Gabe Martel first didn’t know he wanted to be a carpenter. He soon found the hands-on activity was     7     (benefit) for him. One thing he learned is that no project goes according to plan. They had to follow building rules and adapt     8     (they) quickly. They had to work with the customer and learn to get along with their teammates.

The next project will be at the Brooklyn Fairgrounds, where students will rebuild a part of the main stage. Unless it’s     9     (extreme) cold in winter, they’ll work a couple of     10     (month).

6 . During the Tang Dynasty(618—907), there was a minister named Li Linfu. He was very good at flattering people, so his official position was raised higher and higher and he     1     (eventual) became the prime minister.    2    , Li was a violent and cruel man. When he talked with people he always wore a sweet smile, but he     3     (make) up evil ideas in his mind.

One day, Li learned that     4     beautiful woman was put in prison. He sent for a prison officer and ordered him to set the woman free. The man followed the order and Li took the woman home.

Later, someone reported the case to the emperor. The prison officer was very afraid because he     5    (know) he had committed a crime by     6    (set) the criminal free. He went to Li for help, but Li ignored him and asked the man not to disturb him any more. The man was so disappointed that he hanged     7    . (he).

Hearing the tragic suicide of the prison officer, another officer wanted to reveal the     8     (true) to the emperor. Li, however, knew of this plan and began to make false accusations against the officer. The foolish emperor believed Li’s words and exiled(流放) the officer     9    a distant land.

The idiom “hide a dagger in a smile” is used     10     (describe) a person with a murderous intention behind his/her smile.