Before the Tangshan Earthquake, Strange things    1    (happen) in the countryside. For several days, the water in the village wells     2       ( rise) and fell. There were deep cracks     3       appeared in the well walls. At least one well had some     4     (smell) gas coming out of it. Chickens and even pigs were too nervous     5     (eat), and dogs refused to go inside buildings.    6     (mouse)ran out of the fields looking for places to hide, and fish jumped out of the water. At about 3:00 a.m.,    7    28 July 1976, bright lights     8     (see) in the sky outside the city of Tangshan and loud noises were heard.       9       the city’s one million people were asleep as usual that night.     10       (fortunately), it led to a lot of people losing their lives.

Odysseus is a literary figure in Odyssey written by Homer. He rejected the comfortable life of a Greek king and made a promise to help another Greek leader, Menelaus, in the war     1     the Trojans. But the war dragged on and on and he     2     (be) away from his family for ten years. During this period the fortunes of the war were so     3     (change) that no one could predict which side would win.

Odysseus became tired of the war and the delay in Troy. He     4     (desperate) wanted to return home. Hence, on the occasion     5     the Greek kings had their regular weekly meeting, he suggested     6     (trick) the Trojans.

The Greeks built a giant wooden horse so that their soldiers could hide inside     7    . The Greeks then pretended to set out home as if     8     (discourage) by the long-lasting war, leaving the wooden horse behind. The Trojans blessed their God for their good fortune, dragged the horse into the city and prepared to celebrate. That night the Greek soldiers climbed out of the wooden horse and opened the city gates for the Greek army. Then came the sound of the warning bell     9     (announce) a Greek victory. The war ended, but the     10     (punish) of the Trojan people was only just beginning.