Nowadays, it is common that more and more high school students open their own microblogs on the Internet. For one thing, it can provide a colourful platform to show their talent. For     1    , it is a useful way to release their     2     (press). And all these make it more and more popular with high school students.     3     many parents and teachers hold a different view. They think that managing a microblog will take a lot of time and energy,     4     should be used to study.

I am     5     (great) in favour of this activity. Today the Internet     6     (play) an important role in our life. Therefore, as high school students of the Information Age, we need to learn to make use of this     7     (meaning) tool to communicate and display ourselves.

What’s more, opening and organising microblogs need various abilities such as writing, designing, being good     8     computer skills and so on. Only if we master those abilities can we make a successful microblog. As a result, we improve ourselves while     9     (organise) our microblogs.

In fact, the microblog itself is of little harm. It is your attitude towards it that     10     (matter). We should take advantage of it and avoid some bad effects.

Many families in the United States have a     1     (large) income now than ever before, but people are finding it difficult     2     (make) ends meet anyway. 

Why isn’t a dollar worth as much as it used to be? Economists say that the cost of living is the money that a family must pay     3     the necessities of life. For many years now, the cost of living has increased    4     (great), so the value of the dollar has decreased. 

No one fully understands why the cost of living keeps    5     (increase), but economists believe that workers and producers can make prices go up. As workers earn money, they have more money to spend,    6     they demand more goods. If there is     7     demand for certain goods, the prices of these goods go up. At the same time, if there’s a    8     (short) of goods, the prices also increase. 

Families need to know     9     happens to their money. They need to make their income meet the cost of living, so many people plan a family budget. Budgeting    10     (help) you spend your money wisely as the cost of living increases.

In the United States, over 25 percent of senior citizens(people over 65) live alone. Without friends and family members nearby, senior citizens are likely     1     (have) depression(抑郁症).

Providence Mount St. Vincent, a retirement home(养老院) near Seattle, Washington, has     2     (recent) run a program. Over 400 senior citizens live at Providence Mount St. Vincent, and over 40 children from a few months old     3     five years old go to day care there. The children spend the day there with the senior citizens while the     4     (worker) look on.

The program has clear advantages. For the old people, they read to and play games with the children,     5     makes the senior citizens feel     6     (use) and happy, and if they feel happy, their health may improve.

The children also get a lot from the program They have     7     group of people to play with in a safe environment. Some of the old people are disabled, and     8     (stay) with them helps children learn     9     (be) more understanding of people with disabilities.

Now, there are many programs s like the one at Providence Mount St. Vincent. It     10     (believe) that even if the young and the old don’t have a shared past or future, their shared present can be perfect.

According to a recent survey, violence (暴力) did exist in schools. Students showed their fear and parents and teachers also     1     (express) their great concern about it. Experts hope     2     whole society should pay more attention to the psychological health of teenagers.

Nowadays, school violence is a hot topic. I think this is a phenomenon(现象) , which     3     (call)for our great concern. We should make every effort     4     (prevent) violence happening at school for more and more students would drop out of school if their personal     5     (safe) could not be guaranteed(保证). In fact, violence can be learned.     6     (actual), children learn violent behavior from adults or from     7     they see on television or on the Internet.

If I meet with school violence, I will not answer violence with violence, for it will result in     8     (much) fighting. I will tell my teachers and parents about it. I think they will help me deal with it well and they will protect me     9     the bad guys.

All in all, we students should behave     10     (we) and keep away from violence.

Tiger Parents Do No Good to Kids’ Development

Digging through kids’ school bags, looking up all the assignments, sitting beside them going through each item, and finally     1     (have) all the homework checked with a name signed is a daily routine for most Chinese parents, as     2     (require) by teachers. A demanding task especially after a long day’s work at office, isn’t it?    3     (luck), some parents in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, have been liberated. A local primary school has recently announced that parents will no longer have to sign their names on their kids’ homework, as students should be responsible     4     their own assignments.

Making mistakes is     5     essential part of the process of understanding. Who cares how much you     6     (score) in your homework after you have settled down in life and found your directions? The     7     (able) to realize one’s mistakes and learn from them is what matters, which is also the main purpose of education.Why not give students a chance     8     (find) out and correct their mistakes themselves?

It is by no means parents’ duty to go through the kids’ assignments.     9     parents are supposed to do is to create a friendly studying environment for kids, and teach them to be an independent learner. After all, independent learning is much     10     (important) than high scores.

Currently, both women and men     1    (surround) by magazines and websites full of tips about dieting, exercise and fashion. Gone are the days     2     all men had to think about wearing a nice suit to be smart and handsome. Things have changed.

Now, a survey has suggested that 80% of men admit     3     (be) unhappy about their body. The biggest body issues for     4     (they) were beer bellies and lack of muscles. Some think it is because     5     the pressure of influence of role models we see on TV and in     6    (magazine). People end up with a perception of what the perfect body should look like. But not everybody wants to put in the effort to have perfect muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. An opportunistic designer has even invented a muscle-enhancing shirt     7     (make) the buyer look more of a strong man.

But Joe Warner, the former editor of Men’s Fitness magazine, thinks the muscle-enhancing shirt is just     8     trick. He thinks many people in the country are overweight and should accept they need to do more exercise     9     (regular). Exercise is always good. But we mustn’t forget beauty is only skin deep. Character is     10     (important) than appearance.

Living in a city can be     1     (stress). But some people in Bogota, Colombia have found a place to help ease stress and get     2     peaceful break from busy life. The place is a protected park for hummingbirds.

The park     3     (sit) at the top of Monserrate Hill, east of the city, in a place     4       (know) as the Paramuno corridor. The area contains a forest that has turned into a peaceful place for both people and birds. As the hummingbirds fly from flower     5     flower, some people study the animals through binoculars (望远镜). Others capture pictures with cameras or phones.

“Sometimes it doesn't seem real because we are close to a city of eight million inhabitants (居民)     6     make noise every day,” said Camilo Cantor, a caretaker in the park. His job is     7     (mix) water and sugar that is put in bird     8     (feeder) along a 300-meter path.

“Visitors to the park can see between 25 to 35 different species of birds,” Cantor said. Ten years ago, the hill was completely deforested,     9     (mean) there were not any trees left on it.   

But workers began to replant local trees and flowers to bring the forest back to life.     10    (Present), there are 115 species of birds, including 18 kinds of hummingbirds and some migratory ones