Nowadays, housework is getting much easier than it has ever been. There     1     (be) plenty of helpful machinery equipment in most people's families. Most machines are powered by electricity.

The first sewing machines in the 1800s     2     (operate) by a person turning a wheel by hand, or     3     (push) a foot-pedal up and down, while modern sewing machines have electric motors to do the work. A washing machine is a     4     (simply) electrical device. People had spent hours washing their clothes by hand     5     they had washing machines. Now it takes just a few minutes to fill the machine and set the right program. It works by mixing dirty clothes     6     soapy water. During the operation,     7     drum turns to slosh (搅动) the clothes in the water, and then clean water washes away the soap and dirt. Eventually, the machine's drum spins very fast to help dry clothes. A microwave oven cooks food very quickly by sending invisible     8     (wave) of energy, called microwaves, into the food. This makes the watery parts of the food vibrate and get hot.

    9     appeals to people is that the machines can help save more time and make people's life easier. It means that people have more time     10     (work) or relax.

Thanks a lot for your     1    (invite). I'm     2    (real) sorry I can't go to your house on Saturday afternoon. I'm taking a vacation on the beach on Saturday and Sunday with my three     3     (friend ). On Monday, I'm studying for my science test,     4     makes me very worried.

On Tuesday, I’m going to my uncle's house     5    (visit) him. He phoned me last week and     6    (tell) me that he missed me very much.     7     Wednesday. I have to look after my grandfather- he is very old. On Thursday, I'm helping my parents with some housework. And I have a guitar lesson on Friday afternoon.     8    (I) mum thinks I can do much better in the guitar in this way.

On Friday evening, I would like to go for     9     walk with my brother in the park. Can you come     10     join us?

Write soon.

Household chores like cooking and sewing always end up     1     the bottom of many of our to-do lists. Some people even think that they should     2     (take)care of by our parents. However, these life skills are     3     (extreme) important and should be taught as part of labor education. On June 3, the Ministry of Education(MOE) issued a document illustrating the     4     (revise) curriculum for senior high schools across the country. According to the document, labor education is enlisted as a compulsory course for senior high school students at all levels.

Labor education,    5     is also called education on the hardworking spirit,    6     (range)from household chores to on-campus labor and community volunteer services. “Labor education must be strengthened with the aim to cultivate     7     right view of the world, life and values and develop an interest in doing labor,” said Vice-Minister- of Education Zheng Fuzhi.

According to China Youth Daily, the labor course will take six     8     (credit)— the same as foreign language and physics. The MOE also asks schools     9     (ensure)40 hours of voluntary service, as a part of labor education, during the full three school years. “The     10     (early) you started, the better … A roll-up-your-sleeves-and-pitch-in mindset can get you ahead in the workplace,” Lythcott Haims said.

Almost 200 years ago, my great-grandmother’s great-grandmother was trying to survive yet another     1    (freeze) Russian winter when she heard about a new invention     2    (call) a “samovar”,     3    means “self-boiler” in Russian. In her family, they could only boil water on their big stove. The new samovar could make hot water much    4    (easy) and could be transported anywhere, not to mention that it required much less fuel.     5     they were poor, they decided to use their savings     6    (invest) in a samovar. So early one cold winter, she set out to     7     distant town. After four hours of struggling through snow, she found the town and     8    (quick) bundled her new samovar into her sack and     9    (hurry) home. The samovar was then proudly placed in her main room and     10    (be) in use by my family ever since.